BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND..................................................SPOTTED REDSHANK RIVER CONDER HOWARD STOCKDALE

Friday 27 January 2017

The One Hour Affair!

What was only going to be a couple of hours birding on Wednesday, turned out to be just a one hour affair when a phone call had me aborting and heading back to Lancaster.

But the timing to start my hour's birding was spot on, when I arrived at Conder Pool the Great White Egret was showing well, and a bonus to the third sighting for me of this elegant heron, was a sift through 52 Black-headed Gull and a few Common Gull which produced a smart adult Mediterranean Gull and a drake Goosander. In the creeks, a circuit turned up the Spotted Redshank and the Common Sandpiper which was down by the iron bridge.

There was little action of note on the Lune Estuary, though up to 1,750 Golden Plover were over on the Colloway side....But now my mobile is ringing!

Later in the afternoon I took a stroll through the local Williamson Park, to find a Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tits and a Coal Tit which rose just above the more expected Blue Tit and Great Tit, it was good to hear a Song Thrush in song as I left at 3.50pm.

The Small Blue. 





Every time I look at this board on Fenham Carr in Williamson Park, I'm puzzled why the six illustrations of five butterflies and a moth, includes that of a Small Blue butterfly. It isn't clear which of the butterflies is the Small Blue in my shot of the board, but it's the one top right of centre.

Small Blue Marc Heath

The Small Blue is the smallest native British butterfly and is a Priority Species for conservation, its main habitat are dry sheltered areas of grassland where Kidney Vetch grows, but isn't to be found anywhere near this location at Fenham Carr in Lancaster, and I don't understand why it is illustrated on the info board. 

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