Spoonbill

To Parkgate, on Wirral, we went today, for the Spring High Tide. We hoped to see the waves lapping the sea wall once more, after a spectacle of small mammals and birds fleeing the marsh beds, chased by an assortment of rare birds of prey.
So suggests a number of web-sites.
We arrived in expectation, squeezed into the last available parking space and took up position with a few hundred others, all dripping with cameras, binoculars and monculars, the size of Jodrell Bank.
Tucking into warm pork pies and tea, we waited as the tide crept ever so slowly towards us across the reeds and filled the channels criss-crossing the marsh. In the (far) distance we caught sight of two foxes heading for the higher ground...
But then the clock ticked on, then the crowd breathed again, sighed and started to melt away. The air-pressure, the wind direction; something prevented it 'coming right up' said the locals.
Oh well, never mind. We did see: a hen- or marsh-harrier, several heron and little egrets, and much to our surprise, this spoonbill. The gull looked a bit taken aback too!