After a particularly fierce session in the Legless Arms last night with a dangerously wide selection of Marshside's finest, I wasn't feeling particularly chipper this morning.
So after a period of quiet reflection, I headed out over the mosses in the afternoon - frequent showers and a brisk south easterly didn't bode well, as I drove through large flocks of fledging pheasants on the Withins.
A few Red Legged Partridge and Whitethroats about, Swallows hawking for insects, but pretty quiet.
At Lydiate Station car park I parked up and scanned back towards Carr Wood - two Marsh Harriers and two Buzzards, plus at least six Kestrels wasn't too shabby, but best of all the Red Kite came sailing by after half an hour or so.
No tags on the wings, it was mobbed by Carrion Crows but still kept steering through the air over the wood.
Good scope views, no chance for a decent pic in the overcast conditions and rain.
The bird spooked the large flocks of Woodpigeon and Stock Dove in the fields, and tends to perch up in the dead trees in Carr Wood, which are 'scopable from Lydiate Station.
It went for a fly two or three times over the next hour or so, and eventually dropped down out of sight in a freshly cut corn field.
Cool.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Si Glinn wrote...
Hi John. Feeling equally rough we went for a squint at this bird yesterday.
Carr Wood is the wrong side of the Alt for the small band of bizarre but dedicated Merseyside listers but it is clearly viewable from the Merseyside side of Baines Bridge and areas around there.
Luck and or patience will probably see it range occasionally across the river into the golden county and it was certainly more luck than patience that led to us picking it up from the 48A bus at Lady Green as we arrived, ranging over New Moss Wood and very much on the right side of the river but heading back towards the Withins.
We legged it down to Baines Bridge after that and got several more views of it over Carr Woods and the Withins and, after an amusing encounter with Farmer Palmer of the 1st Merseyside Get Orff My Land Brigade for straying a few yards up the river bank (he hurtled across His Land in a 4x4 as though on on manoeuvres to intercept the serious threat of two birders making it to Lunt, and seemed to find it hard to understand that the fact that his sign was so rotten that the words "The Is No Public" had fallen off meant that the remaining words, "Right Of Way Along River Bank" seemed to convey permission rather than the opposite) followed the path along Maghull Cut Hey. This took us right past Carr Woods but there was still no further sign; there were however hare coursers out and about.
Much as you noted, but didn't get onto a Marsh Harrier. A few Tufties on the Hey, stacks of Kestrels and a C. Buzzard, a flock of c 350 Goldfinch and lots of young Linnet.
Followed the Cheshire Lines past the sewage works and then jinked a few footpaths to end up somewhere near Lydiate to pick up the last 300 back to Southport.
Posted by: Si Glinn | August 19, 2007 9:33 AM