Wirral

White wagtail, Hoylake

I've been getting fidgety about Spring migrants and although the visit to Leighton Moss last week relieved some of the worry it still feels like a lean Spring. The weather over the past few weeks hasn't helped any. A redstart was reported over at Turn Moss yesterday, made inaccessible by the marathon, and that got me the more fidgety. So I headed over to the Wirral coast to see what was about.

Getting off the train at Moreton I headed down to Kerr's Field. The weather forecast promised a grey but dry day and that's what was delivered, albeit with a definite chill in the air. Goldfinches and greenfinches sang and twittered about and herring gulls flew about the industrial estate with lumps of seaweed in their beaks. There were twice as many lesser black-backs about but it was the herring gulls that were nest-building.

Wheatear, Kerr's Field

The hedges at Kerr's Field was busy with house sparrows, blackbirds and finches and woodpigeons fed in the paddocks. Chiffchaffs and goldfinches sang from the trees. The big field at the end is usually reliable for wheatears. At first I thought I was out of luck, there were herring gulls and oystercatchers, Canada geese and mallards, a pair of mistle thrushes and a pied wagtail… then a male wheatear, bright grey and orange, bobbed up from behind a pile of horse manure. I quickly found a pair of wheatears further along the field. Not a bumper crop but very nice to see them.

A redstart had been reported to be in the bushes in the field behind the lighthouse so I kept a beady eye on the hedgerows just in case. A chap was watching the gap in the hedge behind the lighthouse. "Have you seen it?" he asked. He'd seen it a few times flitting between a large hawthorn and the fence about fifty yards down so I joined him and hoped for the best. There were plenty of distractions with goldfinches and great tits bouncing around, blackbirds and robins hunting from the fence and swallows darting about but I had no luck with the redstart. I put my bins down for a moment and had a look round. A particularly noisy goldfinch drew my eye to a dark shape in the tree to my right. The dark shape caught my eye, cried: "Chak!" and took flight, flying across in front of us. My closest view yet of a male ring ouzel.

Bidding good luck to the birder I decided on another approach and wandered up Lingham Road for a side view of the field. There were lots of birds providing a lot of distractions, which sounds like a complaint but isn't, but no joy adding redstart to the year list. A small flock of stock doves was good to see. After half an hour I admitted defeat.

Bluebells, Leasowe Common 

I wandered through Leasowe Common, taking the path by the fence so I could scan the paddocks as well as the thin woodland. There were carrion crows, robins and blackbirds in the paddocks and woodpigeons rummaging about by the stables. The trees were full of chiffchaffs and blackcaps and a Cetti's warbler sang in the reeds by the pool.

The groyne at low tide

I joined the revetment just before the groyne. It was a very low tide and most of the gulls and waders were distant dots. Nearby half a dozen lesser black-backs stood in a group displaying to each other noisily as they settled into pairs. A few redshanks dabbled in puddles, curlews stalked the mud and a couple of turnstones fossicked in the seaweed at the base of the revetment. There were more turnstones on the groyne as well as a mudlark collecting seaweed for his allotment.

Redshank, Meols

Black-tailed godwits, Meols

It had become a very heavy, muggy afternoon. The grey mud beyond the groyne reflected the grey sky and was dotted with gulls, redshanks, curlews and shelducks. There were a couple of groups of black-tailed godwits, the largest just a dozen birds, mostly in their Summer gingers.

Meols

I had a sit down on the promenade at Meols and had my lunch and took an immediate dislike to a couple who were loudly bullying two inoffensive little dogs into walking to heel. I let dog walkers pass me and go on ahead as a rule, it was difficult in this case as each time they got ahead they stopped to tell off the dogs. My sympathies were entirely with Wilf and Olivia.

A dark white wagtail, Hoylake

White wagtail, Hoylake

Pied wagtail, Hoylake

I finally steamed past them and left them behind. Approaching the lifeboat station there were more waders closer to the promenade, mostly redshanks with dunlins further out in the mud. I'd already seen a couple of pied wagtails, there were a few more along here together with a few dozen white wagtails and a similar number of meadow pipits. I had a sit down to watch them. There was a fair bit of variation in the white wagtails, a couple of the males had bright, silvery backs even in this light and pale grey flanks, most of the wagtails had mid-grey backs and flanks, a couple were quite dark and at a glance might be assumed to be pied wagtails but lacked any sooty markings and still had a contrast between the grey of the back and the black of the nape.

White wagtail, Hoylake

White wagtail, Hoylake

I decided to get the train from Manor Road to West Kirby, have a sit down at the marine lake to get my second wind and have a wander round the lake. Which was a sound plan except there's nowhere to sit at the marine lake at the moment as the promenade's fenced off for work on ribbon seating for its whole length. The beach was building site scoured. I had ten minutes' sit down on a rock, just to show I could, then found myself drifting over to the path to Red Rocks.

Stonechat, West Kirby

Wheatears, West Kirby

The salt marsh was lively with linnets and pipits. A pair of stonechats flitted between the golf course fence and the gorse bushes by the path. I followed the high path along the fence so I could see what was about on both the marsh and the golf course. I hadn't gone far when I bumped into a dozen wheatears. They, the linnets, pipits and another pair of stonechats, flitted to and fro from the fence. A couple of times they were all on the fence at the same time but wouldn't sit still for a group photo. It was tricky work trying to get past without disturbing them too much though they quickly returned once I'd passed. I hadn't gone a lot further when I bumped into a grasshopper warbler singing in the rough on the golf course.

Walking to Red Rocks 

I suspect I'm getting too old and heavy for the boardwalk through the reed marsh. It was a relief to reach terra relatively firma at the other end. A reed warbler was in full song as I passed through.

Looking over to Hilbre

It was still a very low tide and I didn't expect to see much as I looked over the estuary. I was dead right, the only two waders out there were a couple of grey plovers of all things. It wasn't until I got to Red Rocks that I started seeing curlews and shelducks.

Red Rocks

I walked through Hoylake to the station for the train home, passing a couple of white wagtails calling from the stacks of scaffolding on the golf course waiting erection for the stands and screens for The Open.

Looking over to Hilbre