How that Skylark got away i'll never know, never seen anything like it
Dean.
Did you notice the skylark was singing all the time it was being pursued?
The se owl got mobbed by a bunch of gulls at Crossens Marsh, flew high into the sky and headed off towards Banks. Sparrowhawk caught a starling at Crossens and another merlin was buzzing the tideline. Five stonechats along Marine Drive, John Dempsey re-found the glossy ibis, returning from Warton. Three barnies with a flock of pinks on Plex Moss on the way home.
Jonathan
Dean Macdonald said
Sun Mar 9 8:27 PM, 2008
How that Skylark got away i'll never know, never seen anything like it Forgot about the Kestrel, we saw 8 in all today, mostly on the journey.
Dean.
Gary Gorner said
Sun Mar 9 6:19 PM, 2008
we witnessed the merlin skylark attack, the lark escaped in the bushes at the top of mount baker.also 1 kestrel hunting, missed the short eared owl but great views of hundreds of pink feet,golden plover some getting their black bibs,grey plover godwits,dunlin,sanderling,4 little egrets out on crossens,mippets everywhere and a few flocks of green and goldfinches. 12 avocet,1 ruff,curlews and 8 mute swan from nels hide. still a few pintail about and plenty wigeon,more redshank coming in and godwits starting to orange up nicely. thanks to the rspb guy in sandgrounders for giving us the info on the night heron at mere sands wood which made up for missing the seo.
Dean Macdonald said
Sun Mar 9 4:40 PM, 2008
Sun 11am onwards. A decent tide.
Thousands of Geese, mainly Pink Feet. Good flocks of waders, Godwits, curlews etc. Nothing unusual just lots of everything in the air all at once. Highlights were a Short Eared Owl, a Merlin relentlesly pursuing a skylark and 2 Water Rail.
A great day well worth a visit. The tides higher tomorrow,with low pressure and a wind behind it should come right in.
Cheers Dean.
Ian McKerchar said
Fri Mar 7 10:07 PM, 2008
A great time to be at Marshside over such a high tide and one of my faves (though I'll be stuck at work!), but I still prefer Banks Marsh. Usually great views of Twite and Scando Rock Pipits, raptors, geese and the waders especially are usually pushed onto and around there too, virtually no others birders is another boon but the long walk along the bank whilst long and potentially tiring always provides something to look at.
Dean Macdonald said
Fri Mar 7 9:59 PM, 2008
There's a high tide of 9.5m at Marshide, Southport this weekend. 11am sat, 12pm sun. Wind direction good too.
Cheers Dean.
Did you notice the skylark was singing all the time it was being pursued?
The se owl got mobbed by a bunch of gulls at Crossens Marsh, flew high into the sky and headed off towards Banks. Sparrowhawk caught a starling at Crossens and another merlin was buzzing the tideline. Five stonechats along Marine Drive, John Dempsey re-found the glossy ibis, returning from Warton. Three barnies with a flock of pinks on Plex Moss on the way home.
Jonathan
How that Skylark got away i'll never know, never seen anything like it
Forgot about the Kestrel, we saw 8 in all today, mostly on the journey.
Dean.
12 avocet,1 ruff,curlews and 8 mute swan from nels hide. still a few pintail about and plenty wigeon,more redshank coming in and godwits starting to orange up nicely.
thanks to the rspb guy in sandgrounders for giving us the info on the night heron at mere sands wood which made up for missing the seo.
Sun 11am onwards. A decent tide.
Thousands of Geese, mainly Pink Feet. Good flocks of waders, Godwits, curlews etc. Nothing unusual just lots of everything in the air all at once.
Highlights were a Short Eared Owl, a Merlin relentlesly pursuing a skylark and 2 Water Rail.
A great day well worth a visit. The tides higher tomorrow,with low pressure and a wind behind it should come right in.
Cheers Dean.