Dirty filthy twitching - Baikal Teal

I wasn't in any hurry to go and see Marshside RSPB's visitor of the month but decided to leave it until a planned business meeting in Liverpool took me across the Mersey anyway. Leaving home in the dark I arrived on site to find about 6 other people staring at a vast expanse of salt marsh covered by a vast number of ducks! Needle in a haystack time!

After awhile a few gave up and went to search pastures new but I was convinced the bird would still be present and hiding somewhere so stuck with it. The birds were getting regularly stirred up by a marauding Greater Black-backed Gull and were occasionally flying around and settling again so, ignoring the perishing cold fingers as a result of forgetting my gloves,  I carried on panning and searching.

Luckily the guy standing around 50 m to my right found it around 10.15 and gave me a yell. I managed to attract the attention of those further down the seawall and those that had just left and eventually we all got on to it and had good but distant views.

 Asleep!

 Someone called?

 Asleep again.

After about an hour the whole flock got spooked again and flew around before settling and at this point  I headed for the warmth of the car where I couldn't even do my boot laces up as my fingers were so numb.