Brief window in rain.

Saturday 21st November 2009,

a brief lessening in the week long rain belt allowed some scrutiny at Seaforth today.Seven Scaup on the freshwater pool included adult and 1stw males and four females.The two juvenile Scaup were on the marina later, so nine birds in the area.Thirty-six Goldeneye on the freshwater pool was a high count for November.Reasonable Gull numbers during the afternoon produced 2 adult Yellow-legged Gulls and an adw Med Gull.A Rock Pipit was the only other bird of interest.

Cold and quiet.

Wednesday 11th November 2009,

a cold,grey and rather quiet day at Seaforth, with the Gulls once again providing the only interest.A classic adult Yellow-legged Gull showed well and two adw Med gulls were also seen.The heavily head streaked/smudged Herring Gull from a couple of weeks ago was seen again.The usual three Scaup were on the freshwater pool before heading over the fence to the marina.

Michahellis.

Tuesday 10th November 2009,
Gulls were the main focus of the day again(no surprise there!).Three Yellow-legged Gulls were seen,an adult,a 3rdw and a 4thw,the latter two being new individuals and continuing the record breaking year for this species at Seaforth.Three adw Med Gulls were also seen,including a red darvic ringed bird ,the ring details unfortunately could not be read.
The female and 2 juv Scaup remained,along with 28 Pochard,81 Tufted Duck and 21 Goldeneye.Two Water Rails were seen/heard in the reedbed.

Cachinnans.

Monday 9th November 2009,

a beautiful calm,sunny day at Seaforth was equally quiet birdwise early-on, with just a Great-spotted Woodpecker and 50+ Skylarks over,along with a few Redpolls.Intense scrutiny of the Gulls during the afternoon produced two adw Med Gulls and then to our delight, an adw Caspian Gull.

Shorelark.

Sunday 8th November 2009,

a trip up the coast was in order today, with the appearance of a Shorelark on the beach near Weld Rd roundabout, near Southport.

Showing really well upon arrival,these are always excellent birds.A real Lancashire rarity,this is only the eighth record in Lancashire in the last ten years.It flew south after a while,calling,but reappeared later.A brief visit to Marshside produced 23 Little Egrets out on the saltmarsh and a distant Merlin.A Peregrine soared overhead and 9 Barnacle Geese were with about 60 Pink-footed Geese near Crossens.

Seaforth was quiet this afternoon with just the 3 Scaup ,a Stonechat and the two Twite the only birds of note.

Gullage.

Saturday 7th November 2009,

Gulling was the order of the day at Seaforth and it produced a heavily head streaked Yellow-legged Gull, an intriguing bird, unfortunately present for just a few seconds but a couple of record shots were obtained.Also a 2ndw and 3 adw Med Gulls were seen.

Twite.

Friday 6th November 2009,

Highlight today was the appearance of at least two Twite near to hide A.Probably the same birds had been seen at the marina over a week ago.This is a real rarity at Seaforth.Teal numbers had increased to 218 and 9 Gadwall is a high count for the reserve.Four adw Med Gulls and a new 3rdw Yellow-legged Gull were the Larid highlights along with about 15 Argentatus.

Three Scaup( 2 juvs and a female) were still on the marina and 2 Stonechats ,2 Corn Buntings and a Rock Pipit were also logged here.

Patchy vis-mig comprised of 120 Fieldfares and 36 Redwing and a few Skylarks.