Turning Up Trumps Again.

Conder Pool turned up trumps again on Thursday, but I did'nt get there myself until Friday, the day of the inauguration of another Trump....'Lets Make America Great Again'.

Great White Egret. Conder Pool 20 Jan. Pete Woodruff.

Not only did Conder Pool host another first on Friday, but the Great White Egret posed well and put on an excellent arial display when a Grey Heron chased it around the pool giving comparisons between the two birds which are almost identical in size and wing span, though the GWE's long trailing legs were very distinct.

Little else of note on the pool, with just the drake Goosander seen and a Little Grebe, another was in the creeks where the Spotted Redshank was roosting once again. I legged it to Glasson Dock along the coastal path gaining 3 Robin, 2 Blackbird, a Blue Tit and Great Tit.

At low tide on the Lune Estuary, a few thousand waders took to flight twice - presumably a raptor which I failed to locate on both ocassions - the bulk being Lapwing, with Redshank, Dunlin, and probably little more than 200 Golden Plover, but it was good to eventually find a Ruff along the tideline, with 12 Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Goldeneye seen. 

At Cockersand, a walk along the headland was a pleasure on a flat calm, wall to wall sunny afternoon, I could see the c.300 Whooper Swan herd from here, which appears to remain in tact, spread across fields from Moss Lane south to Bank End. Off here, a huge raft of at least 5,000 Wigeon strung out from Plover Scar along and into the Cocker Estuary. This is my second encounter with this level of Wigeon here in recent years, and exceeds average January WeBS counts over 5 years by almost 1,000 birds. A previous count of Wigeon in this area was of a similar number in 2014, and was on the same date I found the Red-breasted Goose with them on 8 January. 

I was at Cockersand until after sunset and took this shot at 4.55pm, you can just make out the remains of the lighthouse - 'clik the pik' - as work slowly progresses to rebuild to it's former glory. Ironically, the very same ship to have collided with the lighthouse last March had passed thirty minutes earlier on it's way up the estuary to Glasson Dock, even more ironic, the ships name is....ISIS.

The Glasson Bullfinch.

I've had news of the female Bullfinch I saw along the coastal path on Monday 9 January was seen again on Friday in the same area.