With no transport once again yesterday I got the bus to Cleveleys and decided to walk round the promenade to Fleetwood in the hope of connecting with a few migrants along the way. It was 12am by the time I set off which meant that the over head migration was pretty slow and I only had 12 Swallow, 7 Meadow Pipits and 4 Goldfinch heading north. However the main area for migrants was a patch of reeds to the south of Rossall School (where a Bluethroat was found a couple of years ago), with the best bird being a reeling Grasshopper Warbler that remained typically elusive; other birds present in this area included at least 1 singing Reed Warbler and also a male Reed Bunting. The sea was completely devoid of bird life but luckily I spotted 3 large waders on the shore just past the school and on closer inspection they turned out to be Whimbrel (yeartick). The temperature was starting to nudge the 22/23 degree mark so it wasn't surprising that most of the birds were hiding out of the sun and out of view, although a second Grasshopper Warbler on the golf course showed very briefly before diving back into the long grass it was in.
In the middle of the afternoon Ash called me to tell me that he and Maurice had a White Stork over the mere which they presumed was the same escaped bird from the past month. However a couple of hours later Ash rang me again to tell me that they thought it could be a different bird, due to it having a full set of primaries (the other bird was missing a primary), and later on in the evening it was found on the pool at the back of Fleetwood tip. My mum agreed to take me however I had never been to the pool before and couldn't find a way to view it and therefore missed the bird. I text Paul Slade when I got home who confirmed that it was a 1st summer bird and was also unringed, bugger!
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