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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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Increased accuracy of listing with commensurate decline in totals.
I decided it was no longer acceptable to be listing both Black-tailed Godwit and Black tailed godwit as separate species, let alone the various permutations of Great(er) black(-)backed gull. So now my life and year lists are checked and corrected! There are additional benefits…
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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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Martin Mere in the Rain
After dipping on Whimbrel, Yellow Wagtail and common rhea (really!) we found ourselves at Martin Mere as the weather turned sour.
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Lunt Meadows and West Lancs mosses
A quick trip around Lunt Meadows on a windy day failed to produce the Marsh Harrier we were romised in the car park, but Swifts were out in force, joining Sand Martins and the other hirundines. Splendid views of all of these birds as they were almost stalled flying into the stiff breeze.
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