It’s pretty much the same every year – a flash of orange and there’s a fine young Black Redstart quivering on the office drainpipe banishing the summer doldrums and prompting the usual intriguing question – just where do you come from?
This afternoon’s individual was no different – a lovely gape still clearly visible (apologies for the point and press crappy shots, it was hot, and I was excited) as it flitted around the Ainsdale Discovery Centre at 4pm before tantalisingly zipping back over the big fence and into the Pontins gulag from whence it came.
Young (very) male I think.
First sign of them all year – I haven’t heard a squeak of song or had even a peripheral glimpse of one on the fences and rooftops, and I do look.
Youngsters do disperse of course, so it could just have come from somewhere else.
Maybe.
Just.
Time for a chat with Mr Pontin to see if any guests have noticed little birds with orange tails (I won’t mention the gulag bit).
Good to finally stop watching the summer paint dry.
A few hours at Lunt Meadows on Sunday was all very young birds and Black Tailed Skimmers, although Little Ringed Plovers, Common Sands and Dunlins offered light at the end of the summer tunnel.
An excellent reserve with a great team – see you at the open day on Saturday? I’m feelin’ mesolithic…
John Dempsey Birdblog 
86 Sarnie Terns in the roost at Ainsdale today, with nine youngsters and six Common Terns.
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“The Big Wild Sleepout” takes place over the last weekend in July and thousands of people will be sleeping out in their gardens and back yards in addition to organised events taking place at RSPB nature reserves.
At RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands in Burton, visitors are invited to take part in an exclusive Sleepout on Saturday 30 July, from 5.30 pm to 9 am the following morning. Participants will enjoy moth trapping, bat watching and uncovering the secrets of other nocturnal wildlife before camping on the reserve. The event costs £30 per adult (£25 RSPB members) and £15 for under 14s (£12.50 RSPB members). For more information and to book on the event, phone the reserve on 0151 353 8478 or email deeestuary@rspb.org.uk.
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I’m not really a plant person, but it’s lovely to see what I think is one of the most beautiful plants in the dunes flowering abundantly on the green beach. I mean the Grass of Parnassus of course – one of my favourites.
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It’s a beauty ain’t it Tony? While it occurs in uplands too, Grass of Parnassus is declining nationally, so the Sefton population becomes more important year by year.
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A coastwide volunteer survey of Grass-of-Parnassus in 2013 counted over 46,000 plants, 27% being on the southern end of Birkdale Green Beach. Since then, it has greatly increased in that area. This species is listed as “Vulnerable” in the England Red Data Book and the Sefton Coast probably has the largest population in the country. There are several local references to it in Victorian literature, so it was much appreciated well over 100 years ago.
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