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6 members started out on a walk from the car park at Lunt Meadows Nature Reserve, Merseyside at 10.30 am. Weather was fairly mild for the time of year, but quite overcast and cloudy. Paths were very good and dry, with plenty of viewing platforms and a hide which, sadly needed to be accessed by a coded padlock, due to vandalism.
We walked around the perimeter of the reserve, observing hundreds of lapwing and black headed gulls. The many pools of the reserve were full of various ducks and geese, including teal, gadwall, shoveller, mallard, tufted duck and pink foot geese – along with moor hens, coots, grey herons and a single mute swan and her two large cygnets.
Half way round we sat on the side of the River Alt for lunch and enjoyed the views over the fields and watched various flocks of geese fly over, a busy, hunting kestrel and a buzzard in a nearby field.
There were large areas of teasels, which attracted charms of goldfinch, which gave us some superb sightings, along with great views of reed buntings amongst the reed beds. We observed, what initially we thought was a large number of starlings, but after debate amongst the group, the scope we used to home in, revealed them to actually be a large flock of twite. The scope was also very useful when zooming into a large mixed flock, where a golden plover was identified.
As we made our way round the reserve we were constantly teased by the sound of the illusive cetti’s warbler, as well as the calls of the water rail.
We were back at the cars at 15,30, having enjoyed an eventful, peaceful Autumnal walk with 38 species of birds.
A full list of all the bird species seen on the walk can be found below:
Lapwing
Black Headed Gull
Herring Gull
Teal
Mallard
Gadwall
Shoveller
Tufted Duck
Moor Hen
Coot
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Cormorant
Pink Foot Geese
Water Rail (h)
Red Shank
Golden Plover
Oystercatcher
Little Egret
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Magpie
Wren
Robin
Goldfinch
Long Tailed Tit
Meadow Pipit
Blackbird
Starling
Twite
Skylark
Stonechat
Cetti’s Warbler (h)
Reed Bunting
Woodpigeon
Kestral
Buzzard
Pheasant
We walked around the perimeter of the reserve, observing hundreds of lapwing and black headed gulls. The many pools of the reserve were full of various ducks and geese, including teal, gadwall, shoveller, mallard, tufted duck and pink foot geese – along with moor hens, coots, grey herons and a single mute swan and her two large cygnets.
Half way round we sat on the side of the River Alt for lunch and enjoyed the views over the fields and watched various flocks of geese fly over, a busy, hunting kestrel and a buzzard in a nearby field.
There were large areas of teasels, which attracted charms of goldfinch, which gave us some superb sightings, along with great views of reed buntings amongst the reed beds. We observed, what initially we thought was a large number of starlings, but after debate amongst the group, the scope we used to home in, revealed them to actually be a large flock of twite. The scope was also very useful when zooming into a large mixed flock, where a golden plover was identified.
As we made our way round the reserve we were constantly teased by the sound of the illusive cetti’s warbler, as well as the calls of the water rail.
We were back at the cars at 15,30, having enjoyed an eventful, peaceful Autumnal walk with 38 species of birds.
A full list of all the bird species seen on the walk can be found below:
Lapwing
Black Headed Gull
Herring Gull
Teal
Mallard
Gadwall
Shoveller
Tufted Duck
Moor Hen
Coot
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Cormorant
Pink Foot Geese
Water Rail (h)
Red Shank
Golden Plover
Oystercatcher
Little Egret
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Magpie
Wren
Robin
Goldfinch
Long Tailed Tit
Meadow Pipit
Blackbird
Starling
Twite
Skylark
Stonechat
Cetti’s Warbler (h)
Reed Bunting
Woodpigeon
Kestral
Buzzard
Pheasant