Watercolour of juvenile White winged black tern at seaforth on 31 August 08.
I've tried to capture the grey rainy day that seems to produce black terns from nowhere.

A juv yellow wag

Seaforth NR,

I visited hide c first and the juv greenshank was on the scrape again with a redshank. There were 5 yellow wags on the long bank (4 juvs 1ad) and a flock of about 100 goldfinch were feeding on the teasle. A look on the salt water pool produced the greenshank again , 2 little gull and an adult peregrine flushed the lapwings, golden plover, knot, dunlin and godwits. At hide A a black necked grebe was showing in cormorant bay.

It started to rain heavy and a black tern was seen on the causeway but best of all a juv white winged black tern was picked up over the salt water pool by John Donnelly. Its pale wings, dark mantle, lack of breast smudge and white rump confirmed this as a wwbt. It then fed over the freshwater pool and eventually flew over the fence onto crosby marina were it remained most of the afternoon. A cracking bird and the second one this month after the moulting adult on the 10th at seaforth.

Seaforth NR,
A juv greenshank was on the scrape in front of hide c showing very well . At least 3 yellow wags were on the mound with the alba wags and 2 wheatears. The male scaup, juv ruddy duck, and a pochard was with the tufties.
An adult med gull was on the causeway. Good numbers of waders with 400 knot and 30 golden plover amongst them.
As I was driving out of seaforth a strange bird was flying towards me with wings whirling fast. As it went past the green body and dark head was seen and then I realised I had just seen the Senegal parrot that has been present lately!

Kirkby Moss,

A fem/juv garganey was on the pool this morning.

Hale Marsh,
A female/juv garganey was showing well on Carr lane pools. A green sand in flight, 20 snipe and a little egret also.

Prescot Reservoir,

An adult black necked grebe moulting into winter plumage was the 3rd black necked grebe this autumn at the reservoirs. Hopefully this reflects a good breeding season in the Mersey valley stronghold. An adult Med was on no4 with the black headed gull flock.BH had a yellow wag on the causeway but it did not stay for others to see. 2 common sandpipers, 2 swift, 2 sand martins and plenty of swallows and house martins. The swallows have bred again this year at the res and a couple of juvs were waiting to be fed (above).

Godwits and knot, juvs and adults.
There has been a good selection of waders down at seaforth in August but the godwits always stand out with thier rusty colours. The juvenile knot have a nice peachy wash on the breast and underparts at this time of year.

Prescot Reservoirs,

A juv Black necked grebe was showing well and has been present for about a fortnight. It was fairly steady and gave me some inquisitive looks between feeding dives. Blackcaps and whitethroats feeding in the elderberries but no sign of the recent lesser whitethroat. 2 green sandpipers were seen early on by Chris D but I only managed a common sand and a little ringed plover on no3 res. A juv wheatear was new in today.

Watercolour 24in x 16in. Moultng adult white winged black tern at Crosby Marina. 07/08/ 08

Seaforth NR,
A dreadful day weatherwise with heavy rain all morning. An adult curlew sandpiper still in mostly summer plumage was on the salt water pool. A juvenile knot with an adult and about 100 dunlin also. A juvenile med gull moulting into 1st winter was on the freshwater.

Crosby Marina,

News of an Adult white winged black tern on the marina had me hurrying in that direction. As I arrived the tern flew over into Seaforth NR where it landed on the causeway with the hundreds of common tern. Ten minutes later it was back on the marina and showed really well. It was moulting from summer plumage to winter plumage and was a very smart bird.

I then popped into Seaforth to see if I could get some closer views of it on the causeway but it flew back on to the marina as I arrived.

Hale marsh,

A quick visit this morning produced a young wheatear, 2 blackwits and a curlew.

Baltic gull in the Baltics,

Just got back from my jolly holidays. Not much in the way of birdwatching but this baltic gull was probably the only thing of interest that I stumbled upon in Helsinki.

New Brighton,
A trip through the tunnel for the storm petrel festival was well worth the trip. With winds strong enough to wobble Greg Norman , 4 storm petrels gave me reasonable views mid channel just before high tide. A drive down to the coastguard station was productive with 6 distant manxies and 2 artic squas during a half hour watch there.
I then visited the gordale garden centre, close to Burton, where the national exhibition of wildlife artists is on until the 3 August. Well worth a visit if you like wildlife art.

More watercolours,
This cock house sparrow had a liking for the blackfly that have infested the daisies in our garden this summer.

This is a watercolour of winter snow buntings that usually grace the Merseyside coast each year. Lovely confiding little birds.

Hale,

Carr lane pools had a good selection of birds today. A hobby gave an aeriel display chasing house martins and was the highlight of the day. A female mandarin duck was a suprise find on the reedy pool as I searched for the recent juv garganey. The garganey did not show.

Good numbers of waders included a green sand, 1 common sand, 1 little ring plover, 2 ring plover (1 juv) , 12 dunlin, 10+redshank, 100+lapwing and 1 curlew.

A little egret fed along a ditch