Dr Phil Smith’s Wildlife Notes
December 2024

According to the Met. Office, it was the fifth warmest December since records began in 1884. I don’t remember seeing any frost in Formby. The month was dull overall with rainfall a little above average in the UK. This fits with Rachael Park’s rainfall data from her garden in Formby. She recorded 121 mm in 19 days which is approximately 20% above normal. Mind you, an extraordinary 42 mm (1.65 inches) fell on the 31^st, significantly boosting the total. I measured the sand-dune water-table on 30^th, when it had gone up by only 5 cm in the month. The year as a whole was the fourth warmest ever, part of a trend that, as reported in these notes, has seen dozens of warmth-loving insects moving north into our region. It is worth quoting excerpts from the Met. Office website: “We continue to head up this warming curve” and “We are heading outside the envelope of historical observations.”

As usual, December was a generally quiet month for wildlife sightings, allowing plenty of time for sending in records and report writing, including papers for publication. During the month, an article on the invasive plant Traveller’s-joy (Clematis vitalba) in the Sefton dunes appeared in the online journal British and Irish Botany. The paper describes a 2023 survey of the Clematis, provides evidence that justifies its control and outlines the best ways of doing this. At the end of each year, I report on additions to the Inventory of Vascular Plants for the Sefton Coast. In 2024, eight new plants were found, five native and three alien, giving a grand total of 1281 for the dunes. Overall, since 2004/05, as many as 221 new plants have been added to the Inventory, confirming the outstanding botanical importance of the Sefton coast and justifying the many national and international conservation designations that apply to the dune-system.

Although I didn’t venture out as often as usual, the trips I did make were usually rewarded with something interesting. On 8^th I did a circuit of Freshfield Dune Heath Nature Reserve. The recent named storm had knocked over a few trees but nothing like as many as storm ’Arwen’ in November 2021. I was pleased to see that the volunteers had removed a number of spindly birch trees that were invading the heathland. Management operations were also in evidence on Montagu Road heath next door, where regenerating birch had been taken out, encouraging lawns of young Heather. Several large oaks, retained during earlier restoration works, were festooned in mosses and lichens, including Mamillate Plait-moss; common nationally but scarce on the coast.

Cabin Hill National Nature Reserve provided some ‘good’ birds on 14^th. Shallowly-flooded wetland produced 18 Snipe and four Jack Snipe. A Grey Heron also flew up, though what it could find to feed on here is anyone’s guess. A Water-rail and Chiffchaff called briefly but my best sighting was a Marsh Harrier, swooping elegantly over the big reed-bed in the gathering gloom; the first I have seen here in over 50 years. Four enormous English Longhorns with spectacular horns posed for photographs. These placid beasts are helping about 50 Herdwick sheep to open up coarse vegetation and scrub across the reserve.

The 28^th began inspirationally with a Song Thrush singing full-blast in the garden. The male’s rich and complex song is one of the most familiar of any British bird but how many recognise it today, following its tragic decline by 65% over the last 30 years?

I took a few crusts to Southport Marine Lake on 29^th, hoping to attract a Mediterranean Gull that often winters here. About 20 Black-headed Gulls soon turned up, three of them having large leg-rings whose codes can easily be read on a photo. They were soon replaced by around 50 belligerent Herring Gulls, mostly first-winter birds. Then a scrum of 70 Mute Swans piled in but no ‘Med.’ I sent the Blackhead ring numbers to Simon Slade, who kindly looked up the details. Eachgullhad been reported on up to nine previous occasions in winter, mostly at Southport, except for individuals that also visited Martin Mere and Seaforth. They must like it here.

Having used up all my bread, I continued on to Marshside, where two distant Spoonbills were feeding in a pool on the outer marsh. Not long ago, this was a rare bird nationally but the 2023 Lancashire Bird Report tells us that the Spoonbill is becoming a regular wintering bird in the county and is also nesting in small numbers. The first successful breeding in Britain in modern times was on the Ribble marshes in 1999, when a pair raised two young. Like the Great White, Little and Cattle Egrets, the Spoonbill is rapidly becoming a well-established British bird. What next? The Black-winged Stilt perhaps.