BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND......................................................MEDITTERANEAN GULLS CONDER POOL PETE WOODRUFF

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Same Again Please!

Yesterday I gained my own confirmation that one of the young Common Tern has now fledged, the bird appeared from the back of the island to flying around and land briefly on the pool before disappearing once again behind the island, the sighting lasted no more than 3 minutes, both adults were also seen today but no feeding took place over 1.5 hour of observation.

Also of note on Conder Pool, a good count of 5 Greenshank and the staying Great-crested Grebe. In the creeks 2 Common Sandpiper, a single Black-tailed Godwit, and a Little Egret.

On the Lune Estuary viewed from the bowling green at Glasson Dock, waders were a bit sparse, though up to 200 Lapwing seen, with 65 Redshank and 10 Dunlin pushed closer by the incoming tide, as were 2 Spotted Redshank being an adult and a juvenile. I picked out 2 Mediterranean GullCommon Tern flew downstream making just one dive, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, and c.30 Greylag seen. Three Little Egret were upstream almost out of sight.


Black-headed Gull. Pete Woodruff.


With apologise for the above poor quality bleached BHG image....

A ringed Black-headed Gull made life easy by staying put close in whilst I got the reading on its ring. As I was about to leave viewing the Lune estuary, a Peregrine Falcon zoomed into view on the hunt, over the time I watched this bird, it locked on to two separate Lapwings a few minutes apart, to chase for a few seconds, but failed on both ocassions giving cause for me to think perhaps a juvenile with a little to learn, an adult certainly wouldn't have failed in taking out the first of these two lucky birds.

The Conder Little Grebe.


Little Grebe Noushka Dufort 

An excellent count of 10 Little Grebe on Conder Pool yesterday was a count not achieved on the pool until 24 September last year when I saw the same number, the peak count in 2013 was of 17 on 29 October, the same day I saw the Firecrest at Heysham Harbour south wall.

And Finally....The Jellyfish.  


Common Jellyfish. Pete Woodruff.

I found this jellyfish - Aurelia aurita - on the shore at Cockersands recently. It is the most familiar jellyfish, and is recognised by its four gonad rings. The rest of the jellyfish is transparent and has numerous short tentacles around the margin of the bell which is difficult to see when out of water. 

2 comments:

  1. I would love to spend several days with you watching all the shore birds, unfortunately we won't be able to come to England for a long time!
    You live in a dream place!!
    Keep well and happy birding, Pete!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice to see some of your own images Pete :-)

    Please send me ...
    a) Little Grebe
    b) Common Tern
    c) Any Wader of your choice!

    ReplyDelete