St Annes on the Sea

Snow Bunting – Fairhaven Beach

Standard

Who are you?

I’d seen this chaffinch-like bird flitting about on the sea defence steps at Fairhaven Lake and managed to get a few snapshots. I wasn’t sure if it was a snow bunting. On checking with those knowledgeable birders at Fylde Bird Club they confirmed it is indeed a snow bunting.

Snow Bunting

This solitary bird has been around for 4-5 weeks. It pecks for seeds and insects in the debris left by the tide and is quite approachable. In fact, he seems to like our chats and doesn’t mind me chasing him along the beach for a snapshot!

It’s fascinating to think that these little birds are winter visitors from Greenland/Iceland/Scandinavia. They also breed in Scotland on high mountains among scree and boulders.

I hope he finds a flock to join before flying back home around March in readiness for the breeding season when his plumage will change dramatically to a striking white head and black wing and tail feathers.

Until then it’s quite exciting looking for him. I’ll miss him when he flies north.

Weather-watching

Standard

My snapshot-taking mojo has been absent for some time, so I dusted the cobwebs off my camera and have been out and about weather-watching. We’ve had all sorts chucked at us these past few weeks.

Frost

A stonechat perches on the frosty saltmarsh.

Sun

Sunrise brightens a chilly morning.

Rain

A dismal day on St Annes Beach.

Clouds

Dramatic clouds over the dunes.

Blue skies

Vapour trails and wispy clouds.

Weather forecast

Not good round these parts!

Thrills and spills – St Annes beach

Standard
Great T-shirt

Sickly perfumed vapes mingle with fusty tobacco and whiffs of cloying spliffs. Sausages, burgers and chips sizzle in hot fat. The Runaway Train chugs around the fairground. Burning fuel belches from the exhaust pipes of revving machines.

Fun and entertainment for all as the Cheshire Grasstrack Club returns to St Annes for the British Sandmasters Racing Championship 2023.

An obliging spectator – but he didn’t share!

On your marks. Get set. Go!

Strong winds and shifting sands make conditions challenging for the competitors. They lap it up.

Go!

Sand-storming racing at its exciting best

Kite-boarders in the distance harness the wind as quads, bikes, side-cars kick up a sandstorm.

Quad bikes
Side-cars
On track
Another lap

They’ve gone home and the beach breathes again.

The jetty – St Annes Pier

Unusual footprints – St Annes beach

Standard

The sandy beach
revealed a most unusual set of footprints

Deer prints?

A deer?
On St Annes beach?

Close-up of front foot

I followed the trail
and through binoculars
scoured the vast expanse
of the Ribble Estuary
There it was
A deer
On St Annes beach

Heading towards St Annes Pier – lost and confused

It galloped towards the pier,
past the beach huts,
in front of the saltmarsh and Fairhaven Lake,
across Granny’s Bay then up the River Ribble towards Lytham

Towards the beach huts – Blackpool Tower peeping over St Annes

At the rate it was going
it wouldn’t take long to reach Freckleton
where hopefully it would feel more at home
amidst fields and trees

Quite a sight seeing a deer (roe?)
taking a day trip to the seaside


Fylde Coast waders

Standard


Our name for swirling flocks of waders

Bird-whirlies

Birds take flight

We went out to meet the high tide
(14 April/1314hrs/8.51m)
to be greeted by hundreds of waders
gathering at the water’s edge
as the incoming tide pushed forwards

Meeting the incoming tide

Ribbons of birds twisted and turned
above a gentle Irish Sea
How they don’t crash into each other
is a mystery
They land en masse,
peck for tiny morsels,
then take-off again and again

Bird-whirlie
Amazing spectacle
A ribbon of birds

Whirring wings and constant chattering they take flight as one
A breath-taking spectacle

Mass take-off

Dunlin, knot, ringed plovers, redshank
are often found in each other’s company

It’s the breeding season
which helps identification (a bit!)
Dunlin are easy to spot
with their little charred black bellies

Spot the dunlin

Birds follow the receding tide

River Ribble channel markers

Standard

These fascinating ironworks
have been marking the
River Ribble deep-water channel
since the 1880s

Channel marker – 11.5 metres
Channel marker 8-11.5m
Channel marker – 11m

Barnacle-clad,
wrapped in fishing nets and floats
they are a live art installation
along the River Ribble

A barnacled 4 metres
Fishing nets, barnacles, mussels, and buoys
Fishing nets and buoys

The training walls are visible at low water

Channel marker

It’s hard to believe
that the channel markers
are completely submerged
during violent high tides

These days
we don’t see paddle steamers
or commercial boats
chugging down the river
Just a fisherman or two and
Lytham’s RNLI out on exercise

Coming in with the tide – and a friendly wave for the snapshot taker!
RNLI D-class on exercise – River Ribble to the Irish Sea

I love this amazing river,
that starts as a little trickle
at the Ribble Viaduct in Yorkshire
and eventually gathers force
and gushes into the Irish Sea

There’s heaps
of fascinating historical
and general information
about the River Ribble
and Preston Docks

Brr ..

Standard

A bitterly cold, bright day
Perfect conditions for a walk
to shake off the sluggishness

Ribble Estuary – crunching across frozen sands

Black headed gulls looked cold and hungry
Happened to have a few bird nuggets
so chucked them in the air
They descended in a frenzy

Black headed gulls – St Annes beach

A little puddle of redshank
sheltering in the saltmarsh
As soon as they sense an intruder
off they go
making a noisy teu-heu-heu alarm call

Redshank – St Annes saltmarsh

Even if we’re unable to venture far,
more often than not
there’s something on the doorstep
to cheer us up

Snapshots from a morning’s walk

Standard

Start of the walk
through a clump
of twisty white poplar trees

Heading for the beach

View from beach
of distant snow-capped hills

North – snowy Lake District
East – Wolf Fell and Parlick with dusting of snow

Cormorant’s view
from deep channel marker
Southport across the river

River Ribble

River Ribble
Lytham windmill ahead

River Ribble – tide coming in

Sea defence at Granny’s Bay

Patterns in the sun

Curlew takes flight from a frosty saltmarsh

Frosty saltmarsh

Sea-buckthorn berries and stonechat

Female stonechat in her larder
Stonechat

End of the walk
along dunes and scrubland –
clump of white poplars ahead