Drilling cores. This whole section of already pretty epic coastal defences is set for replacement, and I guess they need to know exactly what's underneath before they proceed. A couple of teams were taking samples for analysis.
The day after my south Lancashire adventure, I went up to Fleetwood. Having seen my first-ever stonechat the day before, I wanted to get some better photographs of this species. They have been sighted at various locations around the Fylde coastline, but most consistently at Rossall Point, the north-westernmost tip. There's a golf course with scrub and dunes there, with a shingle beach and massive sand- and mudflats at low tide. On the landward side of the seawall, you can sometimes see nice passerines, but if they don't show (as on my last visit), you can usually find something on the nearby Marine Lakes (manmade bodies of water behind the dunes) or by/on the sea.
Photographing small birds in flight is not easy, even when they aren't moving about a lot. This one was quite high - maybe a hundred feet - and I had to resort to manual focusing as the camera can't handle something so small against the sky (these shots are massively cropped).
So I went not so much in expectation as mildly hopeful, especially as I wasn't looking for anything new this time. I walked up from Rossall Square tram stop to the coast, and followed the sea defences round until I got to the southwestern tip of the golf course. There wasn't anything notable on the beach or the sea (the tide was especially low, so everything was far off, and from what I could tell it was just gulls, and the odd cormorant). I crossed to the rough track between the golf course and the sea wall - it's always an amazing difference between either side, one noisy and often very windy, the other calm, and in this case bathed in mild sunshine (very different birds either side too, though gulls and oystercatchers cross over sometimes).
On the ground, striking a classic pose.
Aside from the stonechat(s), I kept an eye out for skylarks and snow buntings (one of the latter had been seen there recently). The former were greatly in evidence. I love skylarks, especially their song, and although they are resident in the UK, I tend only to see them (or more accurately notice them) in spring when they sing. On the golf course itself, several were feeding - I counted 12 later on, and there were probably even more than that. Widely spaced, some would periodically fly up and sing - I guess these are the males. I spent a couple of rather frustrating minutes trying to photograph them, using a fence post to support the lens (holding it near-vertically is hard work with no support, and the wind was strong enough to make framing very difficult even so). Then I edged onto the rough grass and got some closer shots of one of them on the ground. They aren't too shy, so long as you don't rush towards them. I suppose feeding on a golf course, they must be used to people.
Male linnets are quite colourful, but when feeding in rough grass and on sand, they blend into the background nonetheless (especially when facing away). Females are more cryptic.
Then I continued on the path, towards a scrubbier area where I hoped a stonechat might be lurking. But immediately I found something else - a flock of around half a dozen linnets, feeding on the grassy sand. I got fairly close, and once or twice a male perched - on the sea wall, then a wire fence - but dog walkers coming the other way eventually flushed them. These are not uncommon birds, but I rarely see them very close, so it was a bonus.
A quick shot to show how vast Morecambe Bay is when the tide is out. The sands stretch miles into the distance.
No sign of anything else, round the north side of the golf course. I walked back south round the other side, along the road, but the hedges are dense here, and it's hard to see onto the course. Here and there are gaps - what look to be cut throughs, although I don't know the rules of walking out onto the greens, so I've never tried. But at last I saw something promising - a small bird, alternately feeding on the ground and perching on shrubs. My goal! It was too good an opportunity not to push my luck, and as there were no golfers within sight, I walked through a gap onto the rough grass, and the stonechat (a male, although not in full breeding plumage) actually flew towards me and afforded good shots - not top-notch, as it was still quite distant, but the light was perfect and the background separation ideal. I will still try for better, hopefully with a fully mature male (they have amazing black heads, with white and brick red bodies), but this made my day. I headed home satisfied.
Pretty much the shot I wanted.
A male house sparrow, one of the common birds I saw on the way home (gulls, starlings, etc). Still handsome though.
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