I did manage to get a few shots of Lapwings as they flew in from the marsh but by the time the Pick footed geese did their nightly V-shaped fly-by the light level was too low to get any decent photographs.

Cow, ignoring the Lapwings and Widgeon... "Can't you see I'm eating?"

There were plenty of other birds in the area; Widgeon, Teal, Godwits, Oyster catchers – all the usual Autumn suspects but the only time they came within camera range was when the Sun hid behind the clouds forming over the sea to the west.

Evening sun lights up a flight of Lapwings at RSPB Marshside

Needless to say as the light level returned and the Sun bathed the area the golden glow the Geese were nowhere to be seen, the only evidence of them being their calls echoing from the surrounding fields.

Light… a photographers best friend and worst enemy…

Spring Couples - Oyster Catchers, Shelducks and Avocets

As the weather has been so great recently I went for a long walk along our local river, the Douglas to practice my photography skills and to see if i could manage to get a half decent image of birds in flight with my current equipment.

With the dry weather and the sun the banks of the River Douglas had dried considerably leaving shallow pools for wading birds to sift through for food, the usual suspects were in abundance; Oyster Catcher, Curlew, Shelduck, Mallard but it’s the first time I’ve seen Avocet on my local patch although they do breed at RSB Marshside, Southport which is about 10 miles up the coast.

As for catching birds in flight? These are the best of a LOT of photographs.

Lapwing on flight -probably pushing the lens a little here

Shelducks in flight - sometimes luck is all you need...

I’m pleased with the one of the Shelducks which just flew right past me while I had the camera set up ready to go, although the sky could have been a bit more interesting – can’t have it all I guess. The Lapwing was a bit tougher, they fly very erratically at this time of year and realistically the lens I have (Canon 55-250) isn’t up to the job – hence they’re a bit blurred, although still recognisable.

Still… practice makes perfect.

An Evening of Lapwings

After purchasing the scope on Friday we were eager to try it out on something a little more challenging. There had been sightings during the previous month of a very rare bird to the UK so flasks were packed and like proper birders off we went in search of our quarry.

The destination was Fluke Hall, Pilling on the Southern side of Morecambe Bay. The weather was, once again, very windy and just to make it worse, showers were frequent and cold. I thought I’d spotted our target on the drive to the car park but wasn’t sure until a very kind man confirmed our suspicions.

We came out of the woods a little apprehensively, would it still be there? YES! You could see it with the naked eye, closer with the binoculars and through the scope it was amazing. A Glossy ibis! So rare a visitor to the UK there have only been 87 sightings between 1958 and 2004. It’s not even on the RSPB web site. Just as I pulled the camera from my pocket it flew behind the trees but just to see it was fantastic – a truly exotic bird in Lancashire – amazing!

It’s likely that well be doing a lot more birding now that we have the scope so below are a few links that will keep the avid bird watcher up to date.

birdguides.com A free map with sightings or register for more in-depth details.birdformum.net A massive resource for all things birding, from sightings to equipment reviews – to get started try looking in the section for North West England.

And last a link to rockyroaduk.com – views and stories from the saddle of a mountain bike, mainly around Lancashire. Some great photos and stories from Chris.

And the photograph above? Well, we had to go and have a quick look at the Little egrets at Marshside. I couldn’t get a photograph, it was a bit dark but the moon was just visible as these Lapwing flew past.

After all – we’ve a scope now and it seems we’ve become birders…

RSPB Marshside

The weather forecast yesterday was horrific with almost 40mph winds and heavy rain so we cancelled our sea fishing trip and hence didn’t get any bait. Imagine my frustration on waking this morning to a light breeze and glorious sunshine – oh well, British weather, what can you do?

Not wanting to waste the fine weather I went walking around the Marshside RSPB reserve, near Southport, Merseyside. The drive took about 15 minutes and as I approached the car park down the coastal road I spotted a few bright white shapes on the seaward marsh. I quickly parked the car and raced back to the spot and got out the binoculars in time to see 4 Little Egrets, a first for me! To far a way for a good photo – I took a few but the birds were far to small in the images to make out.

Ducks Hiding

I slowly walked back down the coastal road, enjoying the huge flocks of Lapwing and Starlings until I got to the nearest hide. By now the wind was getting stronger (thank goodness I wasn’t fishing after all) so it was good to be in some shelter for a while.

Marshside is an amazing place if you stop for a while and look carefully at what you perceive to be empty fields. Most people will see the flocks of Lapwing flying overhead and the Pink-footed geese arriving in huge numbers to feed but look carefully and you will see thousands of small ducks; Widgeon, Teal, Pintail and Shoveler to name a few.

I spent a good hour just watching, being somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of winter visitors to our coastline.

Godwits at Marshside

At the second hide, which is about 500m further down the coastal path, the land is more open shallow water with the odd island. This is a favourite roosting patch for the many wading birds that visit our shore line as it provides a good safe refuge when the tide is too high for them to feed.

Again the area was covered in small ducks with many of the larger Shelduck present but as the tide reached it maximum height for the day huge flocks of Black-tailed godwits arrived. These will stay here until April when they travel to continental Europe to breed.

There are, however, a few breeding pairs that stay in the UK, three pairs on the Fylde Coast on the River Ribble estuary at Newton Marsh. These are the most northerly breeding birds in the UK out of a total of about 50 so are nationally very important to the species.

I made my way back to the car after a very enjoyable couple of hours doing nothing but watching birds – great!

I’ll leave you with a couple more shots just to tempt you into a visit.

Black-tailed godwits arriving as the tide pushes them off the beach.

A mixed flock of Lapwing and Starlings.