It’s hard sometimes to think of new titles for posts about Marshside, but on days like theses it’s not hard to enjoy going birdwatching there. In this post, I’m rolling together a few days of birding because it’s my blog and I can if I want.

April 30

I started early at Fairclough’s platform, where a pair of Scaup awaited, along with Paul S and John B. Blackcap and Whitethroat were singing in the nearby shrubbery, and Black-tailed Godwits accumulated on the fairways of the golf course in anticipation of tee-off time.

At Wheatear corner, a flock of dunlin and ringed plovers joined the godwits but it was hard not to pay more attention to a hoody-clad youth with a ginger cat on a leash who was investigating the Japanese Rose. No idea what that was about.

Moving up to Marshside Road, I was welcomed by a Sedge Warbler near the junction. Further up, the recently exposed marsh was dotted with birds: White Wagtails, Ringed Plover, Meadow Pipits, Dunlin and best of all a Little Stint. There was also the Brown Hare show: X-rated at times but with lots of chasing around.

I spent much of the day in Sandgrounder’s, where most of the birds to be seen are Black-headed gulls, but a 1st summer (2CY) Mediterranean Gull was providing excellent entertainment, posturing and picking fights with his neighbours.

I should also mention that I popped in to Marshside briefly yesterday too; on that occasion there was a Curlew Sandpiper (in non-breeding plumage) with the Dunlin etc at the north end of Rimmer’s. A reported Curly Sand today was probably a Dunlin that was mostly in winter plumage with a very long bill and just a few dark feathers on the belly.

May 4

May 5

On this beautiful sunny afternoon, news broke of a Glossy Ibis on Rimmer’s Marsh, so I went racing up there to see the beast