Park, Cemetery, And Garden.

Williamson Park.

A walk through the park proved eventful, with a pair of Mistle Thrush found to be nesting in a Sycamore, also up to 10 Chiffchaff mostly heard, though one bird gave excellent views. Also noted, 16 Blackbird, 5 Nuthatch, 5 Robin, 4 Great Tit, a Wren, and 2 Long-tailed Tit.

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Two Herring Gull and a Lesser Black-backed Gull were at the pond in Williamson Park....Well, you can't call 'em 'seabirds' can you!

Lancaster Cemetery.

On to the cemetery which also proved to be eventful, in that I had another sighting of at least 3 Bullfinch which were seen short of 1/3 mile east of the male I found in the area on 17 December last year. These sightings have been made on inaccessible/private land unfortunately. Also in the cemetery, I found 2 Nuthatch behaving in a manner that made it likely to become a breeding site. 

Making a return visit the following day, I watched the male Nuthatch coming down the tree and appear to feed the female a small food item through a hole bottom right of the split in the trunk....So, a bit of interest here to keep me on my toes for a few weeks.

The Garden. 

Butterflies and Bees have been visiting the garden recently, particularly the latter, this Tree Bumblebee and the Buff-tailed Bumblebee were showing the benefit of our Pussy Willow.

We had the pleasure of a visit by a Greenfinch to the feeders. A declining species and scarce visitor to our garden. Footage through the kitchen window, and a little too enthusiastic with the zoom....Well thats my excuse anyway.

Stonechat Black Moss Reservoir. Courtesy of Martin Jordan.

Stonechats....In the first quarter of this year to 31 March.

With no duplications, I have noted 137 Stonechat individuals in 71 records taken from FBC/LDBWS websites. Only 5 of my personal records are included in these, and are represented by 15 Stonechat, 9 of which are now on territory. 

I have categorised these Stonechat records as 30 wintering birds seen from 2 January until 27 February, the early date migration took off, when 13 Stonechat were seen by a birder on one birding date.

Upland Wanderings....

....and some interest in the garden.

On a beautiful calm spring day, it was good to get myself on Harrisend for 3 hours on Thursday, to find 6 Stonechat, seen as two pairs and a lone male and female, almost certainly having mates which I failed to see and make four 'probable' breeding pairs to date on Harrisend.

At least 13 Meadow Pipit seen, 2 Wren, 3 Dunnock including a male displaying to a female, 3 Red Grouse, and a male Reed Bunting, which was initially tricky alongside a male Stonechat, both in the far distance, 10 Greylag overhead flying west.

Five of fifteen 7-Spot Ladybirds. Pete Woodruff.

I found 15 7-Spot Ladybirds in four small clusters on Gorse, and saw 2 Peacock butterflies.

Two hours on Hawthorthwaite, produced 3 Stonechat, seen as a pair and a lone male. Also, 8 Red Grouse, 7 Meadow Pipit, and 3 Wren. The bonus bird was a Woodcock, flushed and flew about 400m to go down by Catshaw Greave.

I was grateful for the report of 2 Barn Owls seen on Wednesday, one of which was reasonably obvious to have been the same one seen by me at and around the foot of Hawthornthwaite on 20 January, the other seen at the woodlands at the bottom of Cam Brow. Reasonable to suggest perhaps these two Barn Owls are a pair....Many thanks for this Simon.

   

Interest In The Garden.

There was a lot of enjoyment to be had in the garden this week, with visits by Bees, Butterflies, Birds, Hoverflies, and a colourful if nasty little critter.                          

 

With some video footage made, a visit to see the Reed Bunting in a Brookhouse garden was a success. A bit of a surprise, and not the bird to be found on your feeders on a regular basis, and not one I'm expecting ever on mine in urban Lancaster.

European Hoverfly. Pete Woodruff.

The Eristalis pertinax found in our garden, developed into something a little more interesting, in that I discovered the larva of this hoverfly is the Rat-tailed Maggot, one of which was seen in the garden pond last year....The larva's name doesn't conjure up anything of beauty does it!

Tree Bumblebee on Pussy Willow 

 

Buff-tailed Bumblebee. Pete Woodruff.

 

As the most familiar bumblebee, this Bombus terrestris was basking on Camellia in the garden, unfortunately giving a rear view only.

Yellow Dung-Fly. Pete Woodruff. 

And the nasty colourful critter which I couldn't miss, is the golden-furred male Yellow-Dung Fly on the branch of a Willow in the garden yesterday.

Footnote.

Hard to believe in the 21st century, but as my experience has clearly shown, you can spend 5 hours in the Forest of Bowland like I did today - often spending much more time than that - and not see a single bird of prey....Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Merlin, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Kestrel.  

Highlights Around The Estuary.

Highlights started with a visit to Conder Pool on Friday, where 16 Avocet have now pitched up, and are equivalent in number to the eight breeding pairs in 2021. Also there, the Short-eared Owl performed, and gave excellent views on the ground and hunting around the edges of the pool. 

In perfect light conditions, I couldn't resist another attempt at some more footage of this brilliant owl that has entertained droves of happy birders and photographers for three weeks on Conder Pool now.

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The other highlight was that of up to 400 Black-tailed Godwit, most of which were at rest on the island, whilst others were feeding along the back terrace. Two male and a female Shoveler were also excellent, not a particularly common sight here, also 5 Snipe and a Little Egret completed a decent short list for Conder Pool.

At Cockersand, I was pleased to find my first 2 Wheatear, the first of which was on Plover Scar....Well, where else would I find my first Wheatear other than on Plover Scar. The c.250 Whooper Swan I saw from a moving vehicle, were concentrated in the fields off Moss Lane to the south of Gardners Farm.

At least 2,000 Golden Plover were in the air again as they had been on my last visit to Cockersand. The Skylark were singing their seemingly never ending flight song, with one fluttering over my head, also 3 Stock Dove noted, 6 Linnet in stubble, and around 20 birds distant in the air in the same field, were probably the same, but unable to rule out Twite.

Miscellany.

My daughter has a stunning male Reed Bunting visiting over the past few days in Brookhouse. An urban Reed Bunting on garden feeders is a first for Lynn, and certainly is for me.

I saw my first butterfly, with a Small Tortoiseshell at Cockersand on Friday, and one in the garden yesterday. Also in the garden, a Tree Bumblebee, a 'social bee' known to be less represented in up to four areas of Lancashire, including my home town of Lancaster. A large bee escaped through the greenhouse window before I could get very much detail on it, but from what I did see, I thought it was a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee which emerge in early spring from February onwards, as one of the most familiar of banded bumblebees. 

Miscellany.

A few miscellaneous bits of interest....Well, hopefully of interest. 

With the Tawny Owl sighting in Holme Wood last week, I was reminded of the brilliant image featured in the header, which Martin Jump sent me recently.

Cam Brow.

Sand Martin Excavating Cam Brow. Howard Stockdale.

Three pairs of Sand Martin were observed excavating at Cam Brow recently, but an overhang above the bank collapsed, causing the birds to leave the area, to my knowledge have not yet returned. To make matters worse, the bank has since collapsed again before the overhang could be trimmed as planned, taking some nest holes with it. I understand the Sand Martins haven't returned to a regularly used bank elsewhere in Bowland.

Male Stonechat With Begging Young. Howard Stockdale.

This brilliant image accompanied the news, following no sign on 18 May, the Cam Brow Stonechat family were relocated three days later on Friday 21 May, when the parent birds were seen feeding three young.

Pied Flycatchers.

A pair of Pied Flycatcher are nesting in one of the boxes in the Tower Lodge area, and I'm reliably informed of two female seen recently in other 'new' areas here.

Conder Pool.

Great news that 5 pairs of Common Tern are now currently nesting on Conder Pool.

Garden Birds & Bees.

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The footage isn't world class, taken through the patio window, well that's my excuse anyway, but it was pure magic watching the young Dunnock in the garden again today.  

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There was in excess of 50 Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum on the Cotoneaster in our garden yesterday.

I'd sooner be birding!