February is a great month! With the days getting longer there's more birding hours per day - just a shame that the winters are getting shorter - it seems that the winter birds will only be here during the short days soon. An afternoon out started at Fleetwood Marsh on the Wyre Estuary in "baseball cap and sweater weather, rather than "wooly hat and fleece".
Plenty of large gulls bathing on the pools along with 3 Goldeneye, a pair of Shoveler and some Tufties. I was scanning the gulls on the fish factory roof when the juv'
Iceland Gull flew by and headed out to the river. No sign of it on the river but plenty of waders, including some Blackwits on Barnaby's Sands. A desperate scan with the 'scope of a flying skein of Pink-feet on the other side of the Wyre near Staynall failed to produce a white blob that I could claim as a stringy Ross's Goose day tick. Off to Fleetwood then.
A rather disagreable "scrote" in a Man Utd shirt throwing stones at the roosting waders on my arrival at the Marine Lakes ensured that I had little chance of locating the Purple Sand's that had been seen there at the weekend. I spent a bit of time there at high tide and to be honest I don't think I'd have seen the "Purps" anyway, but as a Gooner it is at least an excuse to blame him! Nice flock of Turnstones though, plus a few Redshank and a single Knot. Not much on the mirror-like sea off the prom' apart from 20+ Mergs and 30+ Cormorants.
Having to pick up my son from work on the A6 gave me the perfect excuse to call in at the "Pilling goose fields" on the way back to Preston. Many of the Pinks were heading out to roost on the Wyre when I passed Stalmine and I failed to find any on the deck to check for the Ross's. The Pilling area on the other hand was simply infested with them.
There must have been in excess of ten thousand Pink-footed Geese in the fields south of Lane Ends. Most were distant or behind hedges, but there must be a Bean, Greenland White-front or even a Snow Goose here somewhere? Only time will tell and hopefully they'll hang around a few weeks for examination.
February is a great month! With the days getting longer there's more birding hours per day - just a shame that the winters are getting shorter - it seems that the winter birds will only be here during the short days soon. An afternoon out started at Fleetwood Marsh on the Wyre Estuary in "baseball cap and sweater weather, rather than "wooly hat and fleece".
Plenty of large gulls bathing on the pools along with 3 Goldeneye, a pair of Shoveler and some Tufties. I was scanning the gulls on the fish factory roof when the juv' Iceland Gull flew by and headed out to the river. No sign of it on the river but plenty of waders, including some Blackwits on Barnaby's Sands. A desperate scan with the 'scope of a flying skein of Pink-feet on the other side of the Wyre near Staynall failed to produce a white blob that I could claim as a stringy Ross's Goose day tick. Off to Fleetwood then.
A rather disagreable "scrote" in a Man Utd shirt throwing stones at the roosting waders on my arrival at the Marine Lakes ensured that I had little chance of locating the Purple Sand's that had been seen there at the weekend. I spent a bit of time there at high tide and to be honest I don't think I'd have seen the "Purps" anyway, but as a Gooner it is at least an excuse to blame him! Nice flock of Turnstones though, plus a few Redshank and a single Knot. Not much on the mirror-like sea off the prom' apart from 20+ Mergs and 30+ Cormorants.
Having to pick up my son from work on the A6 gave me the perfect excuse to call in at the "Pilling goose fields" on the way back to Preston. Many of the Pinks were heading out to roost on the Wyre when I passed Stalmine and I failed to find any on the deck to check for the Ross's. The Pilling area on the other hand was simply infested with them.
There must have been in excess of ten thousand Pink-footed Geese in the fields south of Lane Ends. Most were distant or behind hedges, but there must be a Bean, Greenland White-front or even a Snow Goose here somewhere? Only time will tell and hopefully they'll hang around a few weeks for examination.
