Hesketh Out Marsh to the River Douglas - 15th October 2011

With the weather being so nice I decided to spend the day on the south side of the Ribble Estuary mainly at Hesketh Out Marsh but I did manage a walk down to the River douglas for the first time. A few passing Redwing passed over at HOM as well as numbers of Skylark and Meadow Pipit. 4 Little Egret were feeding on the nearby pools and 4 Snipe dropped in whilst I was watching with another 2 over. A Kestrel was hunting along the enbankment and I flushed 4 Grey Partridge as I walked west along the reserve. A worrying sight was a single Avocet which surely should have headed south by now, it was sat on the end of one of the nearby pools to the west of the reserve. Walking East towards I brought Linnet, Starlings a further 2 Kestrel,  A Buzzard, Carrion Crow and on the walk back a Marsh Harrier and Merlin.

ABOVE SNIPE IF I HADDN'T SEEN THEM DROP IN I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE SEEN THEM AT ALL

 ABOVE LITTLE EGRET AND BELOW A MEADOW PIPIT  

My first visit to the River Douglas was a little disappointing as I was hoping you could get nearer the river and explore its embankments a liitle more. I watched what is the mouth of the river as it joins the Ribble with Curlew, Lapwing and Redshank in large numbers as well as well as Cormorant a mix of Gull species including GBB. A Buzzard tried to find the thermals in the distance and 2 Raven croaked as they passed over. As the tide came in a few fishing boats started to pass through flushing a large flock of Canada Geese which included a Greylag and a small number of Widgeon. The best view though and worth the wait was a Peregrine as it flushed the Curlew and Lapwing. I didn't see it at first but as the Lapwing rose into the sky as one I knew something must have flushed them and I watched for 2 minutes as it chased round dropping low over the Douglas chasing a Curlew. On this occasion it was unsucsessfull and I last saw it dropping low into a distant field further up the river. 

ABOVE WIDGEON

NOT THE BEST PHOTO BUT I NEVER TIRE OF WATCHING PEREGRINE IN ACTION (click the photo to make it larger)

Hesketh Out Marsh RSPB - 11th December 2010

The plan was to head over to HOM for an hour or so and try and get to grips with my new sigma lens. There seemed quite a mixed flock feeding next to the car park so I wanted to attempt to get some better photographs than last weeks visit. Best laid plans and all that............ The light was poor, and with the flocks keeping mainly to the bushes between me and the sun anything reasonable was a no hoper. Anyway Linnet, Reed Bunting, and a single Yellowhammer were all on show. No Brambling this week for me but numbers have been reported seen today though I did see both Peregrine and Marsh Harrier from the car park. I moved up the approach road viewing Chaffinch, more Reed Buntings, Redwing and large numbers of Fieldfare. Turning left at the farm I walked about half a mile down the track scouring the fields for something interesting a single Merlin, more Fieldfare and Linnet, 2 Magpies, a Pheasant, Skylark and 75+ Meadow Pipit were aabout all I could find.

ABOVE AND BELOW MEADOW PIPIT

BELOW FIELDFARE