Cheshire And Wirral Birding: Hills, Lowland and Coast (1 Viewer)

[Ian Woosey]

After reading of these sightings over the last week or so I called in and asked a warden where they had been seen..........she looked at me as though I was mad and told me she had not heard of such sightings???

All the recent sightings of Woodcocks (I saw 4 on the 30th Jan) are of birds seen at dusk leaving their roosting areas to feed. If you stand at the Tower Hide as the light is fading (now at about 5:30ish) you will see them flying by, some at close quarters. Note that at this time you have to leave the reserve via the turnstile, and you should not have parked in the carpark or you will be locked in !

For further details and most recent sightings from Risley Moss see the "Cheshire & Wirral" thread on the Greater Manchester Birding forum.

 

[ta brandreth]

After reading of these sightings over the last week or so I called in and asked a warden where they had been seen..........she looked at me as though I was mad and told me she had not heard of such sightings???

Hi Dave - you probably spoke to Gaynor at Risley,who I have known for over 20 years, she is great artist,lovely person and a very good organiser of events,but she is,probably by her own admission, no birder - but if people don't let the Wardens know, they can't pass the details on.

Hope you catch up with your Woodies.

 

[Cheshire Birder]

After reading of these sightings over the last week or so I called in and asked a warden where they had been seen..........she looked at me as though I was mad and told me she had not heard of such sightings???

I have to say I didn't believe the numbers of birds were so high until I actually saw them for myself. I had at least a dozen but potentially up to 20 a couple of weeks ago. Some birds may be double counted as the may fly past more than once.

CB

 

[Cheshire Birder]

Todays news - Eider and 500 Pink-footed Geese at Riverbank Road, Heswall; 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, Mediterranean Gull and 41 Brent Geese at Hoylake Shore; Yellow-legged Gull at Sandbach Flashes; 18+ Purple Sandpipers at New Brighton; Common Scoter at Moore NR

CB

 

[Jaff]

Winds are completely the wrong direction this wkend so I wouldn't hold out much hope of seeing any of the marshes getting flooded. Certainly not to the extent it was last year.

 

[Jane Turner]

Wind direction has less effect than a pressure drop... just so you know

 

[Jaff]

We'll know soon enough.

 

[David Smith]

Hi Dave - you probably spoke to Gaynor at Risley,who I have known for over 20 years, she is great artist,lovely person and a very good organiser of events,but she is,probably by her own admission, no birder - but if people don't let the Wardens know, they can't pass the details on.

Hope you catch up with your Woodies.

She certainly is a lovely person (I have spoken to her several times)

 

[David Smith]

Wind direction has less effect than a pressure drop... just so you know

How does that work? (serious question from an ignoramous:-O)

 

[Pitvar]

How does that work? (serious question from an ignoramous:-O)

A quick bit of googling suggests low pressure leads to higher tides - total effects range between +/- a metre and can be 1cm per millibar. Pressure now seems to be about 1005 Mb and rising not sure how typical - high/low that is?

As to the Woodcock at Risley Moss, as has been said, best bet is to stand just in front of the Tower and watch the sky as it goes dark - a clearer night will give a better chance of seeing them in silhouette I guess. They can be as close as a few metres in front. Happy to show you where to stand but not sure how long they'll be around for? Peter

 

[Jane Turner]

That still doesn't answer why... and guessing a bit here.. water is a strange substance. As a crystal it is less dense than as a liquid due to extensive hydogen bonding. As pressure is lowered I' expect the packing of water molecules is a little less close - so the water expands.

Alas there is no big depression due

http://magicseaweed.com/msw-surf-charts2.php?chart=2&res=500&type=pressure&starttime=1298073600

1000 is just about average for the UK.

 

[Pitvar]

That still doesn't answer why... and guessing a bit here.. water is a strange substance. As a crystal it is less dense than as a liquid due to extensive hydogen bonding. As pressure is lowered I' expect the packing of water molecules is a little less close - so the water expands.

I like the analogy of the balloon - which I think works with the above? - set amount of water on the surface of the planet with an effect from relative pressure. Squeeze the balloon with higher pressure and it expands in areas of lower pressure where it isn't being squeezed... I should've paid more attention to science at school!

Hope to be there in person tomorrow to witness the effects or lack of them

 

[Wimpy]

My two pence worth.

Air pressure is due to the weight of the air on a given area. High pressure equates to a greater weight of air pushing down. Now when a tide moves in a hugh amount of air has to be forced away as the water in the incoming tide takes up the space originally occupied by the air. Now since water is incompressible, there is eventually an equilibrium between the incoming tide and the air pressure above.

So with low pressure there is less force from the air above allowing more water to move in until that "equilibrium" is reached. Hence a slightly higher tide within a low pressure region.

I have no scientific backup for this just the ramblings of a tired old physics teacher. See you all on Monday!

( and a good NW wind would help)

 

[sid ashton]

Parkgate High Tide

That still doesn't answer why... and guessing a bit here.. water is a strange substance. As a crystal it is less dense than as a liquid due to extensive hydogen bonding. As pressure is lowered I' expect the packing of water molecules is a little less close - so the water expands.

Alas there is no big depression due

http://magicseaweed.com/msw-surf-charts2.php?chart=2&res=500&type=pressure&starttime=1298073600

1000 is just about average for the UK.

Bit deep for me that Jayne - my recollections, and a bit of Googling of the conjoint action of wind direction and barometric pressure are that unusually high or low pressure, or prolonged periods of strong winds can give rise to variations between actual sea level and the predicted heights - differences between predicted and actual times of high and low water are caused mainly by the wind.

Barometric pressure: Tidal predictions are computed for a standard barometric pressure of 1013 millibars. A difference from the average of 1 mb can cause a difference in height of 1 centimetre. In the UK our barometric pressures have a range of 970 - 1040 mb.

A low barometer will allow the sea level to rise and a high barometer will tend to depress it. This phenomenon is sometimes described as the "inverted barometer" effect. Changes in sea level due to barometric pressure alone seldom exceed 30 centimetres but, as such circumstances are usually associated with adverse weather conditions, the actual change in sea level is often much greater.

Wind: The effect of the wind on sea level, and therefore on tidal heights and times, is variable and depends largely on the topography of the area. In general it can be said that the wind will raise the level of the sea in the direction towards which it is blowing. A strong wind blowing onshore will pile up the water and cause the sea level to be higher than predicted, while winds blowing off the land will have the reverse effect. Hence a wind with some westerly in it improves the chances of a high high water at Parkgate.

So that's my take on the statement that "to get the birding best out of a Parkgate high tide a westerly wind and low pressure is required".

Could matters also be assisted by the additional weight put on the old baths car park by the extra birders and their cars assembled for the event lowering the level of the sea wall - just a thought

 

[Pitvar]

On different note - does anyone know where "Gowy Tip" is - there have been some interesting gulls there over the past four months or so. I've had a look at the Gowy reserve site and the satellite views but can't spot a tip - unless its actually the area south of the M56 opposite the Gowy meadows? Thanks in anticipation

 

[mickbe74]

Hi All,i'm heading your way tomorrow,could anyone just confirm the high tide time(11 am-ish i think)also does anyone have info on new brighton marine lake,how to get there and is it close enough to parkgate,to go there in the morning and get to parkgate by high tide(i'm interested in the purple sands at new brighton)also Richmond bank info would be great..or is that greedy,thankyou.

 

[chris butterworth]

Cracking day at Parkgate / Heswall - if a trifle nippy - with a shedful of Short-eared Owls in the area. I had 5 SEO's at Parkgate along with 3 Hen Harriers, including distant views of a sub-ad male before the tide, 2 Merlin, 2/3 Peregrine, 1500+ Pinkfeet, 500 Pintail, 50 Wigeon, 500 Teal, 1000 Curlew, 1200 Oystercatcher, 800 Redshank, 20 Snipe ( and a possible Jack Snipe ), 200+ Sky Lark, 2 Water Rail ( another was seen vanishing down a Grey Herons throat from off the Golf Course ) and a Brown Hare. There were also 2 Raven in the field at the junction of Boathouse Lane and Wood Lane. The tide didn't come in as far as the wall today so there were no small mammals around, hopefully it'll be better tomorrow!

Chris

 

[Jane Turner]

I'm 99% sure I've had a 1st W American Herring Gull on the beach at Hoylake. I saw it in flight, then well with a scope on the water. Made the mistake of going for a camera and all 12-14000 gulls moved while I had my eye off them.

4 hours later I'm pretty sure I found it again - sleeping, so I never saw it with its head out. Went down for a phone and the bloody things moved again.

Have some research to do, but it looked like a Glauc x juv Pom skua. Big thing with a pink bill base, black tip, dark tail, even grey brown underparts and rather dark vent.

You can see how dark it is in the photo - and just about see the pink legs.

 

[chris butterworth]

Is it still there Jane ?

Chris

 

[Jane Turner]

Its out on the low tide edge now.

You can also see the uniform underparts if you push the image to its limits....