On this bright Sunday morning we shot up to Southport for a stroll around the inner marshes of Marshside 2. From the car-park, we headed down Marshside Road where we saw plenty of Mallard and a good sized Starling flock. Turning onto the footpath and heading NE, we saw Redshank, Lapwing and 2 Little Egrets.
We were half-way along the footpath when we saw a remarkable sight. As I counted the 84 Greylag out on the marsh, Pk pointed out a particularly frisky calf lagging behind the small herd of cattle. As the herd walked amongst the Greylag all was well until the avian-bovine harmony was shattered with the arrival of the calf... Bounding about like a puppy, it charged playfully at groups of Greylag, flushing them up in the air but happy to see them return to ground just a few yards away, before focusing its attention at another cluster. It was hilarious and we watched the spectacle for some time before the calf either ran out of energy or more likely, just got bored.
We continued along the footpath whilst watching another spectacle, as a mixture of Swallows, Swifts and House Martins darted about in a low flying feeding frenzy. Wonder what flushed all those insects out!
Returning along the coast road, we saw 200 Black-tailed Godwit land in the salt marsh. We continued to Nels Hide on Marshside 1 where we had Mute Swan (40), more Blackwits (30), Dunlin (1), Redshank (20) and the ducks included Gadwall, Tufted, Shoveler, plus one rather leucistic looking Red-crested Pochard (♀).
We made a quick visit to the Sandgrounders to end with, and were rewarded with a fairly close view of a Common Sandpiper.
Fabulous day with the kind of entertainment that money cannot buy!
Playfully chasing Greylag on the inner marsh
A Blackwit will always give you a pose
Common Sandpiper was a bonus at Sandgrounders
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