Banks Marsh

Pink-footed geese, Banks Marsh

It was a bright sunny morning so I set out for a proper walk. I havered between a visit to Marshside or a visit to Martin Mere then noticed that the trains stopped at Wigan and there was a rail replacement bus between Wigan and Southport. It worked out quicker (and more reliable for planning purposes) to go to Preston and get the bus to Southport from there. Then I noticed that the regular Todd's Canada goose had been reported on Banks Marsh and that a tundra bean goose had also been reported from there. So the plan was that I'd go up to Preston, get the 2a to Longton Brickcroft, have a quick shufti round, get to 2 to Far Banks and walk round from Banks to Crossens and thence to Marshside, a walk I've done a few times so I know it's feasible.

I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and got the Barrow train to Preston. Any temptation I might have had to go further evaporated as no Barrow trains were going any further than Lancaster due to a train derailment at Grange-over-Sands.

Woodpigeon, Longton Brickcroft 

Longton Brickcroft was busy with birdsong, I'd barely walked into the car park and I was hearing robins, wrens, coal tits, great tits and chiffchaffs. I had to wait a minute while two male blackbirds fought their way across the path. A few mallards dozed on the bank of the pond, a mute swan cruised about on its own, a pair of Canada geese mooched about together.

Longton Brickcroft 

I checked how the buses were running and conceded I didn't have time to walk up to the North pond, or I could if I didn't actually look at anything. The trees by the middle pond were busy with titmice and chaffinches and a nuthatch sang by the road. I noticed there weren't any squirrels about, perhaps there were too many dogs going for a walk today though they were all on leads and well-behaved.

Longton Brickcroft 

I didn't have long to wait for the 2 and it wasn't long before I was getting off the bus at the top of New Pace Lane and walking up the road to Banks Marsh.

Walking up to Banks Marsh

The breeze had picked up a lot and most of the passing lesser black-backs were flying sideways or tacking furiously into the wind. There's not a lot of cover hereabouts and the small birds were keeping well tucked into it. A few meadow pipits flew by and skylarks sung over the fields, the blackbirds, blue tits, chaffinches and wrens hid in the hedgerows by the farmsteads. Dozens of woodpigeons browsed the stubble fields, a couple of oystercatchers called from a freshly-ploughed field and pairs of mallards lurked in field drains. I was watching a little egret float by when a kerfuffle erupted over in the trees a couple of fields away, a dogfight between a pair of carrion crows and a pair of buzzards which seemed to end with both parties retreating to their respective corners.

Banks Marsh 

Climbing up and stepping onto the top of the bund by Banks Marsh was like walking into a wall. To call it breezy would be to understate for comic effect. I wished Lilian Gish a good afternoon as she passed by. There was a distinct change since my visit the other week: gone were the flocks of wigeon and teal and there was perhaps a couple of thousand pink-feet scattered on the distant marsh. There were still a handful of teal in the creeks and pools close by with a few mallards and a lot of shelducks. Scanning round there were hundreds of shelducks dotted about, shining white in the sunlight. There weren't a lot of little egrets about, or lapwings, but there were plenty of curlews. 

Meadow pipit, Banks Marsh 

Luckily for me all the pink-feet within close viewing distance of the bund were upwind. I kept an eye out for anything that might not be a pink-footed goose, the year list being a bit light on geese so far. Every so often my eye would be caught by geese with orange legs and they'd move and the change of the angle of light would turn them bubble gum pink. It's not a good idea to rely on leg colour anyway, some pink-footed geese do have orange legs. Meadow pipits chased each other round the bund, skylarks sang and oystercatchers called.

One of the geese in the mid-distance looked a bit different. Usually this means it's a slightly paler pink-footed goose or it's the one in a group on sentry-go. But no, it was consistently taller and bigger bodied and slightly paler. Eventually it turned its head and I got a good enough look at its beak to confirm it as a tundra bean goose. There's usually one or two amongst the crowds of pink-feet on the Ribble Estuary each Winter but it's a real needle in a haystack job to find them. Buoyed up by my find I redoubled my efforts to find the Todd's Canada goose but couldn't see any flavour of Canada goose out there.

Pink-footed geese, Banks Marsh 

I didn't fancy walking back into this wind but carrying on and walking down to Hundred End Lane felt like an admission of defeat. The plan was to walk round to Crossens and that's what I was going to do. It was hard going. I had every sympathy with the small tortoiseshell that shot by. 

I'd walked a couple of hundred yards when all the geese on the estuary took flight, spooked by a light aircraft. I was grateful for the excuse to stand still (well, wobble about a bit in the wind) and scanned the flocks for anything that wasn't a pink-footed goose or a shelduck. Wave upon wave passed and wheeled and eventually they started settling back onto the marsh, most of them heading into the distance upriver. A bird in one of the last clouds to pass by caught my eye, it was shadowing the crowd rather than being part of it. They wheeled round, giving me a side-on view, and there it was: the shadow was the Todd's Canada goose. Thin-necked, no pale collar at the bottom of the neck with the black fading into the brown of the back, and a "different" feel to it. There's a huge element of luck involved in birdwatching and I'd struck lucky today.

The moreso as as I arrived at the gate by Old Hollow Farm, gasping and holding onto the fence while I caught my breath, two swallows dipped over the bund and over onto the marsh and followed the wind upriver. It had taken me half an hour to walk the half mile back (admittedly, stopping to watch the crowds go by) and I admitted defeat, I'd be knackered before I'd reach Crossens. I dropped down from the bund and immediately felt the difference.

Kestrel, Banks Marsh 

A pair of kestrels were sitting in the field by the stock yard as I passed. The fields were busy with woodpigeons, shelducks and mallards, lesser black-backs and black-headed gulls passed by, skylarks sang over the fields, chiffchaffs, greenfinches and wrens sang in the hedgerows. I got the bus into Southport and got the rail replacement bus back home. It hadn't been the intended walk, and I can't say I got the full value out of the old man's explorer ticket but I'd had a bit of exercise and there was plenty about to see.