Tuesday 2 Sept - Friday 5 Sept.

Not as much action on Conder Pool as my last visit 28 August, but impressive all the same, and didn't loose any ratings in the Hot Spot League as far as I'm concerned. 

I had been at Conder Pool about an hour, and had got back to the motor to move on, when AC knocked on the windscreen to tell me the Spotted Redshank had flown in and joined the company of 10 Greenshank....Thanks Andrew.

Also to note on the pool, 8 Little Grebe and a lone Black-tailed Godwit. I'm convinced this is the same BTG as seen here in previous years, and always alone. A Common Sandpiper was in the creeks.

Within the space of about 15 minutes, a Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon and Buzzard were overhead, along with a good number of hirundine, high like dots in the sky.

Thirty minutes on the canal towpath at Glasson produced 2 Migrant Hawker and 2 Brown Hawker, and along the coastal path 4 Migrant Hawker, with a 'blue butterfly' seen. This was a disappointing sighting in that it was too distant for ID to species, so I was left with a possible third brood Holly Blue, or second brood Common Blue which can last until early September. Other butterflies seen, Painted Lady, 5 Red Admiral, 5 Speckled Wood, and 3 Small Tortoiseshell.

Migrant Hawker.

Migrant Hawker 2 September. Pete Woodruff.

I find the Migrant Hawker one of the easier dragons to observe, their behaviour is often to be seen hovering frequently, hawking along hedgerows, and regularly basking low down on vegetation as mine was today.

Conder Pool Friday 5 September.

I paid my second visit of the week to Conder Pool where the scenery was much changed and reduced in numbers of birds, though I was delighted to find my highest all time count upgraded by the presence of 32 Greenshank on the pool. The only other records of note were, 10 Little Grebe and a lone Ruff.

Birk Bank Friday 5 September.

My visit the bog at Birk Bank was suitably rewarded by recording 14 dragons in the hour spent here. Pick of the bunch was 2 Emperor Dragonfly which were something of a surprise, though I did find two here last year 19 September 2024....Late! 

Black Darter Birk Bank 5 September. Pete Woodruff.

Also seen, 5 Black Darter were all males, and 7 Common Darter were seen as 5 male/2 female. I had two sightings of Buzzard, both of which were seen as two pairs 10 minutes apart, but to be honest I reckon it was just the one 'mewing' pair seen twice.  

Garden Moth.

Seeing what appeared to be a moth through the kitchen window, I dashed out to find it was the most obliging of its kind, giving good views as it lingered a few minutes nectaring on Soapwort.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

In the header image, we can see the 'Keep Britain Tidy' man with the strimmer at Saltcote Pond has done the right thing this year, leaving the pond side vegetation to flourish, in which case it seems my conversation last year with Glasson Councilors has paid off. 

Winmarleigh Moss.

Something of an adventure in the week on a visit to Winmarleigh Moss with Steve Graham.

For starters you have to find somewhere to park, as the Lancashire Wildlife Trust website says....'no parking near the site'....is a bit of an understatement I reckon. But we overcome the parking problem and set off for the adventure on to this huge 90 hectare site which has difficult access due to numerous drains and tussock vegetation requiring care to be taken over this the best lowland raised peat bog in the region. However, you can safely transect along the bank by Crawleys Dyke.

Raptors seen, 2 Buzzard, 2 Marsh Harrier, and a Kestrel. At least 4 Stonechat seen, with a pair behaving like they had hidden young, a few Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit, with a Willow Warbler in a small wooded area, and a Corn Bunting.

Five species of dragonfly were seen, with Four-spotted Chaser, Emperor Dragonfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, and Large Red Damselfly.

Steve's top target at Winmarleigh Moss was a butterfly species, but the visit was a disappointing one in this regard as we saw just 2 Large Heath, perhaps a tad too early, but 2 Large Skipper was a little compensation, and a Speckled Wood was the only other butterfly seen from just three species.

Butterfly Conservation.

Five butterflies seen on a hot sunny day at a 90 hectare site with perfect habitat in June, brings me to note....2024 was one of the worst years on record for UK butterflies. For the first time ever, more than half of our butterflies species are in long term decline, and notably with 85% of the population living in urban areas.

This causes Butterfly Conservation to ask....Will you help us to raise £20,000 to begin one our most ambitious Wild Spaces projects yet....Glasgow Wild Spaces   

Summary.

In my opinion, you would need to spend several hours at Winmarleigh Moss, and even then would only scratch the surface and probably miss finding lots of what's on offer here if you was going to do justice to it. Personally, after a couple of hours walking along Crawleys Dyke, and humping optics - binoculars, telescope, and tripod - weighing 6kg, was a bit much!

Pilling Lane Ends.

Calling in at Pilling Lane Ends, there was clear evidence of the decline of butterflies as mentioned earlier, when we saw just 5 Meadow Brown and a Common Blue, a little more encouraging was 5 Small Skipper....I think Steve might have done better than this!

But feelings were good when we saw a large number of spikes of Orchid. Steve sent photographs off to an expert in the field, to arrive at the ID of a mix of Southern Marsh Orchid and Northern/Hybrid Marsh Orchid.

White-tailed Bumblebee.

This White-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum was found lethargic on the garden bench, it spread its wings a couple of times but was unable to take off. I gave it sugar and water on a saucer to drink, but it remained motionless for a while and I feared it was dead. For an hour or more I kept checking regularly, but the next time it was gone. 

Barnacle Double Bonus.

It was good to find a Barnacle Goose on Conder Pool, the bird is yet another first here, and I must search my records to get the full picture of firsts for Conder Pool. 

Barnacle Goose Conder Pool Wednesday 12 March

The Barnacle Goose was accompanied by 44 Greylag Geese which maybe puts the provenance of the BG in some doubt, but it is a marked bird with a blue ring which - at the time of publishing this post - has yet to be read. 

You can never tell with Barnacle Geese, there are many feral bird species in the country these days, with Lincolnshire alone having an estimated 2,000 individuals. Barnacle Goose with Greylag Geese get labeled feral, with Pink-footed Geese they get the thumbs up. An interesting note about the recent Lesser White-fronted Goose on Jeremy Lane, was that everyone was happy about this bird being wild....Thanks to Paul Ellis for his help with my query 'maybe puts the provenance of the Barnacle Goose in some doubt'.    

Other notes from the pool, 11 Avocet, 12 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Tufted Duck, a Little Grebe, and a Kingfisher which put in two appearances, the second being a brief pose on the sluice.

By the time I got to the coast and Cockersand Abbey, I had a distinct feeling I was going to get a soaking, but with the exception of a cold wind from the north, my circuit was a pleasure, albeit there was little to rave about, though up to 900 Golden Plover were in the field on the south side of Abbey Farm, and an estimate of 550 Whooper Swan were in multiple fields including Jeremy Lane.

When I arrived back at the Caravan Park, the stormy weather had drifted south over Bowland and I had escaped the downpour. 

A female Marsh Harrier was seen at the outer edge of the marsh, flew out of sight left in the picture towards Bank End, across the Cocker Estuary, and over Cockerham Marsh centre of the picture, disappearing from view over Pilling Marsh in the right edge of the picture.

Aldcliffe - Glasson Dock.

I decided to leg it on Friday, not one of my best decisions ever, and didn't create any excitement for the 5 mile hike, but after all it's only mid-March so what was I to expect. 

But I did collect my best count of the winter when I found 18 Goldeneye on Freeman's Pools, and noted 2 Black-tailed Godwit, soon followed by the wonderful sight of a pair of Long-tailed Tit nest building in brambles. There was up to 5,000 Pink-footed Geese on Aldcliffe Marsh, unsettled and soon departed to the opposite side of the river on Heaton Marsh.

The only other notes I made were of a Chiffchaff at Stodday, a Buzzard over, 16 Blackbird along the length of the walk, and a Jay was in the woodland by Christ Church at Glasson Dock.

Wednesdays Barnacle Goose was in the west corner of Conder Pool out of view from the viewing screen and the blue ring under water, this was a double bonus for me.

Stop Press.

It was excellent news that I learn a Little Ringed Plover arrived on Conder Pool yesterday 15 March. My prediction is, that the Common Tern will have also arrived back here in c.3 weeks time....Watch this space. Many Thanks for the info Howard Stockdale.

News From The Garden.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee on Hellebore. Pete Woodruff.

Found my first bumblebee in the garden on Tuesday 11 March, a huge queen Bombus terrestris. I found two more since then, one of which was at Cockersand.

Good Birding....Perfect Start....Perfect End.

When I arrived at Conder Pool on Thursday, I was greeted by the rewarding sight of 13 Avocet. But the surprise was tempered by the fact that I had seen my first 8 days earlier when I found 9 Avocet at Glasson on the Lune Estuary 19 February 2024.

To be honest the 13 Avocet were demoted into 2nd place for the star award by that of at least 900 Black-tailed Godwit, these were seen a day later than an amazing 3,500 Black-tailed Godwit on Conder Pool 26 February 2024. Other notes today were, 4 Little Grebe, 2 Meadow Pipit and a Snipe.

Soon after I had walked past Cockersand Abbey, I witnessed 4-5 large waves of at least 3,250 Golden Plover flying from inland fields to go down onto the shore and the perfect camouflage, 32 Eider were off Plover Scar. Remaining distant and inaccessible in the Cockersand area, but I estimate no less in number than recently at 200 Whooper Swan.

As I arrived at the Caravan Park, I decide to walk on towards Bank End which eventually resulted in a first for me. In the many years of my passion for the Stonechat, I have never before seen 5 adult Stonechat in the same view through a pair of binoculars, seen as my first small share of the spring passage of these little beauties.

I'm tempted to say today ended with yet another flurry of excitement, when a female Marsh Harrier appeared on the scene as the previous two harriers had done, coming into view from Bank End, then took little more than 3 mins to disappear again from whence it came.

February Stonechat.

It's good to be able to highlight what seems to be a continuing story of success for the Stonechat, in particular with regard to upland populations expanding, and more birds overwintering during milder winters. 

This year I regard the spring passage of Stonechat to have started early in the first week of February, something more to be expected to happen the first week of March. This has resulted in my recording 106 individual Stonechat records - no duplicates - during February and mainly collected from the Fylde, with AC accounting for 46 Stonechat records in the month at no more than 12 locations.

Stonechat. Jim Wacey @FBC's Flickr Site

This image of a Stonechat appropriately credited, struck me as unusual to say the least, it is a bird far darker than any other, plus the supercilium and forehead are bolder than any other individual I have ever seen in up to 40 years.

With some much appreciated help from a ringer and someone far more experienced in the finer details than myself. This bird has more intense colouring than younger birds, and we have concluded that this is a 4 year old female. One other point taken into account, was the relatively un-abraded tail and primary feathers, juveniles would have well worn feathers at this time of year.

The Header.

There are at least 300 Golden Plover in the header image, perfectly camouflaged on the shore at Cockersand.  

Another Flurry Of Excitement!

Most notable on my latest visit to Conder Pool, was the pair of Shoveler which were seen as nothing more than irregular here. Also of note, the lone Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Snipe, 82 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe and a Little Egret.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson, up to 3,250 Lapwing, 1,500 Wigeon, 325 Dunlin, 8 Black-tailed Godwit and a pair of Goosander. In the field north end of Jeremy Lane, 46 Whooper Swan, 78 Greylag, and 34 Canada Geese. As I drove down Jeremy Lane I saw a flock go down into a field to find them to be 15 Meadow Pipit.

At Cockersand, I estimate there to be up to 400 Whooper Swan, 50% of the count being in a field north of Hillam Lane at Cockerham, from where I saw c.1,250 Pink-footed Geese, these were seen as my best local count in our area this winter. In fields north side of Abbey Farm, 800 Golden Plover, 450 Lapwing, 14 Dunlin, and 6 Ringed Plover. Off Plover Scar, 32 Eider and 250 Wigeon, and as I reached the Caravan Park I saw 4 Reed Bunting.

There was a cold east wind in my face as I trundled along the headland, by the time I reached the car it had got the better of me and I had decided to call it a day. But hang on....all of a sudden, the wintering pair of Stonechat were foraging on and off the marsh, the Barn Owl again came out of the Caravan Park entrance as it had my last visit here, soon disappearing out of sight towards Bank End, soon followed by a female Marsh Harrier which disappeared in the same direction as the owl....Déjà vu

February 2024....Some of my sightings worthy of note.

Feb 7. 1st winter White-fronted Goose Conder Pool.

Feb 7. 700 Curlew Cockersand.

Feb 12. Spotted Redshank Conder Pool.

Feb 12. 8 Rock Pipit Cockersand.

Feb 19. 9 Avocet Lune Estuary Glasson.

Feb 26. 3,500 Black-tailed Godwit Conder Pool. 

Feb 26. 4 Cattle Egret Cockersand. Entering their 5th month stay in the area.

Pool And Scar.

 
Conder Pool 4 September. Pete Woodruff.

With the recent high tides approaching near 10m, Conder Pool once again resembles a lake, and with the summer breeders having now departed, 10 Greenshank found a roost from the Lune Estuary, 2 Common Sandpiper, and a double figure number of uncounted Little Grebe, were joined by a sure sign of winters approach, with a vanguard of 2 Wigeon putting in an appearance.

A surprise was on Corricks Lane, where I saw several House Martin, one of which entered a nest at River Winds, where I had established no breeders here earlier this year. House Martin were also around the ex-cafe, where I also saw one to enter a nest hole.

Having dusted of my twitchers hat, I made haste to catch the rising tide at Cockersand, to join five birders at Plover Scar in the hope of finding some goodies.

With the sun in my monitor, I was supposed to point the camera at a Curlew Sandpiper which five pair of eyes took an hour to find. I missed the target and ended up with a few of the c.250 Dunlin and 150 Ringed Plover in the frame. The only other waders here were no more than 8 Turnstone.

As I left Cockersand, I saw a female Marsh Harrier quartering the fields....And a good time was had by all! 

Bogey Bird.

Believe it or not, despite birding for 150 years I'm still short on Hobby sightings, I think three is as good as it gets, all distant and short lived. So I was pleased that KT agreed we should go to Leighton Moss yesterday, to see if one of two being seen there - one as recent as the morning - would oblige us, but 3 hours between two hides....no luck.

Black-tailed Godwit/Mallard Grisedale Hide 5 August. Pete Woodruff.

Nine Black-tailed Godwit were see as two from the Grisedale Hide, and seven over towards the Eric Morecambe complex. Sightings between the two hides were of at least 6 Marsh Harrier, a male and five juvenile.

Red Deer Stag Grisedale Hide 5 August. Pete Woodruff.

Seven Red Deer from the Grisedale Hide were, two stag, four hind, and a fawn.

So the Hobby continues to be my birding nemesis, well one of them actually, but at least chasing this one has gone towards filling in a hole with a few bits and a couple of piks on Birds2blog!!

And Finally....

Large Rose Sawfly. Pete Woodruff.

Four Arge pagana, known as the 'Large Rose Sawfly', were egg laying on the stem of our Ballerina Rose in the garden yesterday.    

Hide & Seek!

I was overdue a look in at Leighton Moss, in any case there had been a 'goodie' there the day before....so on Thursday off I went.

Marsh Harrier. Pete Woodruff.

From the Causeway Hide, 2 Marsh Harrier seen, a female was perched in a distant tree, and a male hunted over the far side. There was easily a three figure number of Sand Martin hawking over the mere, and a small number of Swift, a Great-crested Grebe had a single juvenile, whilst 2 Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk soared high up, an Emperor Dragonfly was patrolling below the hide window.

At the Grisedale Hide, up to 160 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Little Egret, and a Black-tailed Skimmer seen. From the path here I saw 2 Nuthatch and heard one in the car park soon after.

At the Allen Hide, 6 Avocet included one sat on a nest in the midst of a Black-headed Gull colony....didn't seem a good idea to me. An Oystercatcher had one young, and the only other wader on the pool was a Redshank and a lone Shoveler. I heard a Chiffchaff from the path and heard another in the car park.

Spoonbill.

Spoonbill Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve 23 June. Pete Woodruff.

Two Spoonbill were on the pool from the Allen Hide, and some excellent news from the RSPB Reserve at Fairburn Ings in the Aire Valley, is that a pair of Spoonbill are breeding there as a first for Yorkshire and at any RSPB Reserve in England.

Caspian Tern. 

Caspian Tern. Chris Batty. 

A Caspian Tern was seen at Leighton Moss last Tuesday evening at 6.15pm and showed well all the following day until the evening when it apparently flew off into the sunset never to be seen again, it hadn't waited for me....well it wouldn't would it!

In over 50 years, Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve has a decent past record for the Caspian Tern with six now to it's credit....

25 July 1966

14 August 1966

2 August 1973

13 August 1979

16 July 2005

20 June 2017

Thanks to Chris for his photograph of the Caspian Tern at Knott End on the Fylde Coast 2 July 2007, and to Brian for the header Common Tern.

A Tit, an Owl, a Grebe.....

....and some runners up.

  

Marsh Tit Jan Larsson

On a tour round Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve with KT on Monday, it was the Marsh Tit which took the prize of 'Bird of the Day' for me. 

As an uncommon localised breeding resident, the only area to have any reasonable chance of seeing the Marsh Tit is in and around Silverdale, records from elsewhere are scant. So I was pleased to have found this bird here today to fill a three and a half year gap in my records, my last being of one seen at Arnside on 29 September 2011. 

Tawny Owl  Martin Jump

From the same path as the Marsh Tit was seen to the Lower Hide from Storrs Lane, we had good views of a roosting Tawny Owl concealed deep within an ivy clad tree. Also from this path good numbers of Chiffchaff and Blackcap, with a few Willow Warbler, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler heard, a Brimstone butterfly was my third one this year.

At the Lower Hide, 2 Marsh Harrier seen with little of anything else of any exception, but a pair of Gadwall and few Pochard were of note, and a Buzzard soaring over the woodlands opposite.

From Lillian's Hide, noted were 2 Avocet, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Gadwall drakes, a pair of Shoveler, and 5 Buzzard soaring together. 

At the Grisedale Hide, almost deserted with just a pair of Gadwall seen. Another Buzzard over the woods where 5 Red Deer were grazing in a field below, and c.8 Swift were high above and were seen as my first sighting of multi Swifts this year.

Thanks to Jan and Martin for their respective images.

Pied-billed Grebe. Barry Dyson.

On entering the Public Hide - which I would estimate holds at least 50 seated people - probably more than 70 were crammed in and all looking in the same direction. A shout of excitement came up when the Pied-billed Grebe put in an appearance having apparently been in a channel out of view for some considerable time, the bird made a couple of dives before promptly disappearing from whence it came. My viewing time lasted no more than 10 seconds, knelt on my knees and seen between shoulders and two large heads. I too then disappeared from whence I came....not my cup of tea!

The Pied-billed Grebe.

Breeds over most of North, Central, and South America. It's hard to believe a bird with such an apparent weak flight could ever possibly cross the Atlantic Ocean. Nevertheless the Pied-billed Grebe is an extremely rare vagrant, and in excess of 40 records have been made of the species in Britain, the one prior to this bird at Leighton Moss was on the Western Isle of North Uist in December 2013 which stayed a massive 391 days.

The first record of Pied-billed Grebe in Britain was only 52 years ago and was of a bird found in Somerset in December 1963. Many of the recorded birds have stayed for long periods, and one in Cornwall did so from 1992 to 1994 when it paired with a Little Grebe to produce three hybrid young.

Thanks to Barry for the excellent image of the Pied-billed Grebe which hadn't come to Britain for him to see, he saw it on a recent trip to the USA at Long Beach Harbour, California. 

The Five Hide Wander.

Great White Egret Brian Rafferty 

1. Of a five hide wander round Leighton Moss on Tuesday, the one with the most rewarding records was the Public Hide where I had good views of a Great White Egret. The small stoney island on the mere held a nice gathering of eleven waders, 6 Greenshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, a Spotted Redshank, and a Ruff. A pair of brutish but smart looking Greater Black-backed Gull gave the appearance of 'ruling the roost' on the island, and a Reed Warbler gave excellent close views in the reeds in front of the hide where 2 Black-tailed Skimmer were also seen.

2. At the Lower Hide 55 Black-tailed Godwit represented the first time I ever saw the species here, a Great-crested Grebe noted, and at least 200 Sand Martin were too and fro feeding over the water with a 'few' Swift and House Martin seen.

3. The Lillian Hide turned up a juvenile Yellow Wagtail, with little else of note save 5 Teal, a drake Gadwall, probably 200 Coot, and a single Swift over.

Marsh Harrier Phillip Tomkinson 

4. The Grisedale Hide had a patrolling juvenile Marsh Harrier over, 3 Snipe, c.20 Goldfinch, and 55 Lapwing found their way into the black book.

5. The Eric Morecambe complex had another Marsh Harrier sighting, waders were estimates of 165 Redshank and similar Dunlin, 6 Greenshank, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, and a Little Egret. 

Kingfisher Noushka Dufort   

As I was about to leave the hide a Kingfisher put on a decent in flight show for me. From the path to the hide I had seen a lot of movement in the bushes and I caught sight of a Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Greenfinch, and 2 Robin were both juveniles. 

A pleasant five hide wander around the RSPB flagship reserve.

The butterfly and the moth. 

Small Tortoiseshell. Pete Woodruff.

I managed a decent pic of a Small Tortoiseshell in the garden on Tuesday, but it wasn't until the butterfly flew off that I realised a moth was on the flower to the right, it was a smart colourful little creature and I had no idea it was there until I took my eyes off the butterfly by which time the moth too had taken off never too be seen again. A close look and the moth is seen on the right hand flower of the image

Pyrausta purpuralis. Mike Pike. 

But n'er mind I identified it to have been a Pyrausta purpuralis and I'm grateful to Mike Pike for allowing me to copy his image of the moth. Also thanks to Brian/Phillip/Noushka for the other images on Birds2blog in this post, all much appreciated and as always even better with a 'clik the pik'.  

A Bright Idea.

When KT came up with the suggestion we paid Leighton Moss a visit on Sunday, it sounded a bright idea. Well....Leighton Moss means birds and that's good enough for me, and much better than no birding at all.

Marsh Harrier. Brian Rafferty.

Everything we saw was predictable, but it was good to see 3 Marsh Harrier during the visit, and BR's images are excellent, giving typical views of the birds hunting over the reeds at Leighton Moss, also a couple of Buzzard sightings. Records are more often ones of the male Blackcap in song and up to eight were heard during the visit, but we had good views of two males and more unusual a female on one occasion. There was a 'few' Chiffchaff mainly heard, but much fewer Willow Warbler I noted.

On the way to the Lower Hide a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a brief male Bullfinch seen, also 9 Red Deer were resting quietly in the corner of a field. Of note at the hide, 11 Pochard, a 'few' Gadwall, and a Great-crested Grebe. Large numbers of Sand Martin with a few House Martin seen, all feeding high up.

In the Lillian Hide, large numbers of 'chattering' RSPB members taking a look at....'not much about'....following a few quid spent in the shop, and bowl of soup with a roll in the kaf. At the Grisedale Hide excellent views of a Garganey pair with a Raven doing a little loitering overhead.

Like I said....better than no birding at all!

Whimbrel. Brian Rafferty.

Calling in at Teal Bay in Morecambe yesterday I found 4 Whimbrel on the groyne at high tide just as I had thought I might.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the excellent trio of Marsh Harrier and Whimbrel.

Seek And Ye Shall Find.

Well you may not always find, but on this occasion I did eventually. 

Wheatear Cockersands 10 April. Pete Woodruff.

I raked about at Cockersands for 3.5 hours yesterday, and it was 2.5 hours before I decided to turn off the road to take the Abbey Farm track and check out the stubble field and dung heap, and hey, what a good idea that turned out to be. So the Wheatear isn't some mythical creature after all 'cos I didn't just find the one in my pic - never photographic excellence my pics - but two. Not many minutes later in the adjoining stubble field I found up to 120 Linnet, an excellent count for the species in our area. Also of note, 2 Swallow, 10 Meadow Pipit, and singing Skylark. I estimate up to 150 'swans' in the distant fields and with only my secondary bino's round my neck I reckon the vast majority Mute Swan but a 'few' Whooper Swan still here, I must try to get to grips with figures next visit.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, by recent comparison low number of c.40 Black-tailed Godwit and 28 Bar-tailed Godwit, with just one female Goldeneye seen, and as if to turn my suggestion on its head....'scarce in this area of the River Lune as viewed from the bowling green'....8 Eider seen today. Fifteen Sand Martin were seen as ten over the canal basin, and five flying up the River Lune.

Conder Pool held the wonderful sight of 195 Black-tailed Godwit quietly resting in the far west corner, 2 Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper were in the creeks. 

And finally....a little picture gallery for your entertainment.

Osprey. Howard Stockdale.

I've 'missed' at least four birds I'd very much liked to have seen recently at Cockersands, like this Osprey seen flying over the Whooper Swans off Moss Lane....

Marsh Harrier. Howard Stockdale. 

  ....and this Marsh Harrier, also seen recently in the Crook Farm area at Cockersands. Thanks for the images Howard....excellent.

And I thought you might like to know, Mrs Mutt has decided the marshes in the Conder/Glasson area are good for exercising the mutts. This woman has eight dogs with her on this occasion, though that doesn't look like the count in this pic. 

Incidentally, yesterday I saw another walkies outfit a mile out on the sands off Cockersands Abbey walking south towards the Cocker, this person had 18 mutts in her charge. I assumed she was aware of the tide table, even three hours prior to high tide and none of them would have got back across the Cocker Channel and would have been trapped on the sands.

Blackmail!

This is going to be brief....

A bit of blackmail directed towards KT saw me agreeing to help with the shopping if we went to Leighton Moss in the hope of seeing a Hobby....what a good idea that turned out to be.

We gave the Public Hide a couple of hours noting an absolute minimum of 300 Swift feeding, some at considerable height, 2 Buzzard, at least one Marsh Harrier, the Great-crested Grebe with two young, and the Greater Black-backed Gulls have two young on the island....No Hobby. 

Osprey Astland Photography  

At 6.50pm I picked up an Osprey overhead, the bird was accompanied by the usual attacking mob and disappeared twice, the second time it came back into view it had taken a fish and promptly disappeared to the NW. It's interesting an Osprey had been seen at Arnside yesterday, and is reported HERE where I have suggested this is the same bird seen at Leighton Moss this evening. I have a distinct feeling this bird may be seen regularly in the area for a while now.

Thanks to Peter and Susan for this brilliant Osprey image.

Licensed To Bird!

I had my license to bird renewed again yesterday and promptly set off for Conder Green where I found 2 drake Pochard  and a Great-crested Grebe on Conder Pool, both species very unusual on here, also noted 3 drake Wigeon and 12 Tufted Duck. The only gain on the circuit was a singing Reed Bunting and the good number of House Martin nesting at River Winds.

Grey Plover Geoff Gradwell

On to Cockersands at high tide where Plover Scar was host to just 104 birds of which I was pleased to find were 8 Sanderling at variable plumage stages. Another good record was that of 7 Grey Plover, anything approaching a double figure count of Grey Plover here is good if not exceptional. GG's images of the bird are excellent, the top one illustrating the birds diagnostic black axilleries perfectly. The rest of the count was made up of 23 Ringed Plover, 12 Dunlin, 6 Oystercatcher, a single Knot and Lapwing, 10 Mallard were also on the scar. 

Eider ARKive  

Three good records a Cockersands today, the third being 36 Eider of which 16 were downy young. 

A wander around produced a 'few' Tree Sparrow and a singing Skylark. I also found my first young well grown Lapwing having survived the agricultural intensity where most of the fields in the area have now become bowling greens with one currently being sprayed and Lapwing sitting around looking bewildered.  

On Sunday at Leighton Moss with KT, a sit in the Public Hide for an hour or so - primarily in the hope of seeing a recently reported Hobby - gave us at least 2 Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard, and a Great-crested Grebe giving two young a piggyback, the Greater Black-backed Gulls appear to have at least one large downy chick on the island....No Hobby.

And finally....

Wheatear Isidro Ortiz  

Looking for another one of those pics with a difference, I looked no further when I found this one of the Wheatear on the sign post to Puerto De Candeleda. Thanks Isidro....Excellent.