Spent a pleasant hour or two at Marshside this afternoon, mild southerly breeze and sunny periods, and lots of birds coming back onto the fields.
Between 30 and 40 Wigeon on Polly's Pool, still several Kestrels hunting and a Little Egret on Crossens Marsh.
Up to 100 Golden Plover, 2,000 Blackwits and 40+ Ruff all on Marshside 2, aka Suttons marsh, where the juvenile Black Tern was hunting along the back edge.
Best place to watch it from is the inland path north of Marshside Road, rather than Sandgrounders, although it is viewable distantly from there.
Frustrating isn't the word to describe trying to get a picture of it - graceful and tireless on the wing was lovely to look at, but it meant hand-held cameras pressed to scope lenses didn't cope very well -as you can see!
Fortunately you can just make out the shoulder smudge on the pic above.
My favourite shot this afternoon is this one...
Completely out of focus, but a larger image, trust me to release the shutter just as the little sod dipped its head into the vegetation to snatch an insect.
Many thanks by the way to Clarko for keeping us all so well updated about the little weasel.
I must check the inland path more often - there were plenty of Goldfinches out there, hirundines, waders and gulls and they don't seem bothered by birders or dogwalkers.
But frankly I should have known I'd be out of luck today when I turned my attention to the House Sparrows perching up along the path behind the back gardens....
Outfoxed by a female House Sparrow. Great.
On the upside there's some juicy big tides coming this weekend, so if the wind gets behind 'em, it's seawatching time again.
But the lure of the east coast is strong, and I suspect I'll be watching the sun rising, rather than setting, over the waves next time I'm hunting shearwaters.
Onward and upward to the Village of the Damned!!!!
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies....
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You probably know about these already, but due to theÃÂ huge amount of pigeons in the area, I think I've spotted the fattest pair of Peregrines in the world.
I watched them with delight this afternoon at Liverpool's Stanley Dock on the old tobacco warehouse.