The Lesser Yellowlegs.

At around 5.00pm yesterday the RBA pager alerted me to a bird which definitely made my eyes light up. I sent a text to a man I know well to enquire if the bird was 'his' - knowing all the time what the answer was going to be - to be told at precisely 5.04pm that 'yes it was'....I was on my way to Glasson Dock to have the bird pointed out to me immediately, though in the hour I spent there the views could never have been regarded as brilliant - in fact it eventually went out of view and has never been seen since - but I was looking at a bird which has become familiar to me, my fifth Lesser Yellowlegs, also noted on the visit were 3 Spotted Redshank.

Lesser Yellowlegs.Dave Appleton.

The Lesser Yellowlegs (LY) breeds in eastern Alaska and across much of Canada, some winter in southern USA and Central America, but the majority winter in the West Indies and South America. The species is an annual vagrant to Britain the most of which are juveniles which occur - as all mine have done - in September and October. The LY used to be a major rarity and the first Lancashire record didn't come until 1965 at Freckleton Sewage Farm. On a personal level my five LY's are....

   18 October 1995 Eric Morecambe complex Leighton Moss.

   13 September 1997 Eric Morecambe complex Leighton Moss.

* 18 October 1997 Banks Marsh

   12 September 2002 Eagland Hill, Fylde.

   24 September 2011 Lune Estuary, Glasson Dock.

* A bird was seen at Banks Marsh in October 1997 and was joined by a second one in December, but thats another story and an interesting one too....perhaps some other time.

Greater Yellowlegs. Dave Appleton.

For comparison the Greater Yellowlegs is in my opinion reminiscent of the Greenshank especially given poor views in poor light. The Lesser Yellowlegs is much more reminiscent of the juvenile Redshank given the same poor viewing circumstances. However, it is a slimmer more elegant bird than the Redshank, its longer neck and attenuated look are good pointers to ID, but its main features are its long ochre-yellow legs. But the ID of both LY and GY are examples of the kind of skills I personally admire and I have respect for the many birders I know with the ability to know what they're looking at, take it from me, only earlier this week a reported LY turned out to be a juvenile Redshank.

I'm grateful to Dave Appleton me to use his excellent images of both these birds.  

The Irresistible Blog!

Well....I can't resist posting this evening for one or two reasons and a pic. The reasons not least of which is the excellent and intriguing news about a Cuckoo having reached Africa much sooner than anybody ever thought they did, having left the UK sooner than anybody ever thought they did too. This bird is now apparently on the northern slope of the Atlas Mountains in the Sidi-bel-Abbes region of north western Algeria having migrated via Spain, something else nobody ever thought they did, of course I'm talking about....CLEMENT THE CUCKOO

Heath Fritillary. Paul The Tortoise Man

OK....The photograph is an excellent one of the Heath Fritillary with thanks to Paul, but a Large Tortoiseshell has been found today on the Scilly Isles. The Large Tortoiseshell is officially extinct in Britain, though previously seen in the largest concentrations in the south and eastern England, it has never been recorded in Ireland.

And finally....

Take heart once again all ye who have suffered at the hands of a mis-ID....Oh come on, we all suffer at the hands of mis-ID, I certainly have and probably will do so again. A Greater Yellowlegs reported yesterday in N'hants has turned out to have been a Greenshank....Whoops!!

Down by the riverside.

River Lune. Pete Woodruff.



The River Lune snakes its way through the beautiful Lune Valley, in the pic above  - note the foreground tools of the trade - the river is actually flowing north east which is more towards the direction it came from. Ingleborough is in the distance the very tip of its summit in cloud, but as the river goes out of sight on the left in the pic it turns to head south west again towards Lancaster and on to the estuary about 12 miles downstream at Cockersands. So here I was doing what I love to do the best, to the neglect of everyone and everything.

Little Ringed Plover. Pete Woodruff.

Five hours plus on the River Lune upstream from Bull Beck yesterday produced some excellent results and I refused to award the Gold  to a species as I was torn between 5 Little Ringed Plovers - note above my latest attempt at international level photography - including two unfledged but growing young, and the 4 Green Sandpipers I saw together an hour later further upstream on the best flood I've seen in ages and in perfect condition, a Kingfisher seen was also excellent. With the risk of duplicate counting taken into account I recorded at least 22 Common Sandpipers, also of note a lone Ringed Plover, 8 Grey Wagtail, a juvenile Robin, a Kestrel, 3 Red Admiral and a 'few' Small Tortoiseshell noted. 

Oystercatcher. Pete Woodruff.  

Oystercatchers were dotted about here and there on the shingle and I saw one young chick on the visit. I have no idea of the status of the Sand Martin on the River Lune in 2011, if there is info somewhere out there about this I've had no time to look for it, what I do know is that I'd rate the numbers I saw here yesterday as at least 'quite large' and it was a joy to watch young in the bank opposite peering out of the many nest holes, quite a few of them with three little bodies vying for pole position at the entrance.

Living on the edge.

During the visit here I couldn't help but think, the natural world these birds are part of is also their enemy particularly during the breeding season. The Little Ringed Plover adults were watching their two young every move whilst threats like the Grey Heron, 'gulls' and 'corvids' were all on the prowl. Also the fact these birds are breeding on the shingle banks are at some risk of being washed away following any prolonged heavy rain causing the river to flood and wash away everything in its path including the many hundreds of Sand Martins trapped in their nest holes until fledged.

MEGA NEWS.

A Greater Yellowlegs has been found at Daventry Reservoir in N'hants. The first record in Britain of this N.American wader which winters in the USA south to southern America, was shot by an obvious 'rhymes with tanker' on the Isles of Scilly in 1906.