Posts about birding
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Evening at Marshside
An evening in Nel’s hide spent squinting at tiny birds at the edge of my scope’s usable range was much more pleasant than I just made it sound.
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Marshside
Sometimes Garganey hide in the grassy parts of the marsh, and sometimes they tear around chasing Godwits. Today was a bit of both for the drake in front of Nel’s hide.
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A few birds from Haskayne and Plex Moss
A quick visit to a Haskayne Cuttng that was largely devoid of life in horrid weather was followed by sightings of Merlin and Mistle Thrush on Plex Moss on the way home.
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Marshside MEGA!
Following on from our afternoon at Martin Mere—and tasty burgers—we dropped in to Marshside to bump up the day’s total in the gathering gloom. The first bird we saw on Rainford’s Lagoon was a Great Crested Grebe; reasonably common at other nearby locations (such as the estuary and the sea!) this is nontheless an extremely rare bird on the reserve itself. Probably poorly?
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Good day at Martin Mere
We started with a cruise along Curlew Lane near Martin Mere, where two pairs of Yellow Wagtails were flitting around the fields on either side of the roads. Close views from the car, and what lovely little birds they are.
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Quiet except for dogs on the beach
My plan was to sit quietly peering over the frontmost dune as the tide came in and have a look at the Sanderlings in their summer plumage and see what was with them. Stymied by an obscene number of dogs, some actually chasing the birds, I buggered off on to the dunes and watched a Whitethroat performing display flights repeatedly. I don’t often have my scope on the dunes, so I was pleased to be able to use it to get lovely views of the Whitethroat and a very fine Linnet.
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Another Sparrowhawk
A different Sparrowhawk in the garden today; a juvenile male if I’m not mistaken.
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Ainsdale Dunes
A quick walk on Ainsdale dunes on a windy evening.
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Whimbrels and wagtails
A quick trip to pick up some of the birds I missed last week.
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Marshside after the rain
On Sunday at Sandgrounders the water level was much higher than previously after some heavy rain. The Avocets in front of the hide probably hadn’t laid good eggs anyway, but were struggling to keep them above water and probably failing.
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