Wirral

Herring gull and turnstones, West Kirby

It was likely to be the last fine day of the week so I headed over to the Wirral to catch up with my wader watching.

I went over to West Kirby first for a high tide walk around the marine lake. The last time I was here it was rendered impossible by building works. They've been finished and there's now a rippling wall providing lots of seats by the lake, which is quite nice really.

Black-headed gulls, West Kirby

Turnstone, plus bath toy, West Kirby

Black-headed gulls and herring gulls were loafing on the jetties when I arrived in bright sunshine. A couple of redshanks were foraging at the water's edge and a turnstone was having a bath. As I walked round there were more gulls on the water and turnstones on the seawall. Three red-breasted mergansers swam over on the far side of the lake and a great crested grebe cruised midwater. 

Shag, West Kirby

I was halfway along when a juvenile shag popped up out of the water by the seawall. Try as I may to get ahead of it to get a photograph that wasn't backlit it kept swimming ahead of me. It was mostly catching small fish, gobies I think, and a couple of small crabs. A couple of dozen turnstones were roosting on the rocks by the marina.

West Kirby Marine Lake 

The sea was washing over the seaward length of path. A couple of shelducks flew up the estuary and a cormorant sat on a nearby buoy. As is always the way of these things the mergansers had swum off to the opposite side of the lake. When I wasn't dodging waves I was dodging herring gulls dropping mussels onto the path to try and crack them.

Brent geese, black-headed gulls, oystercatchers and, I think, knots and dunlins, West Kirby

I had a look over at the salt marsh beyond the beach. The tide had pushed hundreds of waders — mostly oystercatchers, redshanks, knots and dunlins with a few curlews and a lot of unidentifiable birds — onto the marsh to roost. Shelducks and a dozen or so light-bellied Brent geese loafed at the water's edge.

Redshanks and oystercatcher, Hoylake

Oystercatchers, Hoylake

The wind was blowing the clouds in as I got the train the couple of stops down to Manor Road and walked down to the promenade to see what waders were about on the beach. Lines of hundreds of oystercatchers, dunlins and redshanks roosted on the mudbanks with a few curlews while dozens of herring gulls and black-headed gulls loafed on the grassy beach beyond the lifeboat station with a couple of particularly huge great black-backs. 

Black-headed gulls, redshanks and dunlin, Hoylake

Away from the lifeboat station small groups of a dozen or two waders loafed about the tussocks of grass and sea plantain on the beach and half a dozen pied wagtails flitted about close to the promenade. Most of the waders were redshanks and dunlins with small groups of ringed plovers skittering between them. A flock of a dozen knot flew in and settled down in the mid-distance and I nearly missed three grey plovers just beyond them. Every so often I'd look twice at a particularly small wader then realise it was a small dunlin viewed from a foreshortening angle. I'd done this so often that when I spotted a little stint fossicking about by a puddle I assumed it was another small dunlin until it turned and I saw its beak.

Shelduck, knots and dunlins, Hoylake

I wandered back and got the train and by the time we reached Birkenhead it was raining so I decided against visiting another site. I was wet enough already from the knees down and I'd had a few hours' good birdwatching.

The artist suffers for his work