Merseyside damp bundle

Black redstart, New Brighton

I've mentioned before that I often go out birdwatching in the hopes of seeing the one thing and see quite another again. And so it was today.

I headed out to Crosby Marine Lake to see about adding the drake smew there onto the year list. It was a listless, grey, drizzly sort of day and the visibility wasn't clever. As I got off the train at Waterloo and walked down to the marine lake the clouds darkened and the drizzle became persistent.

Common gull, Crosby Marine Park 

The grass by the lake was carpeted with gulls. Black-headed gulls and common gulls danced for worms by the lake while a crowd of herring gulls loafed with coots and oystercatchers by the boating pond. A dozen turnstones running in and out among them was unexpected.

Red-breasted merganser, Crosby Marine Lake 

There were a few more black-headed gulls loafing on the lake by the sailing club. At first sight the rest of the lake was empty save the little egrets dotted about it's bankside. I picked up a handful of goldeneyes in the distance and not far from them a couple of dabchicks. A pair of great black-backs landed on the water near them, the dabchicks dived and reappeared forty yards away, the goldeneyes slowly put a bit of distance between themselves and the gulls. A great black-back could easily take a dabchick on the water, it might struggle with a goldeneye, I don't think they were keen to assay the experiment. A drake Goldeneye drifting about on his own in the middle of the lake was joined by a female red-breasted merganser that flew in from the sea. For the life of me I couldn't see a smew.

Crosby Marine Lake 

I checked out the boating pond, just in case the smew had drifted over there. There was the usual mass of coots, Canada geese, mallards and tufted ducks but no smew. I had one last scan of the lake, just in case, then headed for the beach. I might have better luck on the way back.

Redshank (left) and spotted redshank, Crosby Beach 

I'd thought that the crowds of oystercatchers by the pond meant I'd got the tide times wrong and it was high tide. It wasn't, it was still quite low but on the turn. The beach was peppered with redshanks, carrion crows and black-headed gulls with a few herring gulls loafing at the tideline. I also found a couple of grey plovers amongst the redshanks feeding in the surf. A wader flew in from Seaforth Nature Reserve, a dark-winged Tringa that looked too dark to be a greenshank and proved to be a spotted redshank. It fed beside a redshank for a few minutes giving me the opportunity to compare the differences in shape, build and bill. Had I not watched it fly in there's every chance I'd have glanced at it and thought it a redshank.

Crosby Coastguard Station 

I walked by the fence by Seaforth Nature Reserve. The pool was crowded with waders, most of them unidentifiable in the poor light with their beaks tucked into their back feathers. A few dozen black-tailed godwits fed around the margins of the crowd with a few bar-tailed godwits and a small flock of dunlins which had conveniently flown in as I arrived. There weren't as many shelducks as usual and I couldn't see any lapwings.

Kingfisher, Crosby Marine Lake 

I dropped down onto the marine lake and had a scan round. I could find the dabchicks, goldeneyes and great black-backs but still had no luck finding a smew. I did find a kingfisher lurking in the rocks on the bank and got a couple of "A kingfisher was just here" photos. It was raining in earnest now so I started to set off back to the station. I thought I'd check to see what else was about and decided to head over to New Brighton where a black redstart had been showing well. Then I noticed someone had reported seeing the smew twenty minutes earlier from roughly where I'd been standing when I found the kingfisher so I went back for another look. No joy with the smew but I got some photos of the kingfisher in the God-awful light.

Kingfisher, Crosby Marine Lake 

I squelched my way back to the station and asked myself if I really shouldn't be going home where I'd be a little warmer and drier. The train passed Bidston Junction on the way to New Brighton and a beautifully bright chestnut buzzard sat in a tree by the line. I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a Harris' hawk, a common escapee, there wasn't time for a third look to confirm the confirmation.

Redshanks, turnstones and dunlins, New Brighton 

It was still raining, though not as heavily, when I arrived in New Brighton so I headed straight for the marine lake. The tide had come in and a small flock of waders had come to roost on the jetty. A board had been put down across one part of the jetty, it looked warmer underfoot than the worn planks which would explain why all the waders preferred it. A dozen turnstones fidgeted around while a couple of dozen redshanks and a handful of dunlins tried to get some sleep. No purple sandpiper today, alas.

Redshanks, turnstones and dunlins, New Brighton

Cormorants, New Brighton 

Starlings, New Brighton 

The black redstart had been reported at Fort Perch Rock so I wandered over there. I checked out the rocky breakwater for rock pipits as much as a black redstart but found neither. There was plenty enough in the debris on the sand around the entrance of Fort Perch Rock to keep crowds of carrion crows, turnstones and starlings interested but no redstart. A couple of pied wagtails followed me around as I spent a while wandering by the two sides of the fort above the tideline, then I concluded it wasn't my day and started back. 

I'd gone a hundred yards when I looked back and saw an object on top of one of the castellations. It was the right size and shape to be a black redstart but I couldn't be sure at this distance in this light. I walked back to the fort and could see that it was the black redstart. It was sat on the corner of the block preening so I was getting occasional flashes of white from the wings. It was the least convenient spot it could be in, as I got closer I lost sight of that side of the castellation. I moved back a bit, got the redstart back in sight and immediately lost it as it ducked out of the way of a gang of starlings. Ah well, I'd seen it.

Black redstart, New Brighton 

Walking back something flew past me onto the rocks ahead. Something black and white with red in it. The redstart sat on the sea wall, suddenly realised there was a dog walker standing there and flew onto the rocks by the path, which was a lucky break for me.

Black redstart, New Brighton 

There was a bit of a delay getting home because of a broken track in Birkenhead but it didn't make that much difference with the connections and I was very glad of a pot of tea when I got home. I'd dipped the smew but found a spotted redshank and had lovely views of a kingfisher and a black redstart so it had been worth getting wet for.

New Brighton Lighthouse