When I got into the car at home this morning I had no idea where to go but thought I'd make a start and check the groynes at Morecambe at high tide and see if last years excellent count of 170 Turnstones on 3 December could be exceeded in 2009 but the weather thought otherwise and the exercise was soon abandoned as I ran for cover from a blinding hailstorm which lasted for several minutes. But I did manage to note some of the birds on the groyne behind The Dome, 6 Red-breasted Merganser were sheltering from the wind and I did count 10 Turnstones and 6 Ringed Plover, the rest of the roost consisted of mainly Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. From the groyne beyond the Town Hall slipway I counted another 55 Turnstones and the count was adding up nicely but unfortunately it ended there, perhaps another attempt later in the winter. From here I picked up some 'swans' flying in a southerly direction from the Jenny Browns Point area, the birds never really came very close but I confidently recorded them as 10 Whooper Swans. I sheltered in the car at Teal Bay from another downpour noting c.20 Black-tailed Godwit in the process, I then decided to do a little 'twitch' in the hope of 'scoring a hat-trick' and set off for Pine Lake where I had good views of the Slavonian Grebe and noted - without any counts - a large number of Pochard, smaller numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Goosander. One twitch down two to go and off to the RSPB flagship reserve at Leighton Moss, well not quite as I made my next 'score' at Crag Road viewpoint from where I could see the four Snow Geese at a distance with Greylag Geese and currently drawing the crowds, two down one to go and now I'm off to the Griesdale Hide, a bit of a gamble this as I could find nobody at LM to tell me where the next 'target' was last seen. Well the gamble didn't pay off and I 'dipped' on my last of the hat-trick and the GWE/s were nowhere to be seen......ahhhh well......win a few loose a few!
I managed a nice little pic of a few of the B H Gulls on one of the groynes at Morecambe.
And another nice little pic of the elegant stag Red Deer along with one of the nine hinds seen from the Griesdale Hide.
Well I did say 'and now for something completely different' it's not like me to use words like twitch/target/scoring/dipped/tick/list......Mmmmmmm!
Another busy day for you Pete,sounds like a very interesting day despite the current very unsettled weather.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Deer Stag is a fine looking animal and well captured.
Two out of three pete, a good 'score' for your 'twitching' efforts, nice birds for a day 'list' they all 'count'.
ReplyDeleteQuite enjoyed the day despite the weather. I just keep trying to compete with you front line photographers Brian and 'Picasa' is an excellent aid.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you both for comments.
Hi Pete,
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about GWE's? Big white things that manage to hide away with such skill when their smaller cousins are dancing in front of every Tom, Dick 'n' Harry! Great to see so many of them around though.
Nice variety of birds in the local area at the moment.
CB
Good point about the GWE compared to the LE. I was at Teal Bay this afternoon killing an hour between a job I was involved in, a Little Egret flew by and although I was delighted to see the bird you do really become complacent about a sighting which just a few years ago would have brought about a twitch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your contribution Colin.