LANCS: High tide on the Ribble.

Nice to get out birding again, albeit briefly. I managed a couple of hours on the Ribble Estuary this morning starting at Freckleton where the Naze Pool was dead as a doornail. Nuthatch on the way was about the only notable bird. A few nice Green-veined Whites along the public footpath though (AKA dog toilet).

Having to watch every step I made took its toll so I drove round to Warton Marsh to check the high tide wader roost. It didn't disappoint either: 650 Black-tailed Godwits on the north shore alone, with another 70 or so on the south bank opposite Hesketh Out Marsh. You can see part of the flock wheeling round above the yacht in the shot above. Best of all there was about 800 Dunlin but they were virtually impossible to go through roosting in the saltmarsh.

Speckled Wood, Warton 20 July 2009.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back for another go at the waders in the next few days. As The Birds of Lancashire & North Merseyside says - "Access to part of the Ribble Estuary is difficult and significant numbers of scarcer species undoubtedly pass through unnoticed by birdwatchers." Tell me about it! Before modernisation the nearby Freckleton SF logged many Lancashire firsts including Little Ringed Plover (!), White-rumped, Pectoral and Broad-billed Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs. Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitcher had also occurred but were not "firsts".

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