Trip Report Hale Lighthouse and Pickering’s Pasture November 20th 2022
Trip Report Hale Lighthouse and Pickering’s Pasture 20th November 2022
Fourteen of us met up in Hale village for a morning walk past the agricultural fields to the Mersey estuary around Hale Lighthouse, and it proved to be a very relaxing few hours.
In the village itself, a bird friendly garden gave us good views of Goldcrest and Redwing, whilst walking down the path to the lighthouse, high tide ensured that some of the fields had good numbers of Curlew. A distant Grey Partridge was seen by an observant member.
On the mud left by the receding tide, small numbers of Redshank were busy feeding, and 6 Common Scoter could be seen distantly. A walk by the side of the estuary gave decent views of a couple of Stonechat, a Reed Bunting, a sizeable flock of Linnets, and many Skylark. Feeding ducks included a few Wigeon and the usual skulking Teal.
Heading back past the lighthouse walking East a few more waders were spotted for the trip, including a solitary Turnstone with a few Ringed Plover. Further along a Great White Egret was busy feeding, and above it a small flock of Pink Footed Geese were ‘winking’ as they flew. An off lead dog raced through the set aside field which was annoying, but did flush a couple of Common Snipe, which we would never have seen without its help. Every cloud…..
Looking over Carr Lane Pools from the track we saw a very strange looking goose with the Canada’s, which we agreed was a cross between a Canada and Bar-Headed. Hybrid year tick anyone?
Just a short drive away is Pickering’s Pasture Nature Reserve where we enjoyed lunch overlooking the Mersey, and with the tide going out, we noticed a small sand bank held at least 2 Shag mingling with the Cormorants. An unusual bird to see this far up the river.
The bird screen feeder was very quiet, as was the lake, but we did get some close up views of a Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding away.
A few of us braved the approaching storm to wander further up the river, and were rewarded with a fishing Little Egret and a couple more Wigeon.
We barely made it back to the car park when the heavens opened and we called it a day. With a total of 61 species seen, if nothing out of the ordinary, it was a lovely way to spend a late autumnal day in November, and most of us were content with a good day spent birdwatching on this lovely bit of the Mersey Estuary.
CHA 12/22