Shanks & Chats.

The Shanks.

There have been good numbers of Greenshank seen recently on the Eric Morecambe complex at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve, the best count being Sunday when 22 were reported, but there have been double figure counts there recently prior to this one. 

Greenshank. Brian Rafferty.

Brian took this shot of the Greenshank with the result of a successful strike in it's bill. When inspected closely whilst looking through his photographs of the day at Leighton Moss, Brian discovered the bird had taken what looked like a squid, it's small, so maybe a young squid. I was interested, not so much that the Greenshank had taken it as a food item, but what the item was and where it was found. 

I discovered that the squid is in fact found in the Irish Sea, one fishing expert says they can be found in the shrimping nets in Morecambe Bay. The fact that this mollusc had been found at Leighton Moss on the marsh pools was brought about by being stranded there having been taken in on the high 10m plus tides which flood the marshes here. 

The Chats.

Stonechat. Richard Pegler.

I appreciated the record of 11 Stonechat being sent in to me, seen at Bloe Greet in Bowland on Sunday....Great stuff, excellent sighting, many thanks JW. 

Thanks to BR for the Greenshank, and to RP for the Stonechat....I'm grateful for both, they add some required gloss to Birds2blog.