Black-tailed godwits at Cressington 25082022
It’s a pleasant morning and the tide is high at 11am so, after a couple of hours on the allotment (not many birds about, just a chiffchaff “hweeting” away before it departs these shores for warmer climes), I take a walk through tiny River Oaks Wood onto breezy Otterspool Prom. I head straight down to the very end at Cressington and a flock of dunlin or ringed plover lift up away from the shore and incoming tide to seek higher ground further south – probably at Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve, like these birds observed a few days later.
Ringed plover and dunlin in flight above black-tailed godwits at Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve 29082022 – photo by Birder Jack
A large flock of over 100 black-tailed godwits still remains, feeding at the water’s edge, close enough that their chittering calls carry over the wind, and their chestnut hues glow in the sunlight. It’s lovely to see them still in their breeding plumage and so I watch them for a while before they too take to the air, fly north along the water for a few seconds, then turn, legs protruding behind short black tails, and head off in the direction of S-GCR, too, where the local patch birder sees them a short while later.
Black-tailed godwits in flight at S-GCR 25082022 – photo by Birder Jack
The few redshanks left earlier, giving their distinctive “peep, peep” cry – the wardens of the marshes, as they are known, for they are usually the first to take fright – and flight – at a threat, imagined or otherwise. The gulls, too, have moved on, probably to join their comrades on the football fields on Jericho Lane, and only a couple of juvenile shelduck are left now, floating on the water.
The wind is cooler and stronger as I return to the car, ready for an early lunch and then work, but, as I will be passing the gull roost, it would be rude not to stop and have a look through them. Last time, I spotted my first returning common gull of the season; today, as I am peering at what could be a Mediterranean gull – back towards me, head tucked under its wing – a bird that definitely is one of these attractive small gulls stands up and has a wander. Fabulous! My Twitter feed seems to have been full of birders seeing Med gulls in this roost recently and now I’ve joined the party. A good day and it’s not even noon!
Spot the Med gulls at the Jericho Lane roost 25082022