Southport

Snow goose and pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

It was more than high time I went on a wild goose chase in Southport. After a purple patch in January it's been thin pickings and I haven't seen as many pink-footed geese as usual.

Little egret, Marshside

I got the train to Southport and the bus down to the bottom of Marshside Road. The spadgers and starlings were still out in force in the little paddock by the houses. There were a lot of birds out on the fields, evenly spaced out in territorial units rather than in feeding flocks. Pairs of Canada geese were laid out in a grid, some of them already with goslings. Over by the golf course the greylags were more densely settled and quietly watchful of anything they might choose to take a dislike to. Lapwings and a handful of redshanks and oystercatchers stood alert near inconspicuous objects that were probably their nesting partners. There weren't many ducks about, a few pairs of mallards and gadwalls in the drains and small groups of shovelers, tufties and teal loafing and feeding on the Junction Pool. The cattle had obviously had their fill of being harassed by nesting birds and were keeping their distance well away from the geese. I looked in vain for my first cattle egrets of the year but the little egrets that were about showed off well by the roadside.

Black-winged stilt, Marshside

A black-winged stilt had appeared in front of Nel's Hide on Easter Monday so I had a wander down to see if was still about, dreading the prospect of a twitching crowd in a hide that size. It turned out that the bird was still there, distant but showing well, and while the hide was very busy it wasn't aggressively so and the birdwatchers were helpful and sensible. It's been a long time since I last saw a stilt so I spent ten minutes watching it and trying to get some sort of a record shot despite the distance and sharp light. It was a lovely bonus bird for the day.

I moved out of the way for new incomers and walked down to the Halfway Screen (it's halfway between Nel's and the Junction Pool) to have a proper look at the other birds at my leisure. There were more teals, mallards and shovelers, small groups of black-tailed godwits nearly all in their Summer finery, and a group of herring gulls and lesser black-backs loafing and bathing at the edge of the big pool. 

Avocet, Marshside

Over at Sandgrounders there were more Canada geese and teal. A few dozen black-headed gulls had settled to nest — it's only a few years back when it was hundreds, I wonder what's changed. Avocets were feeding, sleeping or chasing each other about, or any combination of the three. I expect they'll calm down in a week or two. There's a new shingle island just in front of the hide, I wonder if any little ringed plovers will take the hint. There weren't any to be seen today (I saw one later on Crossens Inner Marsh).

Avocets, shelducks and Canada geese, Marshside

I had a quick nosy round the sand plant, insofar as you can these days. No warblers today, the trees were heaving with woodpigeons, the undergrowth with wrens and dunnocks and a pair of ringed plovers noisily flew around each other in the machinery compound.

Marine Drive's reopened and it took a bit of getting back used to the noise of the traffic as I walked down to Crossens. There were more avocets in the pools on the outer marsh at Marshside but no geese in the long grass. It wasn't until I got to Crossens Marsh that I saw any, a few thousand pink-feet out on the grazed marsh. Which were then flushed en masse by a low-flying aircraft.

Pink-footed geese spooked by a light aircraft, Crossens Outer Marsh

My heart sank as I watched wave after wave of geese flying out towards the estuary. Especially when I spotted the snow goose that's been bouncing round these past few months and I've kept missing. About five hundred birds veered round and flew overhead, settling on Crossens Inner Marsh, the snow goose not being one of them. Slowly the geese started returning, first in small groups, then back in waves. I couldn't see the snow goose amongst them. I'd finally added it to the year list but in a most unsatisfactory fashion.

Pink-footed geese and snow goose, Crossens Outer Marsh

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Outer Marsh

A familiarly unfamilar call caught my ear and I turned to watch a pair of Mediterranean gulls fly overhead and over to the inner marsh before heading off to Marshside. I wonder if they'll nest amongst the black-headed gulls like they did a few years back or were they just passing by. While I was pondering that a couple of house martins flew by. They'll soon be feeding here in droves.

Mediterranean gull, Crossens Inner Marsh

By the time I was approaching the wildfowlers' pull-up most of the geese had settled back on the grazed marsh. Much to my surprise there in the middle of them was the snow goose, standing out like a sore thumb. It was showing fantastically well but distant, about a quarter of a mile out on the marsh.

Snow goose and pink-footed geese, Crossens Outer Marsh

I spent ten minutes trying to get decent photographs of the bird but distance and light had me beat: any time I got it into focus I'd manage to bleach the bird out, any time I got the exposure right it was out of focus. And everything I tried just led to worse and worse pictures so I gave up and just enjoyed the bird as it grazed amongst the pink-feet. 

As the pink-feet moved around they'd appear bright pale grey or dark brown depending on the angle of the rather harsh light. The younger birds kept their dark brown heads even as their bodies changed shades as they turned. I dismissed any ideas of trying to spot any other unusual stragglers amongst them. Right up to the point where I realised that the goose walking about in the middle of one part of the crowd was a good head higher than the one in front of it that was standing on a mound in front of it. I had a second look: the bill wall longer, straighter, mostly orange. So I added tundra bean goose to the year list. I'd expect to see one or two passing through here this time of year though they're fiendishly difficult to spot and I was dead jammy with this one. This encouraged me to keep scanning round which is why I noticed a barnacle goose near the back of the flock, keeping its head down to avoid an easy identiification.

The turning of the seasons was very apparent today, not just with the nesting birds and incoming migrants but also with the small numbers of godwits and teal and the total lack of wigeons and golden plovers. The pink-footed geese will soon be on their way, I'm glad I had a lot of luck finding a few of their hangers-on today, it'll probably be the last chance until Autumn.

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Outer Marsh