Dire.

So off I went to Conder Green yesterday full of Mondays enthusiasm which lasted about 45 minutes to be ended by a phone call. But the enthusiasm didn't get me anywhere today and bird species and numbers were dire everywhere I went, but that's birding, some you win, some you lose....but enough of this. 

To add to Mondays notes for Conder Green, 10 Little Grebe was yet another increase for this species on Conder Pool and heading up nicely to the peak count of sixteen on 18 October 2010, also noted, 6 Snipe and 24 Canada Geese. A Grey Wagtail was upstream of the road bridge, and the Common Sandpiper was in the creeks again. The Lune Estuary carried forward the dire scene with c.450 Golden Plover, 2 Goosander, a Little Egret, and a Peregrine Falcon on a distant post on Colloway Marsh.

Unbelievably dire at Cockersands saved by 2 Mediterranean Gull in a field with c.320 Black-headed Gull taking advantage of the farmer complete with tractor and plough. But waders were in short supply, with no more than 180 Redshank between Crook Farm and Plover Scar where there was just 15 waders at high tide, 9 Dunlin, 3 Ringed Plover, and 3 Turnstone. I noted 4 Wheatear and c.150 Wood Pigeon were put to flight en-mass out of a hedgerow by something....Like I said....dire. 

Apart from a few 'whites' the only butterfly species I saw was a decent c.40 Small Tortoiseshell.

 Mega Vagrants.  

Thanks to RBA we had news of two vagrants found in Ireland. The Eastern Kingbird was found yesterday in Inishbofin, Co Galway.... 

Wilson's Warbler Arkive 

....and the Wilson's Warbler which was found last Friday 20 September at Dursey Island, Co Cork, and was still there the following day, but not seen since. A little North American gem which winters in southern Texas, south to Panama, and a very rare vagrant with only one previous record, that of a bird found at Rame Head, Cornwall in 1985. This individual was seen by only a few local birders briefly for a few minutes and was never seen again. 

Just to repeat myself !!

I've lately been going to pass the comment - but never have done - that there is always the risk of posting a subject on a blog which has already been covered in an earlier post and this is exactly what happened on Wednesday when I wrote up a few notes about the Curlew Sandpiper -  brought about by my finding five at Cockersands on Monday afternoon - only to find a few minutes after I published the post, that I had done the same on Friday 9 September 2011 on Birds2blog also titled 'The Curlew Sandpiper'. 

However, having read through the previous post I see there are a few points I made then which I haven't repeated in Wednesdays post where I mentioned one or two points not noted in September. Nevertheless, apologies for this 'there I've said it again' error....I hope you found something interesting about it.

Gadwall Dave Appleton 

Yesterday a drake Gadwall was on Conder Pool and I made the claim it was a 'possible' first record for the pool. However, a birder has put the record straight by pointing out this is not the case, and has passed on some dates he saw this species here dating back to 2008 when he saw a bird on 5 October, followed by another 30 October 2011, one 13 February, two 20 March 2011, and 9 September 2012. So I was a little out on my 'possible' yesterday which proves once again I'm not quite as clever as I make out to be, though some credibility was salvaged by my use of the word 'possible'. 

Motto....Keep the records accurate, and don't pretend to be something you're not!

Anyway, all this is a perfect excuse to post four more excellent photographs....

 Sanderling. Peter Guy.

Like this excellent shot of the Sanderling over the breakers at Rossall Point. To test your counting skills - having looked at the picture - you could make an estimate of how many birds are in it, then count them to see how good you are. I counted them four times and twice came up with 48.    

Bearded Tit Phillip Tomkinson  

And this one of the Bearded Tits at Leighton Moss. October is the perfect time to see these brilliant birds at Leighton Moss which come to the grit trays put out for their benefit.

Crested Tit Noushka Dufort  

The Crested Tit is a bird mainly confined to the ancient Caledonian Pine forests in Scotland, and this is by far the best image I have seen of the species to date.

Sardinian Warbler Antonio Puigg

And the Sardinian Warbler which breeds from the Canaries through Morocco and around the Mediterranean, it is a resident and partial migrant mainly into North Africa and the Sahara. The first British record of Sardinian Warbler was of a male on Lunday, Devon in May 1955.

Thanks to PG/PT/ND/AP for the excellent photographs they are much appreciated.

And what about the latest MEGA....

An Eastern Kingbird found on Inishmore Island, County Galway, Ireland, and a first record for the Western Palearctic.