Strange sort of day today - mad busy on the beach, with the warm sun bringing out the barbecue brigade for one last blow-out before the winter, but not a lot moving birdy-wise early on - Wheatear, Mipits and a Common Buzzard between Ainsdale and Birkdale, with small parties of Swallows and alba wags coming through.
Checked Plex this evening, where giant haystacks, or haytowerblocks really, are in many of the fields, ideal for raptors to perch up on and look for prey - Buzzard and Kestrel lurrve to do this, but you never know what else may give it a try.
Met Dave Conway, who'd seen a Short Eared Owl and evening or two ago, which is a nice autumn record, otherwise just the usual Red Legs, the unusually resilient Helmeted Guineafowl pair, and the sound of Pinkies carrying over the fields.
Scoped the sea for an hour over the tide at Ainsdale at lunchtime, with predictably little passing...the interesting stuff was loafing on the water.
Two Guillemots, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Red Throated Diver and 80+ Common Scoters were nice, but far groovier was what looked very like a Red Necked Grebe halfway out.
Frustratingly I didn't get a particularly good view of it before it sailed off into the heat haze, but black cap, white face, orangey throat and brown back all pointed to one of these babies.
Just didn't come in close enough for decent views.
Still 124 Sandwich Terns trying to roost on Ainsdale beach despite the crowds (I took this pic a day or two ago), and reasonable numbers of the commoner waders between Ainsdale and Birkdale over the tide.
Duncan Rothwell tells me he saw a very young grebeling (???whaddya call a baby grebe???) with the adult Little on Sands Lake, which suggests the pair have reared a second brood this year, in between spending their time confounding my efforts to try to get a decent photograph of the constantly diving weasels.
Wait till the lake freezes over in a few months my pretties, then you will be mine...
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Bazzo wrote...
Gropper briefly on Sandplant peninsula at Marshside today.
Posted by: Bazzo | September 20, 2009 7:19 PM