Banks

Greenland white-tronted geese, pink-footed geese and whooper swans

A whole bunch of American vagrants, and a few UK regulars I still don't have on the year list, had been reported from Banks over the past few days so I decided it was more than high time I spent the best part of a day there and get to grips with it properly rather than fitting in a quick shufti on a visit to Crossens.

It was Monday so of course Northern Rail had a meltdown. Anyway, I got to Southport and went to get the bus. My mistake here was to get the X2, not the 2. The X2 goes into Banks then turns and heads off towards Mere Brow and Tarleton, whereas the 2 carries on past Banks Marsh thence to Hundred End and Hesketh Bank. Not to worry: it was a nice walk from Mere Brow, I bumped into my first fieldfares of this Winter, four buzzards soared overhead and the bus I should have waited for only passed me a few minutes before I arrived at Banks Marsh.

Ribble Marshes from Banks

The most obvious thing walking down Marsh Lane was a field full of whooper swans. It was only as I got closer that I could see the pink-footed geese further back in the field. Working my way across the field with my binoculars I noticed two dark shapes in the middle of the swans which turned out to be a pair of white-fronted geese. I got a better view of them further down the road and managed to identify them as Greenland white-fronts.

Whooper swans

Whooper swans

Whooper swans

Something was spooking the jackdaws, woodpigeons and starlings feeding in the next field but I couldn't see anything flying about that might account for it.

From the embankment overlooking the Ribble the most obvious birds were the pied wagtails chasing each other about the mud immediately in front. Further out there were plenty of shelduck, wigeon, teal and mallard and little egrets were scattered about the creeks. Waders included lapwings, redshanks and dunlin and a modest flock of golden plover wheeled about the far bank. An Egyptian goose was a surprise. Three birdwatchers with big telescopes were trying to identify a bird which might have been the weekend's white-rumped sandpiper but with no success. It was too far away for me not to have been kidding myself at any identification. After a bit I decided I was jinxing it for the others and left them to it.

There was a lovely bit of cloud iridescence above the field of swans on the way back.

Cloud iridescence

The journey back was horrendous: I should have walked back to Crossens and picked up a bus there. The number 2 bus from Preston to Southport turns out to be horribly unreliable.

On the plus side, Greenland white-fronted goose brings the year list to 200.