Not just one....but two.

Stonechat Ana Minguez

I use the word brilliant quite freely to enter into the records my finding 2 Stonechat today, they were on the western perimeter of Freeman's Pools. I had seen a bird fly from the bank of the River Lune and had identified it as a Stonechat in flight before it immediately went out of sight below the bank towards Freeman's Pools. I wanted more on this bird - after all it now has the rarity label attached to it in my book - and I needed to know the sex/age of this beauty. So I make no apology for 'chasing' this bird on out of bounds territory, and as far as I'm concerned the right decision too as I was to discover not one but two Stonechats, both 1st winter male/female qualifying them as 'Bird of 2013' and it's only mid-January too....but that's just me getting excited!

Grey Wagtail Geoff Gradwell

I only intended to get as far as Stodday from Greyhound Bridge before the trek home as it was mid-morning when I got started. The first bird of note just off the Millennium Bridge was another little beauty the Grey Wagtail, just downstream from Carlisle Bridge was 15 Goosander and 20 Goldeneye which has me wondering if there is perhaps a three figure number in our recording area this winter after all. That said, I've little evidence of many others elsewhere in the area, but reckon my records now show up to sixty on the River Lune between Skerton Bridge and Glasson Dock.

Pink-footed Geese Brian Rafferty

On Aldcliffe Marsh 'goose' numbers probably totalled in excess of 3,500 with reasonable estimates of 3,000 Pink-footed Geese, 300 Canada Geese and Greylag Geese. Three Little Egret were also on the marsh, and from here to Stodday I noted another good record of 4 Song Thrush, at least 15 Blackbird, 12 Goldfinch, and at least 50 Golden Plover in a field with Lapwing.    

Thank you for the Stonechat Ana, Grey Wagtail Geoff, and Pink-footed Geese Brian, they are all excellent and much appreciated.

Nice day....nice birding!

As always there are a good number of locations I'd like to have gone to yesterday but I've got into this routine of always going to Conder Green to start my day seeing of there's 'owt about' on and around the Lune Estuary, and today presented me with one or two nice rewards.

At Conder Green two trusted Spotted Redshank were feeding under the old railway bridge, in the creeks I found 6 Little Grebe with two more on Conder Pool where I noted a Little Egret, a Goldeneye, 3 Snipe, 12 Wigeon, and up to 55 Common Gull, c.35 Black-tailed Godwit flew over the pool to land for 10 seconds before taking off again to disappear in the direction of Jeremy Lane.

I wanted to get to Cockersands and the tide was coming in at the speed of a race horse, so having noted 14 Goldeneye and a drake Red-breasted Merganser on the River Lune at Glasson Dock I made a hasty retreat. On Moss Lane I noted swans in a field which I counted and made notes, they were still there at dusk and - with an increase in number since I saw them three hours earlier - there was 16 Bewick's Swan and 32 Whooper Swan.

Turnstone/Knot. Plover Scar Cockersands. Pete Woodruff.

At Cockersands I did the stretch from Crook Farm to Bank End Farm. From my starting point I saw the foggy 9 January c.255 Black-tailed Godwit again, this time accompanied by up to 550 Curlew. By the time I got to Plover Scar you will appreciate I was pleased to find Sundays Snow Bunting there again, also a good count of c.65 Turnstone, 50 Knot, 9 Oystercatcher, and 2 Ringed Plover, as I was about to leave a Rock Pipit flew down on to the scar. On the return leg something spooked several hundred birds from the fields including at least 85 Skylark, I also noted 8 Reed Bunting and a Little Egret by a ditch in an inland field.

Photo Pete Woodruff.

About 50 mtrs short of Crook Farm an interesting find was that of a dead Porpoise on the shingle, but as can be seen in the photograph only the skull - its in shadow, clik the pik - on the head remains, and no fins can be seen....Washed up from far away, or a good live record in the area missed! 

Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.   

When having been in the area on the day I rarely fail to call back in on Conder Pool on my way home, this evening it looked particularly attractive in the light of the setting sun.

And finally....

Black Wheatear Antonio Puigg  

Its hard to believe, in about eight weeks time I'll be thinking I might find a Wheatear maybe at Cockersands....one thing for sure I won't be thinking it'll be a Black Wheatear. Thanks Antonio, a brilliant bird.

John and Ann....I know you will be reading this and it was good to see you and have an interesting chat and some comments from you re Birds2blog which were much appreciated. Thanks for the info on the young Salmon you saw at Cockersands. When it comes to fish I'm lost I'm afraid, so why it was there and dying I have no idea, I should have asked you for your opinion. Hope to see you again soon, and there's always a good chance of that if your'e at Cockersands. 

Moving On.

In late October/early November huge numbers of Fieldfare, Redwing, and Blackbird made landfall on our east coast, in the case of the latter I observed a figure of up to 60 Blackbird on a walk in our area on 29 November. My observations of the Redwing in each winter appear to indicate fewer in number than those of its cousin the Fieldfare. These arrivals on the east coast quickly move on inland and spread themselves out across the country, and a walk in the countryside around our area today would make it clear with fewer sightings that they have moved on even further south in search of food in a suitable wintering area, most likely to be in France and northern Iberia.

The Waxwing also arrived in the UK in 2012 and eventually there was an estimate of c.5,000 birds, the figure now stands at more like 1,500 and in recent weeks some have been seen leaving the south coast. If we get a prolonged spell of harsh icy weather there will be difficulties for more bird species to find food which becomes hidden and locked under frozen water and Herons and Kingfishers which aren't already on the coast will move to get there where the saline waters remain largely ice-free. A couple more examples of bird movement in these icy conditions are those of the Skylark and Wood Pigeon which will also leave the country if forced to and in spectacular numbers too. 

Smew. Copy Permitted.

  

Converse to all this movement, if these kind of conditions are prolonged on the continent wader and waterfowl numbers may see an increase and species like the Smew and Goldeneye may well move to our estuaries as a lifeline. In the case of the Smew a bird long overdue, and the Goldeneye, January is the peak period for this one.

And talking of the Waxwings....

Waxwing Martin Jump

Yet another waxwing image, and yet another brilliant one with a difference. I don't know this as a fact, but I reckon this bird is launching into a dive to retrieve this berry it had but lost. Excellent stuff as always Martin.

And some more exotica....

Ring-necked Parakeet Brian Rafferty 

The Ring-necked Parakeet which BR saw at Lytham recently. I've yet to see my first one of this species, the UK's only naturalised Parrot, in flight it has pointed wings, a long tail, and a very steady direct flight. Nice one Brian, and thank you. 

3B Birding!

Boots, Bins, and Buses.

With some 'other things' sorted and enough light left in the skies at 11.30am to last another few hours it was boots on, bin's round my neck, and I headed off to walk from Lancaster (Greyhound Bridge) to Glasson Dock once again on Friday.

Snow Bunting. David Cookson.

Not at all related to my day on Friday but a brilliant image of the Snow Bunting, with my sincere thanks to DC ....One found today (Sunday) on Plover Scar, Cockersands thanks to my reliable informant. 

And an hour later....

Lesser Snow Goose Alvan Buckley

A Lesser Snow Goose blue morph found SW of Cockerham.

But back to Friday....

I counted up to 12 Goosander upstream beyond Skerton Bridge on the River Lune before setting off downstream to count 15 Goldeneye to Marsh Point. I decided I had no time to walk down the path to check out Freeman's Pools but did see a female Sparrowhawk 'flap-flap-glide' across the pool. Along the embankment Aldcliffe Marsh was void of birds but held a 'lady' - note my politeness - complete with her charge of four unleashed mutts, who walked - they charged, excuse the pun - the entire length of the marsh, I just wish people with mutts wouldn't do this....note my politeness again. 

Redwing. Copy Permitted.

On the flood at Aldcliffe I counted 25 Redshank and a solitary Black-tailed Godwit feeding along the edges, and of note from here to Conder Green, 5 Little Egret, 18 Blackbird, a Song Thrush, 2 Redwing, 12 Goldfinch, 2 Robin, and as always in the winter months 'a thousand or two' Lapwing. 

It was a bit of a rush job today and by the time I reached Conder Green my bus back to Lancaster was on its way and I barely had the time to note 11 Little Grebe, the ratio being the same as Wednesday which was seven in the creeks and four on Conder Pool where I noted a Little Egret appearing to have settled for the night amongst a small group of Teal.    

Barn Owl Brian Rafferty 

And another unrelated to my birding today, a brilliant collage of the Barn Owl....Many thanks to BR.

And finally....There's a sad 'raptor' story with a good ending - though not good enough in my opinion - which  you might like read HERE 

The Black Stork.

In 1992 when I applied for the job as a car parts delivery driver and was eventually successful in it, I had no idea I was about to become one of the luckiest birder in the UK. As you can imagine the job took me through prime birding country all points on the map, taking me through areas covering many miles, south to Preston, to Blackpool in the west, Hellifield in the east, and Kendal in the north. Quite periods over the years had me spending many hours birding and getting to know the birds on a daily basis and was the means whereby I first discovered the upturn in the status of the Stonechat in 1999 when I noticed them seen with more and more regularity on Newby Moor near Clapham, an area which was to become a stronghold for the species and where I found twelve birds on a cold winters day in November 2000....But the rest of this 'car parts delivery' story I'll leave for another time.

Black Stork. Copyright Bury Antoine.

My day at work on 24 April 1995 was going to be one to remember and I'll always recall being on a road I really shouldn't have been on to be honest, more to the point I was supposed to be back at base loading up for my next run.

But wait a minute....this large bird in the air flying parallel to the road I'm driving along and about to drop below electric cables suspended from pylons, is unmistakable as being a Black Stork (BS) which I saw precisely as the bird looks in the photograph above. The only disappointment now, is that I can't linger here very long at the peril of loosing my job, but I'm on the phone now to get the news out about this excellent find. 

It transpired that a farmer had seen this bird in one of his fields the day before my sighting and described it as....'looking like an Oystercatcher on steroids'....Well that might have seemed funny to him, but right now this was a serious and exciting business to me. The bird flew on and up the Quernmore Valley and a second hand rumour had it that it was seen on the Lune floodplain later that day. The following day 25 April, a BS was seen in Ennerdale in Cumbria and was thought to have been the same bird, another day later - April 26 - a BS was reported in the Bolton Abbey area and was presumed to be the same Quernmore/Ennerdale bird once again. 

Two months later there was another report of a BS flying east over the south of Lancaster on 30 June but no description or documentation was forthcoming on this one and so was lost to history.

Thick Fog....Thin Birds.

Unusually for me when it comes to the weather, I set off this morning full of optimism for some serious birding to get to grips with what's about in the Lune Estuary area, but arriving at Conder Green it was apparent my weather pessimism would have been more fitting. I was intent on giving this area a good six hours justifiable birding and that's what I was going to do, but.... 

Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff. 

This was the welcoming sight looking south over Conder Pool....

Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

And this was the welcoming sight looking west, and for the following six hours little changed and I recorded just seven species....I call that rough justice.

But things actually started well in the gloom of Conder Green because the first two birds I found were a Greenshank and Spotted Redshank together, these were to be the first of two more excellent finds today and a perfect photographic opportunity for anyone so inclined. 

Cockersands. Pete Woodruff.

Having discovered as expected Glasson Dock was no different I went off to Cockersands full of hope the fog would lift eventually, but it was just a dream and there was no change four hours later having walked from Crook Farm to Bank End Farm....

Black-tailed Godwit Paul Foster 

....but on the return through the murk I could see what I thought was a field with a good number of Curlew, but putting the telescope on to them I found them to be a count of at least 255 Black-tailed Godwit....excellent find No 2. When I got back to Glasson Dock the fog had lifted but only slightly and I could pick out 8 Goldeneye on the canal basin. The Lune Estuary from here wasn't a wash-out, it was a fog-out. 

Thanks for the Black-tailed Godwits Paul, much brighter birds in their summer finery than mine today in their foggy winter finery. 

By now with the time 3.15pm, not only was it foggy but the light was fading fast so I made a hasty return to where I had started at Conder Green six hours ago and where excellent find No 3  was waiting to be discovered. Eleven Little Grebe were here, with four on Conder Pool and seven together in the creeks where the Common Sandpiper presented itself for me once again. 

Waxwing David Cookson

A quick look on the coastal path just beyond the old railway bridge and the roaming birds present in the area a day or two now were sat quietly in a bush in the form of 8 Waxwing....Excellent find No 3.

Thanks for the Waxwing David....Brilliant.

And a good days birding was had after all despite the thick and thin of it!....Did you 'clik the piks'?   

The Squeeze!

I managed to squeeze in two hours yesterday between all the other needs for the day, but as it turned out I'd probably have headed off back home by lunch time as guess what....it rained.

Conder Green didn't turn up anything you'd call a surprise but it was good to find the Common Sandpiper once again lurking in the hidden corners of the creeks, this bird often needs to be looked for, it is a small unobtrusive bird which blends in with the muddy banks and often flies off like a little rocket with its rapid wing beats. Also noted on the quiet Conder Pool, 3 Little Grebe, 16 Wigeon, and a pair of Tufted Duck, a Little Egret was seen on the marsh opposite the viewing platform before disappearing into a channel.

Lapwing Noushka Dufort

Give yourself a little counting test and take a glance at the picture of the Lapwings before you actually count them.

Having taken note of the numbers of waders on the Lune Estuary from the old railway bridge at Conder Green, I arrived at Glasson Dock to view from the bowling green where those birds are out of view round the bend in the river, I soon reckoned up to 10,000 waders present here today which included estimates - round figures again - of 7,000 Lapwing, 2,000 Golden Plover, 500 Dunlin, 30 Bar-tailed Godwit, and 3 Black-tailed Godwit. I also took note of 12 Goldeneye and 2 Little Egret. On the canal basin 5 Goldeneye and 2 Little Grebe were of note, and its raining now, in any case I needed to be back in Lancaster by 12.30pm.  

Albeit a dull and dreary morning it was good to escape routine for a couple of hours to look for and check out the birds of the Lune Estuary at Conder Green and Glasson Dock.

Now these two are an absolute must....

Jay Martin Jump 

This photograph has to be amongst the top ten of 'pics with a difference' and is an out and out winner in my book....Brilliant.

Stonechat Sharon Whitley

And hey....this is Birds2blog, this is Pete Woodruff, and this is a picture of a Stonechat. But not just a picture, a painting, and here's that word again....Brilliant.

Thanks Noushka, Martin, and Sharon, you helped add some interest and put Birds2blog on the map again!

The Not So Happy New Year Has Arrived....

....Well at least the first bit of bad news for 2013 has come to my attention, and in using Birds2blog as my platform I'd like to share it with you just in case you didn't already know.

But please note this is going to be brief, and several hundred words shorter than it could be. I also have no intention of naming names, or slagging off political parties....not this time anyway!

Hen Harrier. Copy Permitted.

By the end of March funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) may well come to an end, but to be positive about this 'people power' has won the day before and can hopefully do so again if we all protest to this withdrawal of a paltry £136,000 to help the law to protect our birds/wildlife. I've written to an MP about this to ask if he has signed the Early Day Motion (EDM) on this issue and I'll post negative replies on here if I get any. 

I've always strived for, and wanted to be referred to as a birder in the true sense of the word, and I wondered if you - most visitors to Birds2blog are birders, though I appreciate not all are - would follow me and contact your MP to ask if he/she has also signed this EDM. If you have a tendency to follow and support the policies of the Conservatives I think you'll find he/she hasn't signed it, the last time I looked just three had done so, a bad start to the campaign to stop this funding to the NWCU but....check it out  HERE 

I did say at the top of this post that I wouldn't be slagging any political parties off or naming names, but in a polite and diplomatic tone I'll have to break that promise and the truth of the matter here is that D.Cameron and Co are not known to be a bunch of countryside lovers in the full sense, probably more akin to some of the other 'Guardians of the Countryside' I'd say and who will be rubbing their hands at the sound of all this funding withdrawal giving them an even freer hand to slaughter birds and other wildlife which gets in the way of their 'trade'.

Well, I did say I'd be brief, and at least I've kept that promise, so here endeth the first lesson. But do please try to help by making your voice known. Lack of action on wildlife persecution will become even more lacking, and crimes against it will become even more undetected, prosecuted, and punished for the sake of a mere share of £136,00 funding....Our wildlife/birds need us. 

Robin Isidro Ortiz  

A Robin sings regularly in our garden - it is also on the verge of feeding out of the hand - last night it sang full song in the dark at 4.45pm. I recall John Leedal once telling me the Robin sings the whole year round, but yesterday I also heard a Coal Tit singing....Lots to learn about birds yet, and learning something new every day. Thanks for your 'Spanish' Robin Isidro....Excellent and much appreciated.

Siberian Chiffchaff. Chris Batty.

This Siberian Chiffchaff represents the second excellent record to be collected recently, it was in the same garden the Pallas's Warbler took up residence in mid-October last year, another Siberian Chiffchaff and a Little Bunting are also to be added to this list in the same garden....Some garden, some 'on the ball' observations, numerous birds like this must go unnoticed in the UK annually.    

Thanks to CB for allowing all this on Birds2blog.

We Have Lift-off!

No doubt you can imagine what a happy chappie I was to find myself at Conder Green yesterday morning, though having spent the best part of an hour there I found it pretty quiet....but that's birding.

American Wigeon Tim Kuhn  

On Conder Pool I could find just 3 Little Grebe, along with 18 Wigeon, and c.40 Teal noted. The circuit was worth while if only to find the Common Sandpiper lurking in the creeks, it has been quite elusive this winter so far. Thanks for the American cousin Tim.

Dunlin Noushka Dufort  

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary I reached the best count to date - as far as I'm aware - this winter in our entire recording area when I found 22 Goldeneye. Also noted were 4 Little Grebe, a Little Egret, 2 Goosander, and up to 1,000 Wigeon which is a quite dramatic increase in number here. Wader interest was in estimates of - with no apologies for nice round figures - 2,000 Golden Plover, 500 Dunlin, and 60 Bar-tailed Godwit. On the canal basin, another 8 Goldeneye made the combined total of thirty birds at Glasson Dock, 3 Little Grebe, and a Great-crested Grebe were also of note. On Jeremy Lane I saw 14 Magpie together, an all time best record as a flock of this bird for me, also 2 Whooper Swan were with a small group of Mute Swan....Thanks for the Dunlin Noushka.

Arriving at Cockersands I had to sit out a drift of mist and drizzle off the sea, after which it never really got daylight again, compared to the last time I was here - when Cockersands was at its atmospherical best - it became a dull and dreary place and was 'lights on' by the time the 2.15pm ferry sailed out of Heysham Harbour. Notable were c.120 Black-tailed Godwit which I picked up over Plover Scar and in fact ascended until they disappeared into the mist above. I think they were escaping the attentions of a Peregrine Falcon which came on the scene moments later. Apart from some fidgety Curlew and Oystercatcher flighting from one field to another I recorded nothing more save a female Kestrel.

I found two excellent images of a wader....

Purple Sandpiper Marc Heath  

This one of the Purple Sandpiper grounded....Thanks Marc.

Purple Sandpiper Geoff Gradwell

And this one of the Purple Sandpiper in flight, the first in flight photograph I've ever seen of this species and I reckon it might well be the first you ever saw too. A species hard to come by in our area, I can only think of two locations which has recorded this species, and never in anything like double figures....Excellent Geoff and many thanks.

It was good to have my birding lift off yesterday after a full thirteen days grounded for one reason or another. 

And finally....

On Wednesday evening BBC1 at 9.00pm I watched the best wildlife programme ever AFRICA. The filming was out of this world as were the animals and scenery which was accompanied by the very best of narration by David Attenborough. If you missed this programme you should catch up with it in the second of six episodes next Wednesday BBC1 9.00pm....be there, it takes your breath away....See a review of the programme HERE

Fighting Depression!

I looked out of the bedroom window at first light this morning and could barely see the end of the road through the mist and drizzle, a sight which persisted to dusk at least when I stopped looking and continued the fight against depression which is setting in, the result of being house bound for far too long.

Oystercatcher. Pete Woodruff.

So some time spent reading in the hope I can expand my knowledge a little more about the birds, and some searching through old records and photographs which resulted in my finding - amongst many other things of interest - this picture of the brilliant leucistic Oystercatcher which I saw many years ago at Fluke Hall. 

When I first picked up this bird in flight before it landed in this field, without noting the bill I thought I was watching perhaps a Little Gull which this waders upperpart plumage details briefly resembled. It is one of many such birds - leucistic/melanistic/albino - I've seen over the years.      

Black-crowned Night Heron. Pete Woodruff.

Another bird of many years ago was this Night Heron which turned up on one of the pools at the University of Lancaster. I remember heading off to see this bird with John Leedal and managed one of my famous inferior shots. I was never able to take this individual seriously, as I recall it had wandered near and far and at the time was suspected to have been an escapee.

Carneddau Ponies. Gary Jones. 

Another trawl on the internet had me discovering GJ's New Year wanderings - camera and all - to get these wonderful images of the wild ponies to be found on the mountains of Wales. Do yourself a favour and find out about a way with a difference of celebrating the New Year on top of a mountain....fascinating stuff HERE thanks once again Gary.

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING....Maybe - hopefully - tomorrow.