Our new season started with the 60th anniversary celebration with a meal at the Hazel Pear in Acton Bridge attended by nearly 30 members. It was a lovely social evening enjoyed by all. One of our original members, Derek Todd, confirmed that the society met at the Hazel Pear in the early days of the society so it seemed apt that we had our anniversary meal there.

Indoor Meetings

Having moved back to our ‘new/old’ venue at Hartford, our first talk of the season in October was given by an old friend, Dennis Atherton on ‘Birds of the Atlantic Islands – Tenerife & Madeira’. In his own inimitable, friendly and humorous style, he gave an excellent talk about two trips that he’d made to the islands and described with photographs some of the endemics (E) of both destinations. 

His Madeira visit included three pelagic days when they travelled on a rib out far in to the Atlantic Ocean to look for seabirds and encountered Zino’s (E), Bulwer’s and White-chinned Petrels and Cory’s Shearwater plus another two endemics on the island in Trocaz Pigeon and Madeira Firecrest. He described his battle with sea-sickness on these ocean going trips.

His Tenerife trip included Blue Chaffinch, (E), Atlantic Canary, Bolle’s and Laurel Pigeon, Berthelot’s Pipit, Canary Islands Chiffchaff (E to Canaries), and also described some of the plumage differences between some of our own birds and sub-species found there including Robin & Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Our November talk was by another returning speaker, Chris Galvin, on ‘Around the World in 80 Birds’. Chris works as a Regional Account manager with the optics company Opticron and has travelled extensively around the world both with work and on birding holidays. He explained how his passion and fascination for birds started when he was very young, when someone bought him an encyclopaedia of world birds.

His talk showed some of the amazing birds he had experienced including endangered Spoonbill Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank in Thailand to Wandering Albatross in New Zealand, Stresemann’s Bushcrow in Ethiopia to stunning Sun Bittern in Costa Rica plus colourful American Warblers in Texas, Hummingbirds in Central America and two beautiful Pittas, Indian Pitta in Goa and the very striking Malaysian Banded Pitta in Thailand. This was a whistle stop tour of birds around the globe and all with a tale to tell, an extremely entertaining talk to brighten a dark winter’s evening.

The next two talks feature Paul Hill in December talking about ‘Tarifa – Gateway to Africa’. Tarifa in Southern Spain is famous for the numbers of birds that pass through on their way to and from North Africa during migration in spring and autumn and Paul has made three visits.

Our January talk is David Tolliday on ‘Shetland’ – the wildlife and sights of Shetland starting on Fair Isle and finishing with a view of Out Stack, the most northerly part of Britain. Pictures include birds, wildflowers, butterflies and mammals

Mid-week GroupTrips

The mid-week field trips opened up their season in September, when 13 members enjoyed a walk around the Northwich Flashes led by Stephen. A mixture of woodland & water birds including Goldcrest, Jay, plus large flocks of Curlew & Lapwing, were seen culminating in a total of 32 species in a couple of hours.

The October trip was a morning visit to Sandbach Flashes led by Ged, and attended by 8 members. There were a good number of ducks plus a large number of gulls which included rarer Yellow-legged and Caspian Gull. Other highlights were Great White Egret and Cetti’s Warbler, an enjoyable visit for everybody with 44 species in a couple of hours.

The November trip (12th) had a change of venue to Colemere and was led by Andrew, when 8 members enjoyed a lovely, sunny and colourful autumnal walk and highlights included Shoveler, Shelduck and Goosander on the lake with many woodland birds including Nuthatch in the trees. A total of 26 species were seen.

The next two trips are, to Marbury Country Park on the 10th December led by Stephen, followed by the member’s Christmas lunch at the Spinner & Bergamot at 12.30. Marbury has a wealth of woodland birds especially around the feeding station, plus good numbers of waterfowl. If you haven’t booked your Christmas lunch yet please contact Andrew.

The January (14th) trip is to RSPB Burton Mere on the Dee estuary which again will be led by Stephen. The reserve will have good numbers of waterfowl & waders plus woodland birds and the possibility of a few raptors including Marsh & Hen Harriers, Peregrine and Common Buzzard.

Weekend Group Trips

The weekend group kicked off their season in October with a few days in East Yorkshire led by Ray, when 14 members stayed at the Revelstoke Hotel in Bridlington, an excellent and recommended venue. 

We broke our journey up there by visiting North Cave Wetlands, west of Hull, and then spent the remainder of the time around Flamborough Headland and RSPB Bempton Cliffs. We had some excellent migrants including Red Flanked Bluetail, Pallas’s Warbler, Radde’s Warbler, Yellow- browed Warbler and Black Redstart and the pleasing thing was that most of the group had good views – in fact one (no names) was heard to mention that the Pallas’s Warbler looked ‘just like the picture’. Other highlights included Woodcock, Tree Sparrow, Barn Owl, Marsh Harrier, Arctic Skua, Common and Velvet Scoter.

The weather was fairly kind until the Sunday, when our morning at Flamborough was curtailed by a visit from Storm Ashley. We decided to return to North Cave and calmer conditions (never mind the bacon butty van). We ended up with 88 species for the weekend.

Our November field trip was to RSPB Marshside & Banks Marsh led by Paul, when 6 members met on a drizzly, dreary morning but the birdwatching certainly brightened up the day with plenty of wildfowl including Pintail, Goldeneye and Wigeon plus hundreds of Pink Footed Geese. There were big flocks of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Black Tailed Godwit, Little & Great Egret and we had our regulation ‘five-a-day’ of raptors including Marsh & Hen Harrier, Peregrine and Merlin. We also had Redwing, Linnet, Stonechat & best of all Twite. Although we got fairly damp, all enjoyed a lovely day’s birding with 60 species seen.

The next two trips are – firstly in December (15th) to the Dee Estuary led by Graham, starting off at Burton Mere and moving to Station Road, Denhall Quay and finishing off at Parkgate. There will be a wealth of waders, ducks, geese, egrets and raptors on show.

The trip in January (12th) is to the North Wales Coast led by Ray, starting at Llanfairfechan, and moving to Aberogwen, Conwy RSPB, Rhos Point and Llanddulas. We will be looking for Divers, rarer Grebes, sea duck including Eider, Scaup & Scoter, Purple Sandpiper and anything that crops up along the coast (last year we had Waxwing).

So we look forward to seeing you all again at Hartford Village Hall, and/or one of our field trips. Wishing you all a wonderful joyous Christmas and New Year, and we hope your 2025 birding exploits are all that you wish them to be.

The MCOS Committee