Intertidal surveys

Foulney, Roa and Walney Islands

Sometimes in amongst a plethora of mundane surveys which are bread and butter in the life of the ecologist, I hit the jackpot and something special happens. A full two weeks surveying estuarine birds not only from the ground, but also from the air certainly falls into the special category. It may seem boring and repetitive at times and if I wasn't being paid to do it, I certainly wouldn't chose to sit in the same spot for two weeks through all weathers in the middle of winter to observe the movements of birds on an  estuary. However, given that I am here, it's a great opportunity to learn so much about the way in which the estuary works and to watch the interaction of the birds with each other and with the tides.

Fortunately my day up in the helicopter coincided with the nicest day of the two weeks!

South Walney Nature Reserve

The views of Walney Island are just stunning from the air.

One of the first sandbanks to be exposed after high tide was right alongside my vantage point and the oystercatchers were always quick to exploit its wealth of feeding opportunities, often flying in excitedly, filling the air with their chattering calls and landing even whilst it was still covered in shallow water. As soon as a little more mud was exposed, the equally excitable and noisy wigeon which had been feeding on the saltmarsh over high tide, swam up the gully to the sandbank to join in the feeding frenzy.

Back to the mundane!

It's not all fun and games though, in fact it very rarely is! I've called this photo "The insanity of the ecologist". This is what nine days sitting in the same spot counting the same birds eight hours a day does to you. Watching the tide come in and the tide go out, wondering if perhaps this time will be different, but it never is. It doesn't matter if the sun is shining or the rain is pouring or the fog casts a dark blanket over the estuary, still I sit here and watch and wait and hope. Tonight I'll be back in the same room at the same hotel (room 101 would you believe) with 30 minutes free internet and basic telly, tomorrow I'll renew my lonely vigil. Yes it's true, I really do get paid to do my hobby. Still, good science is often repetitive and boring they say so I suppose this must be good science.

However sometimes I do manage to spot a few decent birds, including this cracking male wheatear from my survey position. Turns out it's my second earliest ever, if we ignore the overwintering bird at Burton Marsh on the Dee estuary from 2013/14. Also from my survey position, on the very last day and after two weeks of predicting a white winged gull with no success, I finally saw a 2nd winter Iceland gull fly up the channel towards me, and then head away inland over the golf course.

Just down the road from my hotel, this black brant was with a gorgeous flock of 80+ pale-bellied brents and a single dark-bellied brent in Walney Channel just south of Jubilee bridge. It's undoubtedly the same bird which I saw at Roa Island in 2014.

Looking south down Walney channel on a grey day, I must admit, my impression of Barrow and Walney has certainly improved dramatically over the past two weeks. I used to think it was a grim industrial necessity on the fringes of Cumbria, but actually it's scenically a pretty decent place in its own right. If Walney Island was on the east coast it would be a birding mecca.