Marshside

Little gull

The weather looked uncertain so I decided to head over to Southport and have a nosy at Marshside. If the weather behaved I could walk to Crossens, if it didn't then I could sit in Sandgrounders a while then beat a retreat back for the bus to Southport. In the end I beat the retreat but it was a far from disappointing visit.

A skylark sang over a football match on the school playing field on Marshside Road. I noticed that nearly all the molehills had been dispersed, the last time I came it looked like a particularly challenging dribbling course had been set up. Small flocks of house sparrows and starlings bustled between the houses and gardens and the nature reserve.

The marshes were now mostly dry, dotted about with networks of Canada geese, lapwings and greylags. Coots and moorhens hurried about, mallards dozed, teals and shovelers dabbled and black-headed gulls made a racket.

By Marshside Road 

A whitethroat sang at the Junction Pool. A few tufted ducks bobbed about, shelducks loafed with mallards, a pair of mute swans cruised about like a minesweeper patrol. A couple of dozen black-tailed godwits, mostly in rusty brown breeding plumage, huddled together to doze. I could only see a handful of avocets and they were all feeding at the water's edge. A few redshanks and a pair of oystercatchers made a lot of noise and a couple of ruffs barged about in the mud.

Marshside

Little egret

Talking about barging, that's precisely the interaction between two little egrets on the opposite corner, one flying in, clattering into the egret feeding in a drain and sending it flying off and away up the road.

Little egret and Canada geese

Black-headed gulls

The rain which had been teasing up to now started in earnest just as I reached to pool next to Sandgrounders. I stood in the rain trying to work out how many little gulls were flitting about around the black-headed gulls. There were at least two adults, their wings pale grey edged white above and all black below. And there were at least two first-Winters, each with a thick black letter M drawn across their wings and back. One had the slightly darker wings, as if the charcoal was softer and smudged more when it was applied. They were obligingly close but restless and difficult to track as they jinked about amongst the other gulls.

Little gulls (the two birds in flight top left) and black-headed gulls

Little gull

Little gull (top left, in flight) and black-headed gulls

Black-headed gulls and little gull (top, centre-right)

Black-headed gulls and little gull (in flight)

Black-headed gulls and little gull (centre top)

Little gull
Like I said the other day, the rounded wing tips and the lack of a white flash on the wing makes a little gull look very different to a Bonaparte's gull, even if you can't properly see the black underwings.

Little gull

Little gull

Little gull

Little gull

Black-headed gulls

Common sense prevailed and I took refuge in Sandgrounders. The black-headed gulls were mostly settled down, some on nests, and all were noisy. A couple of males flew in to feed sitting females, a bit of pair-bonding that reassured that the chicks will get fed.

Shoveler and black-headed gulls

Behind the shingle island a couple of dozen redshanks fed busily in the channel, in the company of a couple of ruffs and a couple of dunlins, one of which was in breeding plumage with a striking black belly. Behind them slightly more black-tailed godwits split their time between feeding and preening.

Little gull

Little gulls, adult left

A little gull flew in and landed in front of the redshanks. A couple of minutes later a first-Winter bird landed right next to it, providing a very nice comparison. The younger bird looked bigger but that might have been an illusion caused the the solid black band along its wing. Then a third came to join them and this was different again, having mostly white wings with little black on them. I think that must be a second-Winter plumage. Then a little ringed plover skittered past them. I was having some indecently lucky birdwatching.

Little gulls (left) and black-headed gulls

I decided that before I scuttled back for the bus I'd cross the road and have a quick look at the sand plant. I'd heard wrens, dunnocks and greenfinches in the trees here as I walked to Sandgrounders, there might be something else about. I took a bit of shelter from the wind and looked over the outer marsh just in case a spoonbill might be feeding in one of the pools. One wasn't but there were still a few pink-footed geese amongst the Canada geese in the long grass.

I looked through the gate, thinking there might be a wheatear or wagtail on the grass in the sheltered hollow. Not today there wasn't. Then a Cetti's warbler sang from the depths of a hawthorn bush by the gate. Try as I might I couldn't see it even though it must have been within arm's reach. This prompted me to check out the bushes on the perimeter of the sand plant. A dark grey lump in a small tree turned out to be a male sparrowhawk trying to take shelter from the rain. It was being mobbed by a whitethroat, a couple of chiffchaffs, and a female redstart.

The sand plant was paying dividends so I ignored the rain, which was trying its best, and walked round to the side by the car park. A couple of greenfinches and a reed bunting sheltered in the trees. A chiffchaff fly-catched from a stunted willow. I shuffled round a willow bush to get a bit of shelter as I looked at the trees up the slope and heard a song at my shoulder. It occured to me I wouldn't know a firecrest's song, it was a goldcrest that fidgeted into the next bush.

Gorse

I'd had a damned good lunchtime and saw no need to add pneumonia to the lucky bag. As I walked back up Marshside Road black-tailed godwits were feeding by the roadside drain. I looked back over the road at Junction Pool for one last go and found a second-Winter Mediterranean gull loafing by a pair of shelducks. Some days you can be too jammy for words.

Black-tailed godwits

Black-tailed godwit

On the way back the big rookery at Burscough Bridge Station and the smaller ones on Sutch Lane and near Hoscar Station were hives of activity. The usual hares were on their usual field outside Parbold. Further along there was no sign of the eagle owls in their aviary, I hope they were keeping out of the rain.