♫♫ Birkdale dunes ♫♫
News of a nightingale singing at Birkdale convinced me to leave Martin Mere early today and head for the Sefton coast. This is a rare species in Lancashire and the last in south west Lancs was a bird that I saw way back in May 1984 at Ainsdale dunes. The Birds of Lancashire and North Merseyside (2008) considered it rarer than bluethroat and since that book was published the species has undergone declines throughout the UK, so I'm not expecting many more opportunities in my lifetime to hear one locally.
I parked at the end of Weld road and walked south along the coast for 600m to a small group of birders staring at a clump of sea buckthorn. I had no expectations of seeing the bird given how elusive nightingales are, but just to hear it would be enough. When I arrived it hadn't been heard for 45 minutes and a rain shower didn't help, but eventually the sun came out and it started singing about 50m away. It then sang on and off for the next 30 minutes, gradually getting closer until it was little more than 10m in front of us, yet nobody had seen even the slightest movement. Like everybody else, I left without seeing the bird yet well content with the experience. After all, I told myself, the song is the main thing with a nightingale.
You can hear the bird singing in the video below, but you'll need to turn up the volume. Unfortunately there is also a lot of wind and distant road noise. For some reason it's better if played on your mobile rather than computer.
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