An up and down sort of a day,

With news of a Pallid Swift at Seaforth NR I made haste as quick as possible in that direction but alas it was well gone by the time I arrived. It showed well to seven observers and was last seen at 11.35 heading north . This bird being the first record of pallid swift for Merseyside and Lancashire.

I headed down to hide A and had a look at the little gulls with some superb 1st summer birds with a lovely deep pink flushes on their breasts. A couple of swifts could be seen over the marina but the heavy rain made it impossible to pick out the pallid swift so I left to have a look around the marina but no sign of any swifts when I got there. So it was off home with that just dipped on a mega Merseyside bird sort of feeling.

Then after dinner news of another Merseyside mega in the shape of a Stone Curlew at Leasowe on the Wirral. So a mad dash over there was rewarded with good views of this strange looking wader. The big yellow eye, yellow legs and yellow bill base giving it a prehistoric look somehow. Some of the lads who connected with the Pallid swift earlier in the day where there and had even bigger smiles after seeing a second great bird in one day. There had been a stone curlew in this very field 20 years previous so obviously a good spot to see stone curlew in a couple of decades time!! The bird was motionless most of the time but did have a couple of feeding sessions whilst I watched it. Grasshopper warbler was reeling away on the way back to the carpark.