Southport

Black-tailed godwit

The weather was lousy so i decided on a trip to the seaside. The pouring rain at Wigan became light drizzle and murky clouds in Southport, OK weather for a wander round Marshside and Crossens. 

Walking down Marshside Road it occurred to me that it was a bit quiet. On the left hand side of the road the marsh was bone dry with a handful of curlews probing the thin grass. On the right hand side there was a team strimming the scrub near the bund on Sutton's Marsh.

Junction Pool

There wasn't a lot left of Junction Pool despite the recent weather. A couple of black-tailed godwits fed in the puddles while pied wagtails bounced around in the mud.

Common sandpiper

More joy at Sandgrounders but still slow stuff. On the pool by the approach path I noticed a common sandpiper bobbing up and down on one of the islands in the company of the only lapwing of the day. A couple of pairs each of dabchicks and tufted ducks dozed and dived in no particular order and a shoveler dabbled at the margins.

Black-tailed godwits

From the hide there were a few black-tailed godwits feeding in the pool and small groups of teal dabbled in the mud. A few Canada geese and greylags were feeding in the high grass but it was clear they didn't much like the sound of the strimmers and they only settled when half the grazing cattle wandered over and effectively formed a barrier between them.

Female teal

Amongst the mallards was a duck with a single young duckling she kept closely by her side.

Mallard

A dozen dunlin flew in and flew out, a slightly larger bird detaching itself and staying behind. I struggled with it as it didn't tick any of the usual boxes. When it flew off it turned out to be a ruff but given how small and slim it was (and not particularly humpbacked either) I can only think it was a juvenile reeve. Another, more typical, ruff settled on the island the common sandpiper was foraging round. While I was trying to puzzle out the small ruff a little ringed plover scuttled out of the grass on the bank behind it and just as quickly scuttled back in.

Some movement in the air over the houses on the other side of the marsh caught my eye. A flock of house martins were escorting a sparrowhawk out of their air space.

I keep forgetting that most of the brambles on the bank by Sandgrounders are dewberries and I'm surprised when I see the fruit. (They're more reliably sweet than blackberries.)

It wasn't raining but the weather was heavy, humid and gloomy. At this point I seriously considered jacking it in and going for another look at the elegant tern at Hightown. Instead I carried on with the walk down to Crossens.

On Marshside Inner Marsh there were more mallards and teals in the ditches and a flock of nearly fifty black-tailed godwits feeding in the pool over on Vinson's. There were a few little egrets about but I looked in vain amongst the feeding herd for any cattle egrets. No great white egrets either  (it still feels strange to be disappointed not to see these routinely).

There was a buzzard sitting in the hawthorns by the path and I don't know which of us was the more surprised when I got there.

Crossens Inner Marsh

Crossens Inner Marsh was nearly bone dry and the Outer Marsh looked like a gigantic untended football pitch. Here and there a disconsolate heron sat hunched by the remnants of a small puddle. 

My gloom increased at the lack of any birdlife at all on the dry marshes. Usually a walk round here under leaden skies has the consolation of being in the company of thousands of pink-footed geese. I'll have to remind myself of that consolation next time I'm whingeing on about spending ages scanning through thousands of pink-footed geese trying to find a bean goose that isn't there. Just as that thought struck me I noticed a lone pink-footed goose feeding in the gutter nearest the path. The way it was holding its right wing explained why it hasn't joined the others on the trip North, it looks like it's OK for short haul flying but wouldn't manage the migration.

Pink-footed goose

I'd nearly reached Crossens proper when I noticed a cloud of waders suddenly rise up from the riverside on the far side of the outer marsh. It wheeled around and eventually settled back down as three larger birds flew past and flew slightly nearer. Two were black-headed gulls, the third was a female marsh harrier which flew steady for a few minutes then wheeled and headed off towards Banks.

I got the bus from Crossens and the train home from Southport. I'd spent a couple of hours having a toddle round and though it hasn't felt very productive I'd still seen a fair few birds and got a bit of fresh air.