Southport

Dunlins and knots

It was a bright, cool and sunny morning so I headed off to Southport to see if I could find the snow bunting and twites by the pier then wander down to Marshside and Crossens.

The train journey was uneventful, which on this line is an event unto itself. There were plenty of woodpigeons, magpies and carrion crows along the line as we passed. The land west of Wigan still showed signs of flood, with many large pools of water on the fields and most land drains brim full. The lake at Pemberton Park lapped over the path by its side and here and there merged with the canal, the coots and mallards keeping to the side by the railway. The fields by the water treatment works outside Parbold had big flocks of black-headed gulls and herring gulls littered about them.

I was taken by surprise on the approach to Bescar Lane with three cattle egrets feeding with horses in a field by the track. The little egret at the station was an interesting station tick. Further on the land drains were busy with mallards and teals 

Mute swan 

Moorhen

Arriving in Southport I wandered down to the King's Gardens to check out the marine lake and then past Pleasureland to the beach. It was ferociously windy, a cold, gusty wind blowing in straight from the sea. The mute swans and coots loafed on the banks and the mallards and gadwalls kept to the water in the lee of the wind near the Venetian Bridge. Even the greylags clustered at the sheltered end of the lake near Pleasureland.

I walked across Prince's Park which was carpeted with herring gulls, black-headed gulls and oystercatchers. I hadn't realised just how much shelter was being provided by the leisure complex until I turned the corner onto Marine Drive and was nearly bowled over.

Most of the waders were keeping behind shelter.
Mostly dunlins and knots

I crossed the road and braced myself against the wall to scan the beach. There were hundreds of waders out there, most of them huddled behind tussocks of grass or any other available cover. It would have been a challenging identification task even without the wind buffeting the binoculars about. Nearly all the waders were facing into the wind with their beaks tucked into their back feathers, presenting an array of rear ends of small pear-shaped objects. Most were dunlins, their lines punctuated by knots. I found a handful of ringed plovers, distinguishable by the uniform brown of their upperparts, and a couple of grey plovers hunkered down in mid-distance. 

Southport Pier 

I walked along the seawall, wearing my mask to make it easier to breathe in the face of the wind. I couldn't see any redshanks or curlews despite their calls carrying in the wind. Nor could I find the snow bunting. I expect it had found some cover, there wasn't any incentive for it to be out in the open while dogs were having their lunchtime walks as last week's storm had scoured most of the debris from the base of the sea wall.

The redshanks and curlews were on the marsh to the North of the pier. The curlews loafed with shelducks on the edge of the marsh, the redshanks kept to the cover of the marsh, only emerging to cross between patches of grass. If twites were about on the marsh they'd be around here but I wasn't seeing anything smaller than a redshank. Given how easily the redshanks were disappearing into cover I wasn't surprised I wasn't seeing any small birds in there. Even the usual crowd of starlings around The Guelder Rose was missing. A little egret hunched low in the hollow by the marine lake overflow and I couldn't blame it. On the pavement in front of me a pied wagtail was careful not to move too far from the shelter of the wall. A handful of pink-footed geese flew in and immediately disappeared into the tall grass on the salt marsh.

If the twites weren't visible, or weren't there, on the marsh they might be hanging round the sailing club. It wouldn't be the first time they've done that. Besides, I fancied the shelter of the dunes, my face felt like somebody had been slapping my sinuses with a paving slab. I crossed the road and walked down. A few mute swans and Canada geese bobbed about on the marine lake by the road, I couldn't see anything on the island. Nor could I find anything at the sailing club.

Southport Marine Lake 

I walked round the lake and headed for Southport Links. A huge crowd of mute swans and herring gulls sat on the jetties on the far side, leaving not much room for a couple of guys with sailboards. Out on the water there were a few cormorants, a couple of dabchicks and a couple of great crested grebes, all of them tricky to see in the choppy water.

I walked over to Hesketh Park for the bus to Marshside, I didn't have the energy to walk there against the wind along Marine Drive. I popped into the park for a quick look, the pond heaving with mallards and tufted ducks and the hedgerows busy with titmice.

I then spoilt an excellent day's birdwatching by going to Marshside.

I got the 44 bus to Marshside Road. The school playing field at the end was peppered with huge molehills and crowds of woodpigeons, starlings and moorhens manoeuvred their way around them with a couple of curlews.

Marshside Road 

Hawthorn hedgerow 

I was dismayed to see that the last remnants of the hawthorn hedgerows had been removed along both sides of Marshside Road, removing the last of the cover used by the house sparrows, linnets and goldfinches and leaving the little group of bushes down at the corner as the last possible refuge for whitethroats. When I first started visiting here there were three whitethroats singing down this road, last year there was just the one at the corner, flitting from one side of the road to the other. I wonder if there'll be one next year. I don't actually see the purpose of removing the hawthorns, there was no question of their drying out the marsh at all. Perhaps conservationists do hate scrub after all, and all the wildlife that depends on it. The spindle trees and Duke of Argyle's tea trees have gone from the banks by Marine Drive and the dewberries neatly strimmed. It was no consolation to see a stand of Japanese knotweed left unmolested.

Teal, pintails and wigeon, Marshside 

On the right side of the road most of the dry, grassy marsh was deserted. A dozen greylags and half a dozen pink-footed geese grazed by the bund at the back.

From Junction Pool 

Across the road, the flooded marsh was carpeted by hundreds of lapwings, starlings, wigeon and teal and scores of black-tailed godwits, mallards and Canada geese. On the Junction Pool a mixed flock of teal, pintails and wigeon dozed while shovelers, mallards and tufted ducks were busy feeding by the reeds.

Marshside 

It was very quiet along the way to Sandgrounders and it soon became apparent why: a work team was busy chopping down the bushes on the banks. I stayed at Sandgrounders for a minute and that only because I was hoping the spoonbill that's been around might be feeding on Polly's Pool. Of course it wasn't.

The path along the inner marsh was blocked by machinery, I asked myself if I wanted to walk down to Crossens Marsh along the outer path. I decided to jack it in. I was too depressed to be bothered with it. Which turned out to be just as well as I got a 'phone call asking me to lend someone a hand with something back home.

The journey back home worked to timetable as well, the first time both legs have delivered as scheduled in months. I think on my next visit to Marshside I'll give Marshside Road and Marine Drive a miss and walk along the bund to Crossens Marsh, it'll be less dispiriting.