Out Without Pants On!

Birding without optics, are you serious!

It wasn't until I got to Conder Green, that I realised I had left my binoculars at home....Might as well have been out with no pants on.

The Birds.

As far as the Common Tern and the new raft is concerned, I counted 10 adult, five of which are sitting female, and 3 broods of 9 chicks.

On the very low water level at Conder Pool, four Mediterranean Gull including a 1st summer....You might need to be determined to see it in the video. 

I have no idea of the current situation re the Little Ringed Plover, the last I heard 13 June, was one pair had lost three chicks, but were back on eggs again, and a second pair had produced one chick. The only bird I saw this visit, was a lone adult.

Having no intention of counting the Avocet, I reckon up to 14 adult present, with fledged and marked birds, young and a single chick, including a pair with two young in the creeks having walked across the busy B5290 to get there again this year. Also in the creeks - it must be the end of June - I saw 8 Common Sandpiper, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, and an adult Greenshank in breeding plumage....I set off to do a circuit to Glasson Dock, and back to Conder Green via the canal.

There are possibly three active House Martin nests at Crossing Cottage? - in an earlier life was once a cafe - whilst I saw no activity at Rivers Winds which appears to join Tower Lodge as being the first year to have no breeding House Martin.

From the canal towpath, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Chiffchaff.

The Butterflies.

At least by way of a change, the day produced 18 butterflies, with 8 Ringlet, 7 Large Skipper, 2 Red Admiral and a Gatekeeper. But the best was to come when I got to Glasson and saw a butterfly on the grasses. I went to grab a shot and found it to be a White-letter Hairstreak.

White-letter Hairstreak. Pete Woodruff.

My sighting carries the claim of being the first White-letter Hairstreak to be recorded this year on the Lancashire Branch of Butterfly Conservation.

The Dragonflies.

On Saltcote Pond, a Broad-bodied Chaser was egg laying, with Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Emperor Dragonfly and Brown Hawker seen.

Along the canal towpath to Conder Green, 4 Emperor Dragonfly female including ovipositing, and 2 Brown Hawker.

A first experience for me, and perhaps the ovipositing Emperor Dragonfly, which had a lucky escape from the clutches of something under the surface, presumably a fish was the predator.

Please Note.

The figures regarding the Common Tern on the new raft are generated from personal observations and footage on Thursday 29 June, and therefore do not reflect the official number of Common Tern adults/juveniles/and chicks currently present on Conder Pool. Also, following a conversation, my claim of no House Martin at River Winds may prove to be incorrect, as two nests were reported there recently. However, based on no evidence found or seen by myself, my comments stand until my next visit to Conder Green.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image of the juvenile Common Tern, the first to fledge from the best colony ever on Conder Pool this year.