Latest News from Pickerings Pasture Local Nature Reserve 2020
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If you have a short, newsy tale to tell about Pickerings Pasture LNR please send to pickerings123@gmail.com with date and photographs if possible. Remember: Click on pictures to enlarge
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2019 is now archived
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 New bird table
15th Jan '20
You may have noticed some damage and a lot of wear and tare to one of the bird tables in the car park. Today Gary has replaced it with a smart new table. |
The Friends of Pickerings Pasture spend some of the money you put into the Donation Post on bird food. We always buy good quality food, which is wheat-free. Small birds cannot cope with wheat and it either goes to waste and has to be scraped off the tables or it falls on the floor, encouraging rats.
Please only put grain on the open tables (were the pigeons will eat it) or put it with bread scraps on the field in front of the car park, where gulls can eat it. The buzzard continues to help us with the rat problem but we do not want to encourage them. Thank you. |
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13th Jan '20 As you go round the corner onto United Utilities path there is a flooded area on your right. There have been several redwings drinking there recently. They can also be seen on the Summer Meadow although they are easily flushed by dogs and people when they fly into the nearby trees. Occasionally they have been seen on the farmland adjacent to the meadows.
The loud bird heard singing in the area is a mistle thrush. |
A redwing.
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The birds are flighty and not easy to approach.
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Ricky Wallace has sent in his poem about Pickerings Pasture Local Nature Reserve.
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PICKERING PASTURE
In the borough of Halton, By the banks of the Mersey River, Is Pickering Pasture Where the wind makes you quiver. Alone with the birds, And occassional dog. By the Runcorn Bridge, And the chemical fog. |
If you look past
the fumes from the industrial plants. There are wonderful views and birds full of romance. A perfect location, with a natural design. When the sand is present by the rotating turbine. |
When the tide is in,
the magic appears. The ripples in the Mersey where ships travelled for years. Sometimes you stop, and look at the sky. Thanking God for the Mersey being so close by. © R Wallace |
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2nd Jan '20 A New Year's trip down to Pickerings Pasture was a good way to start the year: lots of birds on the feeders, on the scrape and on the meadows. Our friendly buzzard was outside the reserve today in the next door garden. However the first thing of note was the snowdrops in bloom under the trees in the carpark. These snowdrops are always so much earlier than many: a promise of good things to come...
The small coconut feeders were in good use as the volunteer feeder was slightly ahead of us. The meadows had a good number of blackbirds feeding but the redwings and fieldfares were in the nearby stubble field: occasionally making a sortie into the trees. As we approached the United Utilities path the missile thrush was singing stridently from the trees. A robin was subtly singing its winter song in contrast.
The tide was out but there were plenty of birds spread out over the mudflats, feeding: mainly curlews and redshanks, an odd oystercatcher and the common sandpiper. A couple of greater black-backed gulls stood out on the muddy edge near a small party of cormorants.
Down at the hide the feeders were busy with over eight long-tailed tits, plenty of blue and great tits, the robin and finches. The reed bunting was in the bushes but didn't come down to the feeders. We had just missed the kingfisher unfortunately. Under the bird table two field voles were busily feeding. (last week we had five together but the light was too poor for photography.)
The small coconut feeders were in good use as the volunteer feeder was slightly ahead of us. The meadows had a good number of blackbirds feeding but the redwings and fieldfares were in the nearby stubble field: occasionally making a sortie into the trees. As we approached the United Utilities path the missile thrush was singing stridently from the trees. A robin was subtly singing its winter song in contrast.
The tide was out but there were plenty of birds spread out over the mudflats, feeding: mainly curlews and redshanks, an odd oystercatcher and the common sandpiper. A couple of greater black-backed gulls stood out on the muddy edge near a small party of cormorants.
Down at the hide the feeders were busy with over eight long-tailed tits, plenty of blue and great tits, the robin and finches. The reed bunting was in the bushes but didn't come down to the feeders. We had just missed the kingfisher unfortunately. Under the bird table two field voles were busily feeding. (last week we had five together but the light was too poor for photography.)
Field vole
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The field voles were too far apart to photo together.
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Snowdrops by the carpark. R Orme
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