Marshside

Black-tailed godwits 

As predicted, today was a warm Summer's day. As hoped the Wilson's phalarope was still at Marshside early doors so I headed thataway.

The fierce winds beggared up signals and cables in the Deansgate area yesterday evening and I worried I might not even manage the first lap into Manchester. As it was, I got in OK but engineering work meant the Southport train had to do a non-stop detour to Wigan via Eccles and then up the West Coast line from Golborne Dale. Unfortunately it also meant that trains back were once an hour, not the half hour. 

On the way to Southport I got to thinking how the wing patterns of some small birds act as easy identifiers in flight, like the speculums of ducks and the markings of aircraft. Then I surprised myself by identifying a flock of tree sparrows that flew from the trackside as the train approached Bescar Lane by their bright chestnut crowns glowing in the sun.

Heron

There wasn't a cloud in the sky as I walked down Marshside Road. There weren't any house martins, either, and the usual flock of house sparrows weren't about. The marshes on both sides of the road were rough meadow pasture and there wasn't a lot on either, not even the usual flocks of geese and starlings. A few starlings flew about, as did black-headed and herring gulls. Half a dozen mallards dozed by the drain to my right and a heron flew in and landed in the nearby grass.

Wilson's phalarope
Lousy record shot in challenging light conditions

I was worried how a twitch would fit behind the screen on the Junction Pool and I was right to worry. I wandered back down the road and joined a group standing on the embankment looking through the trees. Unlike the crowd at the screen we could see the Wilson's phalarope from here. It was on the far right of the pool fossicking about in the mud under reeds and willows in the company of a female teal. It was a medium-sized wader, very pale overall with light brown wings and the ghost of a grey stripe running from the eye to the wing. It was distinctly longer-legged than the other phalaropes and the overall jizz was more like a Tringa sandpiper. Distance and the combination of very pale bird, dark, fussy background and strong midday light was challenging to the photographer and I failed the challenge: even the best of the record shots were pretty awful. Still, it was a very nice bird and there's a special sort of feeling in "completing the set" of anything in your British list. (I know you're not interested so I'll tell you: geese, swans, grebes, woodpeckers and titmice. And now phalaropes.)

A couple of dozen black-tailed godwits dozed in the sunlight in the middle of the pool.

Sunbathing heron
I was puzzled as to what on earth that shape was,bit turned out to be a heron doing Charles Atlas exercises.

I walked down to Sandgrounders, pausing to remove a piece of dead gorse which had embedded itself and gone through the sole of my boot. The pool at the side was a bit calmer than on my last visit and there was space for mallards and teal to doze amongst the Canada geese. A couple of dozen herring gulls loafed on the far bank.

Canada geese and mallards

From Sandgrounders 

Work had been being done in the ditches and drains prior to the arrival of the phalarope and some of the waders scrapes were being restored. For today, and probably the weekend, this meant thin pickings from the hide due to the disturbance but it will soon be paying dividends and a tip of the hat to those involved. Thin pickings today were Canada geese, mallards and teal with a lone black-tailed godwit and some distant herons and little egrets.

The path by the old sand plant on Marshside Outer Marsh 

I knew I didn't have it in me today for the walk down to Crossens Marsh then either round to Crossens or along the bund into Marshside for the bus back. I crossed the road over to the old sand plant for a look over Marshside Outer Marsh.

Marshside Outer Marsh, Marine Drive on the extreme right

Goldfinches twittered in the trees by the road and a couple of meadow pipits flitted about. Way out in the distance, near the estuary, a few little egrets were spooked by a couple of marsh harriers, one of which veered off and dropped suddenly into the long grass and stayed there. The other harrier drifted off over the estuary.

Field grasshopper (I think)

The warm, sunny day brought out the insects. I'd seen a lot of common darters and a few migrant hawkers along Marshside Road and Southern hawkers and a brown hawker at Sandgrounders, together with a steady traffic of passing red admirals. The path by the sand plant was busy with grasshoppers and craneflies and the ragworts and Michaelmas daisies buzzing with hoverflies and small bees. It's only been the last couple of weeks I've been getting any sense that the insects think it's Summer.

Cranefly

Mallards and Wilson's phalarope
The phalarope is the pale, long-necked bird centre left.

I walked back to Marshside Road and had another look for the phalarope. It had come out into the open and was showing well for everyone but my photos weren't a lot better. A very nice bird, though.

Mallards and Wilson's phalarope (centre)

The first pink-footed geese of Autumn had arrived and a few of them were grazing on the marsh by the side of the road.

Pink-footed geese 

Pink-footed goose 

Pink-footed geese 

I was almost at the bus stop when a couple of house martins made a couple of passes over the rooftops. There was a crowd of starlings but the house sparrows were just a couple of cheeps coming from the brambles by the school field.

I had a long wait for the next train back but the journey went smoothly. I spotted a great white egret in one of the drains before the crossing at Perch Pool Lane and a family of mute swans in one just after it. A handful of swallows hawking low over a field as we slowed down for Hoscar Station suggested we hadn't quite abandoned Summer yet.