Southport

Lapwing, Marshside 

The gene that produced the piebald woodpigeon seems to be still kicking about in the local population. One of the ones fossIcking about on next door's garage roof looked at first sight to have a white head. When it moved into the shade the subtle difference between the normal white patch on the neck and the very pale grey of the head and neck could be seen. For all that it was striking on its own on a garage roof I suspect it would be lost in a crowd of woodpigeons grazing in a field on a bright day.

It was that rare thing, a sunny Bank Holiday Monday. Rather than hang about at home saying: "My word, it's warm!" I decided to head out to the seaside for the much-postponed visit to Marshside. A juvenile Montagu's harrier had turned up over the weekend. I reckoned that if I went looking for that I might get to add a hen harrier to the year list.

The train ride to Southport was quiet and uneventful and it was lunchtime when I stepped off the 44 on Marshside Road and said hello to the house martins. A couple of kestrels hovered over the school playing field before heading off to the primary school down the road. I took them as an omen of good fortune.

Marshside 

The marshes on both sides of the road were dry and parched. A few woodpigeons grazed, starlings passed to and fro. A handful of lapwings flew in and had a rummage about in the dry mud. Patches of Michaelmas daisies and tansy flowered unvisited by insects. It all felt sort of broken. Junction Pool was bone dry, the haunt of woodpigeons and large white butterflies.

Canada geese, lapwings, mallards, black-tailed godwits and tufted ducks

The pool by Sandgrounders was half its usual size and congested with Canada geese, greylags, mallards, moorhens and lapwings. A handful of black-tailed godwits, most still in breeding plumage, puttered about in the shallows. A crowd of black-headed gulls, lesser black-backs and herring gulls loafed on what used to be the pool behind it.

At Sandgrounders 

The pool in front of Sandgrounders was cracked mud. Ditto the drains and Polly's Pool. A herd of cattle drifted over, unaccompanied by cattle egrets. I'd rather hoped they'd be back here by now. I had a chat with another birdwatcher, she reckoned it looked like the Serengeti. I was glad I stopped to chat, I noticed a common sandpiper bobbing across one of the islands as we talked.

Great white egret 

I thought I'd best get looking for this harrier. I didn't fancy joining the crowd on the sand plant, it was too warm for standing out in the open sun for any length of time. Instead I'd walk round to Crossens Marsh, taking the rough path inland of the Marine Drive as the footpath on the outer side was extremely busy with cyclists. Given the great empty swathes of outer marsh, the strong light and the heat haze the extra ten yards added to the distance from any sightings didn't make any odds. Way out over the marsh gulls and unidentifiable waders flew about the estuary. A distant white blob resolved itself into a great white egret as it flew inland. I had a fight with the camera to try and get a photo then realised I'd left the macro setting on from when I was photographing that goldcrest the other day. It was reassuring to see more insects about, bees and flies and not just large white butterflies. There were enough about for a Southern hawker to be keeping the wolf from the door.

The large dark shapes in the haze became flying carrion crows. A few woodpigeons flew low over the tall forests of straw. Harriers have a habit of sitting on the ground and there were acres of cover available to any that were about. I was about halfway to Crossens Marsh when I saw a large, pale shape rise out of the distant marsh. A ringtail harrier. My first instinct was to identify it as a hen harrier, and so it was but I needed to confirm it wasn't the Montagu's. Which was easier said than done at that distance given my utter inexperience with that species. As luck would have it the bird turned on a wingtip before disappearing back into the marsh, the bright, pale undersides confirming it as a hen harrier.

Crossens Outer Marsh 

Approaching the boundary fence with Crossens Marsh I noticed the reassuringly dark shape of a female-type marsh harrier rise from the marsh, very slightly closer than the hen harrier had been. It floated over to the river, putting up a murmuration of knots. They settled back down as the harrier moved inland and started upsetting black-headed gulls and starlings. I decided this was a sensible point to cross the road and risk the cyclists, there were a couple of seats along the way where I could sit and do a slow scan round.

A dark, gingery bird of prey got my hopes up but was a kestrel catching insects disturbed by the cattle on Crossens Outer Marsh. A smaller, darker bird sitting on a fence post on the boundary between the grazed and ungrazed marsh has me puzzled for a while. I perched myself on the standing seat by the path and stared hard at it to no avail. It was pure chance that I happened to be looking that way when the kestrel took a swipe at it in passing and it flew out of the way. I noted the dark slate blue upperparts and brightly tea-stained underparts of a male merlin. It quickly took to cover on the ground.

Crossens Outer Marsh, just to give you an idea of the viewing conditions. For the record, two carrion crows, a merlin and a kestrel are in this photo though I can only find the merlin.

I looked back towards the sand plant, wondering if the crowd was having any luck with the Montagu's. I didn't see anything over that way beside black-headed gulls and a flock of swallows. Starlings, linnets and meadow pipits passed overhead as I scanned round. The knots took flight again, this time bringing up black-headed gulls and small waders that were probably dunlins and/or ringed plovers. Then I noticed that the marsh harrier was still over to my right upsetting gulls and got to wondering what had put up the waders. It was another ringtail harrier. This bird was giving fleeting views as it rose and fell above the distant marsh. It looked dark-bellied at first, strong light making deep shadows. The lack of any ginger tones being picked up by the light convinced me in the end it was another hen harrier. Two hen harriers, a marsh harrier and a merlin was a pretty good haul and I was happy with that.

Crossens River, Banks on the other side

I carried on walking, stopping every so often for a scan of the marsh or to get out of the way of passing cyclists or both. A cyclist stopped and asked me why there were so many people with binoculars and telescopes. I explained that Marshside and the Ribble Estuary were nature reserves and that the usual Bank Holiday numbers has been swelled because there was a rare bird of prey doing the rounds. He'd not long gone when another birdwatcher came walking back towards the car park? "Are you looking for the Monty?" he asked. It turned out it was hunting over the fields on the other side of the river on Banks Marsh. "It's been showing well, flying over the tops of those trees. You should have a decent chance of seeing it."

And so I did.

The views were distant and fleeting, the bird often dipping below the treetops. Ample scope for confusion was provided by a kestrel hunting over the field in front of the trees. I have to admit straight up, if I hadn't been primed for seeing a Montagu's harrier and hadn't spent last night reading round the field identification of juveniles in particular then this bird would have gone down as a "I wonder what the hell that was." It was a dark harrier, more lightly built than a marsh harrier, and when the light caught it there were distinct ginger brown tones that reminded me of something else. It was only on the way home I realised it was the colour of eclipse male wigeons. I managed about a minute before it disappeared behind the trees. Not the stellar views people were getting yesterday but I'd got it and I think I'd recognise one if I saw one again.

A walk back into Marshside along the bund didn't look like being a productive prospect so I carried on down Marine Drive and got the 44 bus back from Crossens. As we turned into Marshside Road  i idly checked out the gull floating over the nearby rooftops and was startled to realise it was a second calendar year Mediterranean gull 

I got to the station just in time for the Stalybridge train, just as well as the next one to Oxford Road was terminating at Wigan. I had half an hour to wait for the connecting train at Bolton but this gave me plenty of time to change platforms at Deansgate for the train home. Getting off at Humphrey Park the local magpies were taking umbrage at something. The something was a juvenile raven which took the hint and flew off. Give it a year and it won't be giving a monkey's and any magpie would have to watch out for itself 

It had been a good day out, an excellent walk and any birdwatching trip involving three species of harrier can't be bad.