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.

Riverside Steam & Vintage Vehicle Rally

Johnsons Tractor Driven Thresher

In my endeavour to practice, practice and practice some more with my new camera we visited the “Steam & Vintage Rally” at Riverside Touring and Holiday Home Park, Banks, Southport, which was just up the road from where we live which we’d seen advertised on a few road side signs the previous few weeks.

Even though the ‘park’ is only a few minutes away I’ve never had any reason to visit before and I was pleasantly suprised by the overall cleanliness of the place and the facilities on offer to the visiting camper. If you’re thinking of visiting the Southport area I definately consider looking at the Riverside Park.

We had a wonder around for a couple of hours in the glorious weather, looking at all the steam engines, trucks and tractors from the past decade. Some of the tractors had been used by the same families for five generations, a testiment to the manufacturing quality rather than how tight we are up here in the North West, or at least that what I’m saying.

There was a display of custom bikes with amazing paint work on them, the one above being a three wheeler converted from an old VW Beetle.

Tucked away in a corner, out of harms way, we came across a demonstration of wood carving using a chainsaw. I’ve never seen anything like it, the finished pieces, once treated and varnished for protection, were amazing and you’d think they’d been sanded but it was all done with a chainsaw.

In another corner of the event was a falcon display. We’d hoped these guys would be here and it was fantastic to see a the birds up close, the one above is a Bengal Eagle Owl which no matter what the handler did would not look into the camera.

RSPCA Steam Engine

It just goes to show – sometimes it’s worth taking notice of the signs that spring up all over the place advertising this or that event.

A Long Rest From Blogging

Small Whiting

Well… that was a bit of a long gap between posts, I don’t know what happened or why I stopped but I guess it was something to do with the the fact that we haven’t really been fishing properly since last summer. We’ve dabbled a bit but I think we were both a bit run down after the disappointment of our Devon trip and just couldn’t get motivated. But thats all over now!

The tackle has been cleaned, line replaced on the reels and all those bits and pieces you loose either while fishing or down the back of the sofa have been replaced.

Our first venture of the year was to Anglesey during the first of the May Bank Holidays in search of Bass where we stayed at Ty Cristion Holiday Cottages. As it happens we we’re too early even though May has been one of the hottest on record the proceeding months hadn’t been warm enough to encourage the Bass to move up the coastline to North Wales.

Wendys' first Turbot

We had a fantastic time though – the weather and countryside we fantastic and although the bass didn’t show up we managed to snag a few fish, one of which was Wendy’s first ever turbot. We’ve already booked another weeks visit for later in the year.

My latest fishing trip was a bit of the spur of the moment thing with a few of the lads from wirralseafishing.co.uk and involved a quick drive down to Formby. Once again Bass were the target but as I couldn’t get down to the beach in time to gather some black lug for bait I purchased some from our local tackle dealer, Waynes Tackle, Preston, which as usual was very good quality.

I arrived about 2 hours after lo-water to see a group of about 12 intrepid anglers eagerly awaiting a bite. After the usual banter I was offered more fresh black lug than I have seen in a long time – the bait collection by the guys had been stunning and I beleieve Dave W managed to get over 100 in about an hour.

Quickly setting up I joined them as the tide gradually pushed us back up the beach, filling in gullies behind us. This is why when fishing here it is essential to go with a group and preferably wear chest waders – there have been many cases where people have been cut off by the incomming tide and safety is much more important than anything else.

A Formby Bass for Kev

As per usual (how does he do it) Kev was the first into a fish, a Bass of just under 2 pounds caught on peeler crab.

As darkness fell it was starting to look as though this was to be the only fish caught until, to our left, we spotted Shaun playing a similar sized fish in the surf.

Hi-water arrived and still only 2 fish between 12 anglers – it wasn’t looking good until I spotted a slight knock on my rod. I waited a while, saw it bounce again and struck into the fish.

After the initial pull on the line it it went ‘light’ and I thought I’d lost it. I kept winding in, hoping against hope that a nice shiney Bass was running towards me, eager to see that glint of silver in the beam produced by my light.

Finally the fish became visable, a lowly Flounder, but a fish is a fish and it saved a ‘blank’. First outing in a long time, was it worth it for only 3 fish amongst a dozen anglers? Damn right it was!

A Flat Formby Flounder

It’s fantastic to be in good company, on a beautiful clean beach with the prospect of a fish or two.

I’m fired up ready for a week on Anglesey soon so look out Bass, here we come.

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.

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.

West Lancashire Yatch Club 24 Hour Race

24hr Yatch Race at Marine Lake, Southport

Yesterday I had a bit of free time on my hands and after finding out during last week that one of my cousins was sailing in the West Lancashire Yatch Club’s 40th 24 hour race I decided to go and have a look at the start of the event on Marine Lake, Southport.

My cousin and her husband both sail for Ogston Sailing Club and each of them were doing a couple of 2 hour shifts throughout the race. Ogston had 3 boats competing this year consisting of masters (over 40’s), fast and everything else crews, all in Enterprise class boats.

GP14 on Marine Lake, Southport

The event was very well attended and the weather was fantastic.

The wind coming across the lake made some good speeds possible and it was not unusual to see the small boats plane across the water – especially the GP14 class as pictured here which was able to take a spinnaker (the light blue sail) to catch even more wind.

It was good to have a little insider knowledge into the ‘mechanics’ of sailing and after a while I began to realise that I had underestimated the skill involved in sailing these tiny boats around Marine Lake. Something that previously seemed so mundane took on a whole new aspect once I’d listened about how the wind gusts differently around the islands and even bounces off buildings close by.

Enterprise Dingy

This image is of an Enterprise class catching a good breeze and putting on a bit of speed. The Enterprise is easily recognised by it’s blue sails. The other class of boat entered is the Lark – again a very fast boat, able to take a lot of sail.

I was impressed by the organisation of the crews from all over the area – most of them had large support units able to mend the boats, keep time or just give support into the night for those sailing in the dark (I drove past them at 5.30 this morning but more on that later).

Once the race was started I made my way back to the car along the top of the bank separating the lake from the main road.

I was pleased to see that the area surrounding the lake was in very good condition and to see so many families out walking or even having a picnic while watching the sailing.