June - August.

A green sandpiper had returned to the Decoy by the June 15th : it is amazing how these birds can get to their northern breeding grounds and back again so early in the summer, perhaps a failed breeder?  On the same day, a first-summer plumaged hobby was chasing swifts over the decoy wood and two black-tailed godwits were on the field pools.

   By mid June lapwing numbers on the marsh were approaching 700. Some would be local breeding birds, which did well this year rearing several young to the flying stage, though others could be from much further away.

Little Grebe

Two pairs of little grebes have been on the decoy pond but have spent a lot of time fighting with one another: though one pair hatched three young, of which two fledged. The pair of coots, however, only managed to rear one young bird. Six teals and a pair of tufted ducks spent the whole of the breeding season on the decoy but neither managed to rear any young. In late June there were still two young grey herons which could fly quite well but still came to the nest to be fed by the adults. 

The little owl young fledged successfully in mid June.

 Little Owl

Tufted Duck

   Both reed buntings and sedge warblers were seen carrying food to their nest in the phragmities bed near the decoy while a pair of willow warblers and probably two pairs of blackcaps actually bred on the decoy.

 Reed Bunting

Sedge Warbler

   During early June a count was made of over 550 Canada geese on the marsh, with a crèche of at least 73 goslings. By mid July, with large numbers of Canada geese returning after their moult on the Frodsham Score marsh, numbers rapidly increased to over two thousand and remained around this figure throughout late July and August.

Gatekeeper

In the spells of warm weather butterfly numbers were very good with record counts of 115 gatekeepers, besides many meadow browns. Peacocks, red admirals and even commas were plentiful but small tortoiseshell (once one of our commoner butterflies) was only seen in small numbers.  A single purple hairstreak was seen in late July, though we did not spend much time searching for them.

Comma

   Several moth-trapping sessions have taken place on the decoy during the period: although the weather often let us down this year, several interesting moths were caught. Dog's Tooth is very common here, with 14 caught one night, whereas most people only catch single specimens.  

   Several pipistrelle and noctule bats were seen in July on one of the few agreeable evenings amongst the spells of poor weather. A fox was seen on another occasion hunting out on the marsh.

 Little Egret

Several buzzards were recorded on the decoy and surrounding marsh, with a female peregrine present on several occasions too. A little egret was seen both on the decoy and on the marsh on July 11th and 12th, whilst a kingfisher was on the decoy pond in early August.

  With three broods of mallard reared on the decoy pond and birds coming from elsewhere, the numbers rapidly increased to over thirty mallard by the end of July. Teal numbers started to increase in late August and by the 27th over 120 were counted on the pond. Also, on this date, a shoveler was present. On the nearby field pools a Garganey was seen on 25th August but it only remained for the one day.

Spotted Redshank

   On the field pools and marsh two little ringed plovers, a greenshank, a spotted redshank and several common sandpipers were noted on various dates in August, whilst a ruff was present on the last day of the month.

   The ranger is now taking bookings for guided visits to the decoy either groups or individuals. Please contact him on 0151-425-4706 to make arrangements.