Gold Is The New Grey

I don't know what it is about Frodsham No.6 tank, but the plovers clearly love it. There must have been over three thousand Lapwings and around fifteen hundred Golden Plover roosting on the drier sections early this morning.

Golden Plovers are one of my favourite birds; unlike many waders they refuse to turn a dour grey colour in the winter and look magnificent on a crisp, sunny morning.

They also have a lovely, distinctive call, that is best heard at sunrise on the welsh uplands in spring – should you be lucky enough to find one!

I was down here ostensibly to find the Water Pipit that had been reported a few days ago, but Frodsham Marshes is a big area and as there were no details in the logbook - I was more likely to have bumped into Lord Lucan and Osama bin Laden pitching a tent.

There seems to have been a mini-invasion of these elusive critters over the last few days, let’s hope one sets up camp locally so I get an opportunity to remember what they look like!

Plenty of other birds around, including large numbers of Linnets, Goldfinches, Pied Wagtails and about twenty drake Pochards on the flooded section of the tank.

Not much else to report except that there appears to have been a plague of fly-tipping – is this one of those pathway activities that leads to harder pastimes like cow-tipping?

Until later.