After starting out last year with the eco-bird race concept at Frodsham Marsh, Cheshire [
www.surfbirds.com] this year I took part in an eco-bird race with Lancashire birder and wildlife artist Tony Disley on his local patch of Brockholes Quarry.
Brockholes Quarry is a sand and gravel extraction site in a bend of the River Ribble, immediately east of the M6 Preston junction, owned by the large aggregates company Hanson. It is a relatively new site which first started to be watched by birders c1997 when the first pools started to appear, since then it has proved it's value as a good stop off point for assorted wildfowl and waders and quite a rich site locally for breeding species. The habitat consists of several large gravel and sand pits with gravel/shingle islands with some Phragmites reedbed, rough grassland, hedgerows and is bordered to the north by a strip of semi-ancient woodland and to the east and south by the River Ribble.
Weather: Sunny in morning with blustery south-westerly, dull cloud cover early afternoon turning to heavy drizzle through the afternoon and evening Sightings in recent days had included
Osprey, Twite and
Little Egret. Tony had staked the site out the day before and recorded
Arctic Tern and
Black-tailed Godwit, so we knew that birds were on the move in the area.
At 0600 we excitedly arrived at the quarry and proceeded to make our way to take in the dawn chorus in Boilton Wood, the only extensive area of woodland on site. This area of semi-ancient woodland held excellent woodland fare such as
Green Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Willow Warbler and
Blackcaps (c10 singing birds heard on site during the day). Towards the top of the path and just inside the patch boundary we heard a harsh nasal call. Tony instantly recognised it as a
Brambling. It called several more times and we managed to see it briefly as it flew off.
We made our way back to the main quarry pool where several common duck species were seen including
Gadwall and
Shoveler, but was otherwise fairly quiet. We walked round to no1 and no2 gravel pits where a pair of
Little Ringed Plovers were displaying, but this area too was relatively quiet.
We pressed on, and our determination was rewarded with a late morning purple patch on the River Ribble.
Goosander, Shelduck and
Grey Wagtail were added with ease then we decided to walk up the raised bank by the river near the weir so we could have more height to check the ploughed field where a
Linnet flock was. As we walked up the bank we flushed a
Short-eared Owl! This superb bonus bird flew over the river, perched briefly in the ploughed field then circled higher and higher, sometimes being mobbed by a male
Peregrine! A fantastic sight!
We then spent a while sat sat on the bank scanning the ploughed field. We heard a melancholy one note 'hooo', then quickly picked up the vocalist - a resplendent summer-plumaged
Eurasian Golden Plover which was flying low west through the valley. Then a couple of minutes later a familiar sounding one note call which sounded like a Redpoll, then it called again this time closer, we then saw the bird responsible, a
Twite flew past low, and we both got close flight views of it - another excellent bonus bird.
Early afternoon we did another circuit of the main pool and river. We picked up more birds which we either missed first time round or had just appeared. One of the latter was a
Eurasian Whimbrel - the first of the year at the site.
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| Eurasian Whimbrel - later in the Spring Brockholes Quarry is a great site for seeing large flocks of these robust waders on migration. |
Our second walk along the river of the day produced several
Tree Sparrows on surrounding hedges, and a
Common Sandpiper and 3
White Wagtails on a small mid-river island.
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| Common Sandpiper on the River Ribble - the first of the year on the patch. |
Mid-late afternoon produced lots of rain! The heavy drizzle had brought lots of hirundines, and amongst the concentrated feeding frenzy of
Sand Martins and
Swallows we picked up our first
House Martins of the day. A
Great-spotted Woodpecker on the bird table was one of at least 5 different "GSWoods" recorded on site during the day.
The rain had been constant all afternoon and by 6pm we retired to the car to consider how long we were going to continue birding. With the total on 74 we wanted to reach 75 so we stayed in the car scanning around, hoping for that elusive Rook or Mistle Thrush! At 6:23pm I spotted a
Little Egret flying east down the river. Tony jumped out of the car to see it before it flew out of sight and we decided that it was a good point to call it a day - on a superb 75 species!
Would you like to take part in an eco-bird race next year ? If you are would like to help build this into an annual global sponsored event please write to:
ecobirdrace@planet-save.com