Coastal Birds

Sorry we havent been posting this year but I hope to improve this now.

Today, the group's outdoor walk is a beginneers guide to estuary birds. We met at Crosby Coastguard station at 9.30am. These beginneers walks are very popular with new and old members. Lots of waders as you would expect and even better in various plummages!

We started with a summer plumaged bar-tailed godwit, what a cracking bird. It was in the wet pools at the front of the picture with the black headed and the herring gulls. Quickly a redshank was added with oystercatchers in the same pools. Other waders species were further out such as curlew, knot, sanderling and dunlin.

We walked north towards the Alt and added linnets, meadow pipits, swallows and starlings.

Chris Arnold spotted a grey plover which is my favourite wader on the coast and then 2 black-tailed godwits flew down the coast. Lapwings, golden plover and turnstone's were on the rocks. 3 wigeon's flew down the coast as did 2 teal, shelducks and mallards. The birds were quite flighty today due to the numerous microlites flying but then we were graced by a young peregrine which flew around terrorising the beach. After failed attempts the young bird sat on the beach.

White and pied wagtails moved down the coast and a a family of stonechats showed off with the odd wheatear. We carried checking the gulls and added greater andlesser black backed adn common gull. The grey heron in the river Alt was catching fish and doing better than the men on the coast disturbing the waders.

A good day to be out. Next walk is Saturday 11th September meet at Tesco's Formby for a walk with Dave Hardy around Altcar.

Chris