Magnetised....Again!

I intended to spread my wings yesterday, but in the end the estuary magnet pulled at me even harder than usual and off I went to Conder Green to allow myself the time to check out Conder Pool, I wanted to get to view the Lune Estuary before the tide washed the area out.

Three Snipe were on the island again, with 2 Goldeneye, a Goosander and 6 Little Grebe present. I counted 110 Mallard and 45 Teal, 2 Raven were briefly in arial combat as they went overhead. 

I'd have been better getting to Glasson Dock about an hour earlier than I did as there was only a little of the south side mud still showing, but I picked out the Ruff I saw here nine days ago along with c.200 Redshank, 25 Knot, 12 Dunlin, and a solitary Black-tailed Godwit. Upstream at the Conder mouth, c.120 Bar-tailed Godwit had assembled, and a lone Goldeneye and 3 Red-breasted Merganser were drifting on the tide. On the canal basin, 19 Goldeneye. In a field off Moss Lane, 65 Whooper Swan seen, they had deserted the area 3 hours later as I drove away from here, I had seen them in fragmented groups flying SW over the Cocker channel towards Pilling.

A Carpet Of Turnstone (and a knot) Plover Scar 13 Jan. Pete Woodruff.

At Cockersands, up to 300 waders were feeding in the flooded field behind lighthouse cottage, mainly Lapwing with Redshank, Dunlin, and a single Golden Plover. Plover Scar held up to 590 waders with estimates of 320 Oystercatcher, an excellent count of 250 Turnstone, 6 Dunlin, 2 Grey Plover, 2 Knot, and 2 Ringed Plover. Two Great-crested Grebe were off the scar. 

Today's count of waders on the flood south of Cockerham Sands Caravan Park was lower than Mondays count, with at least 450 Curlew and the single Bar-tailed Godwit seen again. Three raptors seen today were the Buzzard which was on the same branch in the very same tree it was in on Monday, with a Sparrowhawk and Kestrel seen.

Steampacket.Com. Pete Woodruff.

The afternoon ferry out of Heysham heads out to sea in the mist. I took this photograph at 2.30pm off the headland at Cockersands.

Around The Estuary High.

Common Sandpiper/Oystercatcher. Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

It was near high tide yesterday and two of Conder Green's star birds both put in an appearance, with the Common Sandpiper on the near island on Conder Pool in company with an Oystercatcher, and the Spotted Redshank giving itself away as it flew in off the estuary calling its distinctive whistling 'chu-it....chu-it' as it dropped on to the pool and out of sight on the backside of an island. Also here, 6 Snipe, 4 Little Grebe, and a drake Goosander.

Plover Scar was overwhelmed by the high tide and I saw 24 Turnstone and a solitary Dunlin on what little was left above water, 3 Great-crested Grebe were off here. Six Blackbird and 2 Greenfinch were noted in the horse paddock at Bank Houses.

Redshank/Curlew. High Tide Roost. Pete Woodruff. 

A wander along the path towards Bank End produced 9 Snipe to come off the marsh and into the air, and I was rewarded by up to 600 Curlew in a flooded field south of Cockerham Sands Country Park, a decent count for a species in serious decline which has secured it's place on the red list of birds of highest conservation concern in the UK. Also on the flood, c.120 Redshank, and singles of Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, and a Golden Plover, with 3 Little Egret seen.

Off Slack Lane, a family party of 5 Whooper Swan two adult and three juvenile which flew low past me 2.5 hours later heading SW towards Pilling Marsh, a Buzzard was in a tree close by, and as I drove down Moss Lane the kestrel seen again.

Three hours after the high tide I called in on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock to note at least 2,500 Golden Plover, c.350 Dunlin were by far my best count of the species on the estuary this winter, with a Red-breasted Merganser seen. I also got my best count this winter of 23 Goldeneye with 9 on the estuary and 14 on the canal basin where there was a Great-crested Grebe. 

Cockersands Abbey & Rainbow. Pete Woodruff.

Something rare for Cockersands yesterday, the sea was like a millpond, barely a breath of wind and some spells of sunshine....'twas a delight to be there along the headland, and with a half decent rainbow as I headed back to the motor.

Short And Sweet!

After some hesitation on Friday I got geared up at home and took them off again when it bucketed down. I geared up again when it cleared to get to Conder Green and immediately see the Spotted Redshank for the first time in six visits since 10 December, 9 Little Grebe included three in the creeks, also on Conder Pool, 5 Snipe a pair of Goosander and 25 Wigeon. From the old railway bridge, I saw what was almost certainly a Greenshank glimpsed as it disappeared up a channel and out of sight, 4 Goldeneye had found their way up the Conder channel, a Grey Plover down here was a first this winter, though in years past this was an annual single winter bird at Conder Green, 10 Long-tailed Tit were seen from the coastal path.

Common Gull. Jan Larsson @ Vingspann  

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, at least 550 Common Gull was exceptional and a higher count than the c.400 seen here Tuesday. Also of note, 2 Goldeneye, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, and a Great-crested Grebe. Waders noted were, just c.70 Golden Plover, a similar number of Dunlin, and 15 Bar-tailed Godwit. Along Jeremy Lane I watched a Sparrowhawk taking a keen interest in the Starling flock feeding in the field from a perching post, and a Little Egret flew over....Thanks for the Common Gull Jan. 

Barn Owl. Cockersands 8 January. Howard Stockdale.

Thirteen Goldeneye were back on the canal basin. On Moss Lane I saw 2 kestrel in close proximity on the way to Cockersands where I had to sit out a heavy and prolonged shower in good company at Crook Cottage. But the walk when the rain let up along the headland in semi-darkness proved rewarding when I saw the Barn Owl to collect my sixth record of the bird which performed well for the occupants of two cars parked up on the lane, the bird flew to perch on roadside fence posts at least four times. Meanwhile a Buzzard flew low over the fields, and a kestrel came to perch on a post close to me....So there had to be another Barn Owl picture, and this one with evidence and good news the bird fed on this occasion at least. Thanks for the image Howard....Brilliant. 

A short days birding, but sweet with it. 

Cockersands Light. Pete Woodruff.

Usually a good idea is to stay in the car if it looks like this through the windscreen as you arrive at Cockersands.

Many thanks to Marc for the Kittiwakes header.

No Apologies....It's Barnie Again.

Tuesday 5 January....Better late than never!

Barn Owl. Howard Stockdale.  

I was checking out a bird which I saw dive on the Cocker Estuary - I always get excited when I see a bird dive and don't know what it is until it comes back up - when up walked birders Geoff and Frank. I said something like....'if your luck's in you should see a Barn Owl whilst you're here today'....two minutes later I told them to look towards Abbey Farm to see the Barn Owl....I said the fee was a fiver each, but can't repeat the reply on Birds2blog! 

The bird I had seen diving on the Cocker turned out to be a drake Red-breasted Merganser. Seven Black-tailed Godwit and 32 Pink-footed Geese flew south during my walk along the headland at Cockersands.

Tree Sparrow  Marc Heath

In and around Bank Houses horse paddock, 4 Tree Sparrow, 7 Blackbird, a Mistle Thrush, Great Tit, Blue Tit, and 2 Brown Hare.

Out of several hundred gulls on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I picked out an adult Mediterranean Gull and noted c.400 Common Gull, with up to a similar number of Black headed Gull. Also of note, at least 2,750 Golden Plover and 160 Bar-tailed Godwit, a drake Red-breasted Merganser and 7 Goldeneye. I found no Goldeneye on the canal basin today but noted a Great-crested Grebe.

It was good to find the Common Sandpiper at Conder Green again, the first time in three visits since I last saw the bird on 15 December, it had the creeks to itself, they were otherwise deserted. On Conder Pool, 6 Little Grebe, also of note, the recently resident drake Goldeneye, a female Goosander, 2 Snipe, and 25 Wigeon.

Thanks to Howard for yet another brilliant Barn Owl, and to Mark for his excellent Tree Sparrow.

I'm keen to get to the Bowland uplands sometime soon, but not keen enough at the moment, with places like Clougha and Harrisend having areas like giant sponges.

In The End....Another Barnie.

Hardly riveting on my first days birding in 2016 yesterday, but the visit to Cockersands was rewarded by yet another Barn Owl. Reasonably obvious the same bird as seen 28 December behind Bank Houses horse paddock, which is where this one ended up quartering again today. I had picked the bird up as it flew through the yard at Abbey Farm. It would have been good to have seen it coming out of one of the buildings at the farm as proof that this is where the bird is currently hanging out. I've never seen a Barn Owl at or anywhere near this farm before.

Back to the beginning....At Conder Green, despite a full circuit, the creeks were deserted save a solitary Curlew and two of the 8 Little Grebe seen here today, the other six on the pool. Also on Conder Pool, a single Snipe was on one of the nest boxes which look like they are never going to float off the island as I predicted they may, unless the weather has other ideas. Up to 50 Mallard and Teal, with 15 Wigeon, 5 Tufted Duck, and 2 Shelduck....I've not seen the Spotted Redshank at Conder Green since 7 December, nor the Common Sandpiper since 15 December. 

On the Lune Estuary, a Ruff was with a group separate from a total of c.450 Redshank, also c.2,500 Golden Plover, c.55 Black-tailed Godwit, a few scattered Bar-tailed Godwit, and at least 50 Dunlin. I saw a total of 14 Goldeneye, three on the estuary, and eleven on the canal basin.

A Kestrel was on Moss Lane, and off Crook Farm at Cockersands, c.1,500 Lapwing, 55 Golden Plover and 50 Dunlin. Around the winter cover crop on Slack Lane 2 Greenfinch, and in and around Bank Houses horse paddock, 10 Goldfinch, 7 Blackbird, a Song Thrush, and Mistle Thrush.

Back to the end....Enter the Barn Owl!

Garden Birds. 

Siskin. Noushka Dufort @ 1000-Pattes  

A smart little male Siskin visited our feeders yesterday morning, a scarce bird in our garden, the last one being 27 January 2015, later 2 Greenfinch appeared as another quite scarce garden species for us. 

And finally....

A Siberian Chiffchaff was on the RBA pager yesterday SW of Lancaster at Aldcliffe Marsh. 

Siberian Chiffchaff. Chris Batty.

This Siberian Chiffchaff was photographed in a Knott End garden precisely 3 years ago today on 5 January 2013. There's some interesting reading about the complexities of the Siberian Chiffchaff HERE 

Thanks to Noushka and Chris for the photographs, always appreciated. 

Barnie Bonanza.

Barn Owl Brian Rafferty

It must to be a pleasure for every birder to get their eyes on a Barn Owl. I had the pleasure three times over three consecutive birding days last week, and in our recording area there was three other reports.

This is all good news for Barn Owl seekers, but not good news for the bird as each one seen daytime hunting is struggling for survival with little if anything being caught during hunting hours of the night making the necessity of daytime hunts essential.

The sequence of these six sightings - all at different locations - began for me on Moss Lane when I saw my first bird on 23 December, it was followed by two more sightings, one on the same date, and another the following day 24 December. Another Barn Owl was found at Stodday, reported by a friend who phoned me to say his son had seen a bird on Sunday 27 December. I had the fifth sighting at Bank Houses at Cockersands on 28 December, and saw the sixth at Glasson Dock the following day 29 December.

There's no telling how many Barn Owls are involved in these sightings, some of them could be duplicate records of the same bird, but they could all be individuals, birds from a pair which is what I do know the Haresnape Farm birds are/were, and as a result of my enquiries I'm reliably informed the A6 bird is thought to be from an undisclosed location. 

With the wet and windy December weather continuing into January the Barn Owl is struggling, some of the fields are like inland lakes, and the ditches are overflowing, their feathers are not waterproof and they cannot be exposed to rain for long periods of time, they are moving around and roaming widely in search of food. 

Add to all this, whilst the Barn Owl had an excellent year in 2014, the breeding season was not as good in 2015 according to an interesting conversation I had with Bob Danson when I saw him at Fluke Hall on Tuesday last....Good to meet you BD, long time no see.

Thanks again for the Barn Owl images including the new header....Brilliant Brian. 

Blackbird. Antonio Puigg 

Eight Blackbirds together in our small urban garden yesterday....Thanks Antonio.

HELLO 2016.

The Mob Geoff Gradwell 

I'm saying goodbye to 2015 on Birds2blog with this excellent 'can't resist this one' shot from GG of the two Black-headed Gulls attempting to relieve the Goosander of the fish it caught, unsuccessfully as it happens....Brilliant Geoff and thank you.

 Stonechat Brian Rafferty 

And saying hello to 2016 with this excellent image of the equally excellent Stonechat at Lytham Moss....Thanks Brian.

If you're reading this you've probably visited Birds2blog regularly throughout 2015. I'm truly grateful for you having shared with me the more ups than downs of my birding year in 2015. Whether or not I can keep Birds2blog up and running for another year remains to be seen. If I do, I hope you'll be looking in to keep my enthusiasm up and running too.

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 

Southern Comfort....

....is an American Liqueur originally created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874. 

But what's this got to do with birding except I went on a trip south down the A588 on Tuesday which turned out to be a good idea, and had one or two nice rewards.

Pied Wagtail. Peter Rhind.

The flooded and wrecked field to the west of the car park at Fluke Hall was quite lively and I saw eight species, including up to 35 Pied Wagtail, 30 Skylark, a few Linnet, Tree Sparrow, Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit, and a Rock Pipit, but the best was a count of at least 130 Twite.

A walk along the coastal path to Cockers Dyke had me watching a Buzzard engaged in an ariel survey over Hy-Fly Game Hatcheries....I call that living dangerously. I saw 4 Little Egret on the way, and at the dyke, a mixed flock of 200 Dunlin and knot dropped in, with a good number of distant waders of which I could just pick out c.40 Grey Plover and 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, at least 450 Curlew were scattered along the shore. At Pilling Lane Ends I found 2 Dark-bellied Brent Geese with c.4,500 Pink-footed Geese, also noted off here, in excess of 100 Whooper Swan. 

Bewick's Swan. Jan Larsson @ Vingspann 

On the way back to Lancaster I noticed a group of swans on Moss Lane at Thurnham from the main road, turning down the lane I found 4 Bewick's Swan were with 32 Mute Swan. As I drove off Jeremy Lane, I saw a brief Barn Owl in flight, but by the time I found somewhere to park the motor to go look for the bird it was lost.

Unable to drive past Conder Green, I panned Conder Pool for three minutes in the semi-dark to see 5 Little Grebe and a drake Goldeneye, with thirteen still on the canal basin at Glasson Dock on Monday which I overlooked noting in my last post.

And a good time was had by all....but storm Frank was on the way and was showing it's effect yesterday, with devastating results in places.

Many thanks to Peter and Jan for the images.

Barnie Bonus Day 2.

Returning from Bank End yesterday, I glanced at the rough field behind Bank Houses to see my second Barn Owl in two consecutive birding days, no doubt the same bird as the one seen on Moss Lane five days previous, but this is becoming interesting.

Turnstone. Gary Jones @  Walksnwildlife 

Plover Scar held just c.70 Turnstone at high tide, they actually soon flew off leaving the scar deserted, but c.80 Pink-footed Geese flew over heading south west, I saw a few small skeins of geese today in different areas and heading in different directions. In Bank Houses Horse paddock I counted 14 Blackbird, with a Sparrowhawk and Kestrel in the area. 

Reed Bunting. Bob Bushell @ Birdsfod 

On my way to Bank End I saw 6 Reed Bunting together in a bush, and several small flocks of 'finches' in frustrating silhouetted bouncing flight, and found just 2 Twite on the ground.

I had called earlier at Glasson Dock to find the tide had almost taken over, but up to 900 Redshank were hanging on to what mud was left, whilst 90 Curlew had taken to the marsh, 2 Red-breasted Merganser drake were noted.

At Conder Green, I found only 4 Little Grebe on Conder Pool, with 2 Snipe and 2 Greylag, a solitary Lapwing was noted, and wildfowl were present similar to my count five days ago, with up to 100 Teal, 50 Mallard, and 15 Wigeon.

Thanks to Gary and Bob for their much appreciated images.

The continuing Barn Owl story is coming soon! 

A Barnie Bonus.

On a rare sunny day void of rain if windy, I was birding last Wednesday but have had no blogging time to call my own since then, hence the delayed action on Birds2blog. 

As I drove along Moss Lane I glimpsed an owl in flight as it disappeared behind Haresnape Farm. I pulled up in the hope it would make a return appearance for me, until it did it could have been either Barn or Short-eared Owl....

Barn Owl Martin Jump

....thankfully the bird did re-appear and it was indeed a Barn Owl which gave excellent views. Thanks to Martin for the brilliant image of his 'Ghostly Encounter' with a Barn Owl.

I had called in on Conder Pool at high tide to find 5 Little Grebe, a drake Goldeneye, a Snipe, a pair of Goosander, 15 Wigeon, up to 90 Teal and 50 Mallard. en-route to Cockersands a Buzzard was again on a fence post off Jeremy Lane.

Despite a couple of hours at Cockersands I found just the two site faithful species on Plover Scar just after the high tide, being c.250 Oystercatcher and 90 Turnstone. Otherwise a circuit search was virtually depressingly void of birds, save 8 Tree Sparrow which had taken a liking to the feeders hung out at Bank Houses Cottage, 4 Greenfinch were around the Lighthouse Cottage, a Kestrel and Sparrowhawk put in an appearance, and I counted 5 Brown Hare.

Three hours after the high tide, the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock had me noting c.2,500 Golden Plover, a drake Goosander and female Red-breasted Merganser. Gulls here probably totalled in excess of 1,500 birds including up to 200 Common Gull. The canal basin, accommodated 13 Goldeneye.

The Barn Owl.  

Interestingly, after my bird at Haresnape Farm, Moss Lane on Wednesday, a Barn Owl was seen the next day flying across the A6 between Galgate and Lancaster University, and yet another sighting the following day off Aldcliffe Road in Lancaster opposite Haverbreaks.

I found no literature on movements to suggest this might be one and the same bird, but you have to wonder if this wasn't the same wandering Barn Owl. If it wasn't, three individuals on three consecutive days in our area is at least impressive. Though landowners have an understandable preference not to have locations made public of this uncommon breeding resident and increasingly rare bird, and no information can be found in annual reports, 2014 was an excellent year for the Barn Owl in the county of Lancashire.

Many thanks to Bob Bushell for the excellent header image of a drake Pintail which shows brilliant plumage detail as good as it gets.