Leach's Petrels on the Wirral: Into the teeth of Storm Amy

Storm Amy arrived Friday, with her fury picking up power during the night. I woke from a restless night a few minutes before my 5am alarm, and shortly was heading out to pick up my old birding mate, Duncan Poyser from his folks' house. Up and over the Pennine Hills we went, into the City of Liverpool and the teeth of the storm. Hatches were battoned down and few folk had dared to venture forth so early with the gale raging. Through the tunnel under the River Mersey we went, before hanging a right down to the river mouth and New Brighton. Our quest for Leach's Storm-petrels had begun and the conditions seemed epic.  

We pulled up by the small marine lake which looked like a stormy sea, spying 100+ Turnstones huddling on a pontoon at the sheltered end, but no petrels or phalaropes on the water. Shelter was needed, to avoid seaspray and sand which blasted horizontally across the car park near the fort; we spied a solitary birder in a conveniently-placed bus shelter with a view over the river and the sea, so we piled in next to him, just in time, as it began lashing down. To our surpise, no Leach's had been seen so far, so we settled in to scour the waves. Shortly, a skua headed upriver, seeking shelter from the gale, a dark juvenile Arctic, quickly followed by a smart pale-phase adult. They disappeard upriver. Small numbers of terns, mostly Common, but with a few Sandwich and a single juvenile Arctic were trying to battle back out of the river, but were soon blown back in, tossed like pieces of paper against the industrial backdrop of the Mersey. The conditions looked great, but where were the petrels which this site is famous for? As hours ticked by and nothing more interesting appeared, we pondered whether we were too early and that the storm had not yet tired the pelagic species we were looking for and they had so far remained out in the Irish Sea. News from up the coast seemed positive with Sabine's Gulls and Leach's Petrels having been seen in small numbers, hinting that a movement could be starting. We needed to keep the faith...

After some much needed grub and a sit down out of the wind, we switched position to behind the Lifeguards look-out on the seaward side of the marine lake. A few more terns passed by and some Common Scoters, but still no petrels. A rain shower came in and we dived into the car as it lashed down. A rangey dark bird over the beach in front of us had us leap out of the car but it vanished....the other birders by the hut then waved - a Grey Phalarope had come in off the sea (presumably the bird we'd seen) and dropped on the marine lake! Turning round, sure enough, there was this little Arctic wader, swimming about on the lake. It didn't seem too pleased to be on the marine lake, and flitted across the strangely-green water, pausing a few times, before disappearing; we concluded it had gone back over the seawall and away.

After this exciting interlude, we drove along to the end of the promenade opposite Wallasey Golf Course as we decided the sea might be more productive than the river. The tide had turned and was dropping rapidly, revealing a wide sandy beach. Waders poured in from their distant roosts, and the muddy cockle beds soon filled with Bar-tailed Godwits and Oystercatchers, whilst flocks of Knot, Dunlin and Redshanks passed by, battling into the wind. 

 

Sheltering behind the RNLI building, we renewed our seaward vigil. After a bit, I suddenly picked up a Leach's Petrel, just offshore - boom! We were delighted - and a bit relieved - and enjoyed 20 minutes watching this storm-blown waif as it pattered through the breakers. The weather had improved with good light and visibility, so we got great views through our scopes. As the bird was lingering just offshore, we decided to get nearer, so we legged it down the beach and hid behind the concrete groynes trying to get out of the gale. The petrel appeared just off the beach, buffeting about in the wind. Closer scrutiny revealed moulted inner primaries, so presumably an adult. The angled wings, pale grey covert bar on the upperwings and forked black tail was really obvious and the size and flight style quite different to the tiny Euro Storm-petrels and Wilson's Storm-petrels which I have seen more recently. The bird seemed to be feeding, or at least trying to, dipping down constantly to the water surface, bounding up and down, with occasional high arcs to avoid passing gulls, before disappearing behind impressive waves. 

 

The Leach's began to get pestered by a young Herring Gull, relentlessly chasing it until it caught the wind and got blown back north and into the Mersey, where it was seen by other birders. Our spirits lifted, we continued to watch, adding a few flocks of Tufted Ducks to the list, along with more waders tracking south. 

Dunc suddenly announced 'Manx Shearwater' and sure enough, a dapper Manxie was arcing along the edge of the beach looking gorgeous in the early afternoon sunshine. Seeing this species over the sands, cutting through loafing Herring Gulls was totally bizarre and really cool. 

Time was, by now, getting on, so we returned to the river to try our luck there. Finding shelter along the riverside, I nipped off to the loo and managed to miss another Leach's which flew past where Dunc was standing - doh! We grilled the river for a good while, but it had vanished, perhaps back upriver. An Arctic Skua was knocking about but little more sadly. Heading home, we stopped nearer the tunnel, adding Mediterranean Gull and Little Egret to the day list, but no more petrels. Back through the tunnel and up the M62 we went, feeling pleased with the great views of Leach's Petrel and Grey Phalarope we'd had. Not quite the numbers we'd hoped for, but a really enjoyable day in the teeth of Storm Amy. As I write, there have been over 30 Leach's in the Mersey off New Brighton, plus Sabine's Gull and Euro Stormie, so it seems the day following the big blow is best. I will keep my eyes on the weather as there is still time for another go at this before the season is over.

...............

Seeing Leach's Petrel on the Wirral had long been in the back of my mind, but I'd never got round to making the effort. This species is pretty scarce in the North Sea where I do most of my seawatching and I have only seen a couple in Yorkshire and not for many years. My most memorable encounter before yesterday was from the mid Noughties, when I lived next to Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire. 

The first Leach's I found there was completely unexpected. It was 3rd October 2005 and before work I had decided to check out a report of a Ring-necked Duck. The bird had been reported with the Tufted Duck flock off the lagoons, so I headed straigh there.  Scanning through the flock of Aythyas, I was shocked when a Leach's Petrel flew through my scope view! This was totally out of the blue; the conditions were mild and anticyclonic, with very little wind, so not the kind of weather you'd expect to find an inland Leach's. I followed the bird as it flapped down the reservoir towards Mander Car Park. My old Nokia 3210 mobile phone had no battery charge, so I ran back to the car to plug it in, so I could phone Mark Hawkes and get the news out. I then drove down to Mander and after a few tense minutes refound the bird flying about, pursued by gulls. 

This was my first inland Leach's and something I'd always dreamt of finding at Grafham and given it was my birthday, I was pretty stoked. Mark and others turned up to watch this lost seabird, but after a while we realised that it had attracted the attention of a local Peregrine, aswell as the gulls. The Peg began to attack the petrel and after a couple of near misses, clattered into the little seabird and knocked it cartwheeling into the water. A Great-black backed Gull immediately swooped in, and grabbed the petrel, partially swallowing it, while the Peregrine circled overhead. Harried by other gulls it took off with the poor bird still in its beak with the wings trailing out either side, looking like a rather large moustache. Several birders had managed to see the bird before it met its unfortunate end, but one birder turned up just too late. When asking if the Leach's was still showing, we pointed out the sad sight of the Great Black-back flying around with the petrel's wings still protruding. 

Roll forward 14 months and a long spell of strong west and northwesterly winds in early December had produced a number of inland Leach's Petrels at many of the big reservoirs in the southern half of the UK. Myself and others had been out every day scouring Grafham Water trying to find out own but with no joy. Discussing this on Birdforum, I pondered why Grafham was missing out, until somebody suggested I might be looking in the wrong place. I had been checking the sheltered side of the reservoir, where in the past I'd found wrecked Northern Fulmars and Kittiwakes. The suggestion was to try the exposed side as petrels were likely to be so exhausted that they'd struggle to fight the wind and get into shelter, so they'd likely be pinned on that shore. I thought I'd try out this theory, and headed round to Church Lane which gave a good view of the north shore. 

Within moments, and to great delight, I found a Leach's Petrel, followed by a second bird. The birds were close in off the lake shore and clearly exhausted. 

 

They were flying about but frequently settling on the water. I phoned Mark and he came straight down, finding a third bird off Mander as he walked round. Sadly, one of the birds became moribund and was washed up on the shore in front of us. It was a sad sight and two local Carrion Crows immediately flew in to have a look. I couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen, so went down and picked it up. I felt I could try and get some food into it and save its life. I took it home and filled the bath with cold water and plopped the petrel in. It seemed fairly content and just paddled about. This was fairly surreal to say the least. Things became stranger when the doorbell rang and Mark walked in with a second Leach's which had succumbed to the same fate. This joined the first in the bath. Pondering what to do, we tried a little squidged tuna, but the birds were very emaciated and probably dehydrated and vomited whatever I tried to get them to swallow. Sadly, within half an hour, they had both died. 

Looking back, I feel I should have let nature take it's course and left them to die without interfering. At the time, I just wanted to help as I couldn't bear seeing them be killed by the local crows. Putting emotion aside, it was incredible to see these little seabirds close-up, and I marvelled at the intricacies of their tiny tubenosed beaks. Both had new inner primaries, old outer primaries and were missing the middle primaries (see pic above), and I pondered whether this impacted on their flight efficiency and made them more vulnerable to being wrecked by strong winds. I will never know.