Birds, Butterflies, Bees, And Wasps.

Birds And Butterflies.

I took advantage of visiting our daughter in the Caton area, to have a wander around Bull Beck and the banks of the River Lune at Caton. 

This video of the Sand Martins at Bull Beck, I made on a visit here on 15 April 2021, was a pleasant reminder of the day I saw an Osprey flying upstream, and also found the Little Ringed Plover on the shingle bank opposite the Sand Martins.

Little Ringed Plover Bull Beck 2021. Pete Woodruff.

The LRP bred here on the shingle bank in 2021, in the same year 12 pairs bred along the River Lune between Arkholme and downstream to Caton. I didn't get as far to see the sand bank today, but there was a good number of Sand Martin flying up and down the river. It was good to hear a Garden Warbler, with a Chiffchaff and Goldcrest seen.

Although I saw neither of the birds, 2 Blackcap were heard, the one in this bush was in competition with another singing male within 20 metres. Butterflies seen were a Green-veined White and Orange Tip, best was my second of the year Painted Lady.

Bees And Wasps.

It was something special when I found Mason Bees entering the nest holes in our bee hotel last year, and even more special when we saw them in and around the hotel this spring.

Red Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

The Red Mason Bee Osmia bicornis are a delight to watch as they arrive on the scene and fly around and enter the holes in the hotel.

Blue Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

They are joined by the Blue Mason Bee Osmia caerulescens....Smart little critters.

But recently things have taken a worrying turn as some parasitic wasps have shown up. 

Greater Pennant Wasp. Pete Woodruff.

First on the scene was the Greater Pennant Wasp with its extra long ovipositor....I initially thought the Martians had landed!

The GPW was showing an unhealthy interest around the bee hotel.

Sapyga quinquepunctata Pete Woodruff

But what came next developed into something very interesting, it was another parasitic wasp with an elaborate scientific name. I did a little research on this one and found it to be only one of two of the Sapygidae family to be found in the UK, of which there are just 80 species globally.

Sapyga quinquepunctata/Osmia caerulescens Pete Woodruff

Until 2016, there were only 4 records of Sapyga quinquepunctata in Lancashire, all in the west of the county. But on iRecords I found 6 records in West Lancashire over the 11 years 2013-2024, the first on 1 June 2013 at an unnamed location in West Lancashire, and the last on 23 June 2024, this one at Crook of Lune in North Lancashire....So a pretty good find in our Lancashire garden.

I'm indebted to Dave Bickerton and Ben Hargreaves for helping me on some issues regarding this wasp.

I'd Sooner Be Birding!

Banded Beauties And Others!

On Monday we visited our daughter who lives in an area that includes the beautiful Lune Valley. As an interlude, I decided to use the visit as an opportunity to spend a couple of hours around the River Lune at Bull Beck, a decision which turned out to be quite rewarding.

Coming off the footpath, going down to the track running east and above the riverbank, I soon saw something blue resembling a butterfly in flight and instantly recognisable. Walking on about 50 metres, within a few minutes I had counted at least 16 Banded Demoiselle, and managed to get a couple of shots of a female, but had no success with the males.

But there was never going to be any disappointment here. After all, who could wish for more, when you can film a female Banded Demoiselle, whilst a Garden Warbler sings in your ear....Magic!

Other sightings on a circuit of the area including a length of the river, an estimate of Sand Martin probably reached three figures, a Common Sandpiper seen flying upstream, and a Little Egret dropped in. From the footpath, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, a Garden Warbler, Treecreeper, Dunnock, and 2 Swift over Brookhouse.

Butterflies of note, 14 Orange Tip, 3 Speckled Wood, a Red Admiral, and Peacock. 

Stonechat.

I now have two more breeding records with photographic evidence. 

Stonechat. Howard Stockdale.

Thanks to Howard for his image of the young Stonechat having just been fed the snack of a Red Soldier Beetle.

Stonechats. Ian Mitchell.

Thanks to Ian for his image of an adult Stonechat with young, with evidence there are three breeding pairs at this location in Bowland.

Birk Bank And Miscellany

Willow Warbler. Pete Woodruff.

A whizz around the Birk Bank area on Thursday produced another good number of 18 Willow Warbler, and the miserable count of a lone Meadow Pipit. Best of the rest, a Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff, with a male Stonechat, 3 Red Grouse and 3 Wren to note. 

Butterflies. 

A decent show of 10 Orange Tip including two seen as a pair with a couple of intruders trying to get in on the act

Also up to 30 Small/Large White seen, 6 Green Hairstreak, 2 Green-veined White and a Peacock, with a few White-tailed Bumblebee seen.

Mini-Beasts.

Green Tiger Beetle. Pete Woodruff.

I can often come across the Green Tiger Beetle on the moors in Bowland, they lie in wait for an unsuspecting insect to come by and pounce on, and the little mobsters can fly too.

Pompilid. Pete Woodruff.

A member of the Pompilidae family, this is a formidable Spider-hunting Wasp.

Birk Bank Bog.

The Large Red Damselfly is always the first of the season and commonest species to be seen in our recording area, and should be found during the second half of April, but despite paying two visits to Birk Bank Bog today, one before my whizz-around and again after it, there wasn't a single Large Red Damselflies to be seen.

I took a series of photographs at the bog today, these two examples show this excellent location, which currently doesn't appear to be the best place for dragonflies in my opinion.

 

Although there is plenty of acidic water along the left hand side of the bog, and maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but worth noting, this is home to a scarce dragonfly, that of the Keeled Skimmer, first found here 10 years ago in August 2015 by Steve Graham, and seen here by myself every year since. It is also the site where I had sightings of 7 Golden-ringed Dragonfly on four dates last year, including a female observed ovipositing.....Only time will tell if any of this will happen again this year.

The Header.

Howard Stockdale has previously submitted to me, three of the same Spotted Redshank taken since 1 April. Paul Ellis took one 3 days ago on 24 April, it shows a near full moult into breeding plumage which will have been completed over 4 weeks.....Amazing stuff.

Thanks to Paul Ellis for the excellent Spotted Redshank header image. 

Wilfred The Cuckoo.

Wilfred has arrived back in the UK. He is the first of the tagged Cuckoos to have done so, he is back on his breeding grounds within the Broads National Park near Worlingham Marshes where he was tagged in early June last year, clearly highlighting just how site-faithful these Cuckoos really are.

Welcome back Wilfred, I think you are one amazing bird!

Edit.

FIVE SWIFT OVER FAIRFIELD WEST OF LANCASTER CITY CENTRE THIS EVENING 8.56PM.

CUCKOO BIRK BANK 20 APRIL.

The Breeding Pool!

It was my first visit to Conder Green in a month, and good to get my eyes in on Conder Pool again to find breeding activity on an industrial scale....At least 350 birds on here today.

It's difficult to priorities my observations, but with a personal count of 18 Avocet, a pair with three chicks little more than a day out of the nest took the prime spot, soon followed by a pair of Avocet mating, also noted 4 colour ringed birds.

My count was 15 Common Tern back on Conder Pool, with as many as 18 recorded recently including ringed birds, I also observed a mating pair. Five Little Ringed Plover seen, with more mating seen between these little beauties.

A 1st summer Mediterranean Gull, which was seen collecting nesting material, at one point I saw it with a twig up to a foot long in its bill. In the video, watch the Little Ringed Plover fly into the upper right of the frame.

There are at least 130 nests occupied by Black-headed Gull, a pair of Redshank were also added to the list of 5 species of mating pairs seen today. A lone Wigeon was worthy of note, a drake which appears to be going to summer on Conder Pool.

I've recently managed to get three videos of Mediterranean Gull on Conder Pool, including one on 12 April and two this visit, when 2 Little Ringed Plover came into view....Watch for this one in centre frame.

A wander around the area produced a Goosander with seven chicks which nearly escaped me as they swam upstream and out of view on the River Conder. A Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler were from the canal towpath, from where I saw 6 Large White and 5 Orange Tip.

Common Tern.

Some interesting data about four of the Common Terns currently on Conder Pool. 

One was ringed in Senegal in 2005 as an adult, this bird bred at Conder Green in 2023, and at Preston Dock before that. One was ringed as a chick at Shotton, Flintshire in 2017, and two were ringed as chicks in Teeside 2016 and 2021....Ian Hartley LDBWS

Canal Interest.

Banded Demoiselle Marc Heath

A short walk along the canal towpath at Barton yesterday produced 3 Banded Demoiselle, average first appearances in Lancashire 17 May, seen as 2 male and a female, also up to 20 Blue-tailed Damselfly, average first appearance noted to be 7 May, though in favourably warm springs they can emerge in late April, with one seen 24 April 2011.

Garden Interest.

14-Spot Ladybird. Pete Woodruff.

The Ladybird spectacularly named Propylea quattuordecimpunctata in the garden yesterday. The insect below left is presumed to be one of the leaf beetles of the family Chrysomelidae.

The Birk Bank Circuit.

Tuesday was the anniversary when Steve Graham accompanied me on a circuit of Birk Bank in May 2023. Primarily the reason that day, was to locate a Wood Warbler which had been found a few days earlier in a private woodland. But the hopes of visually finding this locally rare warbler soon died a death, though we did here the distinctive call which is often likened to a spinning coin on a marble slab.

Todays circuit with Steve was a 4 hour experience of some excellent birding which produced 7 Garden Warbler, one up on last years tally of six. Also enjoyed was 5 Cuckoo records which were represented by two audible and three visual, one of which was a female heard to call, then viewed atop of a tree with a Meadow Pipit in attendance and mobbing at times. Six Mistle Thrush seen, including one in flight carrying food into Cragg Wood.

I reckon the odds against the sighting of a Song Thrush singing in the branch below a Mistle Thrush, is a million to one chance....Pump up the volume. Two singing Blackcap, Linnet, Greenfinch, and Redpoll over, and Kestrel.

Common Heath. Ian Mitchell.

To say butterflies and bees were sparse would be an understatement, with only singles of Orange Tip, Speckled Wood, and Small White, but the Common Heath moth was out in force.

I found my first Large Red Damselflies of the year, when a f. melanotum was basking on the boardwalk at Birk Bank bog, and at least 12 teneral drying out and warming up amongst the bilberries along the path and away from the bog....interesting.   

The Cattle Egret That Wasn't!

This image was posted on Birds2blog yesterday, along with a claim that it was of 2 Cattle Egret at the east end of Moss Lane. The result of a distant photograph, and not given the attention to my birding required to maintain the status of my being amongst the best. In fact it's a Cattle Egret accompanied by a Little Egret.

To be honest and blunt, I made a complete balls of this record, but the truth is, I'm not too proud to admit an error....ever!

.................................................................

Red-tailed Bumblebee on Verbena Bonariensis. Pete Woodruff.

There has been a good number of Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius on the Berberis in our garden in recent days, all queens and my favourite bumblebee. We have also had 3 Brimstone and an Orange Tip in the garden.

Large Red Damselfly. Ian Mitchell.
 

It was good that Ian Mitchell had seen the female Large Red Damselfly at Foulshaw yesterday. A sure sign that some excellent days of Odonata are on the way.

Thanks to Ian Mitchell for the images, especially the Spotted Redshank in the creeks at Conder Green....Stunning image of a stunning bird.

Birding On Your Doorstep....

....but first the Short-eared Owl.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the header image, which shows what looks like what can only be described as a twig protruding from the birds right armpit. I'd suggest this is the possible cause of the inability to fly any distance, and is the reason the owl has remained on Conder Pool for two months now, since it was first seen here on 27 February....I've seen no reports of sightings of the bird in the past few days.

A visit to Lancaster Cemetery was primarily for more evidence that the Nuthatch are breeding in the Cypress Tree. Eventually I got the confirmation, when a bird emerged from the nest hole as I was leaving the site. Earlier I had trained my camera on the tree, if only to get the recording of a bird in the area, with a song new to me. I was confused - nothing new there, as I'm easily confused - but hey, a fellow birder threw in his opinion, and we had a result. 

 

Sound On

....'Song of male Nuthatch a uniform series of loud notes, very variable in tempo, from drawn-out whistling notes slowly repeated, to very short notes rapidly repeated'....BWP

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On my next visit, more evidence of the breeding Nuthatch, when the bird came to the tree and went to the nest hole and appeared to feed a grub to the sitting female.

Other interest in the visit, up to 3 Chiffchaff and singing Blackcap heard, 4 Nuthatch, 2 Jay, and a Goldcrest. Butterflies, 8 Orange Tip, 3 Speckled Wood, and 2 Red Admiral.

Tree Wasp. Pete Woodruff.

Also in the cemetery, this 22cm queen Tree Wasp is common, but with the grand scientific name Dolichovespula sylvestris.

Common Carder-Bee.

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This Bumbus pascuorum seemed to take a liking to the garden insect hotel before flying off.

Common Tern.

Common Tern Conder Pool 24 April. Howard Stockdale.

A Common Tern returned to Conder Pool on Sunday morning, hopefully to breed successfully for the ninth year. It is the second April date for first arrival, quite amazingly on the same April day as last year. The previous six first dates have been in May, with the first Common Tern record for Conder Pool being on a late date in July 2014....

02 July 2014

22 May 2015

06 May 2016

08 May 2017 

07 May 2018

05 May 2019

02 May 2020

24 April 2021

24 April 2022

Negative Turns Positive.

Negatives.

It's rare that I use the word negative to describe any of my birding, but a session in the Lune Valley turned out to be the most negative experience for me in ages.

Sand Martin Bull Beck April 15 2021

At Bull Beck where I had hoped to find Little Ringed Plover and the more guaranteed Sand Martin. I found neither, despite the date being a week later than the 'good number' of Sand Martin seen at the breeding colony last year.

Positive compensation was a Kingfisher whizzing past me downstream, a Common Sandpiper and a Goosander hauled out on the shingle. Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler seen from the footpath.

A wander down the River Wenning west from Hornby, then north-east upstream by the side of the River Lune to Lloyn Bridge, was an even bigger disaster than Bull Beck. I made notes of Willow Warbler, a Goosander on the river, and 5 Orange Tip.

Although I saw perhaps 30 Sand Martin milling around over the river, I saw the remnants of what was a thriving Sand Martin colony for as long as I can remember on the opposite bank on the River Lune. The area is now boulders and grassland. A little further downstream there is plant machinery, and an area marked as a tarn on the OS map known as The Snab is now a skeleton of what it was and has been drained, with not a bird in sight. 

For the time being, I'll make no further comment until I know the facts. Meanwhile question....what's going on here!

Positives.

I'm grateful to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image of the stunning adult Mediterranean Gull in breeding plumage on Conder Pool Friday morning.  A bird currently at the head of a list of 'goodies' on Conder Pool in recent weeks, making it the top birding spot on the Lune Estuary including....

Avocet peak count of 19 on 5 April, and one seen with yellow flag 63, was one of last years young. Per Ian Hartley.

Short-eared Owl

Little Gull

Spotted Redshank

Greenshank

Little Ringed Plover 4 

Water Pipit

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Ruff

Green Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Barnacle Goose

So what's next on Conder Pool.

Well, the Common Terns return is imminent, but what will they think of the something like 20 pairs of Black-headed Gull thinking of nesting there....No room at the inn! 

Turned Out Nice Again!

A pleasant stroll along the Glasson Arm of the canal to Galgate resulted in a disappointment at not seeing a single dragonfly. So no points scored in this department this year as yet, but I was compensated by seeing - and photographing some - large numbers of Blue-tailed Damselfly, and a male Large Red Damselfly along the length of this nice stretch of the canal.

The taxonomy of the Blue-tailed Damselfly is quite complex, making life too difficult for my liking. Some variation was found, this example is of an immature female of the form Rufescens.

An immature male Blue-tailed Damselfly....

....and a teneral male Blue-tailed Damselfly.

All these damselfly records are up for debate, and the one above has already attracted a comment regarding the complexities of the Blue-tailed Damselfly, and which offers the opinion that 'this is a mature female of the rufescens obsoleta form which is what the pink 'rufescens' ones mature into'....Now I'm even more confused!

Common Blue. Pete Woodruff.

Butterflies were scarce too, with 8 Large White, 2 Orange Tip, a Common Blue, Small Tortoiseshell, and Speckled Wood seen. 

I started the walk at Saltcote ponds where I saw a male Azure Damselfly. A Raven came to ground and hung around the lock at The Mill at Conder Green, also a Buzzard seen overhead. Along the stretch of the canal, 5 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler, a pair of Reed Bunting, a lone House Martin, Reed Warbler, and Song Thrush. Three pairs of Mute Swan had 4-5-6 cygnets.

Tadpoles Early June.

I'm told I didn't need to be so surprised to see tadpoles in the canal first week in June....But they did have a kind of calming effect, and the singing Chiffchaff in the background added to that.

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Conder Update.

Avocets Conder Green 8 June. Howard Stockdale.

Not for the first time, 13 Avocet young have crossed the busy B5290 to go into the creeks on the River Conder. The bad news is, that one has been recorded 'lost', it being one of the five ringed birds. 

Thanks to Howard for the news and image, gratefully received.

Too Good To Miss.

There can't have been anything more I wanted to do, than to get myself off to Bowland on Friday morning to spend a pleasant 5 hour wander from Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge-Winfold Fell.

I saw Swallow and House Martin around Marshaw Farm. As the summer progresses, I'll try to get some numbers here.

My first sighting was this Common Toad, seen as the largest and heaviest amphibian in Britain, it was slowly heading toward the stream running off Hawthornthwaite Fell, and looks to have an injury running over it's eye.

  

In this crop, I notice the unfortunate Toad appears to have lost it's left eye to some attack or accident. I guess the dark colour is dried blood. 

The Toad was behind the small plantation at Marshaw, where I also saw 3 Lesser Redpoll. Later, I found 3 Pied Flycatcher, all male, with two in the area around Tower Lodge, and one seen mid-way between there and Trough Bridge, so hopefully a tree nesting pair away from the boxes again this year. I heard at least 8 Willow Warbler and saw 10 Mistle Thrush on the visit. Also noted 3 Meadow Pipit, Blue/Great/Coal Tit, and saw just one butterfly, being a male Orange Tip.

The Negatives....It was disappointing to get some poor results from this area of Bowland today, some expected, some hoped for.

In addition to seeing just the one butterfly, I saw no Grey Wagtail, Dipper, or Common Sandpiper on the Marshaw Wyre. No House Martin at Tower Lodge, and found no Spotted Flycatcher, nor heard the Cuckoo, but perhaps in these latter two cases, I was a couple of days too early.

The plan was to wait until the end of April for this visit to Bowland, but with wall to wall sun, and barely a breeze, it was just too good to miss. 

I was pleased to see for myself, the sign at Cam Brow, where the bank isn't looking all that good at the moment. Thanks to Howard Stockdale for keeping in touch and for the picture.

Conder News.

My suggestion that the Common Tern would possibly make a first ever April appearance this year on Conder Pool has proved correct, when one arrived yesterday morning 24 April. Hard to believe that it is 9 days short of 3 months earlier than the first Common Tern to arrive here 7 years ago on 2 July 2014.

Three Avocet nests all have eggs, with a Little Ringed Plover present, and a Spotted Redshank also gracing Conder Pool.

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This 'rather shaky' Spotted Redshank with Black-tailed Godwits gave me much pleasure on Conder Pool in May 2019. 

Birk Bank.

A pleasant spring day for upland birding, with one or two good rewards and three decent butterfly records.

Not the most attractive of woodlands at the start of the path to Clougha, but by the time I got here 20 minutes from the car park on Rigg Lane, I had seen/heard 10 of the 22 Willow Warbler on the day.

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Finding 5 Stonechat on Birk Bank today, including two seen as a pair. I reckon possibly four breeding pairs here to date. One lone male seen, had the largest white wing patches and neck collar I've ever seen. I really need to get back up here again to try for an image of this 'unusual' Stonechat.

My other notes include, 2 Green Woodpecker, one around the area of Rigg Plantation, the other at Gibson Wood. Also, 5 Red Grouse, 4 Wren, 3 Mistle Thrush, surprisingly only 2 Meadow Pipit, one of which I watched take off to take out a small white moth on the wing flycatcher style. Raptors seen, 2 Buzzard, and a Kestrel.

Butterflies.

Green Hairstreak. Pete Woodruff.

I made casual records of 12 Green Hairstreak, no doubt many more to be found here today if my focus had been on them. Also, 9 Peacock, and an Orange Tip.

Particularly with dragonfly larva in mind, I definitely didn't like the look of this pair of Mallard on the bog at Birk Bank. Despite throwing a few small missiles to flush them, they remained unmoved. 

Rare & Scarce. 

A Brimstone was rare, and the first ever in our garden, and a scarce here male Orange Tip also seen.

The Stork & The Falcon.

The third April record I found in the archives, comes from the early days of my birding, and the very first of my scarce/rare finds. Come Friday, seen 25 years ago on 24 April 1995. With a bit of a story attached, this is the record of The Black Stork 

Especially in these dark days of Covid-19, I'm trying to keep B2B light, always my aim, and in the main about my passion for birds, but I failed this time.

Peregrine Falcon. Martin Jump.

Natural England have issued licenses for falconers to take Peregrine Falcon chicks in the wild from the nest, so people can gawp at falconry displays.

There's a lot to be said about this shameful act by Natural England, but no doubt you have heard about it already, if you haven't, you can find everything on the Natural England website, where you can read guff like....'The conservation status of the Peregrine Falcon is Green, which means they are widespread, and numbers are not under any threat'....and....'Falconry is an ancient tradition, practiced in England for centuries, and is recognised as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity'....Are this bunch at Natural England for real.

Meanwhile, I'd suggest for starters, Tony Juniper and the gong he got for his contribution to conservation, hands it back to the Queen.

A pristine male Orange Tip in our garden this morning contributed to making the lockdown and my self isolation, a pleasure. 

We're all in this together....Take Care, Stay Home, Switch Off, Relax and watch this....

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The Estuary Terns et al.

Not easy to be accurate about the number around the Lune Estuary yesterday, but I reckon over a five hour period 6 Common Tern were seen in five sightings. When I arrived at Conder Pool, two birds were present, whist I was there four joined the two and flew around the pool briefly before heading off towards the River Lune. In the afternoon a bird was patrolling the canal by Christ Church, later I presumed the same bird was leaving the canal basin towards the estuary where I found two birds plunge diving, both to return to the same area of the river bank before soon taking off to plunge again, they returned to the bank together three times. I went back to the car to get my telescope to see if I could make out what this behaviour was about, I thought perhaps a male was feeding a female, but when I returned the pair were heading back off the river towards Conder Pool. I drove straight to Conder Green to find 3 Common Tern on the pool, two on the pontoon and one in the background on the island.

There's no telling what will happen on the pontoon, having beaten the Common Tern to it, the Black-headed Gull is obviously sitting by now, and a Common Tern was creating a scrape yesterday and looking intent on nesting there. I think I know the outcome....watch this space.

Stock taking on Conder Pool, 6 Common Tern, 6 Avocet, a Little Ringed Plover, 28 Black-headed Gull, 13 Oystercatcher, 10 Tufted Duck, 2 Shelduck, 2 Wood Pigeon.

Turnstone Plover Scar 20 May. Pete Woodruff.

At Cockersand high tide, Plover Scar held up to 550 Dunlin, 80 Ringed Plover, and a single Turnstone, a Whimbrel was on the marsh off Lighthouse Cottage, and a Whitethroat was singing on the wires. The only butterfly was my first Common Blue at Cockersand, with 3 Orange Tip at Glasson Dock.   

More Catch Up.

A couple of hours around Conder Green on Tuesday began with me looking for other people's birds again....This is in danger of becoming pretty boring.

Today's catch up was the Common Tern which had arrived on Conder Pool last Friday. The bird hasn't attracted any company as yet, though I'm told of two birds on the pool before my arrival, but I've yet to see any other reports to confirm the claim.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool 7 May. Pete Woodruff.

The Little Ringed Plover came to rest a while just off the viewing screen, giving the opportunity for a pik. Also on Conder Pool, 6 Avocet, a pair of Goosander, and the Greylag pair which have already lost four goslings, down to five from nine seen last Friday, 2 Sand Martin came down on a muddy edge and briefly showed pairing behaviour before flying off.

Spotted Redshank. Pete Woodruff. 

The Spotted Redshank was sweeping up in the creeks, also a lone Dunlin. On a wander, the House Martin are around River Winds and Cafe d' Lune, and there was healthier numbers of Swallow seen today particularly around Conder Green Farm. A singing Reed Bunting, with Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap, and 2 Orange Tip seen.

A look in on Plover Scar at Cockersand around the high tide produced a low count of Dunlin and Ringed Plover in a ratio of c.110/50, also a Wheatear on here, and 2 Whimbrel were off Lighthouse Cottage.

Thanks to Ian Pinkerton for his Sedge Warbler header.