Another High Tide Surprise

Back in October Martin and I had a nice surprise when photographing a high tide wader roost at Rossall. On that occasion a snow bunting briefly dropped in and we were delighted with some excellent views and images of this not too common visitor to the Lancashire coastline. This last week we enjoyed a similar experience when we visited a high tide wader roost at Morecambe.There had been more high tides and very strong winds in recent days and we visited this new location not knowing what might turn up .

Many hundreds of oystercatchers were gathered on the salt marsh as the tide advanced and we decided to walk along the shore to hopefully get nearer to the large roost. On the way there we suddenly spotted an unfamiliar bird on the roof of some nearby buildings and we were delighted when it turned out to be a black redstart.I had only seen one or two abroad and it was a new bird for Martin.We managed one or two shots before the redstart vanished and we decided to make an effort to find it on our return from the oystercatcher roost.

We enjoyed the comings and goings of the oystercatchers as the tide reached it's peak and we kept busy with the cameras trying to get some action shots. On returning to the car we picked up the black redstart again as it flitted about among the buildings of a leisure club. It was not easy to get our shots as this busy little bird was constantly on the move and eventually we lost it again.

Back at the car more waders were assembling on nearby rocks and we enjoyed the excellent views of godwits ,lapwings and redshanks .Also present was a female eider duck which had come out of the sea to preen and rest. What a good session it had been and I have posted above some images from the day of the oystercatchers,a nicely posed black tailed godwit and the female eider duck on the rocks. The post is headed with a couple of images of the delightful black redstart which had really been another surprise visitor on the high tide. Hope you enjoy my efforts above and thanks for looking in.