Spike Island

Ruddy shelduck

I decided to have that trip out to Spike Island that I didn't do the other day so I bobbed over to Warrington and got the 110 bus out there.

There weren't as many Canada geese and mute swans on the canal as expected, though there were plenty of pigeons, mallards and coots and a few tufted ducks. It turned out that the mute swans were all on the pond on the other side of the canal having a bath and the Canada geese on the river bank near the Mersey Gateway Bridge.

Black-tailed godwits

Black-headed gulls

It was a bright, cloudy day and the tide was low so the Mersey was a shimmering mudscape. Black-tailed godwits, black-headed gulls and redshanks peppered the mud near the canal. Larger gulls loafed on the mud banks, roughly equal numbers of lesser black-backs and herring gulls with a handful of great black-backs and a couple of shelduck. A couple of cormorants fished in the channels while a couple of dozen more stood drying their wings on the far bank.

Herring gulls, lesser black-backs and carrion crow

I got to the point in the path where you could see where the bank curved in and then stretched out to the bridge. A couple of teal fed amongst the redshanks on the muddy terrace while more teal loafed on the bank of the channel just below with some lapwings. A movement further along the bank caught my eye and ruddy shelduck became the 200th entry on my year list. The bird, a male, was very busy dabbling in the mud on the terrace. I scanned round to see if there were any more about but he was on his own.

Ruddy shelduck

Ruddy shelduck and Canada gesse

I was very pleased with the find, anything after this would be a bonus. I had a wander round the park. Chiffchaffs and great tits called and robins seemed to be singing at fifty yard intervals. A lone sand martin passed overhead as I watched a bunch of migrant hawkers chasing each other round the grass.

Spike Island mudscape 

I got back to the canal and decided to have another scan across the mud to see if there were any waders I missed. There were a few more godwits and the redshanks had moved closer to shore. And then I noticed a female ruddy shelduck feeding on the mud about thirty yards away.

Ruddy shelduck

Ruddy shelduck

Quite a nice bonus!

A flock of house martins flew high over the car park as I walked back to the bus stop. I got the bus to Murdishaw, thinking I could drop in on Moore Nature Reserve on my way back to Warrington but it turned out that the bus times were irregular and I'd have a long wait for the next bus into Warrington. I'll have to sit down and plan a proper visit there, it's been a very long time since my last one.

Mersey Gateway Bridge