Lancashire coast - The new Carmargue? Part 1

The Safari has been out n about with good mates CR and IH over the last two or three weeks; we've been to both the north side and south side of the River Ribble to some of the variety of coastal and inland wetlands to be found between Liverpool and Barrow, not that we got into Cumbria this time. 

Over the last few years it's been noticeable how many more egrets you can see in these places than Grey Herons, the latter was the only long legged thingy to be found in the parts back in the day. Now it's a game of 'by how many will Little Egrets outnumber Grey Herons today?'. And it's usually 'loads'. And it's no longer 'just' Little Egrets there's a whole host of 'Daz' (other titanium oxide enhanced laundry cleaneres are available) white long legged beasties waiting to outnumber Grey Herons, they're all over the shop! Not that we're complaining, we'd have had to go to far flung corners like the Danube Delta to see Great White Egrets when we started birding some 50 something years ago, not that we'd been much further than Anglesey back then.

First up we headed up north to Leighton Moss where we found a trio of Cattle Egrets out on the saltmarsh, until very recently these were quite scarce locally favouring a few small hotspots but now seem to almost ubiquitous although still in small mubers, we're yet to come across a double figure flock. Maybe when they start following the plough like they do on the continent we'll see large numbers together - by then they'll probably be fighting off Black Kites, or maybe even Black Winged Kites, for what gets turned out of the soil.

On the moss itself it was pretty quiet with somewhat too high water levels in the pools and very recent habitat work outside two of the hides. But of course we did find a Great White Egret.

Beyond it in the furthest part of the pool was a Grey Heron too and then there were two. After a bit of a squabble over fishing rights the newcomer flew off over the Causeway...we hadn't taken much notice of it but looking that way at something else we saw that its upper wings were very gingery and we were suddenly became very interested in it. Now there had been a Purple Heron here but it was at least two weeks since the last sighting and we hadn't paid enough attention to this bird and it was soon lost to view. However, with plenty of other birders around all day it's unlikley that had it been a Purple Heron no-one else had seen it...so 'just' a 'normal' Grey Heron and a trick of the light combined with a good dose of wishful thinking was the conclusion.
The Bearded Tits weren't playing ball at either of the grit trays and with nothing much else about in easy reach of the lens (recently pics of Ospreys, Bitterns, Marsh Harriers and more had been flooding social media groups but they weren't on show today) we had to 'make do' with watching the dragonflies outside the Causeway Hide window and what a show they were putting on for us, they were loads of them, Mostly Migrant Hawkers.

Like the egrets it's not that long ago that these were almost unknown around these parts too. Always numerous though were Common Darters and so it was today with several pairs in tandem on the wing and perching up.

So far this year we've not come across a Garganey so we spent quite a lot of time checking through the nort so many Teal to be found in case one was lurking in plain sight and nobody had picked it out yet. What was unsual wasa Teal stood on a post, there's lots of posts sticking out of the water here and we've seen all manner of birds stood on them but never a Teal. There's got to be a first time for everything we suppose.

No sign of any Garganey on the main reserve but we did find a distant likely candidate on the saltmarsh pools with a much greater number of Teal to rummage through.

At range through the bins it did look quite good but when we asked a newly arrived birder to put his scope on it it showed a bit of previously hidden green on the wing so no joy for us. It did stand out from the crowd, often a good sign of something unusual - if you take your eyes off it and then can't relocate it it probably wasn't anything out of the ordinary but this one was easy to pick out among the much darker, plainer Teal...close but no cigar! 

We were also put onto two very distant Whinchats, always nice to see but we do wish they'd been a mile or two closer - we won't be winning any photo competitions with this effort.

Our next safari was south of the Ribble to Marshside, in the hope of connecting with a Spoonbill or two. The pools at Sandgrounders Hide were really good for Canada Geese and not a lot else! Closeish were a smattering of Lapwings and a few gulls until IH found a Pale Bellied Brent Goose lurking at the far end of the Canada Goose flock. We watched it come nearer, waiting for a better photo opportunity when CR shouts Kingfisher. Which duly landed on the perch especially positioned for them. Not only did it land, it fished too and for a good length of time, giving the camera shutter a lot of  work to do.

After a good while the Kingfisher left which meant looking for the Brent Goose again, it was nowhere to be seen among the Canada Geese - how could it hide so effectively? Well it wasn't hiding at all it was right out in the open on its own, it had snuck across the channel onto the island in front of us while our attention was elsewhere.

While watching it grazing all alone we spotted a juvenile  Little Ringed Plover working its way along the water's edge behind it and while looking at that IH saw a White Wagtail drop in briefly. Having exhausted the possibilities of the pool we decided to nip round the other side of the reserve and view the muddy pools from the old sea wall wherwe a number of Curlew Sandpipers had been seen in recent days. It didn't take long to find them too and a nice Ruff for good measure.

While we were watching (and checking the small flock of roosting Black Headed Gulls for Mediterranean Gulls - gotta be done!) another dozen Curlew Sandpipers dropped in - We now had more Curlew Sandpipers in front of us at any one time than we've had before and possibly almost as many as we've ever had put together - they're not a bird we see often or many of - WOW! Sadly they were too far spread to be able to fit in one frame so this is the most we could get together.

There were no Spoonbills to be seen from this side and only a couple of Little Egrets so it wasn't that Carmarguey after all.
From there we hit Martin Mere WWT reserve where there were a lot of noisy argumentative Grey Lag Geese, well they made a change from the Canada Geese at Marshside. A quick fly-by Kingfisher made it a daily double which doesn't often happen.

Like at Leighton Moss the the water level was a bit too high after all the recent rain so there was precious little mud to attract many waders. Scanning around we found the usual duck characters, Teal and Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall and just a handful of Wigeon.

A bit of scanning the margins gave us a few Snipe secreted among the snoozing Teal.

Most of the recently arrived Pink Footed Geese were away elsewhere but there were a small number to be seen among the Grey Lag Geese hordes.

Moving round to the new Tominson Hide we had a bit of a shock when the herd of cows came trundling down the narrow track. Was someone moving them back to the shed we'd just passed, seems a bit odd to be doing that during opening hours but as far as we could tell there was no 'cowboy' 'cushing' them on from the rear. Two calves took an interest in us as we stood in the widest part of the track we could find and then we saw the huge bull lumbering along...and still no sign of a 'cowboy'...the flimsey gate we were stood by didn't look as if it would hold our weight if we had to vault it, not that we do much vaulting but in the case of an emergency, and it certainly wouldn't hinder the progress of a 1000+ kg animal should he have had the mind to follow us...oooh errr. He passed by without looking up far more interested in the lush grass on the opposite side of the path - phew! We tried to get three lingering cows to catch up with the rest so that we could carry on to the hide but they wouldn't pass us rather they turned and went back the way they came so our cattle wrangling skills were rated as a big fat 0... 

CR did the decent thing and phoned reception for assitance and shortly after a member of staff came running down the track explaining that a gate had inadvertently been left open. He suggested we make our way to thew hide and stay there until he told us the coast was clear - which we did! On the way to the  hide we pased a  family of Stonechats on the adjacent fence but had no time to stop and admire them.

Once in the hide all we had to do was watch and wait for the cattle to be brought home. High water levels meant there wasn't much to see other than the almost ubiquitous Grey Lag Geese, a couple more Pink Footed Geese and a few Gadwall but we had to stick it out until the coast was clear.  Close Encounters of the Herd Kind! Ian missed all the excitement ftoday (& jeopardy) when we were surrounded by these escaped Longhorn Cattle, including bull, and had to phone the visitor centre asking them to rescue us 😱 https://twitter.com/messages/media/1702722124132016343

Before too long our cowboy friend popped his head through the door letting us know the beasts were back in their field and the gate locked behind them. Off we went for a look at the Stonechats but for a few minutes we couldn't find them. Then one reappeared further down along the fenceline.

And then a second deep in the vegetation behind the fence

Despite a long search we never did see the rest of the family, where had they disappeared too?

With time now pressing it was decided to have a last look from the Discovery Hide and lo and behold what did we find here - a whole heap of Cattle Egrets, and, of course, a couple of Little Egrets scattered about the wetland.

As the wore on so the Pink Footed Geese began to return for the night, the sound as they came in was just fabulous.

At times they filled the sky

Even better was a well grown Moorhen chick poking around on its own right outside the window. Too good an opportunity to miss - just look at those feet! We do like a Moorhen; one of the best birds in the book - you can keep your brightly coloured Kingfishers and Puffins, it's Moorhens, Coots and Mediterraneran Gulls for us everytime...oh and Swifts - what's not to like about a Swift?

Sadly time was up and we had to head back to Base Camp.

Where to next? More adventures on the 'Carmargue' coast.

In the meantime let us know who's got the longest legs in your outback

Where the vultures circle

The Safari has been out n about over the last six weeks or more - Honest!!!

Late summer brought a minor flurry to our Photo Year List Challenge with a surprise early birthday present in the form of a Garganey on the somewhat incongruous site of Stanley Park lake, we would have expected it to be happier out in the wilds at nearby Marton Mere Nature Reserve but no it was quite happy with walkers, dogs, cyclists, joggers, fishermen within a few feet. Not a new species to add to our challenge tally but a high quality replacement for the distant duffer earlier in the year. 

A couple of days later some promising rough weather had us down on the cliffs looking for seabirds. The conditions promised a lot more than they delivered but we did just about manage a pic of one of the handful of Common Scoters (PYLC 158) that were just about in range of the scope on 50x magnification and the phone at 2.5x making 125x altogether.

The weather died down and our 60th birthday jaunt with CR and the Scouse gang was looking good until the morning arrived and our plans had to change from going to the South Lakes to look for snakes and reptiles to bunking in half way at RSPB Leighton Moss -yep it was cold and wet! Yuk!

There was little on offer at the Allen Hide but just as we were thinking of upping sticks and moving on a small flock of small waders flew by, circled and flipped over the embankment on to the other pool. "Anyone else see that white rump?" we asked - Yep was the reply - - so off we all trotted tout suite to the Eric Morecambe Hide where we asked if anyone had seen the Curlew Sandpiper come in? No they hadn't but after a bit of searching we found one then another on the far bank.

Curlew Sandpiper (PYLC 159)

The rest of our visit was spent dodging the rain and not seeing much at all with water levels after all the recent rain being a bit too high, still you'd have thought an Otter or an Osprey might have put in appearance. But never mind the lack of wildlife (there wasn't really a lack there was plenty to see just the 'specialities' didn't put on a show for us) it was still a great day out with great company and lots of laughs.

The following day saw us up Rossall Tower with the Wildlife Trust's Living Seas Team helping out with their monthly seawatch where it was a fairly quiet watch with just a couple of distant seals providing the mammalian action. A flock of Sandwich Terns flew by close enough for a few snaps and we got an improvement on our 'roosting a hell of a long way down the beach' shot earlier in the moth for our Challenge.

We really don't know why we struggle to get better pics of these as they're fairly common visitors to the coast here and often fish very close inshore.

September started with a bang when a couple of Fylde Bird Club stalwarts discovered an oddball Wheatear on the seawall near Pilling. Word on the street was it was a female Eastern Black Eared Wheatear but then doubt crept in, could it a female Pied Wheatear or even a hybrid???? It took a couple of days for us to be able to get the time to nip up the few miles taking CR with us. If it turned out to be the former former species it would be a British Isles Lifer for us, if not it was another good and unexpected bird for our Challenge.

When we arrived Leighton Moss's JC told us it was lurking under a rock and not looking that healthy so get a shimmy on! He was right it didn't look good at all.

But thankfully when the sun came out it perked up enough to leave it's roosting crevice and go foraging  along the rocks defending the seawall.

There were several 'ordinary' Wheatears poking around the rocks too. 

After a few days news broke that it was indeed a Black Eared Wheatear (PYLC 160) due to a tiny pale smudge being seen on a mantle feather showing in one of the hundreds of photos taken of the wandering stray.

Also present that day was a rather flighty juvenile Cuckoo (PYLC 161).

From social media earlier in the spring we got the impression that Cuckoos were having a slightly better year compared to recent times but a quick look on Birdtrack shows they have been just about 'normal' this year with fewer reported in the second half of their short season. And that on the back of a major decline in recent years. For every one we see now there were four and five when we started birding - a sorry state of affairs for this iconic species. They need an upturn in their fortunes and quickly!

A sorry state of affairs for youngsters growing up having so few opportunities to hear them nowadays. With the State of Nature report showing an increasing lack of biodiversity in Britain we owe it to future generations that birds like the Cuckoo are not lost from our landscape and soundscape - that's if you can hear them above the noise of all the traffic pollution! 

A few days later the weather had turned seriously for the worse again and that brought Leach's Petrels to our coast. We always look forward to seeing these tiny storm driven waifs but chatting to SD on one of the National hale & Dolphin Watches he said he'd actually rather not see them given weather and sea conditions they've have had to contend with to be spotted by land-bound birders and we totally get where he's coming from.

However out to the cliffs wrapped up in as many layers of waterproofs as we could muster we went. After an hour and a half of seeing nothing at all a dark speck briefly jinked over a wave - was it? Wasn't it? It was, out of a trough for a few seconds the little dark 2 oz scrap of feathers appeared before being lost in the tumult of the crashing waves again. No chance of a pic. But with the wind not letting up we got another chance with a visit to Rossall Point where we were lucky enough to get almost prolonged views of one as it came across the bay then dropped on to the sea for a rest in some sheltered slack water by the point before continuing on its way to the southern Atlantic.

Leach's Petrel (PYLC 162)

From then on until we hit the sunny shores of Menorca in mid October we were unable to add any more birds to our Challenge tally.

Minutes after leaving the airport in the coach to our resort we picked up the first Red Kites, Egyptian Vultures and Booted Eagles of our holiday. All unphotographable as our camera was still stashed somewhere in the luggage.

We got to Cala Galdana, our temporary Base Camp for the next 10 days, around lunchtime and after a swift unpack we hit the beach - how good was it to get in the warm waters of the Med again although the water wasn't particularly clear as fierce thunderstorms had only just finished and a lot of floodwater had been torrenting down the hillsides combining with strong winds to make the water murky.

Still it didn't take long, a couple of minutes!, to find our first Audouin's Gull, or did it find us? Woodpigeons and Collared Doves poked around the tourists near the trees at the back of the beach and were to darker doves disappearing in to the tops of the pines and not seen again Turtle Doves?

The following morning we were on the beach before breakfast and found a couple of Audouin's Gulls on the prowl for left overs. They are a pretty gull, mus tbe the dark eye.

 Like many gulls, they're not shy!

The Yellow Legged Gulls however were shy and not pretty - must be that fierce looking pale eye.

Also in town were a handful of Bee Eaters but they were mostly frequenting the electricity cables that stretch high across the gorge so getting a pic without the 'hand of man' for the Challenge was tricky. For reasons of space and weight we'd only taken our 18-300mm lens and for these and some of the other species we came across the 150-600mm would have been a better choice.

we were told by other birders that they'd seen Blue Rock Thrush on the crags below the wires but despite lots of searching all week we never caight a glimpse of them. 

One of the Target Species were the local Egyptian Vultures we seen in the barranco running north from Cala Galdana about 10 - 12 years ago on our last visit. We hoped they were still there. They were but we were getting up too early and the morning mists made spotting them on the distant crags very tricky. Towards the end of our stay we were able to get up the gorge in the afternoon when the mist was long gone and the birds more active even if still a long way off, especially for the 300mm lens. Heat haze now became the issue.

The Booted Eagles in the same valley were for some obscure reason very hard to get a decent pic of even though they were often nearer than the vultures and soared around a little closer and more slowly. Not sure how we failed to get pin sharp pics but we did.

Some mornings we walked through the woods to the neighbouring beach, Cala Maracella, where we came across numerous well hidden Sardinian Warblers and flushed this Hoopoe a couple of times from the side of the track before finally getting at least a hint of it on to the SD card after we'd followed it down a dark side track through the denser part of the oods early one morning.

An afternoon wander up to the barranco had us stopping to look mat the Bee Eaters again and in the bankside reeds along the oppostie side of the little river a movement caught our eye. There were two birds this one looked like a Reed Warbler but was maybe a bit richer in colour - could have been the Mediterranean light - and had orangy legs and was making all manner of odd calls we've never heard a Reed Warbler do so can only imagine it's probably a Marsh Warbler.

The other bird in the same bush turned out to be a Chiffchaff and when that disappeared deep into the bush a small bird shot out and flew away over the reeds before dropping in which we thought was probably a Fan Tailed Warbler but we'll never know for certain. We didn't see any others during our holiday.

One bird we did see frequently and were numerous up the gorge were Mediterranean Flycatchers.

They were tricky to get pics of for the Challenge as they often perched on man-made objects rather than the nearby trees and bushes, for example wire fences round the fields and the slide/climbing frame in the children's playground.

Even trickier were the ubiquitous Sardinian Warblers they just don't  like to come out of  deep cover at all. And when they do they're always against the light and constantly on the move.

A couple of days of car hire saw us on the road seeing the sights. One trip on a damp start and windy day took us up to the picturesque town/village of Fornells on the north coast where a lonely Shag was sat on a windswept rock. Thank goodness it allowed a fairly close approach as we'd totally failed to  in frame in a very wavy Cala Maracella the previous day. 

Back up the barranco we were having trouble photographing the local lizard catching Kestrel and both perched and soaring Booted Eagles when we saw this largish pale warbler skulking in a bush on the other side of the track.

Unsure of its identity we sent afew snaps to regular mainland Spain visitor AB who confirmed it as a Western Olivaceous Warbler, a World Lifer for us although we have seen the Eastern species in Greece.

Our final new bird photographed for the Challenge was probably the trickiest of them all. Seen daily and sometimes extremely well in lovely light but so so camera shy. As soon as we stopped and even thought about lifting the camera they were off, the only time they were anything like approachable was in the gloom of early morning. I give you one of the family of very twitchy Woodchat Shrikes. The extra reach of the 600mm would been a boon for this species.

All those goodies brought our Challenge tally up to 174. 

It wasn't all birding after a slow tart we began to find numerous Italian Wall Lizards but totally forgot to look for snakes -how did we manage that???

Butterflies were numerous too especially Painted Ladies but with the warmth were flitting here and there very quickly but we did catch up with a couple of Clouded Yellows, a snazzily bright Iberian variety of our own Speckled Wood and most difficult of all the Long Tailed Blue.

Between refreshing dips in the hotel pool we spent an hour or so a couple of days watching the Hummingbird Hawkmoths going about their business.We took hundreds of pics and got about a dozen worth keeping. Here's a couple, have a look on our Flickr site (link on right) for the rest.

A Shieldbug type thingy was also lurking in one of the poolside flowerbeds.

The allure of Menorca are its fabulous coves and beaches and suffice to say we went snorkeling. Unfortunately the thunderstorms making the water murky wasn't conducive to underwater photography. Here's a couple grotty snaps - more should appear on our Flickr site in due course as we pull stills from the numerous video clips we took, there might even be some short videos for your delectation too.

Mixed fish

Striped Sea Bream  - these things nip if you stand still too long

Painted Comber - a fish that is both male and female at the same time

 So that little lot brings us almost up to date, we hope you've enjoyed our Mediterranean musings.

Where to next? We've had a couple of local safaris since we got back to tell you about - if we remember to put finger to keyboard that is...apologies for gooing of fthe radar in recent weeks.

In the meantime let us know who's been soaring around your outback