Autumn is such a diverse and dynamic season it truly keeps you on your toes. This year the weather has played a dramatic role in its development, with some early winter weather playing its part in the migrants seen.

On the 9th September a painted lady butterfly was seen flying about the meadows. They have been quite scarce this year, following the massive invasion recorded last year. Towards the end of the month, in some late sunshine, three migrant hawkers and one southern hawker dragonflies were seen. On the same day a small copper butterfly (possibly from a third brood, as it appeared to be quite fresh) was a late sighting for this species. On the last day of the month a speckled wood was out sunning itself. A late red admiral was seen on the 23rd October, by the bird hide.

On the afternoon of the 16th September a lucky observer saw a great skua feeding on carrion out on the sand banks. Later, the skua flew closer to him before heading off towards Weston Point. No doubt the strong winds at the time had blown this seabird up the estuary.

Three ruffs were down on saltmarsh pools on the 18th September, near to about four hundred Canada geese. Six swallows were resting on the wire fence in the rain, while four meadow pipits and one white wagtail were feeding on the edge of scrape. An immature female Peregrine, sitting out on the sandbanks, appeared to be eating some prey.

On the 20th the Friends of Pickerings Pasture work party cleared the vegetation from in front of hide, painted seats and cut back bushes from the path side. Several new bird feeders were made and food placed into the containers. A shelduck, an uncommon sight on the scrape pool, was there when we arrived but finally flew off. Two days later the bird feeders were already in use: a party of six long-tailed tits were seen clinging on to one feeder and a great spotted woodpecker was in the nearby tree. A spotted flycatcher, sitting in the bushes to the left of the bird hide, is an unusual bird down on the Pastures, even on migration. The bird spent much of its time making sallies out from its perch to catch flies - really living up to its name. At the high tide, five curlew sandpipers flew along the river, passed the bird hide. A large female peregrine falcon, this time an adult, was sitting on a post out on the marsh.  

By the 25th both the kingfisher and a little egret had reappeared on the scrape pool. Watching the two hunting for over an hour was most interesting. Firstly, the main food item of both species on the scrape is a shrimp of some sort: it must be a species that can survive in brackish water and is obviously both abundant and productive. We also noticed that the kingfisher predominately chose a post nearest to where the egret was fishing and was seen several times to take prey from close by the egret. Both species appeared to find their food easily.

A fox, seen wandering around on the marsh on 28th September, spent some time stalking a rabbit but with no luck on this occasion. It later went into the rushes, were it was well camouflaged, and went to sleep. A grey squirrel was again ripping the bird feeders up: actually chewing through the wire mesh to get at the peanuts - back to the drawing board!

Twenty six mallards and seven teals were on the pool at the month's end, no doubt coming for the food which was put around the scrape the previous week. They were accompanied by the kingfisher. Out on the marsh seven hundred and fifty Canada geese and seven shelducks were feeding. Eighty four golden plovers and three hundred and twenty lapwings were roosting on the sandbanks off the car park. They were with a large number of black headed gulls. 

On the 2nd Oct a flock of fourteen long-tailed tits were around the feeding area with several stopping to feed on the peanuts and on the 5th a party of five stock doves were feeding around the edge of the scrape pool. Thirty one mallards and several teals were also feeding there, while a hundred and twenty dunlins were feeding on the marsh. On the scrape pool two kingfishers were seen and a little egret was still there.

A female ruddy shelduck was found by Derrick Belton and his wife on the 9th: it was out on the marsh feeding with eighteen shelducks. The bird stayed around for quite a while, sometimes alone and at other times feeding with the Canada geese or the shelducks. It is often difficult to decide whether such species are wild or escaped from collections but this one did behave more independently than others we have seen on the marsh.

The 10th October was a particularly good day for migrant waders. First two little stints were found, followed by a curlew sandpiper and six ringed plovers; they were feeding on the marsh pools in front of the hide at high tide. A massive flock of eleven hundred lapwings were feeding closer to the bird hide: amongst them two ruffs and four little stints were discovered.  About twenty five mallards and ten teals were feeding just over the fence on weed seeds.  Well out over the marsh a buzzard was found eating the scraps from a dead duck and later two ravens joined in the feast. As you can imagine there was a good deal of scrapping going on between them but on the whole the buzzard was able to retain his pickings with the ravens dashing in for occasional mouthfuls.  

A common sandpiper spent the afternoon feeding around the edge of the scrape until late in the day, when the kingfisher went ballistic; chasing it around the pool until eventually both birds flew off. The kingfisher is now being seen almost daily, and seems very much in evidence during the late afternoon which is the best time to see it. The common sandpiper was also discovered on several occasions along the river's edge over the next two weeks and visited the scrape again as well.

On the 30th twenty six mallards, twelve teals, a little egret and the kingfisher spent some time entertaining the watchers, whilst out on the marsh amongst the large flock of Canada geese were five greylag geese, a barnacle goose and the female ruddy shelduck. On the pastures several rabbits have been found dead or dying with myxomatosis!!!

A large flock of four hundred and thirty dunlins roosted out the tide on the marsh on the 3rd November, with a flock of seven hundred lapwings. A group of cormorants have taken to roosting out the high tides on the bottom of the marsh and at least nineteen were there. They soon take up their fishing activities throughout the vicinity once the tide begins to drop.

On the 12th, eight members of the Friends of Group worked down by the hide. They erected a new type of a squirrel-proof bird feeder, made temporary repairs to a fence, erected two signs, planted a selection of berried shrubs and trees and generally tided up the area. Two ravens were out on the marsh again, one of which mobbed a buzzard.

On a visit on the 20th, a goldcrest was in the bushes along the edge of the river, whilst a party of thirty Canada geese were on the scrape pool with some mallards. Two hundred and thirty lapwings and a hundred and thirty dunlins were feeding just over the fences, out on the marsh. Further out on the marsh twenty five stock doves were counted feeding on the weed seeds near to at least another eight hundred Canada geese. Two mute swans were spotted on the Mersey and they eventually flew off across the river.

A large flock of three hundred and twenty golden plovers were roosting on the sandbanks, off the car park, on November 23rd. By the hide, a female brambling was amongst the many greenfinches and chaffinches at the feeders, whilst in the birch/ alder trees above several siskins were with the goldfinch flock. A bullfinch was heard but, unfortunately, not seen.   Out on the marsh were four hundred dunlins and about five hundred lapwings were with the usual flock of over fifteen hundred Canada geese. Snipe are notoriously difficult to see at times but two were seen well on the scrape.

The last week of November saw temperatures dropping to well below freezing and the scrape pool and marsh pools froze over very quickly. On the last day of the month we awoke to a light covering of snow. The birds at the feeders were extremely busy and were emptying the containers more rapidly than normal. Several bramblings were still with us in addition to about ten long-tailed tits on the peanuts. Two great-spotted woodpeckers were around the trees and the winter thrushes had been joined by sixty fieldfares and ten redwings.

As we prepare this article the weather has deteriorated further and looks set to remain dire for some time. The Friends of Pickerings Pasture are feeding the birds on a daily basis and are grateful to the members of the public that add their own contributions. Could we request please, that bread is only spread on the open pastures and not near the feeders? The gulls will clear away any excess bread from the fields, but near the feeders it can attract rats, which we try to avoid.

If anyone would like to make a contribution to our feeding programme, cheques can be made out to "The Friends of Pickerings Pasture" and given to any of our members. Acknowledgements will be made unless requested otherwise.