Lancashire Coastline

I booked a day off last Friday with the intention of spending day over on the east coast, Flamborough Head specifically. Unfortunately the weather gods were against me, and the idea of sitting in the car for 2 1/2 hours to spend a day on the east coast in westerly winds was, well, not attractive.

So, in the end I went for a trip onto the Lancashire coast instead.

I started the day at a new spot - Pilling on the north coast of the Fylde, overlooking Morecambe Bay.

Looking out onto the saltmarsh at Pilling. Heysham Nuclear power station is visible over my scope.

High tide was forecast at 08:15, but it would only reach 7.5 metres so I wasn't expecting masses of birds close in. But I did expect a few birds moving around, and maybe a few Pink-footed Geese as this is a regular haunt with over 10,000 present during winter. I arrived at around 07:45 at the Environment Agency car park on Backsands Lane (a great little spot as you can bird from the back of your car, and its free) and got set up. Although it was bright it was more than a little chilly, and the NW wind was biting. It was also quiet. Very quiet. A few Curlew were close in, and four Little Egrets were nice to see - it still amazes me that these birds are now relatively easy to see - when I did the annual bird race in Lancashire in 2003, a Little Egret was a real bonus. Anyway, there were a few pink-feet, 10 to be precise, plus another 22 over southbound, which were the first of the autumn for me. At one point I had 10 pinks in the 'scope, a Swallow over their heads and Chiffchaff singing in the tree behind me. Quite a strange mix. 580 Shelduck and 1000+ Teal gave me something to count, but most things were so distant, and the haze so bad I decided to call it a day after 1 1/2 hours.

So, I headed off back towards home, but with a detour off to Marshside RSPB. On arrival I went straight to the main hide/visitor centre to check the log. It was telling that there was nothing - I mean nothing - visible from this hide. So, I walked across the road onto the marsh and found a spot out of the wind at the back of the old sand winning plant. Again the place was almost birdless.  A few Snipe and Lapwings were the first birds I noticed, followed again by 3 Little Egrets. I really hoped for a Peregrine or a Merlin but it wasn't to be. Instead I spent a very quiet but strangely rewarding hour watching the antics of the Lapwings and the Snipe and practicing my sketching skills. At 2pm, with nothing at all on Twitter I decided to knock it on the head and headed home. On the  plus side, there was nothing on the east coast either and so I saved myself a fair old drive and a few quid in diesel.