This trip took us to RSPB Marshside at Southport on the Fylde Coast. The weather was fine all day but with a chill westerly wind. Going first to the platform on the South side, the 3 Scaup on the lake were exactly where they have been reported for the past several weeks. Along the sea front we were around for a spring high tide lapping the barrier and this had brought in large numbers of Meadow Pipits, Stonechats and Reed Buntings hopping around on the raft of floating vegetation. It was also nice to see and hear Skylarks for the first time this year.
From the hide we were treated to the spectacle of massive movements of Pink Foot Geese over the marsh and flocks of many hundreds of Golden Plover and thousands of Wigeon. Other highlights were a distant view of a perched Merlin and a fleeting Peregrine.
In the end we saw 43 species:
English name Scientific name
Mute Swan Cygnus olor
Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus
Greylag Goose Anser anser
Canada Goose Branta canadensis
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis
Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
Greater Scaup Aythya marila
Pheasant Phasianus colchicus
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Little Egret Egretta garzetta
Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
Merlin Falco columbarius
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
Coot Fulica atra
European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria
Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
Common Redshank Tringa totanus
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata
Great Black-headed Gull Larus ichthyaetus
Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus
Herring Gull Larus argentatus
Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Woodpigeon Columba palumbus
Magpie Pica pica
Carrion Crow Corvus corone
Skylark Alauda arvensis
European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola
Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis
Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus
Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
