Hale

Yellow wagtail

After a damp weekend Monday promised sun and showers so I thought I'd go over to Hale Lighthouse and see if there was any sign of the white-tailed eagle that's been roaming the Ince Marshes this past few days.

The plan had been to get the 0951 from Humphrey Park to Hough Green but it was raining stair rods so I gave it an hour and got the train at Urmston. By the time I got off at Hough Green and walked down to Coronet Road for the 82a to Hale it was cloudy with a bit of drizzle and was almost sunny once I got to Hale.

Flocks of house martins buzzed round the treetops of Hale village and swifts soared higher up. As I walked down the lane to the lighthouse swallows hawked low over the barley fields and the hedgerows were lively with linnets, goldfinches and young robins.

Walking down to Hale Lighthouse 

I kept scanning the estuary for anything bigger than a crow but aside from the cormorants cruising the high tide and the Canada geese lining the banks either side there wasn't much to be seen. Waves of showers blew in with the strong breeze and the visibility was variable. When the sun shone there was a bit of a heat haze, when it was raining the visibility dropped. Still, you never know your luck.

The best view of Ince Marshes is from the path running East of the lighthouse. The marshes are directly opposite the lighthouse and this is the point where the estuary suddenly narrows to about half a mile wide.

Three birdwatchers were scanning the far shore. Any luck with the eagle? I asked. "Not really," came the reply, "It's there right enough but it's hunched down eating something so you can hardly see it." I looked at the spot directed. There was a gang of crows and ravens and just beyond them a dark lump that only wishful thinking could identify as an eagle.

A chap with a telescope invited me to have a look and the lump turned out to be a large, dark bird with a pale patch on its head intent on its meal. The corvids were keeping a respectful distance, which isn't something you can often say about ravens. So white-tailed eagle became the 300th entry on my British list. I just wish it had flapped its wings or something.

Ince Marshes from Hale Lighthouse

The tide began to ebb and small flocks of dunlin and black-tailed godwits flew down the river and black-headed gulls started settling on the emerging mud. 

I decided to wander down the path, a change of perspective might give a better view. I was in luck: it did, but only just. A couple of hundred yards down the path gave me a view where there was a bit of low bank in front of the eagle so I could see that it was bigger and chunkier than the corvids lurking to the right of it and had paler patches about it, but the view wasn't nearly good enough to have told me this was an eagle had I not looked at it through a telescope. Confirmation of the size came when a great black-back flew in to see what the attraction was, landed briefly and thought better of it. A band of showers rolled in and the visibility became grim and I couldn't see the corvids (I could barely see the far bank) so I gave up on the effort and carried on with my walk.

Oats, cornflowers, yarrow and corn marigolds 

The path carried on with the estuary to my right and a cornfield to my left. Swallows hawked low over the field and linnets and goldfinches twittered along the bank. There was a steady movement of lesser black-backs and herring gulls overhead flying away from the river. Woodpigeons and a few pairs of stock doves flew about the copses on the other side of the field. A sedge warbler sang from a patch of reeds and brambles on the bank and a whitethroat sang from the hedge separating the cornfield from a field of ripe oats.

Juvenile starlings

As the path approached Hale Marsh small flocks of starlings fidgeted in and out of the oats and nearby bushes. The path turns at right angles when it meets the marsh and the hedgerows along this stretch were very busy with goldfinches. There were plenty of blackbirds, too, and a family of robins whose youngsters were already showing a band of orange at the bases of their breasts. As I passed a field of potatoes a yellow wagtail caught my attention as it called. Yellow wagtails love fields of potatoes.

Walking back into Hale

The heavy showers passed though the weather couldn't make its mind up whether or not to drizzle. I just missed the bus back and spent the time waiting for the next one watching the song thrushes and woodpigeons foraging in the park.

I hope I get a better view of the 301st on the list.