Meols - Pied Wheatear

With a talk booked for Friday evening in Burton (Wirral) just 20 mins away from Meols,  I didn't dash over for the showy Pied Wheatear when news first came out! It was risky chancing it staying four days but my luck was in and stay it did! The only problem was the poor light and forecast of rain! Here's a few pics from my two hours there during the afternoon...

I was right about the light! The rain wasn't prolonged...

Yay, I was content to get some decent images as it worked its way along the sea wall, every now and then launching off to catch small insects!

Sometimes, landing ridiculously close!

Maybe he was trying to flush the small group of photographers gathered?

Another view via mobile phone! You can just about see a boat in the background?

Which came in handy to inject a hint of colour into a pretty monochrome day!

It had one spell on the promenade...

Rooting about in the dead vegetation...

And as the wind was strengthening, almost getting blown off the wall!

That will all do very nicely despite the lack of some blue sky! It was virtually five years to the day after seeing my first Pied Wheatear and here's a link to the Collingham Pits female on the 10th November 2013.

This day seems to produce rare Wheatears! Here's a Desert Wheatear at Gorleston-on-Sea on 10th November 2014!