Drizzle and dunlins

Posted by on May 14, 2006 1:48 PM | Permalink

A poor morning at Marshside today _ plenty to look at right enough, but no real passage.....

This second year Herring Gull tried to eat a tennis ball - which was different.

I spent most of my time going through 300 plus Dunlins from Nels Hide....but all black bellied summer birds, nowt else. There a Ruff out there and at least 38 Avocets, plus young, Lapwing, Coot, Moorhen and Mallard chicks.
A Reed Warbler singing in the SSSI ditch loudly _ no problem with this bird, unlike the acro aggro they're having down at Frodsham....
Is it a Marsh? Is it a Reed? Not having seen or heard the bird, I can understand the difficulty looking at the pics of it on www.surfbirds.com _ the head and bill look good for Marsh, but the tertials and primaries don't, not enough crisp white edging, only diffuse buffy white feathering which looks too broad - never easy lto judge on one or two photos though...
Mimicry from the depths of a hawthorn hedge favour Marsh, but Reed can sneak into a hedge too _ still it's their problem not mine.
Shelduck were performing well in front of the hide at Marshside.

At least four Ruddy Duck on the marsh today _ the males are bubbling superbly _ and Whitethroat and Sedgies singing away.
The two Barnacle Geese are still on Marshside One.
I tried to get a few shots of Redshank today, but they wouldn't keep still - as you can see...