Petrels

There had been a few reports of Leach's Petrels along the Lancashire and Cheshire coastline over the last few days, and the impending storm 'Aileen' was promising to bring even better conditions today. Typical as its a working day. However I managed to get away from work a bit early and shoot up to the Old Gunsite near Leasowe.

I pulled onto the car park at 16:40. There was a strong onshore wind, the tide was up and it looked promising for Leach's. I set the scope up at the side of the car for a bit of shelter and had my first look  back towards the Mersey mouth at New Brighton, just using my Bins. Immediately I picked up a Petrel, close in and motoring along the foreshore towards me. I got it in the scope and there was my first Leach's of the year. Great views as it flew along just behind the breakers. Two mins later and there was another two but much farther out. In the first hour I had 8 go past, plus a Kittiwake, a Fulmar and a Guillemot sat on the sea. Someone at New Brighton was having a much better time with 35 during the same period. I guess the birds spread out once they exit the mouth of the Mersey hence I didn't see anywhere near 35 in that same period. The birds I saw were certainly well spread out. Some close in and others very distant. In the second hour the numbers did jump considerably and I had 16 in 45 mins. Again some very distant and some much closer. I almost certainly missed quite a few due to not being able to watch at close quarters and the middle distance at the same time, and many birds were only visible for a few seconds before disappearing into the troughs; they could very easily pass unnoticed.

Its the first time I've managed to get to see this 'spectacle' and it was well worth it. Watching these comparatively small seabirds battle into the headwind, yet seemingly not be bothered by it showed just how well they are adapted to a life on the open ocean. One of the local kitesurfers (think thats what you call them)  pulled up to ask what the 'tiny little black and white birds are hovering over the sea?' He'd seen quite a few whilst out on his board and was amazed something so small could survive out there.

After 2hrs I was ready for home, the movement seemed to have stopped, the tide was dropping and I was frozen (in September!). No photo's I'm afraid- far too windy and too distant for a good shot with only a 300mm lens - but a great couple of hours.

Migfest

I spent Saturday and Sunday morning at Spurn helping with 'Migfest' or the Migration Festival to give it its full title. I have never been to this event before. It always struck me as a great event, but not something for me - I like it when its quiet on the people front.  However, when the late Andy Roadhouse asked me if I wouldn't mind helping out this year, of course I said yes.

I was down to help leading a couple of guided walks, one around the Triangle on Saturday morning, the other around Kilnsea Wetlands and Beacon Lane on Sunday morning. There were quite a few people turned up on the Saturday morning, sadly the weather didn't encourage many birds to show themselves - a very stiff south westerly meant many birds were keeping a low profile, and a high tide meant there were few birds on the estuary either. But, we managed to find a few bits including three Whinchats - my first for the year.

A Wryneck had been found on the Friday and after the walk I accompanied a few of the guests up to where the bird had been showing. Sadly I didn't see it at this attempt.

I spent the afternoon mooching around, helping direct visitors and re-visiting the Wryneck to see if I could finally catch up with it, which I did eventually.

I'd just got back to the Observatory for a brew when the call came out that a Long-billed Dowitcher had been found on Holderness Field so a quick march up the road and across to the field was in order. There was quite a crowd so my initial views were quite restricted, however I eventually got a better spot and had great views of it, along with a Greenshank and Little Stint for size comparisons.

Once again I had left my phoneskope attachment in the car (need to start keeping this round my neck or something), so had to make do with holding the phone to the eyepiece. I was pretty pleased with the results.

I was all done and dusted with my second walk by 09.00am on the Sunday and as I had family commitments later in the day I decided to leave early. There were still good birds about, thankfully nothing I hadn't seen before, so the Migfest visitors had another good day.

Migfest is a brilliant event. The range of talks, demonstrations and walks means there's something for everyone and I'd highly recommend it.

Overall a great weekend and hopefully a nice little taster of things to come when I go back in a few weeks.