The Wrong Day....Again!

Two birding days in a row being the wrong one. This time the plan was Birk Bank for an update on the state of the dragons there, but hey'up, it was a dreary start to the day, with cloud and low mist over Clougha as I gazed out the bedroom window, which is where Plan A went out of to be switched to Plan B to get an update on the birdlife of Conder Pool.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool 30 July. Pete Woodruff.

As I soon found to my great pleasure, this turned out to be an excellent switch of plans, the Little Ringed Plover pair had a trio of chicks surviving to at least 10 days old.

I had only been present at the pool about 10 minutes, when an adult dropped in front of me below the tern platform, then within another few minutes, one, then two, then three chicks....Alleluia!

In the hour I spent at Conder Pool, the three chicks never once came together, but this was the best of days for me at Conder Pool, and after the disasterous year for the LRP's and Avocets, this was an uplifting sight.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale who, with the delightful LRP family, claims a hat trick of recent header images on B2B.

With an update on the terns, I counted 10 Common Tern adult, with seven roosting on an island and two young still on the platform, and in a perfect line for easy counting, at the back of the pool, 17 Greenshank, up to 500 Redshank and 2 Little Grebe. Interesting, that unless they were in hiding, I saw not a single Avocet today.

Conder Pool.

Conder Pool has never failed to come up with at least some surprise for me over the many years I've been visiting this amazing location.

If I picked out just three of these memorable records, I would first choose the White-winged Black Tern which I found quartering the marsh on the Lune Estuary at Glasson 22 years ago on 14 August 2003, when Conder Pool was in its infancy, and where this brilliant bird visited on more than one occasion. The second choice would be the Black-necked Grebe which I found 1 September 2008, and the third would be the Common Scoter seen 27 October 2008.

Fast forward 22 years on, to add to the excellent record of the Little Ringed Plover pair, having made five attempts at breeding on Conder Pool, we have the success of 3 chicks still surviving when I last saw them on Wednesday.  

Common Tern. John Wallace.

And finally, we have the excellent record of a Common Tern bearing a white darvic ring CR3, ringed in Ireland, and if my information from a reliable source is correct, another Common Tern was seen on Conder Pool bearing a green ring, ringed in Germany.

Thanks to Ian Hartley for help with the info re the white ringed Common Tern. Also thanks to John Wallace for the use of his excellent image of the Common Tern.

Conder Pool....What next 😃

Garden Robin 2 August. Pete Woodruff.

The Woodruff family were delighted to see a juvenile Robin arrive in the garden yesterday 2 August. An adult Robin returned to the garden last year on 28 August, and the year before on 18 July 2023.

Finches Make My Day....Again!

On Friday a pleasant couple of hours in Morecambe, where I walked along the Stone Jetty to find a lone female Common Scoter well offshore into the bay, also 8 Eider to note and 2 Great-crested Grebe.

Along the promenade off Broadway, 74 Eider were in two groups, 2 Great-crested Grebe seen, and up to 200 Pink-footed Geese flew north.

A 1st winter female Scaup behaved impeccably, close in and diving constantly on a flat calm sea. 

I've traced four past records on the internet from 1 December of Scaup off Morecambe Promenade in the area around Strathmore/Broadway, all except one have been recorded as a female, the exception being that of a 1st winter female which is what Fridays bird was. 

1st winter female Scaup. Pete Woodruff.

  

The Bullfinch.

A pair of Bullfinch made my day when I found them in Lancaster Cemetery during the week, my eighth record of the species at this location. I'm not the tree expert here, but I think the one they were feeding on was a Hornbeam.

Bullfinch Female. Simon Hawtin.

I was quite surprised when searching through my records. I was reminded that I had found my first Bullfinch in Lancaster Cemetery over 10 years ago, and doubly surprised to see the number of birds there in 2014....

2014 Oct 30 5 birds

2021 Dec 17  male

2022 April 3 3 birds

2022 Nov 13 4 birds

2022 Dec 6 pair

2023 Feb 6 pair

2023 May 1 pair

2024 Jan 15 pair 

Brent Geese, Sea-Ducks, And The Diver That Wasn't!

Heysham Geese.

The geese numbers at Heysham have been picking up, with a three figure count nearly reached recently. So I decided to pay a visit on Thursday, parking up on Knowleys Road and walking down to the promenade, the high tide was around 1.50pm which was 90 minutes away when I arrived.

It wasn't easy to initially get to grips with the count, they were weaving through the stones and boulders on the north shore.

But a couple of times disturbed and split, and the tide pushing the geese ever closer, I checked through at least four times, I eventually arrived at the count of 112 Brent Geese....'the highest count so far this winter'. Thanks to Malcolm Downham for some info regarding Brent Geese movement in the area earlier in the day.

Broadway Ducks.

My next move was to Morecambe to see if there was any sign of last weeks sea-ducks, but this time as opposed to flat calm sunny weather, there was a cold wind and a swell to contend with, and it wasn't going to be as easy to search, but I eventually latched on to 8 Common Scoter.

Common Scoter. Malcolm Downham.

My sighting was much further out into the bay than these, and with a bigger swell on the sea on Thursday, but almost certainly the same birds as MD's on 17 December off the Stone Jetty.

I later picked up a 1st winter female Scaup, again almost certainly my Wednesday 8 December bird.

Pine Lake Diver.

Great Northern Diver. Brian Rafferty.

My quest to find the Great Northern Diver at Pine Lake was a failure, the bird had moved on, but a little compensation came with a lone adult Whooper Swan, 5 Goldeneye, and a drake Goosander.

All in all a decent couple of hours, resulting in the best count this winter of Brent Geese at Heysham, and 8 Common Scoter, regarded as an erratic visitor to our recording area, and in my book, verging on a rarity to the inner Morecambe Bay.  

Goodies Off Broadway!

Cold, overcast, and calm in the days before Darragh arrived, it was good enough for me to take a look at the incoming tide along Morecambe Promenade.

Strung out in groups of various size from Broadway to Bare, I counted at least 110 Eider. Also between Broadway and Teal Bay, 7 Great-crested Grebe and 5 Red-breasted Merganser. 

At Teal Bay, a Bar-tailed Godwit, was with Redshank and four other species. I always think it odd to see usually flocking waders as lone individuals. Also to note, 38 Wigeon, 8 Pintail, and a Wren seen a little out of context on the saltmarsh.

Scaup And Scoter.

 Scaup 4 December. Pete Woodruff.

One of the best from the visit was a female Scaup off Broadway, seen as an erratic and scarce winter visitor to Morecambe Bay.  

The Scaup was distant, but it was good to get some record footage of the scarcity, my first since I found a drake on Conder Pool 6 March. Last year there was just 21 records of Scaup in Lancashire, but included three singles in Morecambe Bay in November/December....Lancashire Bird Report 2023

Common Scoter. Paul Ellis.

But star birds were a drake and female Common Scoter which were also off Broadway. The Common Scoter doesn't feature very often in my records, in fact a clear indication of the rarity status for me, is that this is my first record since I found a female on Conder Pool 16 years ago on 27 October 2008. Seen as another duck scarce to our area, at best erratic, though sometimes seen as a common passage bird, for example flocks of 30 and 57 south past Heysham in August 2021....Birds of Lancaster & District 2021

Interesting that c.30 miles south of Morecambe, conversely I could have seen up to 2,000 Common Scoter off Blackpool North Shore on 16 November 2023....Lancashire Bird Report 2023.  

Thanks to Paul Ellis for his image of the Common Scoter at Shard Bridge 10 years ago in August 2014.

Stonechats.

It pleased me to receive three more wintering Stonechat records from Bowland recently, with a male seen on the top of Grit Fell by the adventurous Ian Mitchell. Also birds seen recently in Bowland by the ever reliable Andrew Cornall, a male by the Mountain Rescue Centre east of Langden, and a pair on Abbeystead Lane.

Conder Pool....A Personal Perspective.

Over the past two years, I've changed direction during the summer months to pay more attention to dragonflies. The change has resulted in my finding what I regard as the best site/s to see good numbers of the Golden-ringed Dragonfly, and the best site to see an expanding colony of Keeled Skimmer.

This change gives the appearance that I've turned my back on Conder Pool, but actually this is not literally true. But what is true, is that I have partially lost contact with a site that has given me endless enjoyment and many rewards over the years, a few examples include a White Winged-Black Tern in August 2003, a Black-necked Grebe 5 years later in August 2008, the following month  I found a Common Scoter in October 2008, and two months later, the first Common Sandpiper to winter here in November 2008, through to a Wood Sandpiper being found 9 years later in August 2017.....So I'm 6 years overdue my next goodie on Conder Pool! 

Conder Pool August 2017

Conder Pool doesn't quite look the same today as it did during management work 6 years ago in 2017.  

My last post highlighted a large new raft which is in place today and held 10 adult Common Tern including 5 sitting female, and 9 chicks. This number of Common Tern, and others not seen in my observations, represents an ever increasing colony of a species that bred in large numbers on the Lune Estuary saltmarshes, until it collapsed in 2008. A combination of factors was the cause of the collapse, natural predation and erosion of the marshes was always going to be a problem, but not least due to human recreational disturbance which was unnatural, unnecessary, and avoidable.

The Common Tern present on Conder Pool today in 2023, represent a mere fraction of this former estuary colony, but the hope is that all this will change over time. There are some credits due to this, funding by Natural England, the RSPB, and the Environment Agency, have all contributed to this project going forward. Credit has also to be paid to volunteers from the Fylde Bird Club who gave their time freely, also to management and staff at Glasson Marina who have been instrumental in making the project work, supplying salvaged marine pontoons, floats and timbers. 

In my opinion, a special thanks should also go to Howard Stockdale, who spends many hours in a week monitoring activity, data collecting for the RSPB, and assisting Ian Hartley (BTO), who does sterling work including ringing the Common Tern and Avocet. 

Little Ringed Plover With 2 Chicks Conder Pool 2 July. Howard Stockdale.

Conder Pool has been a large chunk of my birding over many years, and it's my hope that, through all the funding and labouring by the people involved in this project, Conder Pool is rewarded by a successful return to the former glory of yesteryear regarding a delightful and elegant bird that is the Common Tern.

When I see the recently fledged Common Tern in my header image, I find it exciting and rewarding enough that the colony is slowly being successfully increased to it's former glory by this individual.

Update.

As of yesterday, there is the grand total of 14 Common Tern nests, all active on Conder Pool. The latest I have on the Avocet, 6 are fledged of which 5 are colour marked, 2 more are still to fledge, and 2 are two weeks old.

Apparently A Good Afternoon!

If you happen to like wet and windy weather, then you've probably been a very happy chappie this week. I hate wet and windy weather, and have been a very unhappy chappie this week, unable to pursue my birding. But it's looking good at the moment this morning and given half a chance....I'm off.

So I picked out at random one of my little black record books to discover quite a decent good afternoons birding I had 15 years ago to the day on 12 December 1999. Apparently it was a day I had decided to check out the birdlife along the promenade at Morecambe including a wander down the Stone Jetty to see a Velvet Scoter. The bird was first picked up flying south towards the jetty soon landing on the sea to give good views to facilitate identification of the bird being a juvenile. Also from here I saw a female Long-tailed Duck, a Red-throated Diver, and 2 Grey Seal making the visit along the jetty a well rewarded one.

Coming off the jetty to what was then called Bubbles Groyne - don't know what it's name is these days if it has one - to find a Purple Sandpiper, and Spotted Redshank there. Further along the promenade from the Town Hall slipway I saw a female Common Scoter to round of the visit nicely....That's what I call 'Apparently A Good Afternoon' at Morecambe.

Continental Crusaders.  

Swallowtail. Marc Heath.

There's an interesting article on the Birdguides website about an influx of exotic continental species into the UK this summer, in which my man from Kent has his excellent image of the Swallowtail butterfly well deservedly published to accompany the article Continental Crusaders  

Common Blue Damselfly. Marc heath. 

Another perfect example of Marc's excellent work is that of the Common Blue Damselfly at sunrise. Thanks for all this Marc, much appreciated.

A Birthday Missed!

I missed the birthday of Birds2blog last Thursday, 4 years ago on 15 November 2008.

This is just the opportunity to congratulate myself on the determination to keep the blog afloat,  and to thank everyone who visits Birds2blog to encourage me to do so.  It's  hard to believe  I've published almost 1,000 post and had over 78,628 visitors as I write over these 4 years. This is  all very rewarding and I'll be trying to keep it up and running a little longer, but....who knows! 

When I decided to give blogging a go in 2008 I had just had an excellent run with the birds since the beginning of September, and which ends on 14 November 2008 with 19 Waxwings seen at Levens Village in Cumbria, for the sake of interest I have copied the records below.      

The four species  marked * were  all self  found and  are exciting  rewards, all of which added to my ever growing passion for the birds.

Black-necked Grebe on Conder Pool 1 Sept * 
Honey Buzzard over Birk Bank 19 Sept * 
Brent Goose on Pilling Marsh 6 Oct
Med Gulls three seen Cockers Dyke 9 Oct
Common Scoter on Conder Pool 27 Oct
Ross's Goose Cockers Dyke 28 Oct *
Scaup on Conder Pool 28 Oct
Whooper Swans an amazing 300+ in the Nateby area on Black Lane 28 Oct 
Hooded Crow over Birk Bank 29 Oct *
Pink-footed Geese an astounding c.30,000 on Pilling Marsh 12 Nov
Short-eared Owls three on Bradshaw Lane Head 12 Nov
Common Sandpiper still on Conder Pool 12 Nov
Waxwings 19 at Levens Village 14 Nov 


And the pics representing three of the birds in the list above....

Short-eared Owl Geoff Gradwell

By  coincidence  the Short-eared Owls  are once  again  currently  'performing'  in  the Rawcliffe  area as they were in the same month of November 2008 when  I saw  three of them  just as GG has recently not many miles away from mine on Bradshaw Lane. Thanks for this GG....brilliant bird, brilliant photograph. 

Hooded Crow © Photo by Szabolcs Kókay

The Hooded Crow was a great reward as I came down off Clougha on 29 October 2008 during one of my monthly 5 hour foot slogs looking for Stonechats.

Mediterranean Gull. Pete Woodruff.

This adult Mediterranean Gull frequented off Broadway at Morecambe where I took this photograph on 3 February 2010.                                  

And finally, to note....

In my post of last Thursday 15 November when I visited Cockersands I had noted a 'few' Skylark there and suggested a number were probably still in this area in stubble fields. I was  right, but it turned out to be a bit of an understatement, in excess of 100 were reported there on Sunday. Also worthy of note....In excess of 200 Little Egret at Burton Mere Wetlands yesterday, also a Whinchat seen here.  

An even closer look.

There's an excellent 'Closer Look' Gallery which has recently been brought up to date on the Flyde Bird Club website and the American Golden Plover, Blue-headed Wagtail, Temminck's Stint, Kentish Plover, and White Stork are all examples of what you will find HERE 

Blue-headed Wagtail.

One of the birds featured on the Fylde Bird Club website is the Blue-headed Wagtail (BHW) and I've been taking a closer look for myself at this bird.

The fact that continental Yellow Wagtails differed from the British form escaped the attentions of ornithologists until the early 1830's when the distinction was eventually noted, and in 1834 at Colchester in Essex the first British record of a continental BHW was made. This form of the continental race is the most common one to reach Britain, and breeding with the British flavissima is today recorded almost annually.

American Golden Plover.

The first record of an American Golden Plover (AGP) - a North American vagrant - in the Lancashire and North Merseyside area was of a bird with Golden Plovers at Marshside in November 1984, four years later another was found at Fleetwood in September 1988.

The next record of an AGP in Lancashire became famous for both me and for the county, in my case it was the bird I 'twitched' with my old friend and mentor the late John Leedal, and for the county it became the first long staying AGP for Lancashire. This bird was found at Fishmoor Reservoir, Blackburn on 28 October 1995, and was last seen on 11 November which was the date JL and I went to see the bird and therefore we were amongst the last birders to see this individual. Having looked up my record of the bird I found I'd made the following note....

'After a three hour wait to see if the grim weather we had traveled to Blackburn in would clear up - which it didn't - and following a further period searching for the bird in rain we discovered it with the c.200 Golden Plovers it had been in the company of for almost two weeks now, we eventually had excellent views of the AGP, also of note here was a female Common Scoter'. The note ends....'A Good Day'.

Yellow Wagtail. Simon Hawtin

The Yellow Wagtail to be found in our area of North Lancashire is that of a scarce and declining migrant breeder of probably no more than 'one or two' pairs. The most reliable site I know of for seeing this species is/was the Halforth/Heversham Moss area where I've neither heard nor seen the place mentioned this year, though I have to confess to not having been there to see for myself.  

For the record....I have been given permission to post the photographs of the BHW/AGP.