An hour out to check the "half-high tide" on Tuesday evening was about as ropey as I expected - with high tide beneath 8 metres the sea was never going to trouble the beach at Ainsdale that much, and despite the fact that clouds were starting to fill in from the west, the heat haze offshore was still really bad at 5.20pm.
Best I could manage was up to 10 Gannets fishing a few hundred metres out, with one or two Sandwich Terns and circling gulls.
The beach wasn't much better, so I went off looking for orchids in the dunes.
A few spikes of Bee Orchid blooming away now - one little colony had eight flowering plants, and there were one or two other spikes elsewhere.
Gazillions of Marsh Helleborine in bud in the slacks, and in one sheltered corner, four Pyramidal Orchids coming into flower.
A few Willow Warblers and Whitethroats singing, with one of the former doing a weird subsong.
The Mute Swan has a maturing cygnet out on the Sands Lake, which was largely the preserve of Mallards heading into eclipse plumage and loafing Herring Gulls.
Perhaps I should have gone to look at the Spoonbill through the fence at Seaforth after all.
But judging by the lack of comment traffic on the blog, I guess it's pretty quiet everywhere (unless the trip to Fair Isle for the Citril Finch tickled your fancy)..
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Ron Jackson wrote...
Singing (or calling) Quail on the new RSPB place up at Hesketh Bank on Sunday.
I did a WeBS which necessitated walking (with bloody difficulty 'cos of long
grass and nettles) around the perimeter.
Posted by: Ron Jackson | June 11, 2008 1:52 PM