NOVEMBER 28TH 2014 - MORECOMBE BAY RECCE - DAY 1

YEOVIL TO MORECOMBE WITH VISITS TO HEYSHAM - LUNE ESTUARY


An early start saw me out of bed at 4am and on the road at 5am, how nice! I was up at Manchester by 9am sipping an expresso before continuing to Lancaster where I stopped for a snack at 10am.

The Isle of Man ferry leaving Heysham - seen from Middleton Sands

Over the next couple of hours I explored the Heysham area around the nuclear power station, the tide was out so most of the waders were far out but there were thousands of them in the distance.

A COIL OF WIGEON - I bet you didn't know that, eh?

I quickly logged Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Shelduck and the 5 regular species of gull. Lots of birds were around the outflow of the power station, I added Grey Wagtail, Cormorant Wigeon and saw a strange looking Oystercatcher that had a wide white collar, no wonder the other oystercatchers were chasing it around.

the dodgey-looking  'WHITE-COLLARED' OYSTERCATCHER

 

REDSHANKS - very numerous on the mudflats

Further round the bay near the village of Heysham I added Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and surprisingly a Common Snipe, I don't think I have ever seen a snipe on a rock along the shoreline before.



uncommon sighting of a Common Snipe - on the rocks along the shore

Little Egret - once a very rare sight in these parts

a successful catch

Further routes were found to the Lune Estuary, I stopped at Middleton Sands and Sunderland Point, The tide was now coming in and it was quite a spectacle to see thousands of waders arriving from Morecombe Bay to their regular roost site on the sands.

Eurasian Curlew in the afternoon sun

 Up to now I had had great weather with sunshine and clear skies but now it clouded over , the wind picked up and it got a little chilly and it went dark at 2pm!!

Black-headed Gulls at the outflow

By the time I drove round to the sea front at Morecombe it was too dark to bird-watch anymore, so I checked into my hotel and went off to visit one or two other hotels with a view to booking them for next year's trip here.