Only My Second Ever Visit to Crosby Marina

There has been a solitary male Snow Bunting in the dunes with the Skylarks at Crosby Marina near Liverpool since before Christmas, and today was the day to add it to my 2018 year tick list. The first time I came here was in 2015 when a long-staying female Long-tailed Duck was giving close views on the small boating lake.

I found the bird chasing a Skylark around the grassy rucks as soon as I arrived - the wing pattern and colours were unmistakable.  It landed briefly in a bush and then on a fence on the far side of the rucks, but then took off towards the dunes and despite several circuits of the grassy areas and the dunes, I couldn't relocate it for over an hour.

 

But then, just as I was completing my third circuit, I found it feeding alone on the thin sandy path at the base of the dunes.  I managed to get quite close, and then it flew towards the wire fence before landing in some vegetation.

This seemed to be its 'patch' and indeed, it's the place where it's been most often seen here.  Whilst on the fence it was always on the look out for Skylarks and eventually it took off chasing one of them and I didn't see it again.  Fortunately I had got some shots in the bag by then.

This Cormorant went over shortly after the Snow Bunting had flown off.

And I took this Common Gull on a post shot on one of my circuits of the grassy ruck areas.

As soon as I had grabbed a few shots of the Snow Bunting I put it out on the new North West Birding WhatsApp group I recently created and Paul Bennett, who I had recently met at the 'Poynton Waxwing', was just arriving at Lunt Meadows 15 minutes down the road from Crosby, and so he diverted and came here instead.  We had a chat and I explained when and where I had seen the bird and I left him hunting it down as I was heading for Lunt Meadows myself.

Paul Bennett - 'Man On A Mission'

I believe he did eventually see it, but only from a distance, so I'm sure he'll be back.  But just before I left I got some nice shots of this Black-tailed Godwit on the grassy area to the right of the lakes.

I finished off here with this shot of two Carrion Crows enjoying a quick smoke on the chimneys of one of the big posh Victorian seaward-facing houses on the seafront.  Oh, what decadence those must have seen in years gone by!

UPDATE:

My Snow Bunting shot featured above was awarded 'Photo of the Week' on BirdGuides today:

Here's what Steve Young had to say this time:

Wintering Snow Buntings are always a popular subject among birders and photographers alike, and this season has been no exception with large numbers of images uploaded to our galleries. The lone male individual at Crosby, Lancashire, has been particularly photogenic and Martyn Jones has captured a wonderful shot as it lands on a dead stalk.

Crisp, winter light has brought out all the feather detail and allowed a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action. This would have all been over in a second, so the photographer has done well to be ready, focused and then fire off a couple of shots.

Congratulations to Martin on his winning image. It was taken with a 500-mm lens, 1.4x converter and shot at 1/5000th sec, f6.3 and ISO 800.

I think I'll forgive him spelling my name incorrectly in the last paragraph. That's two POTW's I've had in the first two months of this year - not sure I can keep that up!