The Dee Estuary, on the North Wales / North-West England border, is one of the United Kingdom's premier birding locations for wetland and shorebirds. This Website describes the best Dee Estuary birdwatching areas with detailed maps and latest bird news for dedicated twitchers and casual birdwatchers alike.
Please send any
sightings to: 
Newsletters going back to March 1998 can be read, they are indexed both month by month and by subject matter.
Latest Sightings.... (more)
Sep 20
112+ Leach's Petrel, 2 Arctic Skua, 1 Great Skua and 20 Manx Shearwater - Hilbre.
20+ Leach's Petrel, 1 Little Gull and 2 Manx Shearwater past Mersey mouth this morning - New Brighton.
48 Leach's Petrel and 1 Manx Shearwater past Coastguards by 14.15hrs - Wallasey Shore.-
32+ Leach's Petrel and 1 Manx Shearwater by 11.30am Leasowe.
1 Storm Petrel and 9+ Leach's Petrel off East Hoyle Bank - Hoylake.
15 Leach's Petrel by 9am - Gronant.
Sep 19
16+ Leach's Petrel (28 reported elsewhere?) - Leasowe Gunsite.
19 Leach's Petrel, 1 Storm Petrel, 9 Red-throated Diver, 2 Arctic Tern, 1 Little Tern, 6 Sandwich Tern, 4 Guillemot and 1 Razorbill - Hilbre.
Sep 18
1 Storm Petrel and 2 - 3 Leach's Petrel early morning in Mersey mouth - New Brighton.
1 Curlew Sandpiper on must just south of West Kirby Marine Lake.
Leach's Petrel past the Coastguards at Wallasey, September 20th Mark Woodhead
Some were coming very close!
Great Skua, Hilbre, September 20th Alan Hitchmough
Leach's Petrel past the Coastguards at Wallasey, September 20th Mark Woodhead
Manx Shearwater, Hilbre, September 20th Alan Hitchmough
Three superb photos of Leach's Petrels at Wallasey, September 17th Joe Downing
Barn Owl at Parkgate, September 13th Frank Burns
Common Scoter off Hilbre, September 13th Bill Wonderley
Barn Owl by Leasowe Lighthouse, september 11th Sean O'Hara
Leach's Petrel past Hilbre, September 9th Alan Hitchmough (Hilbre Bird Observatory)
Wheatear by Lifeboat Station Holake, September 9th Sean O'Hara
One of two Arctic Skuas over Little Eye, September 9th Alan Hitchmough (Hilbre Bird Observatory)
Leach's Petrel past Hilbre, September 8th Steve Williams (Hilbre Bird Observatory)
Juvenile Merlin at Point of Ayr, September 8th Mike Pollard
Stonechat at Leasowe, August 6th Jeremy Bradshaw
Baird's Sandpiper, Meols Shore, September 3rd Steve Williams
Baird's Sandpiper on Meols Shore, September 3rd Sean O'Hara (finder!)
Baird's Sandpiper on Meols Shore, September 3rd Joe Downing
Baird's Sandpiper and Little Stint, Meols Shore, September 3rd John Hewitt
Baird's Sandpiper on Meols Shore, September 3rd Richard Smith
Little Stint and Dunlin at Meols, September 2nd Sean O'Hara
Greeenshanks at Burton Mere Wetlands, September 1st Lawrence Holland
Female Common Redstart on Hoylake Langfields, September 1st Richard Whitby
Little Stint at Meols, August 31st David Thompson
Kingfisher at Burton Mere Wetlands, August 30th John Kane
Juvenile Black-tailed Godwits, Caldy Wildfowl Collection, August 30th Richard Smith
Common Sandpiper on the groyne at Meols, August 27th RGraham Connolly
Turnstone on West Kirby Shore (just south of Marine Lake), August 26th Richard Smith
Snipe on Hilbre, August 25th Alan Hitchmough
14 Spoonbills in flight at Parkgate, August 25th Mark Woodhead
Massed Hirundines at Target Road, Heswall, August 24th Steve Hinde
Willow Warbler near Boathouse Flash, Parkgate, August 21st Nigel Favager
Juvenile Wheatear at Burton Sheep Pens (Burton Point), August 16th Frank Burns
Greylag and Godwits at Caldy Wildfowl Collection, August 15th Richard Smith
Juvenile Sanderling at Hoylake, August 14th Mark Woodhead
Dunlin and Curlew Sandpiper at Hoylake, August 14th Sean O'Hara
Ringed Plovers at Hoylake, August 13th Richard Smith
Curlew Sandpiper at Hoylake, August 13th Sean O'Hara
Yellow Wagtails south of Tinkers Dell, Thurstaston August 10th Mark Gibson
Marsh Harrier at Parkgate, August 5th Nigel Favager
White-rumped Sandpiper on Meols Shore, August 5th Sean O'Hara (finder)
White-rumped Sandpiper on Meols Shore, August 5th Joe Downing
Temminck's Stint at Burton Mere Wetlands, August 5th John Hewitt
Curlew Sandpiper with Sanderling at Meols, August 5th Sean O'Hara
Adult curlew Sandpiper (centre) with Dunlin and Sanderling
Meols Shore, August 4th Sean O'Hara
Black Stork over Burton Mere Wetlands, August 1st George Scott
Black Stork off Heswall Golf Course, August 1st Joe Downing
Black Stork on Heswall Marsh, August 1st Alan Hitchmough
Part of the large Little Tern flock at Point of Ayr, July 31st Mike Pollard
Whimbrel at Dove Point, Meols, July 28th Allan Conlin
Little Grebe on pond by Thurstaston Visitor Centre, July 24th Bruce Hogan
Bittern in front of reed bed screen, Burton Mere Wetlands, July 23rd Alex and James Keeble
Black-tailed Godwits at Caldy, July 19th Richard Smith
Barn Owl at Parkgate, July 16th John Crook
Green Woodpecker on the Old Baths car park, Parkgate, July 15th John Kane
Sandwich Tern, Hilbre, 13th Steve Williams
Cinnamon Teal at Burton Mere Wetlands, July 12th Steve Williams
Short-eared Owl this evening, July 8th Jake Goswell
Mediterranean Gull at Hilbre, July 5th Alan Hitchmough
First Black-tailed Godwits of the season (non-stop from Iceland!) at Caldy Wildfowl Collection
July 2nd Richard Smith
This
is a wholly
independent
web
site and unless
where specifically stated has been written and maintained by myself,
Richard Smith. I do receive articles for the newsletter from time to
time for which I am very grateful, and also various people kindly
donate photographs and sketches. l rely to a large extent on people
keeping me informed about the birds they have seen - this, more than
anything, is what keeps the website going. Note that everything on this
website is subject to copyright although some material may be
available for non-commercial use - but please ask first! Lastly, 'Dee
Estuary Birding' is just the name of this web site - it is not the name
of an organisation or society.
Copyright 2020 Richard Smith | Header Photograph of Black-tailed Godwits Steve Round.
Copyright 2020 Richard Smith | Header Photograph of Black-tailed Godwits Steve Round.
