With the weather warming slightly today I decided to head down to Rossall Point for a couple of hours over high tide in the hope of getting some early seabirds and also the Purple Sandpiper with the wader roost. Unfortunately the sea was incredibly quiet the whole time I was there, with the only species of note being a single Razorbill (yeartick) that floated in with the tide. There were a large number of gulls present on the beach when I arrived and I could see that they were feeding on a wreck of starfish opposite the coastgaurd tower. There were only c125 birds present one of which was a Herring Gull with a darvic ring on its right leg (I think). I spent 30 minutes trying to read the ring however the bird was frustratingly always on the move and when it did stop it sat down! It had a 3 letter combination however I could only read C-B. Hopefully someone else may have seen it so may be able to provide me with the details.
As the tide progressed up the beach a large flock of 400+ Turnstone built up close to the sea wall, and after much searching I located the Purple Sandpiper (yeartick) feeding amongst them, a beautiful bird when seen properly. Paul Ellis then arrived and told me that there were 2 female Stonechats (yeartick) behind the coastgaurd tower, and a quick look revealed them sitting on the fence posts next to the golf course, my first migrants of the year. The full list of species seen is as follows:
1 Purple Sandpiper on beach
400+ Turnstone
50+ Sanderling
1 Razorbill on sea
9 Eider (7 male)
4 Cormorant (3 south, 1 north)
3 Shelduck south
5 Lesser Black Back Gulls south
2 female Stonechat
5 Meadow Pipit (1 north, 4 on golf course)
2 Pied Wagtail east
3+ singing Skylark on golf course
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