Natural Selection

Little Singleton isn’t a place to go at high tide unless the tide is high. By that I mean a normal high tide removes the exposed river banks and offers no compensating benefits. A spring tide is a completely different matter, as birds are funnelled up from downriver and others that are normally out of view on the saltmarshes can be seen. Today was one of those days so I went down at lunch and it was a great spectacle.

The air was alive with waders. Lapwings tumbled through the air, Dunlin scythed through it, Snipe zigzagged up from unseen roost spots and Curlew sauntered from A to B to keep their long legs relatively dry. It was aurally as striking as it was visually, a constant chatter of Peewits in particular.

In terms of scarcities among the throng the best was an adult Mediterranean Gull that drifted past me on the burgeoning river.

Good numbers of Pinkfeet were in the fields on the opposite side of the Wyre. Greylag flocks often mingle with them but despite scanning carefully several time the bird below was definitely on its ownsome among the numbers of the smaller species. Some people tout these individuals as potentially wild Icelandic birds that have travelled with their smaller congeners, others are much more sceptical and I guess we just don’t know.

Further downriver at Staynall Water Pipits were on view at Staynall. On the Ribble further south in the Fylde a couple of Short-eared Owls were flushed by the tide. But for a brief lunchtime trip out I have to say I had a blast, sometimes the show doesn’t need a star performer if it’s spectacular.