Today's plan was to get out to New Brighton and try and get purple sandpiper onto the year list, having had no luck at all in 2019. Luckily I ignored the Met Office forecast as it became a mild sunny day just right for a day out.
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| Redshanks, dunlins and turnstones, New Brighton |
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| Turnstones, New Brighton |
When I arrived at New Brighton it was a very high tide and the pontoons in the marine lake were packed with waders, most of them redshanks and turnstones with a couple of dozen dunlins and — much to my relief — half a dozen purple sandpipers.
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| Dunlin and purple sandpipers, New Brighton |
Moving on, I went over to West Kirby for a walk around the marine lake. The tide was fast going out and plenty of dog walkers were taking advantage of a very nice afternoon so most of the waders were keeping their distance (except the turnstones which are fearless). Each time the water receded past a sandbank a murmuration of a few hundred knot would rise and do a lap of the new waterline before settling on a particular patch of freshly-exposed mud.
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| Knot, West Kirby |
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| Turnstone, West Kirby |
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One of a trio of young cormorants on West Kirby marine lake.
Not unduly happy at being photographed while dining. |
A distant flock of about twenty light-bellied brent geese flying over from Middle Eye to Hilbre made the year list up to a round 100.
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