Joining The Hunt.

 Yellow-browed Warbler Cockersands Copies Permitted

For once I let the birds and their often unpredictability get the better of me on Tuesday when I joined in the hunt for a scarce passage migrant from Siberia the Yellow-browed Warbler. Having seen language like....'shed loads of 'em on the east coast just waiting to be blown west by the easterlies'....I'd thought my best move was to do a crawl from the far end of St Georges Quay in Lancaster to Glasson Dock along the old railway line now better known as the Coastal Way, hopefully littered with 'tits' and definitely littered with sycamore, surely one of the best locations in the area to make contact with one of these little beauties....dream on!  

But I was grateful both for the text telling me of one found at Cockersands on Wednesday, and the subsequent photographs sent to me.

Chiffchaff Warren Baker  

Checking the 'gulls' on the River Lune downstream from Skerton Bridge I noted 4 Goosander. Having passed Keyline and reaching the start of the serious stage of the exercise I actually very soon got quite excited, the first three birds I saw where a Blue Tit, Great Tit, and yes, its a 'warbler', ahhhh not the target bird....its a Chiffchaff. Little did I know this was going to be the height of my excitement for the day. Thanks for the excellent Chiffchaff Warren.

Three Little Grebe, 8 Wigeon, and 5 Teal were noted on Freeman's Pools, but now I had the dilemma,  do I go forward via the embankment or keep to the footpath, I can't do both and no time for a circuit....I kept to the path, and to Conder Green took note of, 4 Little Egret, 8 'alba' Wagtail, c.90 Golden Plover on the opposite bank from Nansbuck Cottage, and a 'few' Swallow over on the way....this is not front line/top of the range birding, nor are the results!

By the time I arrived at Conder Green I had to keep to the coastal path to catch the bus back to Lancaster, but did find a small group of 'tits' flitting about the picnic area from tree to tree, mainly Long-tailed with Blue and Great Tit. I came across another Chiffchaff towards Glasson Dock, this one 'hweeting' louder than any other I ever heard, an excellent sight and sound. I also counted 8 Red Admiral butterflies all in pristine condition, and a similar count of Speckled Wood. 

Red-necked Grebe. Marton Mere 30 Sept. Copy Permitted.

Thanks to RBA I was alerted to a Red-necked Grebe at Marton Mere, Blackpool on Monday. A rare winter visitor from eastern Europe and Russia, less than annual in Lancashire and North Merseyside, the last one being a 1st winter bird at Fairhaven Lake 4 - 31 January 2011.  

And finally, a non-bird photograph....

Garden Cross Spider Martin Jump

    

....of a Garden Cross Spider....Couldn't resist this one Martin....Brilliant. 

Please Note.

Although I have left the caption to the spider image unedited I'm grateful for the ID as being Araneus quadratus and not Garden Cross. Many thanks for this to David at Lalows

Red-necked Grebe.

Grebes. A. Thorburn.



An illustration of five grebe species by Archibald Thorburn, regarded by many as the best natural history artist of the 19th century and in particular of birds. The picture shows clockwise from the top right, Black-necked, Great-crested, Little, Slavonian, and Red-necked Grebes.

A Red-necked Grebe (RNG) was found on Fairhaven Lake, Lytham St Annes on Tuesday and remains there today though the species is generally a 'short stay' bird and this one may soon move off. However, there are exceptions to the short stay records, some are of birds staying more than two weeks and the most interesting one from a local perspective is the bird which lingered for sixteen days at Leighton Moss in 1979.

The RNG is essentially a winter visitor to the UK, but small numbers have been recorded in the past during the summer and breeding has been recorded on more than one occasion. The European population winters mainly off the coasts of the Baltic and North Seas though little is known about the species mainly attributed to the poor number of ringing and recovery data.   

There are other interesting past 'local' records, one of a RNG on the Lune Estuary in January 1955 - long before I ever considered any interest at all in birds - and since this particular record there have been others involving about ninety individuals including two together at Skerton Weir in Lancaster in 1979 when a cold weather influx was apparent. The RNG is by no means an annual occurrence in Lancashire - a scarce winter visitor - and there have been many 'blank years' in the record books.

Of all the grebes the RNG is the least likely to be found inland though there are of course some records to contradict this claim including some more up to date ones, but a period between 1985-89 was unusual in that out of twenty four birds recorded in Lancashire during this time, fourteen occurred far inland.

As will be gathered I've had no birding again since Tuesday....too much to do with too little time to do it in.... but hopefully a 'Trip To The Local' with JB/BT is on the cards for tomorrow Friday....fingers - and everything else - crossed.

Struggled again today....

....but ended with a nice record.

OK, so probably the worst photograph of Whooper Swans I'm ever likely to post, but visitors to Birds2blog have come to accept this....haven't you?

I pulled up opposite seven birds in the stubble field on Fluke Hall Lane this afternoon and lingered here for no more than fifteen minutes by which time I'd watched the number reach 282 Whooper Swans - pictured above - as they flew in from the south over my head in various group numbers to join the initial seven....amazing stuff! 

Not exactly brimming over with enthusiasm on a dark cold day I didn't get to Conder Green until 11 o'clock by which time the tide was almost at its height leaving most of the area under water, but undeterred I did the circuit to at least find the Common Sandpiper, 4 Little Grebe, and a Grey Plover. From the coastal path I noted just 2 Fieldfare and 2 Reed Bunting. Some distance inland from here I saw briefly what I 'took to have been'  a Buzzard. Surprisingly Conder Pool remains frozen over as does the canal basin at Glasson Dock where I noted 12 Pochard only two of which were female, also a Goldeneye. On Jeremy Lane c.150 Pink-footed Geese.

Pilling Marsh was deserted as far as viewable birds were concerned but I saw a Little Egret and noted - void of anything like a serious count - up to a three figure number of Shelduck. At Fluke Hall I did a short walk west along the embankment to estimate and grill c.3,5000 Pink-footed Geese on Preesall Sands. Also noted in the area just 2 Tree Sparrows - surely more around close by - a Reed Bunting and Wren, also at least 250 Jackdaws and a similar number of Wood Pigeon.

And finally.... 

Red-necked Grebe. SP.

A nice bird - the Red-necked Grebe - found today on Fairhaven Lake at Lytham St Annes. A scarce winter visitor in Lancashire but one was at Brockholes Wetland in May 2009 in immaculate full summer plumage. Thanks for the pic SP....thats 'Starting Price' with the bookmakers!