Flint Point, Shotton & Chester (1 Viewer)

Peugeot · May 4, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

04/05/18

300+ Common Tern noted, with plenty of birds seen carrying fish, but presently, Common Tern number's are more than 50% down, on the corresponding date, this time last year.

Pools......21 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 16 Mallard, 12 Canada Goose, 3 Coot, 5 Gadwall, 1 Avocet, 1 Greenshank , 3 Mute Swan, and 2 Oystercatcher.

Other notable birds......1 Barn Owl, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 3 Wheatear, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, and 2 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 5, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

05/05/18

200+ Common Tern, were noted around the Breeding Rafts, which is currently 75% down, on the number of birds recorded, at the corresponding time last year.

Pools........17 Mallard, 15 Tufted Duck, 4 Gadwall, 1 Little Grebe, 20+ Canada Goose, 3 Coot, 1 Moorhen, and 1 Greenshank.

Other notable birds........1 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Wheatear, and 2 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 6, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

06/05/18

200+ Common Tern remain.

Pools.......16 Canada Goose, 28 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Grebe, 9 Mallard, 1 Moorhen, 1 Greylag Goose, 1 Avocet, 2 Oystercatcher, and 5 Gadwall.

Other notable birds.....3 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Wheatear, and 1 Great White Egret ( flyover ).

*** Unrelated to Shotton, but fascinating nonetheless......is the fact that 13 ( thirteen ), different Cetti's Warbler, were ringed on Frodsham Marsh last Autumn ***.

Peugeot · May 7, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

07/05/18

200+ Common Tern remain, which is still very low in comparison to the coresponding date last year, but with news of good number's of tern's being reported off Hilbre island today ( hopefully Common's ), things will have improved drastically by tomorrow morning.

Migrants.......

2 Sandwich Tern, ( none recorded on site in 2017 ).
1 Garden Warbler, ( 2017 arrival date 01/05/17 ).

Pools........2 Coot, 1 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Little Grebe, 9 Mallard, 21 Tufted Duck, and 28 Canada Goose.

Other notable birds.......1 Wheatear, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 8, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

08/05/18

200+ Common Tern were noted ,..........which are highly concentrated on the traditional stronghold of the first arriving birds back on site, which is the SSSI shoreside of Island 1.......worryingly though, the 700+ additional birds that traditionally roost on site in previous years at this time, on both Islands 2 and 3........remain absent.

Migrants..........

1 Arctic Tern, roosting with the Common's on Island 1, ( 2017 arrival date 29/04/17 ).

Pools.......34 Canada Goose, 1 Greylag Goose, 16 Tufted Duck, 8 Mallard, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Greenshank, 1 Little Egret, 5 Shelduck, and also the 2 regular Oystercatcher, ( which have now relocated away from their traditional breeding site on Island 2, to now breed, on the surrounding 'breeding support Islands'.

Other notable birds........4 Wheatear, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Rock Pipit, and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 9, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

09/05/18

150/200 Common Tern were noted.

Pools.......22 Canada Goose, 19 Mallard, 32 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Moorhen, 3 Coot, 6 Gadwall, 4 Shelduck, and 1 Grey Heron.

Other notable birds.......1 'probable' Spotted Flycatcher, ( call heard, but no bird seen ), 2 Lesser Whitethroat, and 2 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 10, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

10/05/18

150+ Common Tern were noted, ( SSSI Breeding Islands and adjacent estuary combined ).

Pools........5 Sandwich Tern, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Little Grebe, 15 Mallard, 4 Coot, 2 Moorhen, 2 Gadwall, 16 Tufted Duck, 27 Canada Goose, 1 Greylag Goose, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, and 2 Oystercatcher.

Other notable birds.........1 Whimbrel, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 20+ Swift, 2 Wheatear, and 2 Lesser Whitethroat.

Peugeot · May 11, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

11/05/18

Common Tern number's were very difficult to accurately determine, with many birds choosing to fish off Flint Castle at first light, as opposed to the adjacent estuary, so a visible count of a probable 250+ Common Tern was noted, from the SSSI Breeding Islands, and estuary combined.

Pools.......29 Canada Goose, 29 Tufted Duck, 14 Mallard, 6 Gadwall, 3 Little Grebe, and 1 Coot.

Other notable birds........2 Cetti's Warbler, 20+ Linnet, and 2 Bullfinch.

Peugeot · May 12, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

12/05/18

Common Tern number's were again difficult to accurately determine, with birds fishing around Flint Castle, and beyond, at first light, so a visible count of 300+ Common Tern, noted around the SSSI Breeding Islands and adjacent estuary combined, is probably lower than the actual number of birds that have now returned to breed.

Pools.......23 Canada Goose, 25 Tufted Duck, 1 Moorhen, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Gadwall, 13 Mallard, 2 Coot, 2 Oystercatcher, and 1 Shelduck.

Other notable birds........2 Cetti's Warbler, and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

*** Many thanks to Graham Hogan, for his very enjoyable company this morning ***.

Peugeot · May 13, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

13/05/18

500+ Common Tern were observed, around the SSSI Breeding Islands, and adjacent estuary combined.

Pools........2 Mediterranean Gull, 30 Canada Goose, 22 Tufted Duck, 19 Mallard, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Gadwall, and 2 Moorhen.

Other notable birds.........2 Cetti's Warbler, and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

Peugeot · May 16, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

16/05/18

600+ Common Tern were noted.

Pools........4 Little Grebe, 42 Canada Goose ( + 11 juvs ), 13 Tufted Duck, 7 Mallard, 2 Gadwall, 1 Oystercatcher, 3 Little Egret, 1 Shelduck, and 2 Shoveler.

Other notable birds.........1 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 19, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

19/05/18

Common Tern colony, remains stable at 600+ birds.

Black Headed Gull colony, remains stable at 100+ birds.

Great Crested Grebe's, are breeding successfully.

Kestrel's, are breeding successfully.

Wren's nest in the Bird Hide, has now successfully fledged all of it's young.

Pools.........10 Mallard, 33 Tufted Duck, 54 Canada Goose, 3 Moorhen, 5 Little Grebe, 3 Gadwall, and 2 Coot.

Other notable birds.......4 Pink Footed Goose, 1 Grey Wagtail, and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 20, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

20/05/18

600+ Common Tern remain.

'Team Jackdaw', continue to attack the Black Headed Gull colony.......there's a daily team of around about a dozen birds, that very cleverly work together, to firstly distract the birds away from their nest, and then, quickly dive in to eat an egg or two........and the eater's, and the birds that distract, regularly swap places, so that all the birds can enjoy a feed......brilliant team work!

Pools........37 Tufted Duck, 29 Canada Goose, 6 Moorhen, 1 Greylag Goose, 4 Little Grebe, 4 Coot, 6 Mallard, 3 Gadwall, and 2 Oystercatcher.

Other notable birds.......2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, and 2 House Martin, ( very scarce this year ).

Peugeot · May 26, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

26/05/18

Common Tern number's, are now impossible to determine accurately, with so many birds seemingly now incubating eggs, but it is apparent, that Island 1 ( 80% of returning birds ), and Island 3 ( 15% of returning birds ), are the two main strongholds, with Island 2 holding only ( 5% of returning birds )......and as an estimate only, there is probably 500/600 birds present on site, which if correct, is roughly 40% down on last years count.

Black Headed Gull colony, remains stable at 150+ birds.

Pools........2 Greylag Goose, 4 Little Grebe, 2 Mute Swan, 17 Mallard, 24 Tufted Duck, 13 Canada Goose, 2 Gadwall, 3 Moorhen, 2 Coot, and 2 Shelduck.

Other notable birds.......2 Raven, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Cetti's Warbler, and 20+ Swift.

Peugeot · May 27, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

27/05/18

As each visit passes, I'm losing more and more confidence in the accuracy of my Common Tern counts here,....true, with so many birds incubating eggs, the likelihood is, that there are more birds present than those that I can actually see from the Observation Tower, which, good as it is, doesn't allow direct views into the individual compartments, of the three Breeding Islands.

But, after a prolonged viewing of the colony this morning, birds are only being noted to 'dredge' from Island 1 only, ( circa 150 birds ), with as few as 10 birds in total, from Islands 2 and 3 combined, ( worryingly low ). So, working on the assumption that 50% of the colony are incubating eggs, and 50% of the colony are fishing out to sea, there could be as few as 350 birds present, which is roughly 70% down on last year.

Pools.........1 Moorhen, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 Shelduck, 3 Coot, 26 Tufted Duck, 15 Canada Goose, 2 Mute Swan, 19 Mallard, 2 Little Grebe, and 4 Gadwall.

Other notable birds........6 House Martin, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, and 2 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 28, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

28/05/18

Easily the highlight of the birding year so far......20+ House Martin, have finally returned to the very long standing on-site breeding colony.....we'd given up on them this year.....brilliant news!

Migrants.......

1 Hobby, ( 2017 arrival date 04/06/17 ).

Common Tern number's remain stable.

Black Headed Gull colony remains stable at 150+ birds.

Pools........1 Water Rail, 2 Oystercatcher ( relocated to breed on adjacent Islands ), 1 Moorhen, 1 Coot, 3 Gadwall, 15 Tufted Duck, 30 Canada Goose, 10 Mallard, and 6 Little Grebe.

Other notable birds.......2 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Mistle Thrush, 1 Jay, 11 Raven, and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

Peugeot · May 31, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

30/05/18

A very short visit this morning, with the only outstanding highlight being 3 singing Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · May 31, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

31/05/18

Migrants.........

1 Spotted Flycatcher ( now confirmed ), probably the same bird that I listed as 'probable' on the 09/05/18, as bird was found in roughly the same vicinity.

Common Tern ( visible birds only ).........was observed to be at around circa 200 birds.

Black Headed Gull colony, remains stable at 150+ birds.

On site Jackdaw roost, numbered approximately 500+ birds.

Pools........2 Water Rail, 2 Mute Swan, 33 Canada Goose ( with many fledglings ), 2 Gadwall, 14 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 7 Mallard, 3 Oystercatcher, and 1 Teal.

Other notable birds.......1 Tree Pipit, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 2 Bullfinch, and 3 Cetti's Warbler.

Peugeot · Jun 1, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

01/06/18

Common Tern number's remain stable.

Pools.......1 Water Rail, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 23 Tufted Duck, 2 Coot, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Little Grebe, 14 Canada Goose, 1 Moorhen, 10 Mallard, 1 Gadwall, 5 Shelduck, and 3 Oystercatcher.

Other notable birds........1 Redstart, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 1 Great White Egret.

Peugeot · Jun 2, 2018

Shotton Steelworks

02/06/18

Migrants.......

1 Gull Billed Tern, ( no 2017 records for the steelworks ),....the bird was noted leaving the Common Tern colony at first light, then returning to site around 20 minutes later, before circling the pools for approximately another 30 minutes, and then was seen to leave the steelworks, along with the terns, in the Flint direction of the adjacent estuary.

250+ Common Tern, were noted leaving the colony at first light, with roughly 200 birds from Island 1,....40 birds from Island 3.....and only 10 birds from Island 2.

Pools.......2 Moorhen, 2 Little Grebe, 16 Canada Goose, 13 Tufted Duck, 9 Mallard, 1 Coot, 4 Oystercatcher, 5 Shelduck, and 1 Gadwall.

Other notable birds......2 Cetti's Warbler.

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