During the spring at
Moore NR it’s quite possible to get NINE species of warblers in a day and you’d be unlucky NOT to get SEVEN! Of these species, SIX appear annually in double figures (20-30+ pairs) and are spread across the reserve (
Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and
Reed Warbler); ONE occurs annually in low numbers along the northern edge of the reserve (
Grasshopper Warbler); TWO occur almost annually as single birds/pairs but tend to be very localised, most often west of
Lapwing Lane (
Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat) and the one to watch out for of late is
Cetti’s Warber as it seems to be turning up somewhere on or near the patch at some point during the past 3 years and has bred recently at the nearby
Oxmoor LNR.
SO, here we go... dates above photos are the
Cheshire 10 year averages for
first arrival and
last departure dates for our summer visitors from the
2009 Cheshire Bird Report (link HERE). So keep your eyes and ears peeled and let me know when things arrive!!!
Chiffchaff Phylloscpus collybita
County Status: Common summer visitor, widely distributed. Very scarce winter visitor. All non-
collybita races (e.g. ‘
Scandinavian’ abietinus, ‘ Siberian’ trisitis) are County Rarities.
Overwintering
Chiffchaffs are occasionally seen in Jan and Feb on the reserve but the most I’ve had in a single year has been two and I’m not convinced they’re annual. Of course, they can be a bit on the quiet side outside of the breeding season, so you never know and it’s always worth checking everything flitting about during the winter months. Migrants arrive mid-March and start setting up territories across the reserve. These are the first warblers to arrive and once they’re here, you can hear them singing pretty much anywhere, but they’re especially easy to get along the paths that run along the south bit of
Lapwing Lake towards
Hillcrest Quarry and
Bob’s Bridge. They like the tall trees along the paths for singing and areas of rank vegetation (grasses and bramble bushes) for nesting.
Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla
County Status: Common summer visitor, widely distributed. Scarce winter visitor.
Funny that, from a patch perspective they’re much scarcer than
Chiffchaff during the winter and are certainly not annual. I guess their somewhat better county status at this time of year is the result of their penchant for gardens... don’t get many
Chiffchaff on the old nut bags! My hunch would be that if they’re about, they’ll be hanging around near the
Feeding Station. Migrants start to arrive about the end of March but aren’t really in full numbers until April. Sit in any hide or walk any path at this time of year where there’s a well developed understorey (they like thick bushes and brambles for nesting) and you’ll get
Blackcap singing from the treetops.
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus
Mar 25th - October 5th
County Status: Very common summer visitor, widely distributed. BoCC Amber-listed species.
These certainly don’t overwinter and are the first of our proper Trans-Saharan migrants to arrive as far as warblers are concerned (
Blackcaps and
Chiffchaff tend to winter in Europe). They hit
Cheshire usually in the last week of March but seem to me to generally take longer to get to
Moore. I’ve not really tested the idea rigorously, but my gut feeling is that this holds true for most of our summer migrants – first dates are 1-2 weeks later than say, on the
Wirral. I usually pick up my first birds in the first week of April at
Moore NR and they quickly spread out and can be heard everywhere, particularly along paths that coincide with woodland edge. They tend to go quiet in June and have started on their return trip to Africa by the end of September.
Grasshopper Warbler Locustella naevia
April 9th - September 3rd
County Status: Scarce summer visitor, thinly distributed. BoCC Red-listed species.
These arrive about the 2nd week of April and are instantly recognisable from their reeling song. Scarce, from a county perspective, means between 11-100 pairs annually, so we’re quite lucky because we typically have between 7-11 reeling males on site during their peak. Their distribution though is rather skewed towards the scrubby areas of
Upper Moss Side and the
Capped Tip (see also
Whitethroat) and so it is along the tracks that run close to these areas that you stand the best chance to hear one or two reeling. The best spot on the
Moore NR reserve itself is probably along the short grassy path behind the
Feeding Station that runs from
Tinker’s Bridge (by the two metal gates along the south edge of the
Capped Tip to the little wooden bridge that joins
Lapwing Lane again near where the road heads out on to
Upper Moss Side. Up to 5 males have been reeling from the Ca
pped Tip in past years, so there’s a pretty good chance of hearing one on warm still days from tis path, especially the west end. If you have no luck there, walk along the track onto
Upper Moss Side (click HERE for photo guide). Stop at the picnic tables, face the
Snipe Fields and listen. If you’ve still not had any luck, keep walking past the
White House and stop opposite the little wooden bridge that takes you to
Norton Marsh and look out over the
Phrag Field. They like that area too and it’s often the first place they turn up. Failing that, you need to follow the paths out towards the
Tree Sparrow Field, enter the
Balloon Hut Field (there’s often one reeling from the back of the field in there) or
Daisy Field (there’s usually one in there too). I’d be amazed if you don’t get
Gropper on the patch in April! Tip: go early in the season if possible as they don’t seem to sing for that long and avoid windy days – they don’t seem to like them one bit!
Whitethroat Sylvia communis
April 10th - September 30th
County Status: Common summer visitor, widely distributed. BoCC Amber-listed species.
Whitethroat (along with the other species listed below) start to arrive in mid-April and sing into July. They prefer the scrubbier parts of the reserve and although they’re very widespread are most easily heard along the northern paths bordering the
Capped Tip and
Upper Moss Side (where numbers are particularly high) as well as the areas around
Hillcrest Quarry and between there and the
Manchester Ship Canal. They too leave by the end of September and you can often track them heading west (presumably to then follow the coast south) along the scrubby tracks to
Halfway House from their churring alarm calls.
Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus
April 13th - October 11th
County Status: Uncommon summer visitor, thinly distributed.
Always feels to me like spring has really sprung once the
Reed Warblers start up. They arrive from mid-April and tend to be centred on the reedy margins of
Lapwing Lake and at the
Eastern Reedbed where I’ve had up to 7 chunnering away deep within the reeds. They also seem quite happy though with any smallish stands of reeds along drainage ditches or fringing some of the smaller ponds, so keep your ears peeled for their slow, rhythmic, crunching song. They are a guaranteed bird at
Moore during the spring.
Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
April 10th - September 30th
County Status: Fairly common summer visitor, thinly distributed.
As a rule we get more
Reed Warblers at
Moore than
Sedge Warblers. That’s not to say that Sedgies are uncommon, but I always find them marginally ‘harder’ work than Reed. They arrive about the same time as the Reedies, but favour the scrubby areas away from the reed beds and tend to be commonest in the damper areas of the habitat used by
Whitethroat (see that species) i.e. paths that traverse the, northern and southern rims, of the reserve. If you walk the entire loop of
Lapwing Lane from the
Car Park, north, then out onto
Upper Moss Side to
Bob’s Bridge and back down to the
Car Park past
Hillcrest Quarry , you should get
Sedge Warbler. If that fails, there’s always the ship canal path to
Halfway House from the black and yellow metal gate at the west end of the reserve, or the path along the south side of
Shipton’s Meadow. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca
April 15th - September 30th
County Status: Uncommon summer visitor, thinly distributed
One of two species at
Moore (the other being
Garden Warbler – see below) that require luck and/or effort and/or striking whilst the iron is hot if one is posted on the
Moore sightings page, their
Facebook page or
this blog. Just 1-2 records annually is typical and it’s quite common for birds not to settle. Last year we were treated to a ‘stayer’. One set up shop in the gorse near the
Raptor Viewpoint and could be heard singing into June from the bench overlooking the west end of
Lapwing Lake. Usually though they seem to pass through mid-April (often appearing first on
Upper Moss Side) and are ‘around’ for 2-3 days before moving on. Either way, you have to know the song as you always hear them long before you can track them down as they flit along the hedgerows.
Garden Warbler Sylvia borin
April 17th - September 24th
County Status: Fairly common summer visitor, thinly distributed.
This is typically the last of our warblers to arrive (late Apri) and is another that needs to be nabbed as quicky as possible as it is certainly not a common summer visitor on the patch. We get 1 or 2 records a year at
Moore, but at least these seem to stay more often than the previous species. Of late, they’ve been annual west of
Lapwing Lake and a good starting point to have a listen is probably by the south hide there and then walk the high path along the northern edge of
Hillcrest Quarry to
Bob’s Bridge and then back along the track to the
Car Park. If you have no luck, then you’re on your own... but beware
Blackcap!
Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti
County Status. Vagrant. County Rarity.
Now this could change. Looks like these little beauties are gaining a toe-hold in the north-west. This year one was singing near
Halfway House in October. Last year one was heard from the same spot singing on the other side of the
Manchester Ship Canal in mid-March and later that year they bred at
Oxmoor LNR and raised three young. This was the first record of breeding for Cheshire & Wirral. The year before that (2008) we had a male singing at the
Eastern Reedbed from 21st April – 12th May, so they’re definitely spreading out. Only a question of time I think before we can add them to our own breeding warbler list. Fingers crossed and watch this space!!!
PS I haven't had time to go through old
Cheshire Bird Reports for definitive sightngs of rare warblers on the patch so if anybody knows of any off hand, please let me know!
