Merseyside bumper bundle

Bar-tailed godwits, Crosby beach 

I'm a bit shy of waders so far this month so I headed for the Sefton coast to catch up a bit. I got the train into Liverpool, got myself a Saveaway, got off the Southport train at Waterloo and shuffled off down to Crosby Marine Lake on a very grey day.

Crosby Marine Lake 

The usual array of herring gulls of all the ages loafed on the grass by the lake with a crowd of Canada geese while black-headed gulls squabbled by the lake or bobbed about on the water. A few cormorants and lesser black-backs loafed on the rafts out on the lake which was as flat as a mill pond. This time last year everyone was getting the black-throated diver on their year list, this year there were just a few dabchicks and goldeneyes.

Little egret, Crosby Marine Lake 

I walked past the usual little egret, which honked at me, and along the path by the boating lake. The mallards, mute swans and coots were accompanied by a couple of dozen tufted ducks and half a dozen pochards. A couple of redshanks feeding on the grass were chased off by a dog.

Mallards and tufted ducks, Crosby Marine Lake

Pochards and tufted ducks, Crosby Marine Lake 

Carrion crows and "Another Place" figure, Crosby Beach

The tide was lowish and the beach was dominated by large gulls and carrion crows. Herring gulls outnumbered lesser black-backs three to one, there were a few black-headed gulls and common gulls about and a couple of great black-backs stood alone at the water's edge. Redshanks were liberally dotted about, oystercatchers fed at the water line and a lone turnstone fossicked about on the little groyne near the storm cones. Over by the coastguard station, but a safe distance away from the large flock of gulls loafing on the sandbar, a dozen bar-tailed godwits preened and fed with a few redshanks and a couple of curlews. Then, just to confuse matters, a dozen black-tailed godwits flew in and joined them for a few minutes before flying off into Seaforth Nature Reserve.

Bar-tailed godwits and redshank, Crosby beach

There were a few linnets about on the dunes, there was a large charm of goldfinches in the gorse and brambles behind the wire fence of the nature reserve. Out on the lake a few shelducks and shovelers dabbled their way through a crowd of teal. I could see less than a dozen lapwings on the islands with the cormorants, Canada geese and coots.

Goldfinches, Seaforth Nature Reserve 

Goldfinches, Seaforth Nature Reserve 

I wandered back down to the lake and had a nosy round the little nature reserve by the car park. Half a dozen great tits and blue tits bounced about the fringes. For the life of me I couldn't see the water rail calling in the reeds despite there being next to no cover for it to disappear into. A great spotted woodpecker demonstrated that even a postage stamp-sized bit of wet woodland can attract them. I was trying to find where it had flown to when I found a small flock of chaffinches working their way through the willows, heading towards the tit flock. I was watching them when I noticed a flock of goldfinches feeding high in the alders by the road. A carrion crow landed in the middle of them and they flew off in a panic and then landed back where they started. I heard a siskin call amongst the goldfinches, it took a few minutes to find the couple hiding in the crowd. I was feeling greedy so searched for any redpolls and got my just deserts of none.

The next port of call was Freshfield, the plan being to have a quick wander round Formby Point in the hopes of bumping into a red squirrel or two then have a late afternoon visit to Southport beach in the hopes of seeing the snow bunting again.

As the train passed between Hightown and Formby the fields were full of many hundreds of grazing pink-footed geese. I realised that I hadn't done any wild goose chases on the mosses round here this Autumn. Ah well, seeing a pile of them from the train will do for now.

Formby Point 

My knees started playing silly beggars on the walk down to Formby Point and it came as a relief to be walking along the soft dune paths through the trees. It was deathly quiet, every so often woodpigeons or carrion crows would call from the treetops and make me jump. I wasn't seeing any squirrels, I wasn't even seeing any evidence of them amongst the masses of unmolested pine cones littering the paths. A lady dog walker asked if I was looking for squirrels, I replied that I was looking for what I could find and it didn't seem to be including squirrels. "I've not seen any here in ages," she said, "But I see them crossing the road every morning when I'm walking the dog." So I didn't feel so bad about not seeing squirrels.

Formby Point 

I decided to have a long meander round Formby Point to get some movement back in the joints and forgo the Southport leg. The pine woods were deathly quiet, it wasn't until I was approaching Blundell Avenue I started seeing small flocks of chaffinches and what appeared to be a tiny mixed tit flock (two each of blue tits and great tits as far as I could determine).

Formby Point 

The open ground on the way to Lifeboat Road was busy with magpies, carrion crows and jackdaws. The sun was setting as I arrived at Formby Station so there was no question of my nipping up to Southport for the snow bunting. Still, it had been a good day out and I'd got a decent bit of exercise.

Crosby beach