Bizarrely warm down at Marshside this afternoon, when Bazzo and I gave the place a quick once-over, despite the milky skies.
Chiffchaff singing down at the bottom by Hesketh Road, although Wheatear Corner appeared quiet, with another Chiffy in song in the remnants of the Forest of Bale on the southside of the Sandplant compound.
600 Golden Plovers, including many black-bellied beauties on Marshside One, with the usual waterfowl, waders etc, although the water levels are dropping almost as fast as they are in the slacks this spring (gonna be a tough year for Natterjacks - again).
The noisy of a gazillion BHGs squawking away, chasing Avocets off nest sites and generally behaving badly was deafening from Sandgrounders, where despite the disturbance, Avocets were paired up and mating.
That said, this poor female had to stay almost submerged for 3 minutes before the mood took her preening paramour and he decided it was jiggerypokery time....
Colour-ringed Avocet female (presumably, given the number of other birds chasing it around), in front of Sandgrounders too, orange over red on both legs, with letters on the red ring on the left leg ("xo"???), but she never stood still long enough to read the sequence clearly.
Four Wheatears in the Sandplant compound (3 males and a female), looking absolutely stunning in the brightening sun, until a Merlin ripped through and scattered Mipits, Wheatears and all.
The outer marsh had two Peregrines and God knows how many Pink Feet, the latter reduced to wobbly blobs in the jelly-belly heat haze.
All very pleasant and summery though, with Small Tortoiseshell and Peacocks on the wing.
No sign of any Meds today, but our visit was fairly brief, so thanks to Ron Jackson for sending me his latest video link of a Med at Marshside on March 19th, which you can watch here.
"Not the best of quality, my upload software does not like rapidly moving water in shot, see my recent Dipper footage", explains Ron.
"Per Pete Kinsella the bird has been seen at Seaforth during past few months and was ringed in Barnsley (!!!!) in July 2010".
The marsh was much better than the mosses yesterday.
The stiff easterly breeze worked at creating a dustbowl at times, as the already powdery top soil blew around all over the place on the Withins and to a lesser extent on Plex....wonder how long it'll be before a hosepipe ban comes our way.
Larks, Lapwings, Buzzards and Yellowhammers as usual.
Checked out a few dung heaps in the hope of ferreting out a White Wag, but only managed Pieds, and the places smelled like a Skunk's undergarments anyway.
Down in the dunes, the Goldcrest passage has continued apace, with the odd Wheatear nipping through the slacks, and several Chiffchaffs in song in Birkdale dunes this week.
Also caught up with (I think) our mega-rare woodlouse, Armadillidium album. I know, he ain't much to look at, but as far as I'm aware, you can only find the little critter here and at a site in Norfolk.
Whether this is down to the fact that there aren't too many folk out there deranged enough to survey areas for woodlouse, is of course, another question entirely, but at least album has a nice pale skirt, which you can just make out in my poor shot, and that counts for a lot in woodlouse world.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Marshside/Crossens, 1030-1430
Passerine migrants:
Wheatear 4
Chiffchaff 9
Goldcrest 2
Sand Martin 3
Siskin 5
Lesser Redpoll 4
3 European Whitefronts, 1 Barnacle Goose with c 3000 Pinkfeet on Crossens Outer
Hi John, This afternoon, Brimstone Butterfly on old sea wall, Marshside Two.
Mike
Saw two pairs of Oystercatchers today: one pair on a flooded "scrape" in a field off Halsall Lane and the other on Plex Lane.
This is a sharp upturn in the number of oycs this far inland I've seen around that area in a while.
Lots of the Lapwing doing their thing over Plex, too, plus Shelduck on the flooded fields and Red Legged Partridges dotted around.
The Reed Buntings are still around Plex Brow Farm, as was as a Yellowhammer.