Marshside

Canada geese and black-tailed godwits

The trains and buses got to to Marshside today. Which was nice. The weather was fine and the wind, while breezy, was gentler than yesterday . I set off at midday, partly to get some dinner down me, partly so I wouldn't be tempted to stop off for a walk to Martin Mere on the way back, but mostly because I'd overslept.

A curiosity was the complete absence of gulls in Southport. It was an eerie experience I've never encountered before. Even walking down Marshside Road from the bus stop there were sparrows and starlings and woodpigeons but not a single gull until I saw a herring gull fly over the car park at the bottom.

Marshside Road 

The marsh across the road on my left looked deserted. No gulls, geese, woodpigeons or even starlings. Way over the other side the herd of cows were unaccompanied. But there was a curlew over that way somewhere, I could hear it but I was beggared if I could see it despite the flat, open landscape. It wasn't a right lot busier on the near side, to be honest. A few spadgers and starlings, some Canada geese and greylags in the distance, more geese over by Sandgrounders and a kestrel hovering over a patch of long grass and scrub. It looked like being a quiet afternoon. As I walked down the road I kept looking over towards Sandgrounders to see if I could spot any tern-shaped object flying round but not a sausage.

Unlike my last visit a couple of weeks ago there was water in the drains and gulleys. Not a lot but some. Junction Pool was three big puddles surrounded by dozing mallards and lapwings.

I walked round to Sandgrounders. The white-winged black tern had been reported as being on the lagoon next to the hide and there were people with telescopes watching over it. The bird wasn't there. Apparently it was spending most of the time over the pools on the outer marsh and coming in to the lagoon for short rests. And this wasn't one of its rest periods.

Canada geese and black-tailed godwits

There were lots of Canada geese and black-tailed godwits on the pool. Lapwings, redshanks and ruffs mingled with the crowds. Tufted ducks dozed on the water, shovelers, gadwalls and teal mooched about on the banks. I can't remember seeing any coots. The usual great black-back loafed with the Canada geese and the usual lesser black-back loafed on the marsh just beyond. A heron lurked in one corner, a little egret flew from another. But no tern. As I was looking round a migrant hawker zipped by and started hunting round the gorse and stunted rose bushes further down the bank.

Black-tailed godwits

I decided to walk over and have a look at the pools and drains on the marsh, keeping to the path on the inside of Marine Drive so I could check both the inner and outer marshes, as well as look back on the pool by Sandgrounders just in case of a return visit. There were lots of Canada geese and a few lapwings and black-headed gulls on the inner marsh. A Southern hawker zipped past then came back for a second look at me. I don't know why they do that, it's almost a diagnostic behaviour.

The sand plant

Most of the pools on the outer marsh were empty. A couple of kestrels hovered way out over the tall grass near the estuary. One pool had some black-headed gulls on it, if they were finding pickings perhaps the tern would too. And yes, there was something. And yes, it was the tern. I crossed over the road for a better look. Yes, it was the tern.

I'd done my research the other day so I knew what to look for, I'll admit I would have been scratching my head if I hadn't.  The black terns I saw yesterday were in their silvery white adult non-breeding plumage. This looked like a dark bird with dark wings. Which it was: juvenile white-winged black terns have a black saddle on their backs and grey wings with a lot of smudgy markings on them. The bird was distant but very active and showing very well. Another birder came along and joined me, he'd been getting distant views from the sand plant.

Beyond the pool a merlin sat on one of the fence posts until it decided to go and terrorise the flock of starlings that had flown over and settled in the long grass. A spoonbill flew over and headed for Sandgrounders. The tern continued to flit about. The record photos I took were rubbish, me and the camera were not having one of our better days.

I'd seen what I came to see, and was glad of it, so I made tracks back. Along the way I let a couple more birders know where to look. And the tern promptly did a runner over to the pool by Sandgrounders where it kept out of sight behind an island.

I had a sit down and a nosy round at Sandgrounders. I found a few pied wagtails amongst the shovelers. A few more teal flew in, a lot more starlings flew out and the spoonbill was fast asleep. I saw something flash by and was conscious only of a very white belly and dark wings and assumed it was one of the waders until a group came in asking if we'd seen the tern because it was coming this way. I'm assuming it went back to the pool with the black-headed gulls. It can only have been on this side for two or three minutes before heading back, was that journey really necessary?

I called it quits and headed back. I'd got a lifer and it had been a more productive afternoon that I thought it would be. As I walked down Marshside Road my first pink-footed geese of the Autumn flew in and settled on the marsh. A Southern hawker zipped about the bus stop. The seasons are a-changing.

I could have done with the bus being a minute earlier so I could have caught the quick train home. Never mind, it was a gentle chug back in the golden hour with fields busy with rooks and jackdaws, woodpigeons and black-headed gulls and a couple of bats escorted me from the station to my front gate.

Starlings