Dee Estuary Birding
Monthly Newsletter...
March 2025
Newsletter
Highlights - March 2024 to February 2025
Here is my usual yearly summary on the 27th Anniversary of this Dee Estuary Birding website.
A mega!
There's certainly no doubting what was the bird of the year - a Hudsonian Godwit. This is a real mega rarity and it's only the sixth British record, and a first for Cheshire & Wirral, North-west England and Wales!
It was first seen briefly by Geoff Robinson on August 12th at Connah's Quay, but the bird was only there for three minutes before it flew off so he couldn't be certain. Luckily it then turned up at Burton Mere Wetlands that same evening, found by Colin Wells. News was released at 9am on the 13th, but there was no sign of it either at Connah's Quay or BMW - before being relocated in front of the Border hide at 10am much to everyone's relief. It then went missing for several days before returning to BMW on the 18th. On the 20th it relocated to Flint Marsh where it was more difficult to see but was present on most days up to September 11th. It was last seen on the Mersey estuary at Hale on September 27th.
The presence of many birders at Flint meant two other nice rarities were found, a Lesser Yellowlegs and an adult Sabine's Gull.
Leach's Petrels
A Leach's Petrel, which was spotted off New Brighton after strong SW winds in late March, was somewhat unexpected, there's only been one other March record on the Dee Estuary this century. Leach's Petrels in September were certainly more expected and we had decent numbers after some strong north-westerlies, 31 past Hilbre on the 11th being the highest count.
Yellow-browed Warblers
September also brought the earliest ever
Yellow-browed Warbler to Hilbre, on the 20th. This was the start of a
large influx into the country and we had our second highest number of
records on the Dee Estuary for these tiny birds - 32, just below the
record count of 35 in 2016. A detailed account, including details of
the mystery surrounding Yellow-browed Warblers, can be read in the December
2024 Newsletter.
Knots
At peak numbers Knots are our most numerous wader, so a big contrast to the species mentioned above. Most years they are largely absent in the Dee Estuary between early May and July but 2024 was different and it was a joy to have a large over-summering flock of around 4,000 second-year birds. They fed at Leasowe at low tide and roosted at high tide either at Seaforth or Hoylake (some of the roosts at Hoylake were spectacular - see photos and video here). There were also a good number of adults with them prior to their leaving in early May and on their return in July - I just love seeing them in full breeding plumage. We've also had some great views of Knots at Meols through this last winter with many roosting and feeding close to the promenade at Meols, sometimes so close you could almost touch them!
The two either side of the one with flapping wings look very fat, ready for the flight to Icleand and onwards to Canada!
Other Highlights
March 2024 saw a series of big high tides resulting in good views of six Short-eared Owls over Burton Marsh and 45 Red-breasted Mergansers on the sea at Heswall, plus the usual spectacular numbers of raptors, waders and wildfowl. March also bought a Black Redstart to Fort Perch, New Brighton - was this the same one which later turned up in January 2025 at Fort Perch giving some great views?
October saw a remarkable 34 Cattle Egrets at Burton Mere Wetlands, they were only present early morning on the 24th before flying east. A Barred Warbler was a nice find at Hoylake in a sea-front garden in November, and among all the thousands of Knots and Dunlins at Hoylake a Little Stint over-wintered.
Richard Smith
Colour Ring Report
Curlew
White (FOM)
Ringed at Siikalatva, Finland, in June 2018.
Our first view of this bird was on the shore between the causeway which
goes out from Dee Sailing club at Thurstaston, and Caldy shore by Caldy
steps. This was in November 2020 and it's been recorded in exactly the
same area every winter since, including February 2025.
It was seen back at it's ringing site in Finland in April 2020 and May
2021.
Black-tailed Godwit
WG-O//B
Ringed on the Montrose Basin (East Scotland) in September 2013 as a
juvenile.
It undergoes post-breeding moult (August and September) on the Dee
Estuary before spending the winter in the Chichester Harbour and Pagham
Harbour area, and in the Gulf de Morbihan on the south coast of
Brittany. In April 2017 it was spotted on the island of
Tiree , the godwits often touch down on the Hebrides on their way to
Iceland. See the map below for more details.
Greylag Goose
Collar (HPU)
It was fitted with the collar at High Cunsey by Lake Windermere in June
2024. By the end of July it had flown to Martin Mere before flying on
to Burton Mere Wetlands where it was recorded in August and September.
It was in the same field as a couple of White-fronted Geese between
Thornton Hough and Brimstage in February 2025.
This is only the second marked Greylag in our
database, the other one, which had a ring, also came from Windermere.
We also have seen four ringed Canada Geese - and they were all
ringed at Windermere, as well!
Black-headed Gulls
I know this one wasn't on the Dee Estuary or North Wirral but it
was seen by a North Wirral regular and not far away at New Ferry, and,
as I thought it was a particularly interesing one, I thought I'd
include it.
White (J1U6)
Ringed at Stravanger, Norway, in July 2011.
Between 2011 and 2018 it was seen every year back at, or near, the
ringing site and always between April and June.
Since then there has been just a single record of it in Stravanger, in
June 2022.
Recorded at New Ferry, Mersey Estuary, on February 22nd 2025.
Tim's sighting is the first outside of the
Stravanger area and the first outside the breeding season. At 14 and a
half years old it's a good age but nothing too exceptional as the
longetivty record for Black-headed Gulls is over 32 years old, but it
is the oldest colour-ringed Black-headed Gull in our database.
As they can be read in the field the colour rings tell us far more about a bird than metal rings do, but they don't last forever and you can see this ring is showing signs of wear.
Blue (248L)
Ringed at Ainsdale on 01/12/2023.
It was seen again at Ainsdale in January and October 2024.
Recorded at Crosby in December 2024 and three times at New Brighton Marine Lake in February 2025.
We don't know where this one breeds, but we know from our other Black-headed Gull records it could be anywhere from Poland in the east to Norway in the north, and all points in between!
Colour Rings were recorded by Richard
Smith, Stephen
Hinde, Tony Ormond, Matt Thomas, Paul Ralston, Charles Farnell, Steve
Round, Tim Kinch and Tony Ramsden.
Richard Smith
February Bird News
White-fronted Geese are scarce in our area so it
was nice to get good views of a couple this month. They were first seen
with large numbers of Pink-footed Geese on Burton Marsh on the 8th
before moving inland to fields between Brimstage and Thornton Hough
where they were associating with Greylags for several days. They are
not quite annual here and normally we only see one or two but
occasionally more appear and we had a flock of 58 of the Russian race
in the winter of 2011/12 and nine of the Greenland race in the winter
of 2017/18.
The Little Stint which has over-wintered at
Meols/Hoylake was seen several times through the month, and the Black
Redstart was still at New Brighton for a few days early in the month.
The 8th saw a Caspian Gull, 4 Water Pipits and a Long-tailed Duck at
Gronant with another Long-tailed Duck off Hoylake on the same date.
Also out to sea were two Little Gulls off Leasowe on the 18th,
Signs of the coming spring included the arrival
of 14 Avocets at Burton Mere Wetlands on the 21st and a passage of
Stonechats at Parkgate, Heswall and Leasowe.
What to expect in March
No less than five 10 metre high tides are forecast for March, including
two of 10.2m. This should result in some spectacular birding with
Short-eared Owls, Hen Harriers and Marsh Harriers showing well, and I
just love seeing, and hearing, thousands of Pink-footed Geese which
will be flushed by the sea covering the marsh. Parkgate is
traditionally the best place
to see these spring tides but on the very high ones Neston and
Burton can be even better, and anywhere along the Welsh coast should be
good.
It's the first month of spring and we can look
forward to seeing the first migrants. The first arrival dates haven't
been particularly early over the past two years, it is not unknown for
the first Sand Martin to arrive as early as late February, so it will
be interesting to see what happens in 2025. If you see an early migrant
please email
and,
if it's a first,
I'll put it in the 2025 table.
As well as the tabulated migrants above we should
get our first Ring Ouzels coming through, these early ones will
probably be British breeders, the ones coming through in April will be
heading for Scandinavia. Avocets will be in good numbers at Burton
Mere Wetlands, many are probably just passing through to breed further
north. Out to sea will be our first Sandwich Terns and Gannets. Look
out also for Little Gulls, these days they are somewhat elusive and
unpredictable but they do seem to stage in Liverpool Bay in March and
we often see them out there, before their onward journey across the
country in April, on their way to the Baltic (see Species
Spotlight - Little Gull).
Some of our waders will be on the move with Redshank
numbers increasing as they gather here to feed up before the breeding
season, many make their way to Iceland. There will still be good
numbers of Dunlins early in the month but there will be a lot fewer by
the month-end as these Siberian breeding birds start to head east.
March Highest
Tides:
1st 12.00hrs (GMT) 10.0m
2nd 12.39hrs (GMT) 10.1m
3rd 133.20hrs (GMT) 10.0m
29th 10.53hrs (GMT) 9.9m
30th 11.33hrs (GMT) 10.2m
31st 12.15hrs (GMT) 10.2m