Thwarted

It was going to be a wild and woolly day after a wild and woolly night. A perfect excuse for staying at home and drinking far too much tea. A white-winged black tern — a lifer for me — had been delighting observers at Marshside yesterday so I decided to head out that way. There was a high probability that with birds on the move and high winds on the go the tern would have moved off overnight but you never know your luck. And if, as likely, it had moved on I could still have a nosy to see what was about.

The train journey to Southport was spot on. The wind and rain kept most birds under cover but there were jackdaws, crows and woodpigeons in the fields and the damp fields just outside Parbold had scores of rooks and black-headed gulls.

Arriving at Southport I crossed the road and waited for the 44 bus. And waited. I checked Arriva's live bus tracker, buses were coming but they never came. They're every quarter of an hour. I gave it fifty minutes and gave up. I could have walked to Marshside in that time, though in this weather there's a world of difference between doing that and toddling down to the end of Marshside Road from the bus stop.

I had a bit of a wait for the train but for once it was sitting there with the doors open so there wasn't a rush to get on and I could have a sit down. What to do next? I could get off at Burscough Bridge and walk down to Martin Mere, there's a lot happening there at the moment what with a glossy ibis being there the past few days and a possible crane being reported this morning. Of course, walking to Martin Mere in this weather would be at least as bad as walking to Marshside and I'd be walking into the wind all the way. Still… 

The train chugged along, the trees bent, the rain fell, I went home.

The tern didn't reappear today. I'd have been gutted if it had.