Sefton

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

It was set out to be a bright, if cool, sunny day so I headed out to Southport for a wander round Marshside and Crossens Marsh to see what was about. The day had started with a male blackcap slipping into the crowd of spadgers on the fat feeder in the back garden so I took this as a good omen.

I dawdled on my preparation and nearly missed the train into Manchester then forgot that these days the Southport train goes from platform 5, not 2, and nearly missed that and I wondered what else I'd be missing during the day. Despite these mishaps it was a straightforward journey and I found myself walking down Marshside Road to a soundscape of blackbirds, robins, herring gulls and great tits. The clouds had rolled in as the train made its way across Lancashire and there was a cold edge to the wind which made me glad I'd put my raincoat on.

Shelduck, Marshside

Marshside from Marshside Road 

Flocks of starlings billowed across the marsh which was covered with birds. Large family groups of pink-footed geese grazed; teal, mallards, wigeons and gadwalls dabbled in the extensive puddles; lapwings, oystercatchers, redshanks and black-tailed godwits fed on the grass and the mud while little egrets, a heron and a pair of tufted ducks joined the mute swans, coots and moorhens in the drains. Further out there were pairs of shelducks and Canada geese. All the while I was walking down the road more geese, godwits and ducks passed to and fro overhead together with noisy parties of black-headed gulls and herring gulls.

Pintails, Marshside

The water was high on Junction pool, which suited the mallards, teal and pintails on it very well as they dabbled in the flooded grassy margins.

There was a lot of birdsong coming from the trees in the sandplant, a robin and a chiffchaff managing to make themselves heard over a song thrush and a couple of wrens with a dunnock joining in the quiet bits. There were more wrens in what remains of the cover by the path towards Sandgrounders.

Black-tailed godwit and ruffs, Marshside

There wasn't a lot on the pool by the side of Sandgrounders, just a lot of Canada geese and a pair of great black-backs. The pools at Sandgrounders were considerably busier with pintails, teal and mallards. A handful of ruffs mixed in with the waders and wigeon on the wet grass. Pairs of Canada geese bickered and a group of tufted ducks that had been minding their own business found themselves caught in the middle as two geese barged through in a flurry of wings, honks and hisses.

Shelduck and avocets, Marshside

Walking down towards Crossens Marsh as the clouds rolled by and the sun started to make its mark there was more of the same. I spotted a small group of avocets in one of the pools and a couple more flew in with some godwits. There were a couple of pairs in the pools in the outer marsh. Judging by the number of heads on sentry go there were a couple of hundred pink-feet in the long grass out there. A working party looked to have been busy with chainsaws and strimmers. I still haven't worked out what was achieved by all the hacking about on Marshside Road bar the loss of a couple of whitethroat territories, still less on this stretch. There was still enough bushes about for a couple of pairs of greenfinches and goldfinches but not a lot of cover for birdwatchers looking over the marsh. On the plus side, the stand of Japanese knotweed has finally been levelled, they must have got bored with hawthorns.

Skylarks, Crossens Marsh

Pink-footed geese, Crossens Marsh

There were yet more pink-feet on Crossens Outer Marsh as I crossed the road, so close that it was difficult not to disturb them as I walked by. I spent a while scanning the crowds — there was about a hundred geese scattered about in family groups near the road and thousands more further out. I tried as best I could with the distant birds but all that weren't pink-feet were Canada geese. Skylarks foraged in the grass in small groups, occasionally set upon by a singing male when they got too far into his patch. There were a lot of meadow pipits, too, but linnets were thin on the ground. A male stonechat took to a treetop to give me the eyeball before flying down into a hawthorn bush to give a reed bunting a hard time. The bunting retreated into deep cover, probably wondering what has hit it and why.

Stonechat, Crossens Marsh

Pink-footed geese, part of the distant crowd, Crossens Marsh

Redshank, Crossens Marsh

I spent a while stopping and scanning through the flocks of geese, very conscious that the year list's shy of barnacle geese and the Todd's Canada goose that's on its umpteenth return visit to the marsh has eluded me this Winter. No luck, but worth a go and hundreds of pink-footed geese are always a joy to the spirits. It's always difficult to identify waders when they're flying at you head on, unless they're very big or very small it's difficult to gauge the size and you don't have useful clues like the length of the bill or legs. This is my excuse for not being able to identify a golden plover until it rose just about my head and flew over the road into Crossens Inner Marsh to join the only other golden plover of the day. The very muddy patch of grass just beyond the wildfowlers' pull-in was heaving with meadow pipits and pied wagtails. And a water pipit coming into its breeding plumage with grey on its head and pink on its breast. It was very mobile and all my attempts at record shots were shockingly bad. The meadow pipits varied a lot, ranging from bright golden birds to cool grey and white, neither extreme looking like the pictures you usually see in the guide books.

Water pipit, bottom right, Crossens Marsh
Despite the bad photography you can get some idea of the grey head and pinkish breast.

Crossens Outer Marsh 

I walked into Crossens and seeing as there was hours of daylight yet to come I caught the 49 into Ainsdale and had a walk round Ainsdale Dunes in the sunshine. Robins, chiffchaffs and dunnocks sang in the bushes and trees out in the open while great tits, blue tits and blackbirds quietly foraged in the undergrowth. 

Ainsdale Dunes 

Ainsdale Dunes 

I decided to take the path into the woods and have a nosy about. There were yet more robins, dunnocks and chiffchaffs joined by singing chaffinches, coal tits and great tits. Goldcrests and long-tailed tits bounced about in the trees and a great spotted woodpecker tapped at a rotten trunk on a willow. I sat by the pool for ten minutes and watched the mallards, coots and moorhens patrolling the banks while a cormorant cruised midwater.

Ainsdale Dunes 

I wended my weary way over to Ainsdale Station in time to just miss the train to Southport. I got into Southport with plenty of time for the train home. It had been a long and productive day's birdwatching. One of the advantages of British Summer Time is the space to have a breather and then move on to another patch and still finish in daylight.

Stonechat, Crossens Marsh