The Disappearing Act.

By necessity this is a little repetitive as a update on the disappearing swans, and it begins with the 'repetitive bit'.

Since I last saw up to 200 Whooper Swan and 2 Bewick's Swan at Cockersand on 24 November which were destined to winter here, they mysteriously disappeared. Well not mysteriously really, as I'm convinced it was because a similar number of sheep - up to 200 - were driven into the same field, and the swans have never been seen since.

By coincidence, at the same time of the disappearing swans, at least 3,500 Pink-footed Geese also vacated a field a short distance away, and are also gone for good it seems. To be honest, this is not such a mystery as with the swans, the geese tend to roam around during the winter, so are now probably settled somewhere on the Fylde.

But good news came to me in the form of a message from AC to tell me of c.160 Whooper Swan he had seen in a field at Cockersand on 8 December, also on the same date, 30 Whooper Swan were at Braides, which sounded to me like the Cockersand herd made a short flight south to Cockerham.

Two days later on 10 December, more good news - excellent news actually - from AC, when he reports 2 Bewick's Swan at Braides with 123 Whooper Swan. But better still, was that 73 Whooper Swan were in a field on the north side of Abbey Farm. So the Cockersand Whooper Swans are back, albeit fragmented and now located at two sites....Wonderful stuff.

Friday 12 December.

I only had a couple of hours of freedom on Friday, but no matter, that was all I needed to get an update on the swan issue at Cockersand.

Whooper Swan Cockersand 12 December. Pete Woodruff.

Not quite as good as hoped for, just 44 Whooper Swan were in the field north side of Abbey Farm....So the Whooper saga goes on!

It was a pleasant sight to see and hear the trumpeting 'yak-ak-ak' of four skeins of up to 3,000 Pink-footed Geese in flight out of the Lune Estuary south and over towards Pilling Marsh. This was a good number probably leaving the Colloway/Aldcliffe Marshes. 

Four Of Six Moorhen. Pete Woodruff.

It was good if unusual for me to see 6 Moorhen in procession through stubble. I'm not acquainted with seeing numbers of these rails, though I did find 22 Moorhen together around the frozen wildfowlers pool at Aldcliffe 11 years ago in December 2014.

One of our resident Blackbird was enjoying a feast of Cotoneaster berries yesterday, whilst our Robin looked on before quickly flying off.

Winners And Losers.

After the first hand report about Snow Bunting and Little Owl at Cockersand on Tuesday, I ended the week having made two follow up visits there to draw a blank on the bunting and the owl. On all three visits the weather was excellent, but Tuesday was exceptional though cold, and with a flat calm sea I reckon it was the best day ever at Cockersand, to be there with the wind speed at nil verges on unique. 

Though I was hoping the fly-past of swans where going to have yellow bills, but the Mute Swans skimming inches over the flat calm sea was brilliant.

I only clocked 2 Stonechat at Cockersand, being the busy pair foraging along the marsh edge. Also of note, 15 Blackbird seen on the circuit and 2 Song Thrush.

Up to 100 Golden Plover were scattered through four fields with 7 Black-tailed Godwit, 9 Snipe took flight out of a ditch along Moss Lane. Passerines seen, 11 Greenfinch, 7 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Bunting, and 4 Wren, 11 Eider were off Plover Scar. The count of swans at Cockersand in two fields now stands at in excess of 300 Whooper Swan. 

Up to 345 geese dominated Conder Pool on Friday, with up to 235 Greylag and 110 Canada Geese, also 85 Wigeon and 9 Little Grebe seen. The Stonechat pair also put on a show for me. On the Lune Estuary following a tip off, I made haste there to count an impressive at least 2,000 Black-tailed Godwit.

Some you win, some you loose!

Stonechat.

Simon Hawtin sent me two excellent upland records of 10 Stonechat, seen as 7 on a circuit of Tarnbrook 28 November, and 3 below Ward Stone 2 December. 

Stonechat 2 December. Simon Hawtin

Lowland Stonechat records to also qualify as excellent, are those of 9 Stonechat at four locations 30 November AC, and 10 Stonechat at two locations 1 December FB....Fylde Bird Club 

Stonechat. Helen Hawtin.
 

Simon Hawtin sent me an image of a male Stonechat at Grisedale Bridge earlier in the year, it was taken by his daughter with a phone camera. I particularly like the picture as it has the quality of a painting as opposed to a photograph.

Thanks to Ian Mitchell for the header image of the female Kestrel at Cockersand. Ian says....'not a very good picture because looking into the sun'....I don't readily agree with Ian's criticism.

Canal Delight & Disaster.

Having made my plans, I scrounged a lift to Galgate and walked the canal towpath back to Lancaster. At my usual dawdle and search speed, the walk took me 4 hours to get back to the city centre, then took me another 1.5 hours to get home on a bus ride which should have taken just 10 minutes. Roadworks causing traffic chaos....but never mind all that.

Delight On The Canal.

I had only been on the path 15 minutes north of Galgate, when I saw up to a three figure estimate of House Martin in the skies above, hawking and thinking about the start of their journey south. Swallow were over, feeding and occasionally scooping water from the canal. I counted 10 Moorhen along the way, including two nests with young seen. Other notes, 8 Blackbird, 2 Blackcap, 2 Wren, a Chiffchaff, and a Cormorant seen fishing then took off and flew west.

There was a disappointing paucity of butterflies, pick of the bunch was a Large Skipper, with a Ringlet, Large White, 4 Meadow Brown, and a Silver Y moth.

Large Skipper. Pete Woodruff.

The only Odonata seen, came as 4 Emperor Dragonfly including an obliging male, to be seen more often than not patrolling.

View Full Screen

Along this 4 mile stretch of the Lancaster Canal, the Blue-tailed Damselfly probably numbered a few hundred if I'd have really tried. 

Blue-tailed Damselfly f.rufescens Pete Woodruff

Disaster On The Canal.

On Saturday 11 June, I was witness to the results of a serious pollution incident on the Lancaster Canal at Garstang, which caused the water in the canal to become black with a sickening stench. 

Making enquiries to the authorities, I received a comprehensive response giving some details about the incident. In terms of actions to manage the impact of this significant pollution event which has sadly effected wildlife along this length of the canal through Garstang, aeration equipment was deployed to improve oxygen levels within the water. This action is continuing until the water chemistry is back to its normal level, and I'm told the results to date appear to be promising.

The result of this incident caused many fish and other aquatic life to perish, and worse still, I was informed with photographic evidence seen, of two Otters dead. In my enquiries, I was told of no evidence found on the effect of Odonata caused by the incident, and to add something much more positive to all this, it was pleasing that I found 2 Banded Demoiselle just beyond the affected area last Saturday 2 July. 

I'm told the source of this pollution incident has been identified. I hope a case for prosecution is being built, and let's hope it's a successful one with a hefty price to pay for this act of wildlife crime and environmental damage. 

Conder Pool.

Can't think of a better Conder Pool update from the ever reliable Howard Stockdale, than his footage of the recently hatched Little Ringed Plover chicks. 

View Full Screen

Then There Was Nine!

Stonechat. Ana Minguez @  Naturanafotos  

It might have taken me a couple of hours, but it was good to eventually find 4 Stonechat on Harrisend, the result being nine pairs of Stonechat now on record wintering at four locations I've visited recently in Bowland. Hardly numbers to get ecstatic about, but thankful for small mercies on a species which has yet to return to anything like pre 2009 status.

Harrisend is a giant sponge in the boggy areas where the water drains off the fell, as I got out of the car, the drainage into one roadside ditch could be heard gushing, quite amazing the amount of water considering the dry spell of late. At least 11 Red Grouse seen, and my second recent upland Jack Snipe went into the air ahead of me, with a Common Snipe seen, a Buzzard was the only raptor on the visit.

I decided to come back down to Lancaster and do a circuit of Aldcliffe before the daylight began to fade, during which time I saw 15 Blackbird. No surprises, and definitely no exotica, with a Little Egret on the flood, 13 Moorhen, and a few hundred Black-headed Gull in the fields where the farmer was spreading, along the hedgerow bordering the flood, a good number of Fieldfare and Redwing seen. Drying up after the flood, the area and Wildfowlers Pool had a few Redshank and 3 Snipe feeding out in the open. 

Freeman's Pools had 2 Goldeneye and 2 Gadwall of note on a quick scan, and on the marsh, an estimated even mix totaling 600 Canada Geese and Greylag of which two were collar marked - probably more given a bit more time - and duly reported, c.800 Pink-footed Geese were in the air over in the west somewhere between Heaton and the Heysham bypass.

Thanks for your excellent and much appreciated 'Spanish' male Stonechat image Ana. 

The Parish Of Aldcliffe.

On the best spring day we've had so far, I spent a pleasant couple of hours in the Aldcliffe area on Friday and was pleased to find the former Wildfowler's Pool has been transformed by the floods into a brilliant wetlands. The area held an impressive 11 species of waders and wildfowl, top of the pops being at least 50 Black-tailed Godwit, with 32 Dunlin, and a few scattered Redshank. Wildfowl were topped by 4 Shoveler seen as two pair, a pair of Pintail which I'd say were exceptional here, with Goldeneye, Wigeon, Teal, and Mallard present too, and not forgetting the trusted Coot and Moorhen, 3 Long-tailed Tit were filing through the bushes. Four Goldeneye had taken to the flood which now resembles a small lake at the bottom of the field, and c.40 Black-headed Gull were for some reason patrolling the flood backwards and forwards like it was the power station outflow.  

Scaup with Wigeon. Jon Carter @ Birding Aldcliffe

The drake Scaup was showing well on Freeman's Pools, along with 6 Goldeneye, a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck, and a Little Grebe quietly in the corner. In the area it was good to see a Song Thrush and 2 Mistle Thrush, with 2 Grey Partridge below the hedge in one of the huge stubble fields,  the last time I saw Grey Partridge was heading towards two years ago on 13 May 2014 when I had two birds at Cockersands.

I made a call to JC to ask - based on past sightings - precisely where I might see the long staying Siberian Chiffchaff if it was to be my lucky day, to no avail as I failed to locate the little eastern beauty, the bird was first reported at Aldcliffe on 28 February. 

Thanks to Jon for the Scaup image, and to Howard for the Dunlin/Ringed Plover header, much appreciated on both counts.

Buses, Boots, And Binos.

The last days birding of 2014 for me was on Tuesday, the initial plan was to walk along the River Lune from Skerton Bridge in Lancaster, do a loop of Aldcliffe and return back to Lancaster, in the end I walked all the way to Glasson Dock.....as it turned out, quite a good decision. 

This is an excellent 5 mile birding walk on which today I encountered - and noted in the little black book - a few thousand gulls and waders, Oystercatcher/Curlew/Lapwing/Golden Plover/Redshank/Dunlin, and good numbers of small birds not all noted here below....

Song Thrush. Martin Lofgren @ Wild Bird Gallery

Highlights were seeing 3 Song Thrush together - not an every day occurrence these days - finding 40 Blackbird along the way, with 12 Robin another excellent count, at least 90 Redwing in a field adjacent to Ashton Golf Club. On the river in Lancaster I found 4 Goldeneye and 6 Goosander, and on Freemans Pool, notable were 6 Gadwall, a duck I'm always pleased to see, and a Sparrowhawk flew across the pools. Around the mainly frozen wildfowlers pool I noted 22 Moorhen pecking away in a line.  

White-fronted Geese Jan Larsson 

Frustration took a hold on Aldcliffe Marsh when I picked out a distant Barnacle Goose with c.150 Canada Geese, and five smaller geese which were obviously 5 White-fronted Geese, but which instantly took off the minute I put my binos up and disappeared over the by-pass road towards the fields around Oxcliffe Road where I could see a 'few thousand' Pink-footed Geese in the air. 

Also noted along the coastal path, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Dunnock, 2 Mistle Thrush, and a Meadow Pipit. By the time I got to Conder Green dusk was setting in, but I picked up the Common Sandpiper in the creeks, and in the semi darkness I saw 10 Little Grebe, six in the creeks and four on Conder Pool. I then had to hot foot it to Glasson Dock....my bus was due.

Thanks to Martin and Jan for their photographs, they are much appreciated.

....and another PL.

On Friday Cockersands produced my second Painted Lady of the week/year, it was on the headland below Cockersands Abbey, also 5 Wheatear, 15 Skylark were in flight over a field with goodness knows how many more hidden in the stubble, and the Little Owl showed again at Bank Houses.

Oystercatcher. Brian Rafferty.

With little else to be found on Plover Scar, the uncounted Oystercatcher and Redshank soon had me feeling I should put some more purpose into my birding, so I counted at least 100 Herring Gull, 45 Wigeon, and 3 Eider off the scar. 

Snipe. Brian Rafferty.

Conder Green was at least looking a little decent, and the creeks were quite lively. Along with the regular/resident Redshanks and a Curlew or two, I found 2 Spotted Redshank both adult, 2 Ruff a 'little and large' duo, 4 Greenshank, 11 Snipe, and a Little Egret. On Conder Pool I counted 12 Little Grebe.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, a distant juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, an adult Spotted Redshank, and 10 Little Egret were all welcome sights at an otherwise quiet section of the River Lune.

Moorhen. Martin Lofgren.

Ten Moorhen seen on 9 September in the field adjacent to Bank House Cottage at Cockersands were noted again today, as always they were by the wide ditch which dried up weeks ago and had me wondering how these birds are coping as a species which indispensably requires ready access to at least a minimum of open fresh water. 

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the Oystercatchers and Snipe, and to Martin Lofgren at Wild Bird Gallery for the Moorhen.  

The Re-run.

On Tuesday I did a re-run of Mondays tour with only a little new of note and certainly nothing to write home about.

Kingfisher Ana Minguez

At Conder Green, two Kingfisher sightings were both in the creeks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. On Conder Pool, 3 Common Tern were seen as two adult and a juvenile, also 6 Greenshank, 9 Little Grebe, 4 Tufted Duck, 3 Wigeon, 18 Canada Geese, and a Little Egret. Maybe the Common Sandpiper I saw is going to be a wintering bird at Conder Green, it appears to be the only one being seen now....but I could be jumping the gun on that one.

Ruff David Cookson     

Also in the creeks, one of Mondays Ruff put in an appearance, the lone Black-tailed Godwit, and 10 Snipe were in flight over the marsh. A Grey Wagtail was upstream, a Kestrel seen, and a passage of at least 120 Goldfinch over the marsh was a good count of the species in early September.

There was little of Plover Scar left above water at the height of the 10.10m tide just after mid-day, and it held just 27 waders, 19 Ringed Plover, 6 Dunlin, and 2 Turnstone. Around Bank House Cottage I noted a 'few' Tree Sparrow again, with c.30 Goldfinch and a notable count of 10 Moorhen. I got a glimpse of a skulking Whitethroat on Slack Lane where 7 Greenfinch on the wires was a reasonable number of the species in these days. 

I saw 3 Little Egret come into my view south over Crook Farm and kept them in my sights for several minutes whilst they flew gaining height all the way down to Cockerham Marsh before loosing sight of them over Bank End....Little Egrets on migration!!

Lune Estuary Common Tern.

From the bowling green at Glasson Dock, I watched a Common Tern for several minutes, the bird was fishing and dived 22 times taking a small fry on 18 of them, failing on only four. I expected to see this bird fly of with its last catch to feed the young on Conder Pool, but it eventually went down on to the mud below Colloway Marsh and promptly started to preen.

Wednesday 10 September.

Two adult and two juvenile Common Tern were reported at Glasson yesterday, almost certainly the Conder Pool breeders on the brink of migration....watch this space!

Thanks to AM and DC for the excellent images....'clik the pik' to see photography at its best.

Thrush Steals The Show.

Song Thrush Sharon Whitley 

I collected three excellent counts on Tuesday on the walk from Lancaster to Glasson Dock, the best of which had to be 10 Song Thrush....

Robin/Blackbird Noushka Dufort 

....closely followed by 22 Robin and 48 Blackbird, I think the latter already being established as an influx into the UK this early winter.

Other notes on this excellent walk following the River Lune downstream to Glasson Dock on a brilliant if very cold sunny day, a reasonable count of 10 Goldeneye seen between Skerton Bridge and Marsh Point. I'm not seeing many Goldeneye reports, and of those I do few reach a double figure, another excellent sight was that of a Kingfisher flying across the river just upstream from Marsh Point. Other sightings to this point of the river, a Goosander, 8 Grey Heron, a Kestrel, 8 Goldfinch, and 2 Sparrowhawk perched on fence posts within 15 mtrs of each other. On the now seriously flooded and frozen Wildfowlers Pools I counted at least 30 Moorhen feeding as a group, I personally know of no other location where this number can be seen together. Most of the geese were on the far side of the river on Heaton Marsh and out of range for detail through binoculars, the ones in range from the embankment on Aldcliffe Marsh were all c.250 Canada Geese. 

Other notes made from Aldcliffe to Conder Green, good numbers of Lapwing and Redshank were feeding in the fields joined in one by 2 Golden Plover, also seen, 2 Dunnock, 3 Linnet, 12 Long-tailed Tit, and a Raven heard out of view, a pair of Red-breasted Merganser were seen off Nansbuck Cottage.

I could afford little time at Conder Green but noted a 'few' Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, and 6 Long-tailed Tit. On Conder Pool - by which time I had to keep my eye on my watch - I saw just 5 Little Grebe, 5 Snipe, and yes you guessed it....my bus is coming.   

Thanks to Sharon for the excellent painting of the Song Thrush, and to Noushka for the equally excellent photographs of the Robin and Blackbird. 

Well go on then, just one more pic....

Waxwing. Marc Heath.

....and another waxwing too, this one from Marc Heath ....Don't forget to 'clik the piks' they really are bigger and better. Thanks Marc, brilliant.

Hide Hugging!

With some business to see to regarding the Pied Flycatchers with JW today I decided afterwards a visit to the RSPB Reserve a Leighton Moss was an idea, after all there's been a Hobby seen there for a couple of days and a Hobby at Leighton Moss or anywhere in our recording area - and beyond for that matter - is all but a dream. 

Hobby. Brian Rafferty. 

So with only limited time I went to the Public Hide with high hopes and gave it an hour or so to no avail, but had excellent views of 4 Marsh Harriers, one of the reserves main attractions along with the Bearded Tit and Bittern.  A Buzzard was soaring above the wood opposite the hide, and 8 Teal flew over and around the mere before disappearing onto one of the back pools, otherwise pretty quiet. BR had a rare opportunity a year or so ago to get some excellent shots of this brilliant little falcon at Leighton Moss as illustrated above, and more recently of the Marsh Harrier below. 

Marsh Harrier. Brian Rafferty.

About thirty minutes in the Lillian Hide gave the spectacle of up to 300 Swifts hawking insects over the pool along with just 2 House Martins easily picked out of the crowd, and a solitary Sand Martin, another 2 Marsh Harrier were also seen here and another Buzzard over the wood. A Moorhen seen below the hide had climbed the stem of a Reedmace to feed on the seed, a curious sight and a first for me.

Eider. David Cookson.

I decided to look in at Teal Bay on the way home to see the tide coming in and counted 102 Eider including four juveniles I noted, also 4 Whimbrel and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, a male Blackcap was singing in the bushes behind me.


I insist every visitor to Birds2blog reads the story in the link, this is as bad as it gets and please do take a close look at the 'woman' who clearly shows what she is in the photograph HERE