Spent the morning on the marsh today. grey with a few sunny periods until the drizzle moved in again just before high tide and droove us home.
Plenty of wildfowl on the inland marsh - Wigeon are everywhere you look, and a small gull roost on Marshside One was a bit distant, but held one or two intereting looking Herring Gull types.
A GBB was doing unspeakable things to the corpse of what looked like a Pink Foot, and Carrion Crows soon joined the butchery.
Presumably the goose was dead before the gull got to it - unles the GBBs are getting really hungry now...
About 2,000 Lapwing on Marshside Two.
Loads of Black Tailed Godwits still, with Marshside One holding the lion's share, although there were plenty further north too.
A particularly obliging Snipe was dozing just to the right of Sandgrounders Hide - shame I don't know how to take a decent picture.....
99 Pochard at least on the Sandplant pools, but there were probably one or two more dozing under the bank.
Two Scaup off Nel's Hide on Marshside One, both female types, but I believe there are up to three on the reserve at the moment.
3-4 Little Egrets on the outer marsh in the usual area, and good numbers of Oystercatcher on the tideline.
Jellyhead picked up a Barnacle Goose amongst the Pinkies out near Crossens Channel, and a Merlin was perched up on the posts.
Three Cormorants on the pools and a few flocks of Skylarks about.
Now for the obligatory Wigeon shot. There are just too many of 'em. I dream of Wigeon. Wigeon is all I see. Wigeon, Wigeon, Wigeon.
Er, sorry about that, dunno what came over me.
One Peregrine distantly on the gasometer, but the rain came in and Bazzo and I headed for home, leaving Jellyhead to lead the RSPB guided walk out onto the lorry road.
I wonder how many will come back....?
Later in the day went for a walk along Taggs Island with Mrs D in the rain, didn't really get a chance to grill the gull roost, but there were at least 8,000 birds on the sand about a quarter of a mile south of Weld Road.
Certainly worth checking if anyone gets the time.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies....
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A quick visit to Banks Marsh yesterday pm, nice lack of wind for a change. Most Wigeons (i.e. tens of thousands) out by the tide but two Goosanders on the floods, brown heads but drakes I think, first winters presumably.A duck spent last winter on the gutters by the Bank.I wonder if any connection with Mere Sands Wood birds.
A coupla thousand ' Feet out toward Crossens.
A dark bellied Brent was a bit of a surprise, feeding with Shelducks and Curlews down towards the End. Forty odd Twites, loafing around in the grass way out by the floods, and a good mixed flock, 1/200 of Mipits, Skylarks and Pied Wags in a denuded brassica field inland (these fields well worth a look).
A (the?) Green Sand was in the reserve pond, must surely be the bird which spent last winter here.
Good article in the "Guardian" yesterday about Wild Boars "terrorising dog walkers" down in Devon. Mmmmm!! 400lbs of enraged porker sprinting out of the dunes in hot and hostile pursuit of someone's podgy Rottweiler ! In your dreams Jackson, in your dreams!
testing testing. more probs receiving comments on the blog.....
d'oh!
Here's Si Glinn's latest post, which has got stuck in the blogosphere....
Hi John
Whereas I'm usually happy to sit staring at Wigeon for hours on end, I went with John Downtheroad and Bones the butcher to get a New Year's Day list, still bouncing off the walls from partying as we set off at first light. We had a target of 50, but deep down I think we were all thinking 60 would be more like it.
Southport, Garden:
01 Blackbird
02 Pinkfoot Geese (about 1000 flying over at 7.35am)
03 Herring Gull
04 Feral Pigeon
05 Starling
06 Robin
07 Magpie
En route to Marshside:
08 Woodpigeon
09 Carrion Crow
Marshside - first on the scene and down the sand road in time for high tide at 8.55, 50km/h WSW gusts threatening to blow tripods away:
10 BHG
11 Mallard
12 Kestrel
13 Curlew
14 Linnet
15 Shelduck
16 Redshank
17 GBB
18 Cormorant
19 Turnstone
20 LBB
21 Oystercatcher
22 Knot
23 Grey Plover
24 Dunlin
25 Meadow Pipit
26 Little Egret
27 Wren
28 Lapwing
29 Bar tail Godwit
30 Pochard
31 Little Grebe
32 Wigeon
33 Greylag Goose
34 Teal
35 Black Tailed Godwit
36 Coot
37 Pintail
38 Golden Plover
39 Mute Swan
40 Snipe
41 Canada Goose
42 Shoveller
43 Moorhen
44 Jackdaw
45 Barnacle Goose
Began struggling then; so windy there wasn't a lot of small stuff visible, and there was so much water in front of Nels that we didn't bother heading down there, thus missing out on a pair of Scaup. Couldn't find a heron anywhere at Marshside, just bloody little egret everywhere we looked!
Southport Marine Lake:
46 Grey Heron
47 Goldeneye (10 of them at the north end)
Much like home after a night in the pub there was no sign of any action...
Sands Lake:
48 Tufted Duck
49 Goldfinch
50 Common Gull
51 Chaffinch
Plex and Downholland Mosses:
52 Rook
53 Common Pheasant
54 Red Legged Partridge
55 Mistle Thrush
56 Whooper Swan x5
57 Collared Dove
Altcar Withins:
58 Common Buzzard
Manchester Road:
59 Pied Wagtail
And that should have been that, it was coming up to 2pm and John A, who was driving, had to go on family visiting duties so we headed back hoping to tick no. 60 in the garden.
Southport, Garden
60 Great Tits
Just before 3pm John A rang to say he'd been let off family duties, and we were off again.
Mere Sands Wood:
61 Reed Bunting
62 Great Crested Grebe x2
63 Goosander
64 Jay
65 Great Spotted Woodpecker
66 Gadwall
67 Long Tailed Tit
68 Blue Tit ! Finally!
69 Song Thrush
It was dark by now, so there was only one thing left to do. We stopped by the windmill for a while, and then headed past Martin Mere and took a right towards New Lane. It all went exactly according to plan, as 300 yards down there, hunting over the field on the right, very close to the road was the icing on the cake:
Marsh Moss Lane:
70 Barn Owl