Quiet Morning

At one stage this morning at Rossall Point I thought I was going to draw a blank! However, I didn't and thought to myself that I should have more faith! It wasn't conducive to very much this morning and hence I had an extra half hour in bed. Visibility was fairly good with clear skies, but there was a fairly strong and gusty northwesterly wind.

Vis mig was very slow this morning and all I had in an hour were 8 Meadow Pipits, 4 Alba Wags, Grey Wagtail, 12 Linnets and 2 Skylarks. The Skylarks were attempting to head in the wrong direction and fly north across the bay. It's funny how birds, and Skylarks in particular, will attempt to fly the wrong way so they can head into wind!

As I headed along the dunes behind the sea wall I had walked a fair distance before I had my first grounded migrants in the form of a large 'Greenland' type Wheatear and male Stonechat. It was sheltered behind the wall and these two birds fed alongside 2 Meadow Pipits and looked to be finding invertebrates fairly well.

I couldn't decide where to go next because of the weather so I decided just to 'nip' to the Nature park and have a quick look on the pools. Whenever I say or type those words 'nature park' it makes my blood boil because there cannot be a greater paradox than 'nature' and 'park', they just don't go together.

The roving flock of Goldfinches were, well, roving and numbered 48. Other passerines included 2 Reed Buntings and single Grey Wagtail and Linnet over. On the pools were 21 Coot, 5 Moorhen, 12 Tufted Ducks and a Little Grebe.

No pictures form this morning so I thought I would again included a couple of North American birds in the hand from my good friend Nigel. Below are pictures of Blue Jay and Nashville Warbler.