And Now For Something A Little Different!

Lune Estuary.

By way of a change, I decided on a different viewpoint to observe the incoming tide on the Lune Estuary, and went to the embankment above the picnic site at Conder Green. This was a first for me, I always view the same stretch on the river from the bowling green at Glasson Dock, but both these locations have plus and minus points, some you win, some you loose.

Until the tide gained height, most of the waders were out of view below the marsh, but once the tide reached the marsh they were out in the open, though then the smaller birds were in the long grass.

On the shoreline I managed to see 4 Greenshank, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, a Ruff, Whimbrel, and Common Sandpiper. Then driven on to the marsh by the tide, a Curlew Sandpiper and Snipe. Overhead a Sparrowhawk, a Buzzard was briefly attacked by a Kestrel, and 3 Migrant Hawker were patrolling the trees.

When I left the area, there was little dry land for the waders to escape to. The group pictured in my header were hanging on in at high tide.

Birk Bank Bog.

Black Darter male. Pete Woodruff.

Thinking it could well be my last chance for the dragons, and the day being at least decent weather-wise, I decided to give Birk Bank a return visit where I found 6 Black Darter, 5 male and a female.

Black Darter female. Pete Woodruff.

Eleven Common Darter were seen as 6 male and 5 female. It was good to find the male Emperor Dragonfly again, still patrolling and checking out the vegetation by the boardwalk.

Common Darter. Pete Woodruff.

I reckon these are the last of the dragons at Birk Bank Bog in '25. 

Guillemot Inner M'cbe Bay.

Scaup Off Broadway 17 January. Pete Woodruff.

 

I met Steve Edmundson at Birk Bank, he reminded me we had met earlier in the year at Morecambe when we were watching the female Scaup off Broadway. Steve told me of a Guillemot he'd seen off Teal Bay during the week. I told him he had been fortunate to find a scarce sea bird for this area of Morecambe Bay, he said he would send me a picture of the bird.

Guillemot Teal Bay 9 September. Steve Edmundson.

Thank you Steve, much appreciated.

Swifts.

When I found the quite amazing record of 60 Swift on passage through Borrowdale in the Lake District on Thursday 11 September, I thought it was a sighting worthy of mention. Even more amazing when I read they were observed over a 2 hour period flying north, which is in the opposite direction of their wintering grounds in Africa. Only a minority of Swifts would still be in Europe during September....Sixty Swift flying north in Northern England in mid-September doesn't sound like a minority in Europe.

The Hawker Mile.

I walked the canal towpath yesterday, a little in excess of a mile, from the basin at Glasson Dock to The Mill at Conder Green, and recorded at least 54 Migrant Hawker, including six coupled pairs, recorded as 'at least' because I probably missed more out of view behind the tall reeds along some sections of the canal, presumably this years adults, combining with migrants to cause a late summer surge in numbers, also 4 Brown Hawker, seen as two pair coupled.

Conder Pool held 3 Greenshank, 20 Little Grebe, and a Snipe, in the creeks, 2 Common Sandpiper. Two House Martin were still around River Winds, and Swallow seen around Conder Green Farm.

On the Lune Estuary, 11 Greenshank, c.960 Golden Plover, there was similar numbers of c.350 Redshank and Lapwing, and c.50 Curlew, Dunlin, and 2 Black-tailed Godwit.

Ten Long-tailed Tit worked their way through our garden this morning.

Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica Antonio Puigg. Clik the pik

No piks for the post, but wouldn't Antonio's male Black-eared Wheatear have added a little more colour to Fluke Hall recently! 

Ruff Justice.

A couple of hours before high tide on the Lune Estuary on Friday, 3 Ruff was some justice for what turned out to be a day struggling to find anything of substance, 8 Black-tailed Godwit also added a little interest to the area, with a good number of Redshank and fewer Dunlin hanging on to what mud was left as the tide raced in, later in the day a Peregrine Falcon was on Colloway Marsh. 

I stuck it out in a bit of a howler on Plover Scar up to high tide to find up to 200 Dunlin, 60 Ringed Plover, and 3 Turnstone. Whilst a shower blew through, I watched the sea from the motor for thirty minutes to see a Guillemot drift out of the estuary and noted 2 Great-crested Grebe off Plover Scar.

Apart from 12 Little Grebe on Conder Pool again, and a Greenshank down the channel, to say Conder Green was a struggle is something of an understatement.

Adding a bit of gloss and quality to Birds2blog....again!!

Wilson's Phalarope Alston Wetland 9 September Paul Foster

A Wilson's Phalarope was found on Saturday at Alston Wetland, Longridge. A one day bird last reported at 7.45pm but not since. The first for Lancashire & North Merseyside since May 2010 at Seaforth NR, Liverpool....RBA 

The first for Britain was found as recent as 63 years ago in September 1954 at Fife, Rosyth. The bird needed to be observed in fine detail and studied in field guides before it could be named as a 1st winter Wilson's Phalarope. 

Many thanks for the image Paul. I'm really pleased you got to see this North American wader, and the excellent photographs you came away with too.

Female American Redstart. Eoligarry, Western Isles. Stuart Piner.

Another recent 'goodie' was found at Barra, Western Isles on 7 September. The first for Britain was found 50 years ago in 1967 at Porthgwarra, Cornwall, it was also identified from illustrations in a field guide as a 1st winter male American Redstart.

Many thanks to Stuart for the excellent image of this stunning little North American gem.

Petrel's & Gull's.

Leach's Petrel and Sabine's Gull all over the place today....I'm off to join the 'in crowd' first opportunity.

This And That!

I enjoyed some time at Heysham on Wednesday, arriving there three hours before high tide to look over Red Nab, check the outfalls, and look in on Heysham Harbour.

Guillemot. Pete Woodruff.

This was the best I could do for a picture of the Guillemot currently finding itself in Heysham Harbour, in the corner by the power station intake.

There was a large gathering of gulls on Wednesday, I'd seen a report of perhaps up to 1,000 small gulls on the outfalls in recent day's, but my estimate on Wednesday was that of 500 on Stage 2, and 50 on Stage 1. But my main aim was to eventually find 14 Mediterranean Gull, with eleven on Red Nab near high tide, one seen on Stage 1, and two on Stage 2.
  

Kittiwake. Pete Woodruff.

A 1st summer Kittiwake was squat on the sea wall. The picture I took today looks identical to the one I took here on 12 July when I made this comment....'including 2 Kittiwake, one of which was this 1st summer bird which was squat on the sea wall and was reluctant to stand and take to the wing until I got within 2 metres of it to squat again further down the sea wall'....Today's bird behaved in precisely the same manner in that it only flew when I was almost able to touch it, and went down to squat on the sea wall again. This is almost certainly the same Kittiwake seen here 12 July, in which case it's difficult to know what the problem is with this bird.

Earlier I had been to Conder Green if only to see how the star bird was faring on Conder Pool, I found an adult and the young Avocet which was wing flapping with gusto on one ocassion. An increase to 5 Little Grebe on the pool has these bird's arriving back here a little earlier than in previous years particularly in this number. Along the coastal path, 5 Common Sandpiper were downstream in the channel. I saw a Whitethroat, and found 4 Gatekeeper and a Small Skipper.

A bit of this, and a bit of that today....Nice.  

The Black Hole.

With the majority of winter birds having left for their breeding grounds, and the summer birds not yet arrived, birding has plunged into a black hole, though a couple of my notes for yesterday contradict this, Conder Green, Conder Pool, and the Lune Estuary were pretty desolate.

The island of boxes on Conder Pool is being domineered by the Lesser Black-backed Gull pair, whilst 32 Wigeon and 9 Tufted Duck virtually had the pool to themselves, with no sign of any Little Grebe. A Spotted Redshank and a pair of Goosander likewise to themselves in the creeks save a 'few' Teal and no sign of the Common Sandpiper. The circuit produced a Reed Bunting, Great Tit and Blue Tit, with 4 Small Tortoiseshell seen. The Lune Estuary was at low tide, and my notes consisted of up to 100 Black-tailed Godwit from the bowling green, with no sign of any Goldeneye.

Buzzard. Cockersands. Stuart Piner. 

At Cockersands, the local Buzzard was yet again on it's branch in it's tree as it habitually has been for several weeks now, though it does fly as SP's image of this very bird clearly shows. The estimate yesterday was of 200 Whooper Swan towards Bank End as seen from Moss Lane, 3 Linnet and 6 Tree Sparrow were around Bank Houses. The whole place eventually lit up for me when I found 272 Black-tailed Godwit with 18 Knot off Crook Farm.

It's godda get better than this!!

Quote from Bryan Yorke post yesterday 17 March....'The bird migration was non-existent with no Larks crossing, Mipits or for that matter nothing else'....you can say that again Bryan.


Cockersands Corpse.   

Another corpse on the shingle at Cockersands yesterday, this one headless but I'm going for Guillemot.

Harbour & Bay.

On Tuesday I decided to give Heysham Harbour another visit and on getting out of the motor it was good to hear the first bird in song being the Song Thrush. Most birds seen on my way to the sea wall were in song....

Robin Noushka Dufort

Robin

Blackbird

Dunnock 

Wren

Greenfinch

As I approached the outfalls I was disappointed to see them void of birds even though the high tide was three hours away. But I spent a good hour at the south wall to see a Red-throated Diver flying into the bay some distance off the harbour mouth. However, this bird obliged and came down on to the sea hopefully for me to get a better look, but it then behaved unobligingly and promptly dived to soon disappear behind the north wall.

Guillemot at Heysham Harbour. Janet Packham.

In the harbour I saw a Guillemot around the power station water intake, and watched a Kittiwake flying around the harbour mouth.

Scaup at Middleton. Janet Packham.

I decided it was time I went to see for myself the long staying drake Scaup on Middleton Pond. I doubt if I'm on my own in thinking this is likely to be the same individual present on the canal basin at Glasson Dock in November/December 2013. In my brief visit I also noted 2 drake Pochard.

A walk along the promenade from Broadway to Teal Bay at Morecambe was healthy and very pleasant on a good sunny day, but it was a struggle to find a pair of Red-breasted Merganser, 2 Great-crested Grebe, and probably the only 2 Goldeneye anywhere in or around Morecambe Bay to the exclusion of the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock. I made a decent count of 56 Eider.

And finally....Stonechats again. 

Stonechat Martin Jump 

The Stonechat passage moves on apace, and I was more than a little pleased to find This Record And no less pleased to find a record of six Stonechats on Lytham Moss Monday 3 March on the Fylde Bird Club website. A personal thank you to JR/FB for reporting these sightings. This years local migrant Stonechat records stand at 14 and that represents a good spring passage in my little black book.

My thanks to Noushka for the Robin, and to Janet - Heysham Observatory - for the Guillemot and Scaup images, and Martin for the Stonechat, they are all excellent photographs and much appreciated.

Death Chemical.

Still no birding for me since last Friday I'm afraid, so a little politics/conservation to fill the gap once again.

Guillemot Arkive 

There's some excellent news that the discharge of high-viscosity polyisobutylene (PIB) from ships during tank cleaning operations is to be banned. The classification of high-viscosity PIB's is to be changed to require full tank pre-wash and disposal of all residues at port and prohibit any discharge at sea. PIB was the chemical responsible for the deaths of over 4,000 seabirds on the south-west coast earlier this year, and thousands of people were shocked to hear about the worst marine pollution incident since the Torrey Canyon in the spring of 1967 when this was the worlds worst oil spill, and to date remains the UK's worst.

Of the 4,000 seabirds between February and April this year, most of the 18 species involved were Guillemot washed up on beaches from Cornwall to Dorset, most were dead, but some were alive and taken into care. The same substance of PIB was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of seabirds off the Dutch coast in 2010. 

And now for something much lighter and much more colourful, though they're both 'black'....

Black-eared Wheatear Ana Minguez 

The Black-eared Wheatear forms a species pair with the Pied Wheatear, and some individuals are inseparable. In spite of the fact that it breeds as close to Britain as southern France the Black-eared Wheatear is surprisingly rare here. A brilliant image of this bird....Thank You Ana. 

Black Redstart Noushka Dufort

A passage migrant and summer breeder, the Black Redstart was added to the British List when it was first recorded near London in 1829. Thanks for the excellent image of these youngsters Noushka. Photography at its best, as every one posted on Birds2blog testifies, you only have to 'clik the pik' to see why....But none of 'em are ever mine!

A Pallid Swift or Common Swift reported Wednesday from the Public Hide at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve at 1.40pm. Thanks to the RBA pager service for this information.  

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING!....Birding....what's birding!

Starting With The End.

The Beginning Of The End. Warren Baker.

This photograph marks the beginning of the end for a man in Kent who I got to know via the internet and blogging, but more importantly it marks the same beginning of the end for the birds and wildlife which this man has observed, studied, and recorded daily on his own chosen 'patch' in a more dedicated and comprehensive manner than most other birders and wildlife enthusiasts I know.

Warren Baker explains it all on his blog, he outlines the devastation both wildlife and himself are suffering, in both cases they will have to turn their lives around and move on to accommodate this crime against wildlife, a wildlife which cannot speak for itself and relies totally upon our doing so for it. We need to keep up the pressure on people at the top who we must continue to badger and protest against in order to get it through to them that they are getting it - and doing it - all wrong. We must let them see that their views and decisions don't go unchallenged, and that we are taking note of what they say and do, maybe we should start here with....David Cameron/George Osbourne, the NFU, and Landowners/Gamekeepers.

You can find the first post on Monday in which Warren points this tragedy out to his followers on Pittswood Birds and then his follow up post the next day HERE  

Sparrowhawk. Warren Baker.

Warren also takes some excellent photographs as the Sparrowhawk testifies. Thanks for this Warren. This really isn't the end for you, it's just the beginning....honest. 

Puffin David Cookson

Hundreds of Puffin and other sea birds like the Razorbill and Guillemot, are being found dead on east coast beaches from Aberdeen to Northumberland, believed to be related to severe weather which is leading birds to struggle to find food or sheer exhaustion. It is being suggested that this could be the start of the worst Puffin wreck for almost 50 years.

Although the Puffin is a small sea bird, they are quite hardy birds, adept a coping with all the hazards of life at sea. They are approaching the start of the breeding season, and tens of thousands of seabirds are returning to their colonies, but the tragedy unfolding now could have a devastating effect on their success in 2013, adding to the already population decline particularly of the Puffin. The fear now is that the hundreds of dead seabirds already found may well turn into thousands, and the breeding season will need close monitoring to find the results of many breeding seabirds throughout the summer months.

Footnote.

If the weather bulletin I watched this evening is anything to go by, this weather we are experiencing in the country right now is not expected to improve much - if at all - throughout April.

What a depressing - 'but this is the real world' - post.