Scoping Out South Stack

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"Hiding in the Daisies"

As the wind continued to be a bit blustery we decided to go and visit South Stack lighthouse with the cameras and spotting scope to see what bird life we could find. This time we climbed down the cliff path (all 400 steps of it) and went across to the lighthouse where the Lesser Black Backed Gulls still had chicks.

The views back towards the cliffs of the sea birds coming and going were astonishing and we saw all sorts of birds including Guillemot, Razorbill, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed and Greater Black Backed Gulls, Kittiwake, Chough and finally managed to get views (although a long way off and not suitable for photography) of Puffins.

The above juvenile Kittiwake was just sitting by the path, not a care in the world, and with the abundance of small fish in the sea below who can blame him.

It was a struggle to get an in-focus shot of the gulls as they flew past, I never realised just how fast they are until I tried catching on on camera. After spending a few hours just watching the busy cliffs and sea below we trudged back up the cliff, stopping at every bench we could find to catch our breath and continually looking at the cliffs as we ascended a path (yep – all 400 steps going up as well) that seemed a lot steeper on the way up than it was coming down.

Lonely Razorbill with Guillemots

It was well worth a visit but undoubtedly the star attraction of the South Stack area are the cliffs down which the path runs, the lighthouse island is good for sea watching and during the spring and summer has an RSPB presence on it, but if you want to see the birds keep stopping on the way down and just take a few minutes to wonder at the huge number of birds nesting on every conceivable ledge.

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.

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.

Water, Wetlands and Wildlife

As BBC’s Autumn Watch came to an end last week, and what a fantastic series it was, I trawled through the internet to find a few relevant websites.

WWT, The Wildlife and Wetlands Trust
The UK’s only specialist wetland conservation charity and home of Martin Mere, the location of Autumn Watch.
The RSPB, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Working to secure a healthy environment for birds and wildlife which helps create a better world for us all.
The Mersey Basin Campaign
Helping improve water quality in the rivers and waterways of England’s Northwest and encourage high quality waterside regeneration.
National Trust, Formby
Offering miles of walks through the woods and dunes. One of the last places in England where visitors may catch a glimpse of the rare red squirrel.
Red Deer Research on Rum
One of the star attractions of this years Autumn Watch was watching these magnificent animals in such beautiful surroundings.

Plus a couple of new sea fishing ‘blogs’

Seaforth Sea Fishing
A new website designed for north west sea anglers. Through the months there will be pictures and reports on what is caught and where.
East Anglia Sea Angling
A blog by Ian, who lives in Norfolk, recounting some of his sea fishing experiences.

RSPB Leighton Moss and Arnside Knott

Leighton Moss

With the forecast for a very warm day for this time of the year we decided to go and have a look round the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss, Lancashire, just north of Carnforth.

As promised it was a fantastic day and we spent the morning wandering in and out of the hides watching the many species of wetland birds that visit the reserve in the Autumn and Winter.

The reserve is famous for having the most northerly breeding Bitterns and once again we managed to see one of these rare birds standing sedately on the edge of the reeds – no doubt wondering what all the fuss was about.

River Kent - Looking East

We’d spotted on the map of the area an area called Arnside Park so in our never ending quest to find the perfect viewpoint to have lunch we made our way to the car park at Arnside Knott.

After making the short but steep ascent to the top we were greeted with one of the most amazing views I’ve seen. Looking to the east the Arnside viaduct can be seen spanning the River Kent and to the west the River Kent can be seen opening up into Morecambe Bay.

Unfortunately the weather was to hazy to get many good landscape photographs but I’m assured that from this vantage point you can see the mountains in the Lake District, Snowdonia in North Wales to the south and Yorkshire’s Three Peaks to the East.

Arnside Knott View

After managing to tear ourselves away from the views we headed down from the Knott summit into Arnside Park itself.

The scenery throughout our decent changed constantly from the rugged scrub at the top through low sparse wooded areas until finally down into a fully fledged deciduous woodland just changing into it’s autumn colours.

The decent ended at Hollins Farm and from there we walked in a clockwise direction from Far Arnside, around the coast passing Park Point, Arnside Point and Blackstone Point until we arrived at New Barns Bay.

Arnside Park

The area is beautiful and very well kept with a very well maintained, well sign-posted footpath running all around the coast.

Considering how popular Arnside is with visitors the woods surrounding the area seemed almost empty. We only saw a couple of people in the woods on the two mile section we walked and it was great to be away from all the noise and commotion of the main roads and towns.

Autumn was evident where ever we looked with the Yew trees in full fruit and acorns from the many Oaks littering the forest floor.

Mushrooms and other fungi were sprouting from the decaying wood and the leaves were starting to turn a wonderful shade of gold.

Arnside Park Yew

Eventually we emerged from the woods and after a short while found our way to and area called New Barns where, much to our surprise there was a sea fishing match just ending.

While having a quick rest we spoke to a few of the people that were leaving the area to find out what, if anything, had been caught (we never pass up an opportunity to learn about a new area to fish).

As we suspected they were mainly catching Flounder and apparently this time of year, October and November, is this best so maybe I can convince a few of our friends in the club to hold part of the estuary cup here next year.

Even if we don’t catch, the views alone are worth the journey.

We climbed our way back up to the car park then after a final look at the area made our way back home. Another great day out and another beautiful area in the North West discovered.

Flounder Fishing in the River Kent

Southport Beach, Merseyside and a Few Links

Southport Beach

This week we’ve not been sea fishing or walking at all as we’ve been replenishing our supplies of gear that has either been used up or lost over the past few months.

We did manage to get out to Southport yesterday where we bought a new pair of binoculars from Waddington Photographic small enough to stuff into a rucksack so that we can take them wherever we go.

As the weather has been so grim over the past week I’ve been doing a lot of ’surfing’ so below are a few websites or articles that I came across.

RSPB purchase 170 hectares in wetland project
This is great news for the area and is only a 10 minute cycle ride from my house, an RSPB reserve at Hesketh Out Marsh, on our doorstep, fantastic!

A couple of websites for the avid bird watcher in the North West;
Dee Estuary Birding
A great resource for all things avian around the River Dee (between North Wales and the Wirral)
Another Place…Birding the South Sefton coast
All the birding news from the South Sefton Coast

Henry Gilbey – Worldwide Fishing Pictures
Henry is a sea fishing addict and a great photographer- the images on his website are amazing. Henry can also frequently be seen in action on Discovery Reel Time.