South fylde tour

I'll be going into hospital on Wednesday to have my toes broken and straightened, so this was a last chance to get out and about whilst still mobile.

I started off at Barrow lodge, near to home. Only about 6 pairs of mallard left now and the big white dosmestic duck too. 2 pairs of coot, 2 pairs of moorhen and a pair of canada geese! We dont often get geese on the lodge. Plenty grey wagtails and pied wagtails flitting about too, but no kingfisher present.



I moved on down to Brockholes quarry where I've seen Little ringed plover and sand martin reported recently. Lots of reed buntings, a large roost of BH gulls and a big flock of canada geese. There was the odd greylag goose and some juv mute swans too.

No luck with the LRPs; redshank, oystercatcher and lapwing being the only waders present. Just as I was leaving, 3 sand martin flew over the ribble way path a few times, new for my UK08 list.


A visit to the entrance pool at newton marsh, yeilded this very accomodating lapwing and all the usual suspects. Grazing wigeon, teal, shoveller, mallard, coot, moorhen and a pair of mute swans.

















I drove round to the Freckleton side to search for the Glossy Ibis at the Naze pool. No joy again! Blackwits, shelduck and lots of "MAD MARCH" brown hare in the fields being the only sightings of interest.



















Down at the estuary were 10 whoopers and 10 mutes keeping distinctly separate, zillions of redshank, cormorant, more blackwits but no pipits or raptors to be found.

I drove onwards to Grannies bay, next to fairhaven lake in Lytham.
2 new scores for the UK08 list.
3 ringed plover and 5 red knot amongst all the redshank and gulls.








































































I stopped at nearby Lytham crematorium to look for the nesting ring-necked parakeets but nothing seen or heard apart from a GS woody drumming.

So, over Lytham moss without stopping cos it was too busy and on to Marton mere for a last ditch attempt at Long-eared owl.

Absolutely nothing of interest here. Zillions of families with screaming kids etc at the holiday park for Easter probably scares off most birds.
Just when I was leaving, I thought I'd found 2 early whinchat amongst the reeds but on viewing my dodgyscope shots later, they turned out to be female stonechat.









































So this will be the last post for March but hopefully I'll be able to hobble about enough by mid-April to get back out birding.