JUNE- AUGUST

In early June the first large skipper butterflies were seen, whilst the last orange-tip of the year was also seen. A couple of days later, the first small tortoiseshells hatched from this year's caterpillars. On a cloudy but warm day, on the 22nd June, eighteen meadow browns, three large skippers, three small tortoiseshells, a comma, two large, three small and four green-veined whites were seen, flying over the pastures.

On the 25th July a purple hairstreak and four small copper butterflies were amongst the thirteen butterfly species seen. Some species provided excellent counts as well: this included at least forty one gatekeepers and thirty eight green-veined whites. Another noticeable sighting was a holly blue: only one other was seen this season. Peacocks have been reported as having a poor year in many parts of the country so twenty nine flying over the meadows was noteworthy too.

The Canada geese, which nested on the island in front of the hide, hatched their young in June and took them to join the large flock out on the marsh. The pair of shelducks either failed in their breeding attempt or perhaps took their young straight away onto the estuary, but nobody has reported seeing any young shelducks around.

The bee orchid is a strange species: it can flower in one place for several years and suddenly disappear from that area, reappearing in an entirely new place. So it has been at Pickerings Pasture: we searched, without luck, in its usual haunt but found several on the woodland edge quite a distance away. More were later found in a meadow amongst the many marsh orchids.

In early June one hundred and eighty lapwings had already gathered on the sandbanks, having finished their breeding attempts. Small numbers of gulls were already returning to the estuary. By July 25th the first two common gulls of the autumn had arrived and well over two hundred and twenty black-headed gulls had already returned to the shore. Young lesser black-backed gulls, possibly from the nests on the Jaguar plant, were still in family parties begging unsuccessfully for food. Up to two adult yellow-legged gulls have been noted on the shore on several occasions

In mid-July, bird-watchers at the bird hide reported seeing almost a thousand black-tailed godwits on Hale Marsh, roosting out the tide. Most of them were in summer plumage: a lovely brick red colour. On 25th July, at low water, seven hundred and twenty black-tailed godwits were counted with two hundred and twenty lapwings, sixty two dunlins, twenty four redshanks, a curlew and a common sandpiper on the shore below the bird hide. Meanwhile, on the marsh, seven hundred Canada geese were feeding.

By 30th July the flock had increased to one thousand five hundred and fifty and was feeding in the main channel, just below the car park. At high tide they flew to Hale Marsh to roost.  On the 3rd August nine hundred black-tailed godwits remained. One hundred and forty lapwings, twenty five dunlins and a common sandpiper were also roosting on the marsh in front of the bird hide.

During July, one lucky, unknown, observer reported seeing crossbills at Pickerings to the warden; presumably they were part of the massive invasion that has taken place this July, with birds coming here from Scandinavia, after a pine crop failure over there. Other crossbills have been seen locally around Liverpool and elsewhere, though the east coast of Britain seems to have had the biggest numbers.

Several family parties of whitethroats and chiffchaffs were noted in the scrub areas in late July.  Small numbers of swifts were already moving South on their way to their wintering areas in Africa but early in August seventy were seen over a very short period on their travels. During the recent wet weather the swallows and house martins have been having difficulty finding insects to feed themselves and their late broods. They have been congregating in the sheltered parts of the pastures and flying very low over the vegetation.

The RSPB made several visits to Pickerings Pasture, on Saturdays, this summer, showing the public the wildlife present on our wonderful estuary. They also explained about some of the threats to our estuary, including the proposed barrage, which could have devastating effects on the water-birds that visit the Mersey around Pickerings and Hale Marsh.

The hard work put in by the parks department has paid dividends; the cornfield has been at its best this summer. It is three years since we last saw it flowering so well.  All the meadows have flowered well: a mixture of sun in the early part of the year, getting the plants off to a good start, and rain during the flowering season helped. However, in some of the meadows certain species have taken a hold to the detriment of others. It will be interesting to see how they evolve over the coming years.    

Up to three buzzards (and possibly more because unringed birds have also been seen) have been sitting on the fence posts by the scrape pool: no doubt looking for small rabbits although the largest prey seen to be taken was an earthworm! Derek Belton managed to take a photograph of one of the young buzzards: you can clearly see a ring on its leg. This is almost certainly one of the three young that were ringed at the nest in a large oak tree on the nearby Hale Duck Decoy, earlier in the year. Even when you can't see them the young buzzards can be heard mewing to the right of the hide.

On11th August over thirty white wagtails, together with a few pied wagtails, were noted feeding on the marsh. A large flock of about a hundred goldfinches was feeding on the thistle-down in front of the bird hide. Unfortunately, two men were seen shooting at these small birds with an air rifle.

Grey herons have been common on the marsh and on the scrape pool, often having minor dispute with each other over a territory. On August 13th two grey herons were joined by a little egret on the pool: although the pool did not have much water in it they were all busily catching shrimps. Out on the marsh one thousand and eighty Canada geese and three greylag geese were feeding.

Nine cormorants were roosting on the marsh edge at high tide at the beginning of August but the numbers on this part of the Mersey have been rising, reaching eighteen roosting birds by the end of the month. Once again peregrine falcons, both adults and young, are being seen regularly on the marsh: sometimes hunting but just loitering at other times

Over the following days both greenshank and a spotted redshank were noticed in the river channel below the bird hide with the lapwing flock. The high tides during this period have produced excellent sightings of waders coming to roost out the tide: at least four juvenile curlew sandpipers were with the mixed flock of ringed plovers and dunlins. Another greenshank was found near the redshank flock and four black-tailed godwits, several curlew and three oystercatchers completed the batch.

Four species of dragonflies have been seen over the period. The best place to see them has been in front of the hide, with all the species hawking the area. On 4th August the only Emperor dragonfly was seen there. Five brown hawkers, a southern hawker and a migrant hawker were hunting for insects on the 11th, some of them over the meadows. Brown hawkers were still hunting at the end of August. They are easily identified by their brown wings: all the other species have clear wings. Migrant hawkers will probably be around for a while yet and will shortly be joined by common darters.

Two male brimstone butterflies were seen on 3rd August and meadow browns and gatekeepers were plentiful. A humming-bird hawk-moth, a migrant which occasionally turns up in our area in the summer, was noticed flying over the meadows and nectaring on scabious.

Out on the meadows the sun brought out quite a lot of butterflies on August 14th with eighteen common blues flying. A few peacocks remained while the gatekeeper and meadow brown numbers had dropped significantly. Speckled woods did quite well throughout. ,