Frodsham

Mallards, lapwings, black-tailed godwits, redshanks and a black-headed gull

I decided on a Saturday afternoon stroll across Frodsham Marsh. It turned out that I was a day too late for a garganey, four hours late for an osprey, three hours late for a little gull and two hours too early for an American golden plover. Yet I still had a very productive few hours' birdwatching, which just shows what an interesting site this is.

Male kestrel

I crossed the motorway on Brook Furlong and down Moorditch Lane towards No.6 Bed. Black-headed gulls and pigeons fed in the fields, goldfinches twittered about in the bushes and an obliging kestrel sat on one of the telegraph poles. Over near the motorway a flock of at least three hundred woodpigeons flew between fields.

A warbler dived into one of the hawthorns by the path and I assumed it was one of the local whitethroats until it started giving a very wren-like call from the depths of the foliage. A frustrating few minutes confirmed it as a lesser whitethroat, typically refusing to give any but the briefest of views.  

Tufted ducks

The gloomy light and mizzle wasn't ideal for wader watching on No.6 Bed with a pair of binoculars. I didn't bring my telescope because, frankly, it's a faff to drag it along on the train and then on a long walk (a good call as it seemed to be Short Train Saturday again and the trains were packed solid).

At the deep end there were a few groups of tufted ducks and mallards dozing on the water while at least a dozen dabchicks bobbed about energetically. The group of redshanks and black-tailed godwits feeding by the reeds were just silhouettes. There was one bird which might have been a knot but I couldn't put together a convincing ID for it. I had more luck with a spotted redshank in the middle of the throng. 

Black-tailed godwits

At the shallow end there were a few large groups of black-tailed godwits, most of which were sleeping or preening. Lapwings, redshanks and a few black-headed gulls sat around the margins, a couple of juvenile black-headed gulls making me look twice. I found my first bar-tailed godwit of the year by accident while I was trying and failing to find the long-billed dowitcher that's been on here the past few days.

Black-tailed godwits
(there's a bar-tailed godwit in here, too)

I walked down the lane a bit, sharing "Any joy? No, hope you have better luck than me" anodynes with a couple of passing birders. I met a chap with a telescope. "I've got the dowitcher in the scope now. You'd have no chance seeing it with a pair of bins." He was dead right, not least because I was pointing in the wrong direction, it was with a small group of godwits feeding in the reeds directly opposite us. One of the pleasures of birdwatching is that although it's a mostly solitary vice people happily share their sightings. (Thank you sir.)

No.6 Bed

It was very quiet out on the marsh, save a large flock of Canada geese silently loafing and grazing in the tall grass.

I wondered if the little gull might have moved to the small pools by the corner of No.5 Bed. It hadn't, a few lapwings lingered at the water's edge while a few young teal and shovelers dabbled in the shallows.

Walking by No.6 Bed

The walk down to Lordship Lane was quiet save for a couple of whitethroats clumping round in the elderberry bushes. I added a couple of chiffchaffs to the warbler tally as I walked towards Holpool Gutter.

Looking towards Frodsham from the path to Helsby

I'd been struck by the lack of hirundines on this walk given the heavy and humid weather. This changed at Holpool Gutter with a large flock of sand martins. As I walked over to Helsby I bumped into another, smaller flock and they were joined by a few swallows. As I approached the motorway a big flock of swallows hawked low over the barley fields.

Back home on another jam-packed train and a catch-up with the cricket.