Wild goose chase

Wigeon, Hesketh Outer Marsh

There are days that don't go as planned because of serendipity and happy accident and there are days that don't go as planned.

The plan was to have a look for wild geese on the Ribble Estuary, starting at Hesketh Outer Marsh in the hopes of seeing the snow goose that's been back there, thence to Banks to see what was about and finally having a nosy at Crossens.

I caught the number two bus at Preston Station and headed off to Hesketh Bank. I toyed with the idea of stopping off at Longton Brickcroft along the way but I had quite an ambitious itinerary planned so decided against adding any diversions.

Getting off at Hesketh Bank I walked towards Dib Road. There was frogspawn in one of the field drains by the road and an unmistakable plop as I walked by a ditch next to a hedge told me I'd disturbed a water vole. 

Along Dib Road

It was a bright, sunny morning and as I walked up Dib Road towards Hesketh Outer Marsh I noticed that the hedges weren't full of Winter flocks of titmice and finches and what few small birds were around were paired up and going about their business very quietly. Most of the cabbages had been harvested so there wasn't a lot of cover about, just enough for the occasional skylark. A pair of kestrels hovered over fields and a buzzard flew by at treetop height. As I got to the covert where the clay pigeon shoot operates a pair of sparrowhawks rose from the trees in a display flight.

My arrival at Hesketh Outer Marsh coincided with the arrival of an Environment Agency work crew with their digger and a couple of cars. I stood aside and let them pass me on the bund and they slowly trundled along, off to work on the drain at the boundary with Banks Marsh.

Hesketh Outer Marsh

A handful of wigeons stayed behind on the marsh with some mallards, teals and shelduck. A few dozen black-tailed godwits and redshanks came back. There were no geese of any variety to be seen. Even the gulls were staying way out on the river.

I walked slowly along the bund hoping that more birds might return and that my having to skyline wouldn't spook any of the birds close by. Both hopes were pretty forlorn. My mood wasn't helped by the cold wind picking up and the clouds rolling in. By the time I started walking down the path to Hundred End the bright sunny morning was a memory and the bitter cross-cutting wind a challenge. 

I got to Hundred End about five minutes before the next bus was due so I cheated and took that to Banks. While I was waiting I checked out the large flock of whooper swans feeding a few fields away. Try as I may to discover any interlopers they were all whooper swans.

At least there were still some geese at Banks: small family groups of pink-feet. An unscheduled drop of rain dampened my spirits further and I decided to give up. I'd had a couple of hours' pretty bad birdwatching so I'd had my exercise for the day.