Wirral

Whitethroat, Leasowe Lighthouse

It came as a bit of a relief to see the partially-leucistic woodpigeon this morning, I was beginning to worry that something had had him. It was looking like being another changeable day's weather and seeing as the idea of staying at home to be walked all over by the cat didn't enthuse I decided to take a chance on a visit to Leasowe Lighthouse and perhaps beyond, weather permitting.

It didn't bode well that it had been raining all the way from Manchester to Bidston but as I got off the train at Moreton it was a bright, sunny Spring lunchtime. I hadn't even got past the remains of the Broken Biscuit Factory when I looked up and saw a dogfight between a buzzard and a crow. They scrapped high up in the air then went their separate ways, honour apparently equal.

Leasowe Lighthouse from Kerr's Field

The path to Kerr's Field was busy with small birds, mostly goldfinches and spadgers. The middle paddock was the busy one today, with half a dozen wheatears and a couple of pied wagtails. A stonechat flew over to see what I was up to, decided I was of no consequence and flew back to its patch of nettles.

Whitethroat, Leasowe Lighthouse

The area round Leasowe Lighthouse was busy with whitethroats, with at least a dozen singing males. There were a few chiffchaffs and blackcaps in the trees and three reed warblers sang in the reeds round the little pond on Leasowe Common.

Leasowe Common

I went over to the seafront and walked down the path towards the groyne halfway along to Meols. The tide was high but receding and gulls were starting to settle on the exposed sand. An odd-looking gull caught my eye as it flew past: black-hooded but with a lot of brown fringes to its wing coverts and black on its primary feathers. A Mediterranean gull to be sure but a plumage I've not seen before, perhaps a bird that hasn't finished its moult from second Winter.

Turned out nice again

A couple of curlews flew out onto the beach and were joined by a flock of oystercatchers and half a dozen little egrets then the sky went black. We were then treated to ten minutes of thunder and hailstones.

Leasowe Lighthouse

By the time I got back to Leasowe Lighthouse it was sunny again. A sedge warbler belted out its song from the ditch by the lighthouse and the whitethroats did their singing display flights from the bushes by the path.

Sedge warbler, Kerr's Field

Back on Kerr's Field a couple more wheatears had joined the throng including a couple more females and a big male that I thought was a robin the first time I saw it as I just registered a large flash of bright orange shooting from the brambles to behind a horse trough. Eventually he came out into the open, a big very bright bird that was almost certainly a Greenland wheatear.  Three chats were busy in the brambles by the far fence. Two turned out to be a pair of stonechats, the male coming over again to check me out. The third was more difficult as it was spending all its time in the brambles. Eventually it moved down into a more open patch of nettles and I added whinchat to the year list.

The weather was looking interesting again so I decided to knock on the head any idea of having a walk between Hoylake and West Kirby. I also decided against going over to Hale Lighthouse to see what was about. I got the train to Kirkby where the second thunderstorm of the day knocked out any idea of getting the bus to Lunt Meadows. So I got the Manchester train, the continuing downpour putting paid to any idea of stopping off for a wander round Orrell Water Park.

It looks like the weather's going to be like this all week. I've been promising myself a long distance day out since last June, I think this week's the time to get it off my wish list.