Leasowe

So, the forecast for today wasn't great, but the tide was a 9m + at midday and I really fancied getting out to the coast. I thought about heading off to Parkgate or the North Wirral foreshore but I discovered that the Wirral Wader festival was on today. Nothing at all against this, in fact I think its great, but I just fancied a quiet day out and the thought of loads of people didn't encourage me. To be fair I could have gone to Parkgate as the event only started there in the evening, but I had seen reports of some decent seabirds off the northern coastline and I fancied a chance at seeing some of these with some decent wader numbers. So, I decided to head to the gun site at Leasowe as this wasn't  mentioned at all in the festival venues and it was where the reports of Leach's Petrel and Pomarine Skuas had been from. I've never been to this particular site before so had no idea what to expect.

When I arrived I was instantly happy with my choice. As well as being able to park (for free) so I could sit on the back of my car and look right onto the beach, there was also some great scrub habitat immediately inland that looked promising.

                                              Looking straight out towards the wind farm

                                             Looking North East towards New Brighton

I arrived at around 08:30 with high tide due at midday, so I spent the first couple of hours bush bashing in the scrub between the beach and golf course. Although it looked promising there was very little on show except for a lonely Chiffchaff and the usual Tits, Blackbirds and a few finches. There were however hundreds of Meadow Pipits streaming over. They were coming in on a broad front all across the coastline so impossible to count, but it was an impressive movement.

As the tide started to rise I set up behind the car. There were plenty of Oystercatchers and quite a few small mixed flocks of waders batting around, and a few Oystercatchers and Redshanks had started to roost up on the rocks just off the beach. There was also a good number of Sandwich Terns present, later joined by a few Common Terns. The pictures below are a bit dark as they were phonescoped at full zoom on the phone and by this time the weather had turned a bit grim!

A nice adult Arctic Skua was one of the birds I had hoped for, as was a Red-throated Diver, but it was really nice to see the latter sat on the sea a few hundred metres off the beach, a pleasant change from seeing them half a mile out and by far the best view I've had of one of these in ages. The photos again aren't the best and the view through the scope were much better.

                                                               Red-throated Diver

One of the most extraordinary things I saw today was what I assume was a truly huge flock of Common Scoter. I knew that there was a big number regularly seen off Holyake but this was way more than I'd imagined. There were thousands and thousands, not to mention the many flocks of 10 - 20 birds that were scattered as far as you could see. It was truly spectacular, I just wish I'd been closer.

Anyway, by midday the rain had really set in and after another hour I gave up. However I really enjoyed this spot and will probably be visiting regularly.