Simply the best....again.

And got some birding in too.

 Plover Scar and the Lighthouse. Pete Woodruff.

I don't ever recall Cockersands and its views ever looking as stunning as it did on Tuesday afternoon. I watched the 2.15pm ferry out of Heysham Harbour and the following hour and a half spent here until the sun started to disappear below the horizon was pure magic. You can see from the image above, the sea was flat calm with not a breeze and the whole feeling was of one to be experienced in spring with some good strong  warm sunlight to be enjoyed.

As the tide came in 130 Curlew, 60 Redshank, and 2 Snipe were slowly being pushed off the mud below Crook Farm, and at high tide most of the waders were seen feeding in fields, and a bird I awarded 'Best Of The Day' was a Ruff  with Curlew, Redshank, Dunlin, and Lapwing. Five Red-breasted Merganser were off Plover Scar and a lone drake Eider seen, there are 'huge' numbers of Wigeon in the area this winter and I noted up to 5,000 recently. On Plover Scar I noted c.18 Turnstone with a single Grey Plover and c.20 Dunlin, c.170 Black-tailed Godwit went over and followed the River Lune upstream towards Glasson Dock.  

Dusk On The Red Stone. Pete Woodruff.

As the sun went down the red stone of the headland took on a richness in colour whilst the sea was like glass. I spotted 2 Little Egret by a ditch in an inland field, a Kestrel quietly perched in a bush, and the Peregrine Falcon was again perched on the lighthouse railings.  

Sundown. Pete Woodruff.

A typical sun setting in the west as seen from Cockersands....But I had started earlier in the day at Conder Green where I found 6 Little Grebe, 6 Snipe, 5 Goosander on Conder Pool. On the circuit I saw 2 Kingfisher, up to 200 Teal, c.30 Goldfinch, a single Fieldfare and Reed Bunting, and a Sparrowhawk.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I noted c.1,200 Golden Plover, c.90 Bar-tailed Godwit, 10 Goldeneye, and 4 Little Egret. On the canal basin - difficult to view against the sun - 2 Goldeneye and a drake Pochard.  

And finally....

Water Rail. Barry Dyson.

An image definitely not to be sniffed at, if only because here is a species regarded as secretive almost to the extreme and is one of the Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve residents noted for its elusive behaviour, but this Water Rail was out in the open off Pilling embankment and made itself available for photography on a rare ocassion. Thanks for this BD, taking this opportunity and using it to good effect. 

Did you 'clik the pik' ?

Another one of those....

....amazing coincidence posts.

Being that the previous post took on the thorny subject of 'how come we didn't hear about this one then'. David Cookson has a post today and by the aforementioned amazing coincidence it relates to the very same species of bird the Dartford Warbler. It is an interesting short article, and as far as DC is concerned has an excellent result. Please take a look at Coals to Newcastle

By the way, I didn't get out birding on Tuesday despite my prediction on Monday evening that there was a 99.9% chance I would do. Unfortunately....nay tragically, plans had to be changed and I was forced to continue with my 'hard labour' project which runs, and runs, and runs, and runs. So I still have to have only my third outing since the last one on 14 October 2011 and that's rather grim I have to tell you. 

Well, however short 'and hopefully sweet' my posts are there's always going to have to be at least one photograph to display in them, so here's two....

                                                                  Bittern. Brian Rafferty.

Thousand of people over the years flock to places like the RSPB Reserve at Leighton Moss, just to hopefully get a glimpse of the Bittern many of who go home disappointed. But on a recent visit to Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve BR took full advantage of this bird behaving remarkably confiding and achieved some brilliant shots of this very elusive bird. 

                                                               Water Rail. Brian Rafferty.

It was BR's lucky day as he also had excellent views of another elusive bird the Water Rail as this brilliant photograph illustrates. Not many can lay claim to seeing both the Bittern and Water Rail on the same day let alone achieve such excellent photographs too.


Please take a look at some more images of these two birds and more HERE