Another day....

Corn Bunting courtesy of Phil Slade.

....nearer to spring and another Stonechat 'up from the south' and the pic above which has absolutely nothing connected with today's proceedings but is an excellent image of a Corn Bunting one of which I'm prepared to take bets you won't see in the LDBWS recording area this year and possibly/probably never again....sad thought and hope I'm proved wrong one day....Thanks for the pic Phil.

At Conder Green the traditional circuit with eyes peeled and peering into every nook and cranny revealed the Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, and Greenshank. On Conder Pool  3 Little Grebe - and one upstream from the road bridge - 18 Wigeon, 22 Tufted Duck, and 26 Common Gull. For the second consecutive visit to the area I decided to skip Glasson Dock preferring to go Jeremy Lane where the swans have deserted the area but 19 Whooper Swans were seen from Moss Lane.

At Cockersands my second returning Stonechat was a female foraging the tide wrack and had taken over from the wintering male which was last seen in the same area on 22 February. Also on a quiet headland only visit I noted 7 Eider by the lighthouse, a single Skylark, and a Stoat. A relatively short visit to Fluke Hall produced c.50 Twite in the field just west of the slipway, also c.1,500 Pink-footed Geese, and 2 Ruff were in the stubble field opposite the Wheel Lane/Fluke Hall Lane junction.

American Wigeon/Whooper Swan courtesy of Angie Bushell.

And hows this picture for long odds on achieving a drake American Wigeon and Whooper Swan in the same frame at Dumfries and Galloway Friday 5 February....excellent and many thanks Mrs B!