A great day on the West coast

Went over to the West coast this morning for a day's birding in Lancashire. Andy picked me up at about 06:15 and we got over to Lytham at about 07:45 just as the light was getting good enough to see by. It was freezing with a biting wind the whole day, but it stayed dry.  The target bird was Red Necked Grebe as one had been seen at Fairhaven Lake.

As soon as we got there Andy looked over the lake and said "there it is". I thought he was joking, but NO, there it was. The first photos taken were useless as it was too dark so we walked around the lake hoping the bird would still be there and luckily it was.

Where's its red neck? Well, it's winter init. In summer the bird has a red neck. Trust me.
Also on the lake were Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Coot.

Where next? It's only 09:15 and we've got the target bird already. Andy said he'd seen Ring Necked Parakeets at Lytham Crematorium. Where, I asked? The crematorium he said. OK.  So off we went. So, guess what.....there they were, 6 of them.

Not much else about (I would say it was a bit dead, but that would be in poor taste) apart from a Jay so, where next? Andy said an Iceland Gull had been seen at Preston Docks. We drive off to Preston Docks.

On the way we checked out a site down on the Ribble estuary at Warton. 2 Peregrine, about 20 Mute Swan, 8 Whooper Swan, lots of Shelduck and Widgeon.

We arrive at Preston Docks and park up. Get out of the car, walk up the car park and there just about 25 yards away is..... the Iceland Gull. I didn't believe it, and I don't think Andy did either. Easy this birding lark. However, it only stayed for about 10 seconds after we'd spotted it then it flew off. We waited for a while but it didn't return. We therefore chased off trying to find it. Looked on the river estuary but no luck, even though we threw in a few handsful of bread to coax any loitering gulls down. So we went back to the docks to see if it had returned. More bread later there it was!

We'd decided to give Marshside RSPB over at Southport a try so that was the next port of call. Not much about I'm afraid apart from a Merlin which Andy spotted from a good distance away. We went out towards the marsh to get a better view but it flew off of course.

Also there were Barwits, Cormorants, 1000's of Pink-footed geese, Greylag geese, Widgeon, Lapwing etc..

We set off home just as the sun was setting. A grand day out.