Cheshire And Wirral Birding: Hills, Lowland and Coast (4 Viewers)

[Cheshire Birder]

News for today - Lesser Canada Goose and Barnacle Goose at Wigg Island; Scaup at Houghton Green Flash; 18 Whooper Swans at Woolston Eyes plus 7 at Moore NR; 10 Waxwings at Chester plus 30 at Redesmere; Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Marbury CP;

Yesterday - 20-25 Waxwings at Winwick; 25+ Waxwings at Neston; 25 Red-throated Divers,8 Gannets, 3 Kittiwakes, a Little Gull and 4 Guillemots at Hilbre;

CB

 

[Victor Meldrew]

Starling roost

Took the wife down to see thousands of Starlings come into roost in Coward reedbed at Budworth Mere late afternoon. Thanks for the gen Vern.

Like WOW |8)|. We just stood there with crazed gormless expressions on our faces watching the shapes and listening to the whooshing sounds. 2 Sparrowhawks were in attendance and one starling's day ended badly. A Peregrine also showed up and caused some panic. It looked as though some of the starlings were hitting the water in a bid to escape it.

VM

 

[alexcropper83]

2 dozen Waxwings in my garden this afternoon! Great news!

Unfortunately I wasn't there to see them. Drat drat and triple drat, just hope they come back tomorrow.

 

[gadus]

Whereabouts where the Neston Waxwings?
Peter.

 

[bradinho]

Whereabouts where the Neston Waxwings?
Peter.

November 20:
25+ Waxwing - Neston, bottom of Moreside Lane by the entrance to Elmslie Court, this morning, no sign late afternoon.

Reported infofrom the excellent www.deeestuary.co.uk

 

[Cheshire Birder]

Todays news - 8 Waxwings at West Kirby plus 21 at Congleton and 1 at Sandbach; Great Northern Diver at Astbury Mere; 4 Whooper Swans at Risley Moss; 3 Brambling & Woodcock at Inner Marsh Farm; 4 Yellow-legged Gulls at Moore NR; Barnacle Goose at Wigg Island;

Yesterday - 48 Whooper and 4 Bewick's Swans at Shotwick

CB

 

[Cheshire Birder]

I understand from the BBC local news last night that Cheshire West & Chester Council has rejected the Peel holdings planning application for a windfarm at Frodsham. This in turn could lead to a public enquiry should Peel holdings appeal the decision.

CB

 

[bradinho]

I understand from the BBC local news last night that Cheshire West & Chester Council has rejected the Peel holdings planning application for a windfarm at Frodsham. This in turn could lead to a public enquiry should Peel holdings appeal the decision.

CB

Article in R&W Weekly News
http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklyne...to-frodsham-marshes-wind-farm-55368-27670029/

 

[deeestuary]

I've just put this on my website:

COCKLING ON LEASOWE SHORE: ......in particular complain to North West Fisheries (http://www.nw-sfc.gov.uk/enquiry.asp), the more people that complain the better.

Take a look at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewmuw/5199138659/ to get an idea of the scale of this operation, remember this area is protected specifically for it's bird life under European Law and normally holds at least 20,000 waders.

 

[Wimpy]

That is just totally over the top! If that is going on day after day, it must surely have a detrimental effect on the bird life initially from the disturbance and secondly by affecting the food chain.

Can't believe its been sanctioned.

I think there are around 50 vehicles and about 190 people in that video clip.

I have just sent an email to this address

[email protected]

Think this needs to have a separate thread so that it can be brought to the attention of more people.

 

[deeestuary]

Can't believe its been sanctioned.

The only people who are sanctioning it are North-West Fisheries, it seems they can override any conservation law.
But please also send concerns and complaints to Wirral Borough council, Natural England and the local papers - the Wirral Globe and Wirral News.

 

[deeestuary]

Take a look at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewmuw/5199138659/ to get an idea of the scale of this operation, remember this area is protected specifically for it's bird life under European Law and normally holds at least 20,000 waders.

Also see article in today's Liverpool Daily Post, not a mention of the effect on the wildlife, though!

 

[Cheshire Birder]

Todays news -16 Waxwings at Leasowe plus 25 at Crewe; Great Northern Divers still at Astbury Mere and Marbury (S) Mere; 2+ Yellow-legged Gulls and a HerringxGlaucous Gull at Richmond Bank; Common Sandpiper and 2 Bramblings at Pickering’s Pasture;

CB

 

[bradinho]

Also see article in today's Liverpool Daily Post, not a mention of the effect on the wildlife, though!

How many days are they going to do this for?
Are they doing this just on low tides?
Who is responsible for their behaviour and conduct whilst they are there?
Who is paying for the clean up?
Are there any sanctions meaning that a license can be revoked if poor behaviour is proven?

 

[mick.ball]

Leasowe

That is just totally over the top! If that is going on day after day, it must surely have a detrimental effect on the bird life initially from the disturbance and secondly by affecting the food chain.

I think there are around 50 vehicles and about 190 people in that video clip.

Bet a good part of the 190 are illegals.

 

[Wimpy]

Had a reply from NW Fisheries.

My email

I am writing to register a complaint about the cockling that has recently started on Leasowe Shore, Wirral.

I have just watched a short video taken where I estimate around 50 vehicles and approximately 180 people. Are you aware of the Special Scientific Interest in this site and the damage that an activity of this magnitude will have on the wildlife in this small area?

What controls are in place?

This is a small shore line not Morecombe bay!

I look forward to your reply.


Their reply

The Leasowe cockle bed is now classified as of 15 November 2010 so the fishery is legal. In recent months, the NWSFC has devoted maximum possible resources to preventing as much fishing as possible until the bed was classified to avoid the risk you refer to.

Numbers of fishers are limited through the NWSFC permit system to about 450 but there are no powers at present to limit effort further in this public fishery.

The crop is now legitimately used for human consumption and is a valuable source of income to the fishing industry and the local area.

The Committee works in collaboration with Natural England with the aim of ensuring the environment is not damaged by fishing activities.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.


So that was the "fishing Industry" in that video and there was me think it was a load of scallies trying to make a quick profit. According to the newspaper, the council will have to clean up after these fishermen with the mess and litter left behind!

 

[deeestuary]

Are they doing this just on low tides? Yes

Who is responsible for their behaviour and conduct whilst they are there? Probably North-west fisheries, if they just happen to have somebody there which is unlikely, nobody there this last weekend when there were well over 450 cocklers (i.e. well over the number of licenses issued).

Who is paying for the clean up? As far as I know Wirral BC, in other words - we are.

Are there any sanctions meaning that a license can be revoked if poor behaviour is proven? Probably not, even if there were it would just be given to another illegal immigrant/benefit scrounger/criminal/jolly nice well behaved local fisherman.

I've probably made this point already but we are lucky that we can compare what is happening off Leasowe with what has happened within the Dee estuary for the past 4 years. NW Fisheries claim their hands are tied, that they can't stop 4 x 4s going on to the shore, can't limit the number of licenses to less than 450, can't limit the amount of cockles taken.

At some stage we will make the following points to NW Fisheries:

1. can't stop 4 x 4s and quad bikes going on to the fore-shore - they do on the Dee Estuary.

2. Can't limit the number of licenses to less than 450 - they do on the Dee Estuary (I think limit is 100, normally a lot less than this actually cockling at any one time).

3. Can't limit the amount of cockles taken - amount of cockles strictly limited on the Dee Estuary to enable sustainable cockling.

They also revoke licenses if the rules are broken, I think this would include persistent bad behaviour as well as any breaking of cockling rules.

I sent this to someone who is starting to organise events for the 2012 Wirral Year of Coast and Countryside:
Perhaps you should have a cockle picking event and teach people how to pick
cockles without ruining the environment, devastating the cockle bed so it is
unusable for another 20 years, scaring 20,000+ birds away from the area,
dropping litter everywhere and going to the toilet on the beach and in the
sand dunes. We seem to be able to do it on the Dee estuary so why not North Wirral? |=)|

 

[deeestuary]

Had a reply from NW Fisheries.


Their reply

The Leasowe cockle bed is now classified as of 15 November 2010 so the fishery is legal. In recent months, the NWSFC has devoted maximum possible resources to preventing as much fishing as possible until the bed was classified to avoid the risk you refer to.

Numbers of fishers are limited through the NWSFC permit system to about 450 but there are no powers at present to limit effort further in this public fishery.

The crop is now legitimately used for human consumption and is a valuable source of income to the fishing industry and the local area.

The Committee works in collaboration with Natural England with the aim of ensuring the environment is not damaged by fishing activities.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Yes, that's the same standard reply everybody is getting. If you then follow up with more comments and concerns they just ignore it.
Note their comment about Natural England - I've spoken to NE as far as I could ascertain they were not told that this cockle bed was being opened let alone consulted about it!
Note also the comment about "a valuable source of income to the local area". I don't know for sure but I would make a pretty large bet that virtually no income is being generated locally (other than the buying of a few drinks and some food) as nearly all the cocklers are from outside the area, but I do know that we are going to have to pay for a substantial clean up!!

 

[gareth_blockley]

Who is responsible for their behaviour and conduct whilst they are there? [/I]Probably North-west fisheries, if they just happen to have somebody there which is unlikely, nobody there this last weekend when there were well over 450 cocklers (i.e. well over the number of licenses issued).

Yesterday there was 3 North west fisheries vehicles present that drove past me at Leasowe lighthouse. The only thing is they drove past pretty much at high tide when there was no Cockle picking activity to monitor - the people that did hang around for the day were having a kip in their vans/cars.

As the tide was receding and the cocklers on site were getting ready for the next round they did make an effort to do a clean up. They did pick up a lot of the rubbish that had been left blowing around the gunsite but they didn't do a great job and the rubbish they did pick up was thrown loose in the skips and was soon blowng around the site again.

Gareth

 

[laesevets]

Great Northern Diver still present today at Astbury Mere and still mobile but always viewable............:t:
Steve.