Today I visited the Lytham stretch of estuary at high tide and watched from the three usual places: The Windmill, Jetty and 'Cocklers Cobbles'.
From the windmill I saw 14 Sandwich Tern which was nice. These are fast becoming my favorite bird at the moment. Last Spring I'd only been birding for a few months so didn't really have a clue what I was looking at or for. It's nice to have a bit more of a clue about what I'm looking at and why it's there. Whilst watching the Terns roosting on the bank a small sail boat passed them and must have been a couple of metres away but the the birds did little but stretch their wings and settle again. There were also a few Eider and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits present.
From the Jetty I saw 3 Swallows and a few Meadow Pipits.
The 'Cocklers Cobbles' had the usual Turnstone, 80+ of them. They looked like very scratty - molting into summer plumage? Anyway, they looked very different to how I'm used to seeing them. I put the photo on a bird ID Facebook page and got this very helpful response, "These are northward bound migrants now moulting through to their spectacular summer plumage, hence the scruffiness. These are likely heading for Greenland or Arctic Canada, where they breed as far north as there is land, up to 83 degrees North"
There were two dogs on the beach that were very close to the birds and at no time were they flushed, which I thought odd considering how wary the Turnstone there usually are. There were also mixed flocks of Ringed Plover and Dunlin about.
From the windmill I saw 14 Sandwich Tern which was nice. These are fast becoming my favorite bird at the moment. Last Spring I'd only been birding for a few months so didn't really have a clue what I was looking at or for. It's nice to have a bit more of a clue about what I'm looking at and why it's there. Whilst watching the Terns roosting on the bank a small sail boat passed them and must have been a couple of metres away but the the birds did little but stretch their wings and settle again. There were also a few Eider and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits present.
From the Jetty I saw 3 Swallows and a few Meadow Pipits.
The 'Cocklers Cobbles' had the usual Turnstone, 80+ of them. They looked like very scratty - molting into summer plumage? Anyway, they looked very different to how I'm used to seeing them. I put the photo on a bird ID Facebook page and got this very helpful response, "These are northward bound migrants now moulting through to their spectacular summer plumage, hence the scruffiness. These are likely heading for Greenland or Arctic Canada, where they breed as far north as there is land, up to 83 degrees North"
There were two dogs on the beach that were very close to the birds and at no time were they flushed, which I thought odd considering how wary the Turnstone there usually are. There were also mixed flocks of Ringed Plover and Dunlin about.