Local patch

Barton Clough

A general air of lethargy had descended. I wondered if I'd burned myself out trying to fill my boots while passage migrants, incoming Summer visitors and decent weather was available before the onset of the hayfever season. Then I nipped round to the shops for a loaf and discovered it was municipal grass-cutting day. I didn't want to waste what was likely to be the last fine day this week so I weighed up the options. Then found that the trains in and out of Manchester were up the spout. So I checked up on the local patch then did the big shop for the week.

There are already more singing blackcaps in the park than last year. The chiffchaffs were a bit shy, we seem to be back down to two territories. I'd written the visit off as too early for whitethroats then one started singing from the brambles on the United Utilities land behind the wall. There were greenfinches about but they were keeping a very low profile.

• Blackbird 10, 4 singing
• Blackcap 4, 3 singing
• Blue tit 5, 1 singing
• Carrion crow 2
• Chaffinch 1 singing
• Chiffchaff 2 singing
• Dunnock 1
• Feral pigeon 2
• Goldfinch 9, 2 singing
• Great tit 9, 6 singing
• Greenfinch 3
• Lesser black-back 1
• Long-tailed tit 2
• Magpie 6
• Mistle thrush 1
• Ring-necked parakeet 1
• Robin 8, 7 singing
• Song thrush 1 singing
• Whitethroat 1 singing
• Woodpigeon 16, 4 singing
• Wren 6, 5 singing

Marshside

Little gull

The weather looked uncertain so I decided to head over to Southport and have a nosy at Marshside. If the weather behaved I could walk to Crossens, if it didn't then I could sit in Sandgrounders a while then beat a retreat back for the bus to Southport. In the end I beat the retreat but it was a far from disappointing visit.

A skylark sang over a football match on the school playing field on Marshside Road. I noticed that nearly all the molehills had been dispersed, the last time I came it looked like a particularly challenging dribbling course had been set up. Small flocks of house sparrows and starlings bustled between the houses and gardens and the nature reserve.

The marshes were now mostly dry, dotted about with networks of Canada geese, lapwings and greylags. Coots and moorhens hurried about, mallards dozed, teals and shovelers dabbled and black-headed gulls made a racket.

By Marshside Road 

A whitethroat sang at the Junction Pool. A few tufted ducks bobbed about, shelducks loafed with mallards, a pair of mute swans cruised about like a minesweeper patrol. A couple of dozen black-tailed godwits, mostly in rusty brown breeding plumage, huddled together to doze. I could only see a handful of avocets and they were all feeding at the water's edge. A few redshanks and a pair of oystercatchers made a lot of noise and a couple of ruffs barged about in the mud.

Marshside

Little egret

Talking about barging, that's precisely the interaction between two little egrets on the opposite corner, one flying in, clattering into the egret feeding in a drain and sending it flying off and away up the road.

Little egret and Canada geese

Black-headed gulls

The rain which had been teasing up to now started in earnest just as I reached to pool next to Sandgrounders. I stood in the rain trying to work out how many little gulls were flitting about around the black-headed gulls. There were at least two adults, their wings pale grey edged white above and all black below. And there were at least two first-Winters, each with a thick black letter M drawn across their wings and back. One had the slightly darker wings, as if the charcoal was softer and smudged more when it was applied. They were obligingly close but restless and difficult to track as they jinked about amongst the other gulls.

Little gulls (the two birds in flight top left) and black-headed gulls

Little gull

Little gull (top left, in flight) and black-headed gulls

Black-headed gulls and little gull (top, centre-right)

Black-headed gulls and little gull (in flight)

Black-headed gulls and little gull (centre top)

Little gull
Like I said the other day, the rounded wing tips and the lack of a white flash on the wing makes a little gull look very different to a Bonaparte's gull, even if you can't properly see the black underwings.

Little gull

Little gull

Little gull

Little gull

Black-headed gulls

Common sense prevailed and I took refuge in Sandgrounders. The black-headed gulls were mostly settled down, some on nests, and all were noisy. A couple of males flew in to feed sitting females, a bit of pair-bonding that reassured that the chicks will get fed.

Shoveler and black-headed gulls

Behind the shingle island a couple of dozen redshanks fed busily in the channel, in the company of a couple of ruffs and a couple of dunlins, one of which was in breeding plumage with a striking black belly. Behind them slightly more black-tailed godwits split their time between feeding and preening.

Little gull

Little gulls, adult left

A little gull flew in and landed in front of the redshanks. A couple of minutes later a first-Winter bird landed right next to it, providing a very nice comparison. The younger bird looked bigger but that might have been an illusion caused the the solid black band along its wing. Then a third came to join them and this was different again, having mostly white wings with little black on them. I think that must be a second-Winter plumage. Then a little ringed plover skittered past them. I was having some indecently lucky birdwatching.

Little gulls (left) and black-headed gulls

I decided that before I scuttled back for the bus I'd cross the road and have a quick look at the sand plant. I'd heard wrens, dunnocks and greenfinches in the trees here as I walked to Sandgrounders, there might be something else about. I took a bit of shelter from the wind and looked over the outer marsh just in case a spoonbill might be feeding in one of the pools. One wasn't but there were still a few pink-footed geese amongst the Canada geese in the long grass.

I looked through the gate, thinking there might be a wheatear or wagtail on the grass in the sheltered hollow. Not today there wasn't. Then a Cetti's warbler sang from the depths of a hawthorn bush by the gate. Try as I might I couldn't see it even though it must have been within arm's reach. This prompted me to check out the bushes on the perimeter of the sand plant. A dark grey lump in a small tree turned out to be a male sparrowhawk trying to take shelter from the rain. It was being mobbed by a whitethroat, a couple of chiffchaffs, and a female redstart.

The sand plant was paying dividends so I ignored the rain, which was trying its best, and walked round to the side by the car park. A couple of greenfinches and a reed bunting sheltered in the trees. A chiffchaff fly-catched from a stunted willow. I shuffled round a willow bush to get a bit of shelter as I looked at the trees up the slope and heard a song at my shoulder. It occured to me I wouldn't know a firecrest's song, it was a goldcrest that fidgeted into the next bush.

Gorse

I'd had a damned good lunchtime and saw no need to add pneumonia to the lucky bag. As I walked back up Marshside Road black-tailed godwits were feeding by the roadside drain. I looked back over the road at Junction Pool for one last go and found a second-Winter Mediterranean gull loafing by a pair of shelducks. Some days you can be too jammy for words.

Black-tailed godwits

Black-tailed godwit

On the way back the big rookery at Burscough Bridge Station and the smaller ones on Sutch Lane and near Hoscar Station were hives of activity. The usual hares were on their usual field outside Parbold. Further along there was no sign of the eagle owls in their aviary, I hope they were keeping out of the rain.

Pennington Flash

Mallard duckling

I tossed a coin for today and had a wander round Pennington Flash. Yesterday, by some miracle, I missed all the rain and hail and had nearly unbroken sunshine. Today was cool and dreich. Still, April showers and all that.

The 610 left Leigh Bus Station just as our 126 pulled in so I got the 588 to Plank Lane and walked into Pennington Flash from there. The trees by the little car park were noisy with the songs of willow warblers and robins, anything else barely got a look-in, even the wrens struggled to be heard.

Walking in from Plank Lane 

Dropping down to the flash

The willow scrub on the rucks (the old mining spoil heaps) was even busier with willow warblers, there must have been a fall of them overnight, most will move on to less highly-contested territories.

Blackcap

Dunnock

I dropped down to the North side of the flash where blackcaps and chiffchaffs joined in the songscape. Blackcaps struck poses, always careful to have a twig or two between them and the camera, dunnocks were more obliging. I kept hearing a whitethroat in the background but couldn't see it, I could only pin it down to a stand of hawthorns. When I got to the reedbeds by the flash a reed warbler struggled to be heard over the others, especially once a Cetti's warbler decided to join in.

There's a whitethroat and two willow warblers singing behind me, a chiffchaff over to the left, a blackcap in the green bush centre-left, another blackcap over to my right, a Cetti's warbler behind that green bush and one, possibly two, reed warblers singing in the reeds. Otherwise it was a bit quiet.

Heading for Ramsdales Hide

As the path curved round towards Ramsdales Hide goldfinches twittered, chaffinches sang and there were more chiffchaffs though they were still outnumbered by willow warblers. There was a Cetti's warbler singing at the usual corner by Ramsdales Hide, a  welcome return to the usual state of affairs.

Lapwings

Lapwings

At first glance it was quiet at Ramsdales Hide. At first glance. Canada geese and pairs of gadwalls loafed by islands, pairs of mallards pottered about and pairs of teal dabbled over on the far side. The only waders I could find were the half a dozen lapwings dotted about the main island. I couldn't work out if one female was egg-bound or just desperate for naughty lapwing action. In the end I concluded the latter though there were a couple of times I was convinced she was going to lay an egg, in a different place each time. One of the males approached, they displayed at each other, then she pecked him and went back to her come-hither displays on the other side of the island.

At the Tom Edmondson Hide 

 It was quiet at the Tom Edmondson Hide, the coots and gadwalls took some finding and the Canada geese would have been inconspicuous had they not taken offence at a passing heron. I noticed a pair of great crested grebes in the reeds at the top of Pengy's Pool but couldn't see any signs of a nest. Which is sort of the point, I suppose. It's only dangerous lunatics like corvids that go shouting out: "Hey! Look at this nest!"

The shovelers were quietly a-courting on the pool opposite Tom Edmondson's.

Mallard duckling

The F.W.Horrocks Hide can feel cold on a Summer's day so this afternoon it was a bit bracing. Most of the birds were, as usual, at the far end of the spit though this time of year it's not much of a crowd scene, most of the lapwings are busy elsewhere on the reserve and most of the herring gulls have moved out of the area. The oystercatcher was noisy, as were the black-headed gulls. Woodpigeons grazed on top of the spit, a redshank and a common sandpiper pottered about the waterside. And a mallard tried to marshal more than a dozen ducklings safely from the flash to the pool by the side of the hide and more than a dozen ducklings demonstrated why there's such a high mortality rate amongst mallard ducklings. It's like herding cats. Just when I thought she'd got them all onto the stream onto the pool a couple more scrabbled over the spit. Then another. Then another. One was only saved from violent death by a magpie's reluctance to get its feet wet but it was a close-run thing.

Black-headed gulls

Common sandpiper

There were small rafts of lesser black-backs out on the flash, never more than a dozen birds, a few herring gulls tagged along. Tufted ducks swam in lines, a dozen young adult great crested grebes congregated midwater, and the whole flash was covered with a seething mass of sand martins. Hundreds of sand martins hawking for midges inches above the water's surface. I looked in vain for swallows or house martins then spent a while just watching the birds swirling about like sand blown across a beach.

I called it quits and headed for St Helens Road and the bus back to Leigh. Halfway across the car park a harsh call caught my ear and I turned round to find a common tern hawking with the sand martins out on the flash, my first of the year. Not a bad end to the visit.

Lancashire bumper bundle

Bonaparte's gull, Myerscough Quarry
A small gull, too far away for the camera kit I carry these days but I finally got some sort of a record shot of one.

Myerscough Quarry appeared on my radar when an American wigeon dropped in on there earlier this year. The wigeon moved onto the Ribble and I forgot about the place. Then a Bonaparte's gull made an appearance and I checked out directions for it, it's been a long time since I last saw a Bonaparte's gull. It turned out it wasn't difficult to get to despite its being in that part of Lancashire the trains steam past without stopping anywhere, it's about a mile's walk from either the top end of Barton or the bottom end of Bilsborrow depending on where you want to get off the Preston to Lancaster bus. Then the gull moved on and Myerscough Quarry became another on the list. And then this weekend the gull reappeared. So off I went.

I got the train to Preston then walked over to the bus station to get the 41 to Barton. Both the 40 and 41 head that way to Lancaster so there's a bus every half hour. I reckoned I'd have a lunchtime walk then move on so I got a Lancaster Day Rider ticket.

Rookery, White Horse Lane

When the bus reached Barton I got off at White Horse and walked down White Horse Lane to the Lancaster Canal. It was a glorious Spring day with cotton wool clouds in the sky and I felt distinctly overdressed after paying attention to the weather forecast. The roadside rookery was in full swing with lots of gruff noises from sitting parents-to-be, I didn't hear anything suggestive of any youngsters in there. 

White Horse Lane 

Chiffchaffs, robins, wrens and chaffinches sang in the hedgerows, the blue tits and great tits were happy to stick with contact calls and the occasional scold when I passed by too close. The sun brought out the butterflies, equal numbers of peacocks and orange tips and a few green-veined whites, and there were heaps of hoverflies and bumblebees buzzing about.

Chiffchaff
I'm not sure which of us was too fast for the other.

Chaffinch
I find clear blue skies a challenging backdrop. That's probably down to lack of experience on my part.

Lancaster Canal

The quarry is just to the side of the canal. Google Maps told me to walk along the towpath and cross a bridge a way down. Luckily, a birdwatcher coming back from the quarry saw me and told me I needed to follow the footpath through the field opposite the towpath. Which I did, and many thanks to him, it saved me having to double back on myself.

It was perhaps quarter of a mile's walk. The walking was easier most of the time following the trail of a big wheeled tractor though a couple of times it got a bit boggy. A reed bunting joined the songscape from the canalside.

Myerscough Quarry 

A pool by the quarry 

I knew I'd reached the quarry when I saw three men with telescopes standing by a fence. It turns out it's a small quarry which can be overseen from this spot, which is just as well as there didn't seem to be any alternative. I'd been hearing black-headed gulls and here they were, just a dozen or so of them. And some coots and mallards, tufted ducks and moorhens. And a Bonaparte's gull.

The thing about Bonaparte's gulls is they look very similar to black-headed gulls. The key difference is the size: if you see one near a black-headed gull it's appreciably smaller, especially if you're seeing them side-on. Head-on the size difference is a bit subtler. The bill colour is different, Bonaparte's has a black bill though some black-headed gulls can look to have a black bill from a distance (close up it's a dark garnet red). The size and black beak could suggest a little gull, especially if you don't see the bird in flight. Bonaparte's, like black-headed, has pointed wings with a white flash on the primary feathers; little gulls, besides being smaller yet, have slightly rounded wingtips, young birds have black leading edges to their wings, adults have black underwings. But when they're loafing on the water it isn't so obvious. And the white flashes hardly show at all in the only photo I got of it in flight. The kit I'm carrying these days wasn't equal to a small gull on the other side of a quarry pool in bright sunlight, after a dozen tries I gave up on trying to get a good record shot.

A couple of Canada geese wandered onto the pool. A pair of shelducks flew in and flew back out again. Then two pairs of shelducks flew in and flew out again. I stayed a while then made my way to the track by the canal. Or rather, made a muck of making my way there. I followed what looked like a path heading straight there, I should have gone over a dodgy stile a little to the side. You know how I was banging on about quicksand on my last visit to Elton Reservoir? Well this time I had to go back and rescue my boots. Twice.

Lancaster Canal 

I walked down the track to the bridge, casting envious glances at the towpath on the other side of the canal as I went. It wasn't actually bad walking, I was just feeling the aches and pains of getting myself out of the mud and wanted dead easy going. It's pathetic really, I'm at that age where you can put your back out looking at an advert for a tin of peas in a newspaper. When I got to the bridge I switched over to the towpath and an extremely nice walk it was.

Small tortoiseshell

Titmice and chaffinches bounced about the hedgerows. Most of the butterflies along the towpath were small tortoiseshells. I struck lucky and found a couple of hares sunbathing in one of the fields.

Hares

Approaching Bilsborrow 

I got into Bilsborrow as the Preston bus passed the bus stop. I had ten minutes to wait for the 41 to Lancaster so I decided to head North. Sometimes the 41 goes on to Morecambe, this wasn't one of those times but I'd been presented with the idea so in Lancaster I got the 100 and got off at Morecambe's West End for a walk back along the prom.

Morecambe Bay, looking towards the Kent Estuary

The tide was well out and I could understand why people would be tempted to try and walk over to the other side of Morecambe Bay. Most of the birds were well out, too, gulls and cormorants were white and black dots and oystercatchers could be heard but not seen. I did spot a little egret stalking a distant rill, though.

Rock pipit

Closer to hand there were plenty of herring gulls, pigeons and starlings. As I walked along the prom I was accompanied part of the way by a rock pipit.

Morecambe Bay, looking towards Cartmel

As birdwatching goes the trip out to Morecambe was a bit of an anticlimax but it was a nice walk and the scenery was splendid.

Morecambe Bay, looking towards the Lake District

It was late teatime so I knocked the idea of any more side trips on the head, got the 100 back to Lancaster, the 40 back to Preston and got the train home, getting back just after the chippie had shut. I'm getting too old to be eating pie and chips at ten o'clock after a grand day out.