A group of five met up in the lower Waitrose car park and set out in the rain, but by the time we reached Parkgate, on the Dee Estuary, the weather was dry, and it continued to improve all day.
The Bath House car park, in the two hours up to high tide, was very rewarding with good views of a pair of Marsh harriers and then a female (or possibly juvenile) Hen Harrier in combat with a persistent crow. There were many sightings of Kestrels and a passing Merlin flew in and stood for several minutes in front of us.
We were all feeling fit so we drove down to Station Road near Burton and walked along a stretch of the Wirral Way to Burton Point where with help from a local birder we picked out a Little Owl in a tree, unconcerned at our attention. See if you can spot him in the picture below.
After that we resorted to Burton Mere RSPB for lunch and a coffee. The reserve seemed a little quiet but all the usual birds there, and in the end, on counting up, it seems we have seen 49 species on the day:
| Mute Swan | Cygnus olor |
| Pink-footed Goose | Anser brachyrhynchus |
| Greylag Goose | Anser anser |
| Canada Goose | Branta canadensis |
| Shelduck | Tadorna tadorna |
| Eurasian Wigeon | Anas penelope |
| Gadwall | Anas strepera |
| Eurasian Teal | Anas crecca |
| Mallard | Anas platyrhynchos |
| Northern Shoveler | Anas clypeata |
| Pheasant | Phasianus colchicus |
| Grey Heron | Ardea cinerea |
| Little Egret | Egretta garzetta |
| Cormorant | Phalacrocorax carbo |
| Marsh Harrier | Circus aeruginosus |
| Hen Harrier | Circus cyaneus |
| Common Buzzard | Buteo buteo |
| Kestrel | Falco tinnunculus |
| Merlin | Falco columbarius |
| Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus |
| Coot | Fulica atra |
| Common Snipe | Gallinago gallinago |
| Northern Lapwing | Vanellus vanellus |
| Black-tailed Godwit | Limosa limosa |
| Common Redshank | Tringa totanus |
| Black-headed Gull | Chroicocephalus ridibundus |
| Woodpigeon | Columba palumbus |
| Little Owl | Athene noctua |
| Magpie | Pica pica |
| Jackdaw | Corvus monedula |
| Rook | Corvus frugilegus |
| Carrion Crow | Corvus corone |
| Raven | Corvus corax |
| Blue Tit | Cyanistes caeruleus |
| Great Tit | Parus major |
| Long-tailed Tit | Aegithalos caudatus |
| Wren | Troglodytes troglodytes |
| Nuthatch | Sitta europaea |
| Starling | Sturnus vulgaris |
| Song Thrush | Turdus philomelos |
| Redwing | Turdus iliacus |
| Robin | Erithacus rubecula |
| European Stonechat | Saxicola rubicola |
| Dunnock | Prunella modularis |
| Pied Wagtail | Motacilla alba yarrellii |
| Chaffinch | Fringilla coelebs |
| Greenfinch | Chloris chloris |
| Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis |
| Linnet | Linaria cannabina |