Hightown 6th November 2011

A very good day for birds today! Even from the train we saw Pink-footed Geese and Curlew between Hall Road and Hightown. It was a gorgeous clear day, not a cloud in the sky. On the way down to the Alt Estuary there were Collared Doves, Crows and Starlings, and a Heron flew overhead. A Sparrowhawk was sitting in the pines near the gate to the firing range and a female Kestrel was quartering the reeds. The tide was very low, and there weren’t many birds near the river mouth, just Black-headed Gulls, although a Buzzard was flying about. Later, over the dunes, we saw a pair of Kestrels flying together, perhaps thinking it was spring.

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After lunch we followed the roadway made through the dunes by the lorries carrying sand and rocks up from Crosby to bolster the coastal defences.

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On the estuary there were plenty of Shelduck, Mallards, Curlew, Redshank  and could it be …? Yes! A Spoonbill ! It was standing on one leg with its head tucked in but we occasionally got a look at its distinctive bill.

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Abour 100 Lapwings flew overhead while we were on our way down to the Coastguard Station, where we stopped to admire the cheeky Starlings in the car park.

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