Day 7 - Saltholme RSPB

No sign of the American Golden Plover in amongst a few thousand Golden Plovers!

Kent - Garden of England - Day 1

As mentioned in the previous post about the American Horned Lark, Sarah and I spent a few days in North Kent visiting my son Robert and his new wife and so I also took the opportunity of doing some birding in this great county.  The main area I wanted to visit was the Isle of Sheppey which is fairly close to Chatham where Robert currently lives and which has produced some great Marsh Harrier photos on Facebook in recent days.  But there were lots of other places to have a look at too, far too many as it turned out.

Sarah and I spent the first day on Sheppey (map above), mainly in the south and west of the island.  After crossing the wonderful bridge over the Swale linking the island to mainland Kent, we headed for Shell Ness via a stop at the seaside town of Leysdown-on Sea.  The weather was a bit dull to begin with, but slowly brightened up during the day.

 

After a spot of lunch in the local cafe in Leysdown, we then headed off for the Harty Ferry Road, with it's Raptor Viewpoint at Capel Fleet.

On the way back from the ferry crossing near the Harty Inn, we called in at Harty Church and found a field full of feeding Feildfare, with some Redwings and Starlings thrown in.  As Sarah was driving I stayed in the car using it as a hide and managed to get fairly close to these great winter thrushes for once, although it was a bit awkward finding a place to shoot through the fences.

 

A Trip to Marshide RSPB and the Ainsdale Desert

I went out to Marshside RSPB this afternoon with the aim of catching the high tide later at Ainsdale Beach. The target birds at Marshside were the two Bewick Swans that have been seen over the last few day.  I did see them, but they were quite distant. Apart from these, there wasn't much else about.

And so onto Ainsdale. The title Ainsdale Desert refers to the fact that this glorious beach, which is normally home to several very large Cormorant and Oystercatcher roosts, not to mention 1000s of Dunlin and Knot and many Bar-tailed Godwits, Golden Plover and Ringed Plover not to mention the Gulls and other birds, was pretty much deserted today.

I couldn't believe it when I'd walked half a mile or so and all I had to show for it was a few Sanderling.  There weren't even that many people about, except for a couple of dog walkers sticking to the tideline and putting up the few remaining birds that were there.

Why do they do this? Don't they realise that the birds have to rest after feeding, before going out feeding again.  They really don't seem to think that there's anything wrong with letting their dogs chase the birds, just because they don't catch them.

Just before I left in despair, I did get a glimpse of two Golden Plovers, but they were too far away for decent photos.

Hesketh Out Marsh and Marshside RSPB

I had a trip out to the Ribble Estuary this afternoon before realising that putting the clocks back on the weekend was going to make it a short visit - the light started dying around 2:30pm but for a brief spell we had golden sunshine and almost no wind.  I didn't manage to get many shots as there wasn't that much to see and none of my target birds put in a appearance.

I started by looking for Curlew Sandpiper, American Wigeon and Marsh Harrier at Hesketh Out Marsh. I think I had a brief view of a Merlin as it flew over the car park, but although there were plenty of birds about, none were my targets.

I'd been told that a Curlew Sandpiper was showing in one of the pools, and so I spent a long time looking at a very distant small wader, which in the end turned out to be a late Dunlin, possibly of the Alpina race as it had a long bill.

The only decent shot I got here was this one of a Linnet.

A marvellous charm of Goldfinches briefly appeared on the barbed-wire fence too, but I didn't get a good shot - damn that depth of field thingy!

I then moved on to Crossen's Marsh, north of Marshide RSPB where I got my best photo of the day. These Golden Plovers looked stunning in the dying light - the golden hour was very early today.

Then I went on to Sandgrounders Hide at Marshside RSPB when there was only this Little Grebe and Teal of note.

I did call in at Lunt Meadows on the way home in the hope of seeing at least a Barn Owl, but nothing was showing and light quickly faded.

Highfield Moss, Lowton

Highfield Moss, Lowton

After following a thread on the Manchester Birding Forum for Highfield Moss in Lowton, I decided to ask Nick Isherwood, the main contributor to this topic, if he would show me round the area.  Nick very kindly agreed and we met at 3pm today on Heath Lane, just across the main road from the Moss.

My main aim was to see the two or three Short-eared Owls which Nick had been reporting regularly over the last couple of weeks, and I wasn't to be disappointed.  But even before we got to the Moss, there were birds to be seen in the fields on either side of the public footpath which leads first to the railway line, and then onto Highfield Moss.

The first birds of note were a group of eighteen Golden Plover which flew over us, with some more in the field to the left of the footpath amongst some Lapwing and Gulls also on the ground.  Nick said that he'd never really seen this number of birds in that field before. A Buzzard was also sitting on a fence post on the far side of this field before it took off for the trees.

As we made our way to the railway line (which is part of the famous route over Chat Moss along which Robert Stevenson drove the Rocket in the Rainhill Trials), we saw a group of 20-ish Linnet sitting in a low tree on the field border, followed by a very tame Song Thrush in a shrub on the bank.  Nick mentioned that he'd regularly seen a Corn Bunting singing loudly in the main field last year.

Then down the steps to the railway line and up into a wooded area which eventually opened out onto Highfield Moss.  It was a beautiful late afternoon and the Moss looked fantastic in the golden sunshine.  We decided to walk along the embankment which runs parallel to the railway line and which gives a good viewpoint over the area, and soon we came across Pete Astles (another Manchester Birding Forum member) who was set up with a tripod and waiting for the Owls to reappear. He'd already seen them this evening but they weren't about just then.

Our first view of the Short-eared Owl

Whilst chatting to Pete, Nick got the first glimpse of an Owl sitting in a distant tree on the far side of the Moss.  I took a quick photo in case that was all I was going to see, but as you can see, just about everything was wrong with it!  In fact all my shots here today are no more than record shorts as will later become apparent.

Banking left

Before long we were treated to a flypast by the bird and for the next fifteen minutes or so I stood mesmerised as it quartered the Moss for food.  It would disappear for a while and then come back into view and at times came quite close to us.  I was so taken by this display that I just shot my camera off without paying proper attention to the settings - therefore, most of my pictures are blurred or overexposed.  Nevermind, I'll be back many more times to get a good shot.

Quartering the Moss

Nick then continued to show me round the Moss and on the way we saw the bird several more times. And then a second Owl appeared and the two birds briefly engaged in a bit of aerial 'rough and tumble'.  I'm not sure if it was a serious confrontation  or just being playful, but it didn't last long.

A bit of 'rough and tumble'

After this we carried on around the Moss, with Nick pointing out various places to go.  We did have a distant view of a bird which seemed to be an Owl sitting on a post in a hedge along a field border and this could have been the third bird that's been reported here. And later an Owl flew out of the woods right in front of us before disappearing - this was probably the closest we got to it today, but we didn't have a great view.

On the way back to the car a couple of Pheasants made us jump as they squawked loudly and flew awkwardly away and the Song Thrush we'd seen previously was still in the same place and still as tame.

Sunset over Highfield Moss

A great little place and a fantastic experience to see the Short-eared Owls in flight across the Moss.  Thanks Nick, I owe you one and 'yes', I do think you should write a site guide for the Manchester Birding website - I'm sure many people, like me, will appreciate your efforts.

Marshside RSPB, Southport

Today Sarah and I took my new spotting scope to Marshside RSPB in Southport for a try out.  A full report will follow later but for now here are the birds we saw:

• Oystercatcher (on the way, near Ormskirk)
• Skylark
• Shelduck
• Mute Swan
• Black-headed Gull
• Mallard
• Canada Goose
• Avocet (lifer)
• Pintail (lifer)
• Ruff (lifer)
• Golden Plover (lifer)
• Little Grebe
• Redshank
• Shoveller
• Lapwing
• Curlew

Here are some of the better pictures I took today:

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

A Pair of Avocets

A Pair of Avocets

A Pair of Avocets

Four Avocets

Five Avocets

Black-tailed Godwit

A Pair of Black-tailed Godwits

A Pair of Pintails

A Male Teal

Little Grebe

Little Grebe