High Tide Surprise

Last week Martin and I visited Rossall Point at Fleetwood to watch the waders roosting at high tide.There had been a series of ten metre tides and this combined with a good weather forecast would mean that Rossall Point should provide ideal conditions for some good photography. Ed Roper from the famous Wigan 10 camera club was already in position when we arrived and we had a nice chat before settling down to photograph the waders.

It was very quiet to begin with and only a handful of sanderling and turnstone were present. Thankfully as the big tide came in more waders were displaced from further along the coast and they arrived in good numbers on the beach in front of us.It was very enjoyable photographing the birds as they jostled for the best roosting spots as the big tide pushed in.The sanderlings in particular fluttered in the air before settling down to roost and gave some great opportunities for the cameras.

The great surprise of the day came as a snow bunting suddenly dropped onto the sand right in front of the lenses and we hurriedly took advantage of this wonderful opportunity to grab some images before it departed. It came back very briefly and gave us a few more chances before joining up with another snow bunting and they both headed up the coast towards Fleetwood. Snow buntings are uncommon visitors to the Lancashire coastline and we were definitely in the right place at the right time to take advantage of this great opportunity.

The tide was on the turn and we decided to move on to Blackpool to view the starling roost at Marton Mere. Again we enjoyed an excellent time at the mere and did witness thousands of starlings coming into the roost. Hopefully we will return to Marton Mere to obtain more images of this great spectacle and this will be reported in a future blog. Hope my readers enjoy the images above of the wonderful day at Rossall Point. The images are of the sanderlings and one or two of other waders present notably ringed plover and turnstone. The blog is headed by a couple of images of the bird of the day,the snow bunting which briefly graced us with it's presence.