Photography Practice and Avocets at Marshide

Avocet at RSPB Marshside, Southport

As the weather has been so good this week we went for a quick walk to RSPB Marshside, Southport, to see if we could spot the Avocets and chicks that have started breeding on the marshes in recent years. As per normal we took almost every piece of optical equipment we owned assuming the birds would be miles and miles away.

Shock of shocks! There birds were on the rapidly drying up pond as close to the road as they could possibly be so our walk quickly became a good excuse for me to practice with the Canon EOS 450D I purchased a couple of months ago. The chicks were to far away to get a good photo but I managed to get a few others.

Although I prefer the top image of the Avocet it was a tough decision as the reflection of this other one and the birds profile go together so well.

Black Tailed Godwits being boisterous in their summer plumage.

After spending some time just watching the birds from the hides at the reserve we walked round the old sand reclamation plant where I did my best to take a few photos of the smaller birds that seemed to tease us where ever we went, eventually getting a shot of a male Linnet in the evening sun. I tried to get a few photos of the young rabbits but they were just too fast – even though there seemed to be hundreds of them.

After driving past the sands works so many times it was great to walk round it for a change. The amount of birds, animals, grasses and flowers that thrive on the marshes in the area is astounding and I’ll bet most people who drive past have no idea of the fantastic diversity on their doorstep.

Sometimes something as simple as grass can make an impact. Looking towards Blackpool in the distance.

Even more grass - I like the vibrant green vertical stems on this one. Camera practice - adjusting depth of field.

A Rarity on our First Birding Quest

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…

Magnificent Marshside – Birdwatch

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.