Oglet (again)

Oglet

The shore lark(s) at Oglet have been appearing with startling regularity on the bird reports this past couple of weeks. I know a taunt when I see one. Today was forecast to be a bright, fine day so I set out to see if I can find it.

I got the train to Liverpool South Parkway and the 82 into Speke. The clear blue skies of Stretford had clouded over by Hunts Cross but it was still a bright morning. I walked down to Hale Road then along the bridleway beside the airport fence to Bailey's Lane. There were plenty of pigeons and herring gulls about and a kestrel hunted over the bit of waste ground on the other side of the fence. Goldfinches, greenfinches and blue tits flitted between the trees and robins and a song thrush sang in the background. A couple of ravens flew by and went out of their way to discomfort every carrion crow they passed.

The path down to the old dungeon salt works off Bailey's Lane 

I walked down Bailey's Lane and joined Oglet Lane where I bumped into a family of birdwatchers trying to work out which direction to take for the shore lark. I gave them directions as best I could and we spent the next couple of hours sort of playing leapfrog along the path. I hung back a bit, mostly because I was scouring round to see what was around, partly because I've been feeling jinxed lately and I didn't want to put the mockers on them.

There were a hundred or more woodpigeons in the trees by the farmstead at Oglet and a handful of pheasants rummaging about in the field by the path. The path beyond Oglet Shore was muddy and harder walking than when it was frozen the other week. It was high tide and small groups of mallards bobbed about on the water near the bank.

A light shower over the Wirral

A band of filthy weather was blown inland. As I trudged my way through the sleet and hail I wondered why I do these things. Did I really want to see a shore lark this badly? Dammit, yes, I told myself and trudged on.

Redshanks and oystercatchers called as they flew along the bank of the river and a handful of teal joined the mallards. A flock of black-tailed godwits flew in but didn't seem to want to settle. Curlews flew about the far edges of the fields with a crowd of jackdaws.

Oglet

The path got muddier and more treacherous in the descents and rises across the gulleys. I caught up with the family at this point and pointed out the line of trees which marked the boundary of the first of the ploughed fields the lark had been seen on. I was a bit uncomfortable acting as guide, it felt hubristic on my part, but I did my best.

We eventually reached the first ploughed field which was pretty much empty save a couple of magpies. We trudged on to the next field. On the approach we bumped into a birdwatcher who told us he'd just seen the shore lark amongst a flock of skylarks. As he was talking a flock of about a dozen skylarks flew over the hedge and settled onto this field and almost disappeared into the muddy furrows. I had a long look at them, it would be just my luck to have the shore lark in the crowd and me walk past it. They were all skylarks and were joined by a handful of linnets. As we negotiated the muddy boundary between the ploughed fields the larks flew back over the hedge and joined a much bigger flock over the far side of the field.

We spent a long time scanning this flock. They were very fidgety, every time I got my eye in on them they took flight and swirled round low over the field. One time they did this one of the birds caught my eye as being quite contrasty and pale-headed. Was that the shore lark? No idea but it looked promising and I promptly lost it. I thought I saw it again a few minutes later then I saw it skittering across a distant furrow but not well enough to identify it. I was trying my best to describe where the flock was but was finding it hard work myself to keep track of them. Then much to my shock a pale-headed bird popped up from a rut. A sort of very pale lime green paleness to the face with a black mask and dark cap. I had me a shore lark. And promptly lost it. I was starting to worry that I was stringing myself and the others along when a chap with a dog walked up and asked if I'd seen the shore lark when it just jumped up into the open. The others were still struggling with the flock and I wasn't helping any and was probably just winding them up. After a short while I wished them luck and left them to it. I hope they got it, they'd worked damned hard to find it.

Oglet Shore, Helsby Hill in the distance

It was a long trudge back to Oglet Lane in bright sunshine. The tide was ebbing, bringing in lots of redshanks and curlews to the emerging shore. I couldn't find any black-tailed godwits but there was a bar-tailed godwit and a sprinkling of grey plovers and dunlins. Way out over by the far bank a few hundred large gulls loafed on emerging mud banks and glistened in the sunshine like damp pebbles.

A buzzard flew low by as I walked back up the bridle path and the kestrel was still hunting over the waste. I had intended moving on either to Widnes to try and find the Kumlein's gull or Marshside for the American wigeon that's just turned up. Two and a half hour's trudging through the mud had me knackered so I walked up to the bus stop, got the 89 bus and thence the train home.

I do hope that family got the shore lark, they deserved it.