Starr Gate

Starling

I'm trying to avoid starting paragraphs with "I" and I'm making a bit of a Horlicks of it. I seem to have been doing a lot of woodland walks lately so I thought it was time for a bit of seawatching at Starr Gate. I got myself an old man's explorer ticket then found the Barrow train was cancelled. This was a blow because I needed it to make the connection with the Blackpool South train at Preston. I didn't have a long wait for the Blackpool North train but that arrives at Preston five minutes after the Blackpool South train leaves and that's an hourly train. (For those of you not in the know: the train services approach Blackpool in a pincer movement from the North and South, Blackpool Central having been axed despite the recommendations of Dr Beeching.)

Anyway, I got the train to Preston through landscapes looking more August than May and got the 68 bus from Preston to Starr Gate. Even with the delay due to roadworks I arrived ten minutes earlier than I would have on the next train and it gave me a chance to see how easy it is to get to Warton Marsh, one of those places that keep cropping up in bird reports 

Lytham St Annes Coastal Dunes 

I got off the bus and had a wander round the dunes. Linnets and meadow pipits flitted about, a couple of cock linnets singing from the tops of marram grass. It was very warm and the sky was cloudless. I'd arrived an hour after high tide and there was enough beach for the sunbathers and paddlers.

St Annes beach

I walked over to Starr Gate, found a seat at the top of some steps in the sea wall and settled down for some seawatching. I've said this before but I'll say it again, seawatching involves looking at a wide, open expanse for things that are probably not there. At first glance it was empty open sea. I quickly got my eye in and found the rafts of herring gulls and lesser black-backs a few hundred yards out and the herring gulls or lesser black-backs flying the best part of a mile away. 

From my seat at the top of the steps

For a long time that was all there was, try as I might to find anything else bobbing on the water. All the while I was accompanied by a crowd of starlings that were scrabbling about the sea wall. There seemed to be a light passage of swallows and large whites flying inland. There was enough of a balmy Southern breeze to stop it being uncomfortable. Just as I was starting to fidget the sunlight caught the orange on the head of a gannet at least a mile out, it was otherwise just a large white something flying by. Ten minutes later four Sandwich terns were half a mile closer, identifiable at this distance by seeming to have no back end.

Herring gulls
This was as close as they were coming in today.

By the time I'd called it quits I hadn't had the most productive seawatching session I've had here but I'd added gannet and Sandwich tern to the year list.

Starr Gate

Seawatching
One of those days where the sky doesn't get lighter at the horizon.

It was another cool and dreary day. I decided against the planned adventure and checked out the other options. I didn't much fancy Martin Mere on a Bank Holiday Monday or half term so thought I'd head thataway today. If the weather got worse en route I could bail at Wigan, wait five minutes for the train to Orrell and have a quick dekko at Orrell Water Park without getting atrociously wet. Which would have been fine if the Southport train hadn't been cancelled.

So I got myself an old man's explorer ticket and played first train out bingo, the first train happening to be the one to Blackpool North. I decided not to hop off at Bolton for the Southport train from Victoria, if it was running, and I didn't want to push my luck any by going North of Lancaster… I've not been on the Fylde yet this year. I thought a bit of seawatching at Starr Gate would be a nice contrast to recent trips out. I changed trains at Kirkham and Wesham, having about quarter of an hour to wait for the Blackpool South train. 

It's difficult to imagine a bigger contrast than the big new trains going to the big terminus at Blackpool North and the two coach stopper terminating at not much more than a pretty halt. It's quite a nice run. Woodpigeons, rooks and jackdaws fossicked about in fields, hares and lapwings lurked in tall grass and the occasional swallow twittered past, which came as a relief because despite all the leaves on the trees there was an end of March feel to the day.

The beach by Starr Gate 

I got off at Squires Gate and walked down to the seafront by the tram terminus at Starr Gate. I was in luck, it was high tide. May isn't the optimum time for seawatching on the Lancashire coast but a high tide might tempt something to pass within the range of a pair of binoculars. (August and September are usually better when there's more birds on the move.)

Most of the gulls inshore were herring gulls. There were a few lesser black-backs and three great black-backs flew in to loaf on the sea. A common gull flew by, I had to look twice to be sure it wasn't a herring gull looking dark in the glum light. Offshore there were far more lesser black-backs and great black-backs than herring gulls. The great black-backs towered over the waves, a dozen or so lesser black-backs on the horizon seemed to have found a school of fish to prey on. A few cormorants skittered over the distant waves. Five shelducks flew South. Half an hour later a drake eider headed the same way. A distant common scoter flew low over the water heading towards Blackpool. And a swallow flew by. 

And that was it. 

Seawatching very often involves spending a lot of time searching for something you know not what that isn't there anyway, today's was one of the more extreme examples. Which is okay, an excellent day's birdwatching would have been wasted on me in that mood. The sun came out for quarter of an hour and it felt slightly warmer but nothing less than my adding a great auk to my life list would have dented my grumpiness and I wouldn't have bet the farm on that.

Lytham St Anne's Local Nature Reserve
(There's a lot more of it over the top of the dune)

The tide started to retreat and the beach filled with people walking their dogs. I had a wander into the dunes on the nature reserve. A couple of sand martins hawked over the dune tops, a couple of jackdaws rummaged in the hollows, house sparrows and magpies flitted to and fro across the main road. Linnets, meadow pipits and skylarks were notable absentees. On the plus side, there were some delightful drifts of dune pansies.

Dune pansies 

I had thought to get the 68 bus back to Preston to spec out the way to Warton Bank but I just missed it. I had a longer than advertised wait for the next one so gave up and got the train back. I had an old man's explorer ticket burning a hole in my pocket so I checked out the various permutations for moving on to someplace else then checked the listed cancellations then got the train back to Manchester then the bus home because the train back was cancelled.

Not one of my good days.

Xanthoria lichen

Blackpool

Herring gulls, Stanley Park

The day was set for scorching hot and today's scheduled task was, thankfully, cancelled so I grabbed myself an old man's explorer ticket and headed off for Blackpool. I reckoned I could have a lunchtime stroll then nip over to Starr Gate for some high tide seawatching.

The problem, as ever, was finding a working bus stop near Blackpool North Station. Google Maps was even less use than the information on the streets so I headed off towards Stanley Park in the hopes of picking up a bus along the way. In the end I didn't fancy hanging round an unsheltered bus stop in the midday sun for half an hour and walked all the way.

Stanley Park 

It was a fiercely sunny day with a very welcome breeze. Stanley Park was busy with people and woodpigeons. One corner of the lake was heaving with herring gulls and Canada geese.

Stanley Park 

I crossed East Park Road and took the path down to Marton Mere. The brambles and nettles were busy with large whites, red admirals and commas. Migrant hawkers zipped around the trees and bushes and brown hawkers patrolled the meadow. A ruddy darter was a surprise, it's not the sort of landscape I associate with them. A frenetic chase as a brown hawker pursued and almost caught a migrant hawker was a reminder of how fierce these small predators really are.

Goldfinches twittered in the treetops while great tits, robins and chaffinches called from deep cover. A couple of swallows flew overhead, they'd been conspicuously absent in the countryside of my train journey. As I approached Marton Mere I watched a flock of Canada geese rise up and fly over towards Stanley Park and greenfinches were fussing about in the hawthorn hedges.

Common darter, Marton Mere

There was a fine array of dragonflies at Marton Mere, you couldn't move without bumping into them. Most were common darters and migrant hawkers with a few Southern hawkers hunting round the apple trees and brown hawkers over the reedbeds. A black darter was unexpected, I forget that the Fylde is drained mosslands.

Common darter, Marton Mere

I'd been struck by the smell of cider on my visit here last September. The breeze was stronger this time so the smell only lingered in sheltered spots here and there. The red admirals took advantage of any rotten fruit, as did lots of wasps and flies. I kept an hopeful eye out for small birds but aside from a few wrens and robins in the undergrowth and goldfinches and greenfinches in the treetops I didn't have much luck.

Marton Mere 

None of the hides were helpful in looking over the mere itself and most of the views from the path were distant. A couple of hundred loafing herring gulls dominated the scene with a few coots, mallards and a mute swan dozing and feeding to one side. There were half a dozen lesser black-backs among the crowd and a single great black-back cruised alone just outside the pack. A Cetti's warbler assayed a snatch of song from the reeds but it was a bit half-hearted.

I looked over to the farm buildings by Preston Road hoping perhaps for a glimpse of little owls but finding nesting stock doves.

A last scan round of the mere found a pair of sleepy shovelers by the edge of the reeds.

I walked through the caravan park and into Mereside to catch the 18 bus to Squires Gate. I got off at the station and walked down to the sea front at Starr Gate.

Sandwich tern, Starr Gate

It was high tide and what beach was left was busy with people enjoying the sun. I walked onto the promenade and actually managed to find some seats facing the sea. (The orientation of the seats along here is eccentric to say the least. The set behind where I was sitting had a magnificent view of a high metal wall two feet in front.) 

Unsurprisingly there were a lot of herring gulls about. The sun was almost dead ahead though still high and the reflected light off the sea was fierce. Young herring gulls looked very dark and the handful of young lesser black-backs that were about looked almost black and their wings looked unusually long and thin, a trick of the light as it shone through their flight feathers. In the distance cormorants and yet more gulls passed by in twos and threes and a couple of small rafts of common scoters occasionally took to the wing and settled back down onto the water almost immediately.

Herring gulls, Starr Gate

A couple of Sandwich terns flew in and started surf-fishing. They'd fly off every so often and come back a couple of minutes later and every so often they'd be joined by three or four more terns. A couple of the juveniles still had smudgy wing markings, unlike the pure white plumage of the adults.

Sandwich tern, Starr Gate

Staring out to sea one distant bird caught my eye as being a bit different somehow but I couldn't work out why. I was on the point of dismissing it as another very dark looking lesser black-back when it turned slightly in the wind and the light caught a slightly paler panel at the end of the wing. I realised that it wasn't dark looking, it was all dark save for that wing patch and I was looking at an arctic skua as it flew off out of sight.

I'd done more midday walking than I'd intended and I was feeling a bit fried so having got the train back to Preston I shelved any ideas of having a teatime wander anywhere and went straight home for a much-needed pot of tea and a cool down. It had been a relatively quiet day's birdwatching but very pleasant and the arctic skua brings the year list to 199.