Twite - Marshside, Lancashire

Staying fairly local today, me and Carl made the short trip to Marshside RSPB, near the Ribble Estuary. On the way there, we noticed a report of a Tundra Bean Goose in nearby fields, but typically we arrived about 10 minutes too late. There were lots of Pink-Footed Geese around, and as we walked towards the sea through the saltmarsh a huge number of Skylarks were out singing. At the coast, there were vast flocks of Oystercatcher, Dunlin and Cormorant, with smaller numbers of Curlew, Black-Tailed Godwit and Redshank.

We then made our way to Banks Marsh, which was initially quieter but did have some decent flocks of Lapwing, Golden Plover, Wigeon and Teal. We also had a Brown Hare which looked slightly out of place running through the saltmarsh channels. On the arable fields nearby was a monster flock of Pink-Footed Geese, perhaps 500 or more, and 2 Grey Partridge. As we walked back to the car, we picked up a flock of passerines in some Ash trees. Upon approach, we identified them as Twite. We later had really good views of them feeding on the saltmarsh, with at least 50 individuals.

Some of the Twite, having a bath

Before setting off home, we stopped at a nearby farm, as we'd been given some really good directions for a Little Owl which had been seen on the roof of a barn. Sure enough, as we parked up there was the Little Owl! Unfortunately, after a minute or so it decided to hop back into the barn and didn't show itself again.

I've not seen too many Little Owls, so it was good to catch up with this one

Closer to home, we decided to make a stop for the gull roost at Lower Rivington Reservoir, Bolton. The weather by this point was really good, and the light on the reservoir was great. It was also great to see that the gulls were pretty close in, for gull standards anyway! The highlight here was the amazing number of Mediterranean Gulls - we had nearly 20 in the first few minutes, and a few of the other guys reported closer to 40 by sunset. Other than that, Black-Headed Gulls were dominant, with smaller numbers of Common, Herring and Lesser Black-Backed. There were also 8 Lapwing and 2 Oystercatchers on the shoreline.

There are at least 3 Mediterranean Gulls in this small section of the gull roost!

Doesn't quite capture it, but the gull roost was a real spectacle!

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