A very odd weekend at Marshside/Southport. (1 Viewer)

Tasked with hosting a work-related creative brainstorming session on matters cultural yesterday morning, I headed for Crosby Beach with a couple of colleagues and bins. Amongst Gormley's magnificent "Another Place" iron men statues were a bedraggled Med. Gull, plenty of Sanderling, a few Dunlin and a Curlew. A dozen or so Cormorants flew over, with other gulls of assorted black back and headed varieties. A good start to a useful day.

Digicam?

SiG said:

A few more rubbish photos

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Hello,
What camera are you using for the bird shots?

Gez said:

Hello,
What camera are you using for the bird shots?

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Hi Gez

A Coolpix 995 on a Swarowski ATS80HD, with the Swaro DCB adaptor and a remote chord. But they're still sh*te!

Rough weather today, and high tide is at stupid o'clock in the morning, but I'm aiming for an early dart tomorrow, to be down the marsh by 8.30.

SiG said:

Rough weather today, and high tide is at stupid o'clock in the morning, but I'm aiming for an early dart tomorrow, to be down the marsh by 8.30.

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Hope you don't oversleep SiG, or you won't be darting anywhere

Have a good day!

deborah4 said:

Hope you don't oversleep SiG, or you won't be darting anywhere

Have a good day!

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Thanks Deborah - but I probably will oversleep ... I have to go into work later in the day so it's early or nothing. Hope you get a lift to Devon, too!

SiG said:

Thanks Deborah - but I probably will oversleep ... I have to go into work later in the day so it's early or nothing. Hope you get a lift to Devon, too!

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Cheer Si - will probably get train but waiting by emails in hope - (guess you meant to say 'dart' rather than 'start' then sounded a bit too energetic for a Sunday morning knowing you!)

And so ...



I overslept. I woke at 8.45, and got to the marsh just after 10. I'd never seen a Water Rail until two weekends before, and that was in Spain. Not at Mere Sands Wood, and not at Marshside. There've been dozens of times when I've called in at Sandgrounders and been told I've just missed one, or that one turned up five minutes after I left last time. And so, having just seen one in Donana, the inevitable happened: bird of the day for me was my first UK Water Rail, shared with the RSPB volunteer on duty, for whom it was also a first. There wasn't a lot else to be seen at Sandgrounders - a few Snipe, a Little Grebe, LBB, BHG, a couple of GBB, distant Pinkies and Canada Geese, Blackwits; plenty of Moorhen, Mallard, a couple of Gadwall, the odd Wigeon and Teal.

Round the sandworks to the top of Mt Baker: I now think this is an essential part of the marshside experience. Whereas I occasionally used to scramble up, but more often crept round the foot on the path, scanning the bushes, I've noticed that this time of year the panorama - which gives scoped views from Polly's Creek round the entire Crossens outer - is a great sight. Especially when it brings 9 L Egrets (my personal high-count here), a Peregrine, female Merlin, and a couple of Kestrel, half a dozen Grey Heron, big flocks of Starling, remote Sanderling, Turnstone, Grey Plover, Barwit, Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin and Knot all scoped down on the sands, plus 1000s of Pinkfeet on the marsh. Walking round to the car park, 20 Greenfinch at close quarters were in the brambles.

Down at Nels I was struck by the autumnal colours - many hundreds, probably thousands, of Wigeon, with a few hundred Golden Plover and Lapwing, 60+ Snipe, scores of Shoveller, Pintail, Blackwits, Teal, Redshank. I tried to capture the impact in some photos. No sign of any raptors passing over though: it was only the GBBs putting them up as far as I could see. The pair of Goldeneye were still right in front of Nels.

Then back for a roast dinner before heading to work at a time that meant I was thankfully spared watching Liverpool's capitulation at Arsenal; then a Christy Moore gig, and a late night Irish session in a pub.

A couple of other things on Sunday: the lens cover for my scope broke - one of the clips sprang open and I lost what I assume was a small spring or two that keep it closed. Annoying. And I realised that I've been being daft in my digiscoping attempts and often failing to retract the twist up eyecups, hence the excessive vignetting. Bloody idiot! Maybe things'll improve from here on in. Or maybe not.

On the train from Southport to Liverpool today, between Formby and Hightown, 11.14am - short-eared owl close to the tracks on the moss on the left hand side (is that Altcar Withins?)

A few from the marsh today. The water rail was very late in the day for light, and only ten metres away - very much a record shot!

and finally ... if i get chance (and there's s host of such broken promises in this thread!) I'll put some text around these later

A quick dart yesterday morning before the bird fair saw just a few minutes in Sandgrounders before Saluki & I headed off first for a scan of high tide at the end of Weld Road, but the icy wind was too strong to really get into it, and then in search of Snow Bunting, following an alleged sighting around Fairway and the north end of the Marine Lake, that was fruitless. From there to the bird fair at Martin Mere (a few pics of which are in the relevant North West Meet thread)

This morning though the weather has been glorious, and I headed with John Downtheroad at 8.30. Another fruitless Snow Bunting hunt, then down the sand road for high tide. All the usual suspects en route: very large numbers of meadow pipits, skylarks and linnet being noted. The wader roost at high tide was not as large as expected, but a few barwits brightened it considerably, as well as sanderling and turnstone amongst the dunlin, odd grey plover, redshank and knot. Usual wildfowl, with pinkfeet in large numbers but notable were a couple of Barnacle Geese amongst them. Heading back, and pioneering a shortcut across the spartina to the sand works we flushed a few Snipe and then a Short Eared Owl. North of the sand works we saw one one what was undoubtedy a higher count of Little Egret, and a kestrel. Across the way in Sandgrounders we were told of a Peregrine on a post that turned out to be a Sparrowhawk. Plenty of Blackwit, vast numbers of Wigeon, Lapwing, and all the usual suspect. Barry Mc came in doing his Webs count and put the number of Wigeon in front of Marshside 1 (Nels) at 4112 ... Good morning, back for a roast dinner.

And a couple more

Thanks for the reports, Si - but what on earth are the birds eating on Marshside, they all look fat in your pics!!!

(nice shot of SEO with the orange eye peering out through the grass)

deborah4 said:

what on earth are the birds eating on Marshside, they all look fat in your pics!!!

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I put it down to a mixture of the steroids in all the masses of McDungalds detritus that gets strewn along the fronges of Marshside from Southport's glorious seafront regeneration (McDungalds, Pizza Hut, JJB Sports and Matalan: it oozes quality and much else besides), the radioactive cockles and shrimps that are our famous local dishes (thanks for the added isotopes, Cumbrians; but at least you've got jobs now), and leftover Marsh Samphire (probably also radioactive but who cares, it's delicious and I eat it too in season.)

Either that or it's just the usual puffing up of feathers because, although it was a glorious day with amazing visibility up to the southern Lake District's snow-clad peaks, it was bitterly cold.

SiG said:

fronges

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That'll be a word I made up.

Apparently the outcome of the Webs count today by BMcC saw a site record of 12,000 wigeon.

SiG said:

That'll be a word I made up.

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As your Editor for the ''Egads Ronnie! - A Good Food Guide for the Marshside Peep'', I will allow it.

Hi SiG

Was there Saturday afternoon. Good views of Peregrine, Merlin and Little Egret. Female Goldeneye did a touch and go in front of Sandgrinders Hide (as one did 2 weeks ago when I was last there). I did not see any Owls which is what I was really interested in and felt cold all day (should have gone Sunday, much better weather).

Highlight of the day was sitting in the car park just as it was turning very dark and watching several waves of Pinks flying off the marsh and right over the car park.

Have made myself a member of the WWT now so I will be visiting MM and Marshside more frequently. If I give you the nod, next time I am up could you arrange for a SEO to parade nicely in front of the hide?

Hi Mike: thanks for that. I'll probably get there some time tomorrow, and if I go stomping across the marsh in my size 50s again I'll probably flush an owl!

In truth, I feel a bit guilty about it having flushed one last week; I often go traipsing across the marsh, especially in marsh samphire season, and have never disturbed anything other than pippits, the odd mallard, and the very occasional redshank before.

If you really want to see an owl, there's still every chance of seeing the barn owl if you follow the road up towards Crossen about 20 mins before sunset.