Crosby Marine Lake

Black-throated diver

It struck me recently how many half-finished magpie nests there are at Trafford Park Station. Today two of the nests were having structural repairs done, the magpies carefully making sure there were two derelict nests between them to prevent any squabbling.

I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed over to Merseyside to see if the black-throated diver was still on Crosby Marine Lake and then see where else I'd go. I had half an idea to chase after the green-winged teal at Lunt Meadows until I saw the pictures posted showing the current state of the paths. Fair do's, it's a flood meadow after all and every other field between Manchester and Liverpool was flooded, flood meadow or not. The Mersey was extremely high at Irlam Locks, the Glaze at Glazebrook and Stanley Brook in Warrington had broken their banks, it was wet out there. The high, turgid water had driven waterfowl from their usual haunts by the railway line, half a dozen mallards swimming in a field just before Halewood were a bit of a relief. The rain was putting off any raptors, a buzzard in the trees by the sidings in Allerton only moved because the train got too close for comfort. It sidled down the branch a bit.

Crosby Marine Lake 

Black-headed gulls

There was a fine mizzle as I got off the train at Waterloo and walked down to the marine lake. There were plenty of herring gulls on the rooftops, all the black-headed gulls were in the marine park, with lots more herring gulls and a dozen or so common gulls. There was a not unpleasant breeze blowing in from the sea, ruffling the surface of the lake but not causing any problems.

Starling

The sun came out for a moment then quickly retreated and it started to rain as I scanned round to find the diver. There were plenty of cormorants fishing mid-water. A female eider was a surprise and a distraction: each time I thought I had the diver in my sights it was the eider bobbing back up again. It took a while to see the diver, it was over by the far shore. But I'd seen it, which was nice, and the eider was a bonus.

Black-throated diver

Black-throated diver

Black-throated diver

I walked round the lake towards the path by Seaforth Nature Reserve. The diversion along the boardwalk was a mistake: I disturbed a couple of blackbirds and a robin then had to wade ankle-deep through a puddle in the car park. As I walked down the path I noticed a bird near to the shore. First sighting was just a dark back going underwater and I thought it would be another cormorant. I was wrong: there, less than ten yards away, was the diver. It followed me along the way for a few minutes then did a long dive, re-emerging a hundred yards ahead.

The tide was on the ebb but the high tide roost was still busy on Seaforth Nature Reserve (looking through the fence). Dozens of cormorants and a few great black-backs loafed with the herring gulls and oystercatchers, common gulls and black-headed gulls wheeled about and shelducks dabbled in the shallows. There were hundreds of waders. Lapwings outnumbered the redshanks and godwits. Something brought them all up, there were roughly equal numbers of bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits and about fifty dunlin and half a dozen grey plovers had been hiding in plain sight. I looked around to see what had spooked the waders, thinking it might have been the sparrowhawk I'd seen heading that way earlier. It turned out to be a wayward drone. The waders quickly settled back once it had gone. 

Crosby Beach 

The tide was ebbing with carrion crows and black-headed gulls in hot pursuit of anything left stranded behind.

Crosby Beach 

I walked back alongside the boating lake which was fringed with herring gulls and common gulls. Tufted ducks and coots bobbed about with the mallards and the mute swans mugged for breadcrumbs. A couple of goldeneyes were drifting on this side of the lake with a great crested grebes over near the dunes.

I decided I'd bob over to Southport to see if the snow bunting was still by the pier. There was a some problem with the trains so I got in later than planned. The daylight was limited, the next train to Manchester was in ten minutes, I decided to leave it for another day.

I looked for wildfowl on the flooded fields of West Lancashire, the only ones I saw were a skein of a dozen greylags passing by Bescar Lane. There were plenty of rooks, carrion crows and woodpigeons and a kestrel had a twilight hunt over the rough.  As the light faded I kept an eye out for owls but the only ones I saw were the eagle owl in the aviary on Jack Lane and its new mate.

Despite the weather it was a good first trip out for the year.