An RSPB guided walk written up well after the fact…

It was the nicest weather I’ve ever experienced at Hesketh Out Marsh; warm and sunny and not very windy at all. We walked out to the breach in the sea wall and waited t see what the tide would bring: fewer birds than I expected but it’s all about the quality.

A Peregrine climbing on a thermal provided the closest and most leisurely view of its kind I ever had. A single Whimbrel was my first, and the Eiders riding the current up the channels from the estuary were my first in the wild too. Of the common waders there were the ones you’d expect.

Returning to the shelter by the car park, we spotted a Ringed Plover which I don’t believe is terribly common at this site, and had some nice views of a rther dusty-looking Buzzard hunting at the edge of a field. I finally spotted a few of the White Wagtails I had been scouring the mosses for, so that was very pleasing.

We eventually spotted a brace of grey partiridges that we had been told were in the area, so that made up a good day’s ticking for me.