Early spring on Hilbre

Since my return from Thailand I've managed to visit Hilbre on a number of occasions,. Initially helping with the repair of the Heligoland traps but more recently to carry out census and ringing activities as summer migrants start appearing.

Above and below. New posts, cross beams and mesh being installed on 'the heli'

Repairs to west side of 'Newton'

Newton ramp to catching box was in a bad state of repair

New marine ply ramp installed

Hilbre Bird Observatory is largely self funded and the repairs to both the Observatory building and the heligoland traps falls to a small group of people. Funds aren't limitless so we were pleased to be able to apply for and receive a grant from the British Birds Charitable Trust (see here) for materials to repair the traps as they are a vital part of our infrastructure and need a lot of TLC after the winter storms. With Chris and his mate working on repairing the wood burning stove and chimney stack in the Obs building we're getting the place shipshape for a good spring! 

Starling 

Dunnock

Goldcrest

Chiffchaff

Some of the winter visitors such as Brent Geese, Common Scoter, Purple Sandpiper and Turnstone are still  present when the first summer migrants start arriving.

Male and female Common Scoter

Male Scaup - this beautiful duck hung around West Kirby marine Lake and Hilbre for quite a few weeks.

A real surprise was catching a Meadow Pipit with ring number Z619571. Assuming it was either a very old bird or a control I checked the ring number on line using the BTO's DemON database and found it was ringed by Chris, on Hilbre, on the 28th May 2018

It appears that it might be a new longevity record for Meadow Pipit as the previous oldest one recored by the BTO is 7 years, 9 months and 10 days. This bird is 7 years, 10 months and 1 day when I retrapped it on 1st April. We need confirmation from the BTO.

Spring is also characterised on Hilbre with a passage of White Wagtails whilst the first Wheatear of the spring is widely anticiapted.

White Wagtail

Female Northern Wheatear

Male Northern Wheatear

Another early spring highlight was finding this colour ringed Stonechat. Tom spotted it as we were driving beside Middle Eye but it disappeared before we could get photos'. Steve was already on Middle Ey so we rang him to tell him and exited the vehicle to help look for it. Luckily it was relocated and it turned out it was ringed on the Isle of May in 2025. A good indications as to where our regular spring passage of Stonechats may come from.

After being missing most of the winter our breeding Rock Pipits are returning and its nice to see a number of the previously colour ringed birds returning. CAI is the oldest bird seen so far this year having been ringed in 2023. However, the oldest Rock Pipit was first ringed in 2020 but only colour ringed in July 2025. CBX seems to breed on Middle Eye and was seen and photographed at the end of MArch this year.

Ringing demonstration Ness Botanic Gardens

For a few years now I've been helping out at bird ringing demonstrations at Liverpool Universities Ness Botanic gardens run by the Merseyside Ringing Group (MRG). See here for more details of events held at Ness Gardens.

They're always well attended and its a real pleasure talking to people about the birds and the purpose of bird ringing as well as being able to interact with youngsters who'll, hopefully, take an interest in the natural world and become the next generation of conservationists.

The most recent event coincided with a poor weather forecast but luckily the weather held for us and we caught a good variety of birds to keep the public happy. It was definitely quieter than previous ringing demos as most of the birds are pairing up and on territory but finch numbers were good with Siskin the commonest species. We also caught tow Redpolls - the first caught at Ness Gardens.

Male Chaffinch

Male Siskin

Redpoll

After the first Cetti's Warbler was caught and ringed by John last year it was still a surprise to catch another unringed bird. It was sexed by a male on biometrics with the males being significantly longer winged and heavier than the females. I learnt something new from Nikki as well as I'd only ringed juvenile Cetti's previously and hadn't had cause to look at the ageing criteria in Laurent Demongin's "Identification Guide to birds in the hand."

Cetti's Warbler

Occasionally 2nd calender year Cetti's Warblers retain their juvenile longest undertail coverts and these are noticeably faded and worn. This bird has retained these so was aged as a Euring 5 or 2nd calendar year.

The wonderful ladies who organise these educational events at Ness ensured the ringers were kept well fortified with tea and cakes from their on site cafe and we had a steady stream of moof visitors, young and old, all day. Some of the visitors return for every ringing demo and it was nice to see some familiar faces.

Ness Botanic Gardens is one of the few places in the north west where you can find the naturalised chlorophyll free parasitic Purple Toothwort. They obtain their nutrition from the roots of the host plant and 

don't have any leaves. 

A great day with 38 birds being processed of 14 species.  I'm looking forward to the next event in August that'll, hoepfully, be warmer! 

Thailand - the final day.

Sadly our trip had come to an end and we were leaving Jay behind in the north to meet up with another group whilst we returned to Bangkok. There was still time for some birding before we had to catch our flight.

We visited paddy fields north of Chang Mai and were rewarded with an avian feast! Amur Stonechats, Red-throated Pipits, Richards pipits and Citrine Wagtails vied for our attention with track side Long -tailed Shrikes and both Common and Pin-tailed Snipe. This was a well known site for Rosy Pipit although none had been reported in 2026 on eBird. Luckily for us Jay's eagle eyes picked one out and we had good scope views of this subtle pipit species that breed in the mountains and winters in the lowlands.

Rosy Pipit

Long-tailed Shrike

We hoped to find Striated Grassbird and a singing bird eventually gave itself up as it sang distantly on top of a reed bed. The same area held several Yellow-breasted Buntings and our first Bluethroat of the trip.

All to soon it was time to leave for Chiang Rai where we'd be flying from back to Bangkok. There was one last trip tick in store for us thought as the airport is the best place to see Burmese Shrike. Sure enough, as we pulled into the car park, Jay spotted one across the other side of the airport approach road. Marc and I, in full ninja stealth mode, moved from post to post until we got superb views of this bird sat on the same razor wire as a Brown Shrike for comparison. A real hardcore bird - most shrikes in Europe use barbed wire or thorns as 'larders' for their prey. This one was using razorwire! 

Saying goodbye to our drivers we headed for the check in desks where we said a sad farewell to our wonderful guide, Jay. A truly great guy and an expert birder and co-author of the 'Birds of Thailand'.

Thailand is a fabulous place and I'm sure I'll be visiting again. Thanks To Alan & Marc for making the trip so memorable along with the other guests.We had plenty of laughs, saw some stunning scenery and birds =, ate loads of fantastic food and enjoyed the warmth and friendship of the Thai people.