Southport

Black-tailed godwits

Today has been one of those days that vividly illustrate why so few of us go birdwatching by public transport.

I decided to go over to Southport, I was due a wander round Marshside and the high pollen count would be a bit less fierce at the seaside. I got the quarter to ten train into Manchester so I could catch the Southport train, I could have had another cup of tea and got the twenty past, I'd still would have ten minutes' grace. Anyway, in the end I got to Southport about twenty minutes late, which in the scheme of things is par for the course.

I got the 44 to Marshside and walked down the road to the reserve. It was bank holiday weather, which is to say: grey, cool and windy. House martins swooped over the rooftops nonetheless. The marsh either side of Marshside Road was dry and grazed by greylags and Canada geese while curlews and flocks of starlings prodded for worms and grubs. I was surprised to see a pink-footed goose in the crowd. It's not unusual for one to stay behind for the Summer, injury or illness might have prevented its joining the others, usually I would have expected to see it hanging round before now. House martins and swallows hawked low over the ground so I thought I'd try and get a few action snaps which is how I found that while I'd been fussing about making sure everything else was fully charged I'd forgotten to charge the camera battery. I took this as an omen that I'd get gripping views of some startling rarity (I was dead wrong).

By Marshside Road 

All afternoon any egrets accompanying the cattle were little egrets.

Junction Pool

Mallards, gadwalls, black-tailed godwits and coots dozed on the Junction Pool with a couple of teal and a lapwing. A couple of migrant hawkers zipped around, I'd already bumped into one as I walked up Marshside Road and there was one patrolling the platform when the train called at Meols Cop. The best way to distinguish a migrant hawker from a Southern hawker whatever the sex and age is to look for a yellow mark shaped like a goblet at the top of the abdomen just above the wings. Generally speaking, if the dragonfly is obliging enough to let you look for a goblet mark at the top of the abdomen it's nearly always a Southern hawker.

At the corner of Marshside Road 

I crossed the road and went over to Sandgrounders, cheering myself up along the way with a small handful of dewberries. The pool by Sandgrounders was monopolised by moulting Canada geese. A few mallards tucked themselves under the banks, a couple of dozen herring gulls loafed on the grass behind the far bank and a great black-back tried not to look like it was being crowded out on one of the islands.

By Sandgrounders 

It was quiet at Sandgrounders. A few more Canada geese loafed on the big island, teal and a couple of young shovelers dabbled, a few mallards and gadwall loafed by the waterside. The avocets had all moved on and any other waders would be taking advantage of the low tide. Just as I thought there'd be absolutely nothing doing I found a common sandpiper catching midges in the corner of a bank with a couple of young pied wagtails. A flurry of starlings, woodpigeons and jackdaws in the distance turned out to have been spooked by a low flying marsh harrier which drifted over the road and beyond towards Hesketh Road.

Walking by Marshside Inner Marsh 

I decided to move on, following the path between the inner marshes and Marine Drive. The creeks and drains were eerily quiet, a few black-headed gulls here and there, two or three mallards or gadwalls every so often. Even the very occasional passing linnets, goldfinches or reed buntings were quiet. 

Crossens Inner Marsh 

A buzzard sat on one of the fence posts between Marshside and Crossens Inner Marsh. Woodpigeons sat on some of the others. Crossens Inner Marsh was sparsely populated by mallards, Canada geese and black-headed gulls though the pools over by the bund looked more promising. The linnets and reed buntings were quiet here, too. Unlike the stonechat which objected to my passing its bramble patch but, uncharacteristically, stayed out of sight. They usually like to get a good view of you to make sure you're on your way. The whitethroat which churred at me from the depths of a hawthorn was, amazingly, my first one of the month.

Looking over the road at the Outer Marsh the black-headed gulls dotted about the pools were joined here and there by shelducks and a few more could be seen in the distance. There were a few little egrets about, too, and as I was looking at one of them I noticed there was a female Merlin sitting on a fencepost in the distance, a sign of Autumn if ever there was.

Walking by Crossens Inner Marsh 

I carried on down the path, moorhens and herons joining the mallards and mute swans in the drains while swallows and house martins hawked low over the marsh. A kestrel flew in, hovered over the marsh then moved on. I decided to turn onto the bund and walk down back into Marshside. Chiffchaffs and robins called in the hedgerow by the water treatment works and tufted ducks lurked in the drain between that and the bund. Out on the marsh there were a few dozen black-headed gulls, all of which I scanned just in case a Mediterranean gull was amongst them, and a tightly packed flock of sleeping black-tailed godwits which I checked for any other waders. Most of the godwits were in Winter greys with motley patches of coppery summer reds and golds remaining to be moulted. I could hear a redshank somewhere on the marsh but try as I might I couldn't see it.

Black-tailed godwits 

A flock of spadgers fussed about in the brushes by the fence between Crossens Inner and Marshside. More Canada geese and greylags grazed, little egrets and moorhens fossicked about in creeks and drains, mute swans dozed while curlews called in the open grass.

I'd timed it right and had just a couple of minutes to wait for the 44 back to Southport. 

That's when my luck ran out. 

The train back to Oxford Road was cancelled and I had to wait half an hour for the one to Victoria. Which was a pain but I could change at Bolton for the airport train and get to Oxford Road to get the train home OK. I revised my plans when I noticed that was cancelled. As was the one afterwards. Which was moot anyway as we spent an hour and a half sat at signals by the Miry Lane Industrial Park just outside Wigan because the train that had been cancelled had been sent on ahead of us and broke down at Wigan Wallgate, blocking the line. The guard was very good and kept us informed as best he could but the train crew weren't being best informed by anybody about what was happening at Wigan. Had we but known we could have got off at Gathurst and got the bus into Wigan, it only takes half an hour. In the end our train was shunted back onto the Southport line and we got off at Wallgate on the wrong platform. Nothing was going down the Manchester line until the broken down train was sorted and nothing was coming in from Manchester until our train was out of the way back to Southport. I imagine that's how the trains behind us were decanted later. I don't know because I gave it up as a bad job, walked down to the bus station for the 132 back to the Trafford Centre, just missed the 25 and waited for the next 250, a twilight walk through the park and a "What time do you call this?" from the cat as I got home more than three hours late.