Trip reports

WOOLSTON EYES IN THE AFTERNOON

Saturday, 14 April 2007

Crossing the River Mersey and entering the reserve we were greeted by singing chiffchaff and the mellow notes of the blackcap. The sun shone warm and bright, bringing out the butterflies, notably peacock and orange-tip.

From the first hide we had our first sighting of black-necked grebe podiceps grisegena, which is a speciality of the reserve. We wandered on, swallows & house martins (pictured) insect hunting overhead, eventually reaching the highest hide which is 30 feet above water level. A lot of us jibbed at it, the spirit being strong but the flesh weak, because it looked precarious, with a long ladder up to the top. However I decided to have a go, climbed up, to be greeted by Big Malcolm who grasped my hand and hoisted me on to the platform. The reward was a complete overview of the reserve. There was a total of 28 black-necked grebe on the reserve, the males with tufts of fan shaped golden feathers behind their crimson eyes. Two of them were performing in front of the hide, facing each other and shaking their heads. The male raised himself in the water facing the female, at which she turned tail, playing hard to get. There were also pairs of little and great crested grebes and two Mediterranean gulls with black hoods and white wingtips. Another interest was six little gulls, flashing alternately their blackish underwings and pale grey upperwings as they dipped to the surface of the water.

Returning along the sheltered path we listened to and closely watched a common whitethroat as it posed on a branch for us. As we recrossed the Mersey some members were lucky enough to see a dashing, colourful kingfisher. The warm sun beat down on us as we left this beautiful little reserve. A buzzard rode lazily on the thermals overhead.