In The Picture.

You may have seen in the comments section of my last post - 'Third Time Lucky' - on Birds2blog, take a look at it Here

In fact I did indeed take this shot of an Iceland Gull through the fence at Heysham Power Station. Rather remiss of me I must say, though at the time I was unconscious to the security breach I was committing.

I think as a responsible birder, it's a duty that I come clean on this mistake and use it as an opportunity to draw attention to the fact that it's pretty irresponsible to point a camera to take photographs at a highly secured Nuclear Power Station, as a warning to other birder/photographers, some of which are no more than self centred pricks, intent on getting a better pik than anyone else, which they always fail to do anyhow.

There's some sound advice and a warning about the consequences of photography at this location Here  

Whatever you do....Enjoy your birding.

Third Time Lucky.

I managed to talk KT into a walk along the seawall at Heysham this Sunday afternoon with the sole intention of seeing if we could find any of the celebrities available here over the past days. 

Iceland Gull Heysham Harbour 4 February. Pete Woodruff.

The Iceland Gull was picked up in flight across the harbour, and was quite mobile over the waterfall area before eventually disappearing into the south corner of the power station, it then flew over the Fisher rooftops and went down out of view behind a crane on the south quay, it made a brief appearance out in the open here from where I got a shot, acceptable by my standards....Third time lucky.

Chough Half Moon Bay 4 February. Mike Atkinson.

An earlier visit to Half Moon Bay gave me another chance at the long stay Chough, surrounded by hordes of 'walkies' and 'snappers'.

Stonechat Half Moon Bay 4 February. Mike Atkinson.

The long stay female Stonechat gave excellent views here again, also having tolerated the daily parade of dogs. 

Thanks to Mike for sending me the excellent images of these two equally excellent birds which he saw for himself this week.

Thursday 1 February.

By the time I got to Conder Green the 10.19m tide was lapping by the roadside, and a few birds had taken refuge on Conder Pool including, 2 Greenshank, 110 Redshank, 3 Snipe, 3 Goosander, 26 Curlew, a Goldeneye, and 120 Common Gull. The 2 Rock Pipit and 2 Red-breasted Merganser on Conder Pool I don't ever recall seeing there before, certainly not the latter. On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 16 Goldeneye, a drake Pochard, Little Grebe and Great-crested Grebe. 

At Cockersand, waders today were concentrated in Abbey Farm fields down to Lighthouse Cottage, where there was probably 5,000 birds, including most notably 2,000 Dunlin and 2,500 Golden Plover. When I went to Glasson 30 minutes later I found another 1,500 Golden Plover, in which case my records read....'at least 4,000 Golden Plover on the Lune Estuary Thursday 1 February'.

I found the female Stonechat again on the tide wrack at the caravan park, with 2 Reed Bunting, and singles of Wren, Goldfinch, and Pied Wagtail. In the field to the north of Bank Houses horse paddock, 3 Stock Dove, and 13 Skylark.

Whooper Swans.

Whooper Swans Brian Rafferty

Having my best chance to date to get close to the birds, I counted a total of 550 Whooper Swan in the Cockersand/Thurnham area. 

When I got to the field NW of Bank End Farm, the majority of Whooper Swan were pitched up there with a few further inland, in total I counted 315 birds. Later I took to a public footpath through the fields off Jeremy Lane, to get close and count another 235 Whooper Swan.

Thanks to BR for his excellent Whooper Swans, and to MA for his Starling header, a stunning bird photographed in perfect light showing it's iridescent plumage to perfection.  

Hunt The Celeb's.

There's little purpose in this post, other than to point out a failure to find the birds. 

Against my better judgement, I decided on a 'Hunt The Celeb's' on two dates, there having been a selection in the Heysham Harbour area recently, with a list including....

Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull
Little Gull
Mediterranean Gull
Shag
Brent Geese

Chough 

Wednesday 24 January was my first failure date. The session started in good style and an encouragement to move on to my hunt at Heysham Harbour, when I soon found the Chough and Stonechat at Half Moon Bay. But 2 hours later, and in pretty difficult windy conditions and a gust almost blowing me off the south wall and into the sea at one point....I found bugger-all.

The hunt on Tuesday 30 January for a repeat 2 hours at Heysham, also had the same miserable 100% failure rate when again I found bugger-all. Imagine, not one bird from seven possibles, despite constantly grilling, including in excess of 300 mainly Black-headed/Herring Gulls at Red Nab/Outfalls/Harbour. Ironically, this day ended as the first attempt had started on 24 January, when I went to see the Chough and Stonechat, and found them both again within 15 minutes of arriving at Half Moon Bay.

  

Wot No Birds & No Piks

Most of lifes rewards can be found in birding....that's my take on it anyway.

Turned Out Nice Again!

Lucky for me, this lot just skimmed by as I was on the headland yesterday at Cockersand....

....to eventually create a rainbow spectacle, with some good long spells of sun, but still a cold wind off the sea on the headland at Cockersand where birds were hard to find to be honest, and the fields pretty much deserted. 

But all the effort needed to find anything was well rewarded when I saw the female Stonechat again on the tide wrack opposite the Caravan Park, 4 Greenfinch and a Pied Wagtail also seen. Up to 300 Curlew were of note on Cockerham Sands, and c.60 Twite were in the rough field again behind Bank House Cottage, 4 Stock Dove were seen in the field north of Bank Houses. I made no attempt at the Whooper Swan count, which has now moved further inland east in the Thursland Hill area.

Lune Estuary notables in view from the bowling green at Glasson were few in number, up to 380 Golden Plover, 145 Curlew, c.450 Wigeon, 3 Goldeneye, a pair of Shoveler, and 2 Great-crested Grebe. On Colloway Marsh, 18 Pink-footed Geese were on the south end, and on the canal basin, 16 Goldeneye.

Conder Green ended the days 'hard work' theme, with a Greenshank, 4 Goldeneye and 4 Goosander on Conder Pool, a Common Sandpiper and 2 Little Grebe were in the creeks.

Cockersand Transformed.

Cockersand was completely transformed yesterday, where the fields had recently been crawling with waders by the thousands, they were deserted, birdless and silent, creating a sense of eerie about the place.

On the east shore at Sunderland Point, c.450 Curlew was a good count seen off Crook Farm. On Plover Scar, 2 humans and 2 mutts were trespassing as far as I'm concerned, 950 Wigeon and 7 Eider were off here. I found no Stonechat again today, but 6 Greenfinch, 3 Goldfinch and a Wren were on the tide wrack at the Caravan Park, with 4 Stock Dove seen, and a Stoat running ahead of me across Slack Lane.

The Barn Owl.

Barn Owl Brian Rafferty  

As I looked inland from Cockersand Abbey, I picked up a Barn Owl hunting a ditch east of Abbey Farm. The bird eventually perched on a fence post, and was joined by a Magpie, which soon became four Magpies. All four began to harass the Barn Owl continuously, jumping off one wire to the next, dropping to ground, then flying up toward the owl as if to stab at the bird with their bills. The owls head twisted and turned to watch all four birds, but otherwise ignored them and their antics, before having had enough and flew off.

As I walked along the headland I kept the hunting Barn Owl in view, until I lost sight as it flew toward the rough field behind Bank Houses.

Thanks for the image Brian, I reckon this could well be the very bird you photographed here recently. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

On Conder Pool, all the three's was as good as it got, with 2 Goosander drake, 28 Mallard, 2 Shelduck, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull seen. In the creeks, 2 Little Grebe made it into the notes. 

A Merlin squat on Colloway Marsh was presumed to be the culprit for twice in 30 minutes causing a mass dread amounting to several thousand waders, most notable of which were, up to 2,750 Golden Plover, 170 Black-tailed Godwit, and 6 Goldeneye, 2 Shoveler and 2 Goosander were all drakes. I found only 2 Goldeneye on the canal basin, and on Jeremy Lane, 22 Whooper Swan.

Wednesday 24 January.   

On Wednesday I had to be in Morecambe mid-afternoon, but I had a couple of hours to spare, and went to see if I could find the Chough at Half Moon Bay. 

I watched the bird performing its impressive aerobatic skills in the windy conditions, before dropping down into a field for me to stalk it down to a few metres and get a couple of half decent shots as it displayed it's fearless character whilst worming. Later the long stay female Stonechat also offered good views for me down on the shore.

Estuary Business.

Not too much business on Monday actually, and the visit to Cockersand was close to a disaster, with the cold howler rendering birding pretty unpleasant and hopeless, especially along the headland and looking out to the estuary. I actually made no notes in the book in two hours here, though the waders in the fields ruled my birding and continue to amaze. Golden Plover remained well into four figures and probably represents almost the entire bay population, also descending in number, Redshank, Curlew, Dunlin, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Turnstone, including up to 50 feeding on the headland close to the abbey, from where 4 Grey Plover were noted on the shore near high tide.

Tree Sparrow Crook Cottage Garden Cockersand 22 Jan. Pete Woodruff.

Calling in to see Mrs G at Crook Cottage, from the kitchen window I saw and made attempts to photograph Tree Sparrows visiting the feeders. I saw little else on the small bird front on the circuit, though a flock of finches distant and dropping into the rough field by Bank House Cottage were 'probably' c.50 Twite. From the three there recently I found no Stonechat, though AC reported to me later, the Cockerham Caravan Park female seen.

On to Conder Pool which held just 42 Redshank and 2 Goosander drake, whilst 120 Redshank and the long time no see Common Sandpiper was down the Conder channel, my first sighting of the bird since 5 December, despite eleven visits to Conder Green. 

Estuary waders and three mates. Pete Woodruff.

On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 2 Pochard drake again, with a Great-crested Grebe noted. A new peak of 26 Goldeneye - a notch up of 5 on last Thursday's 21 - were seen as 18 here and 8 on the River Lune, where 450 Wigeon, 225 Redshank and similar Dunlin, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, and a Great-crested Grebe were all close in from the bowling green.

Windy, cold, and 'you must be mad' as deemed by another birder who saw me on the headland from his car, and who obviously knows what he's talking about....But a good time was had by all!

Happy Days.

Black-throated Diver. Martin Lofgren @ Wild Bird Gallery 

As a mega for the location, I had to twitch the Blea Tarn Reservoir juvenile Black-throated Diver yesterday, after all it's on my doorstep, well about a mile away anyhow, and with a little elevation over the reservoir from the track to Middle Langthwaite Farm, the bird gave good views, and at one point obliged by keeping still whilst preening....Nice.

Smew. Jan Larsson @ Vingspann  

The perfect example of 'right place, right time' to find the mega diver there, and reminded me of a visit I paid to this very same reservoir 25 years ago on 5 March 1993, when I called there on my way to do my Saturday bit in the days of delivering car parts, to find a stunning drake Smew there, a scarce if not rare sight in our area today. 

Another record I came across, was that of up to 300 finches seen on 5 December 1995, my record reads....'A flock of Chaffinch and Brambling held up to 300 birds found below a Beech at Levens Bridge in Cumbria, the greater majority of this flock was of up to 250 Brambling with Chaffinch'....They were seen in a year when the beech mast crop was excellent, and when I had found eleven mostly local Brambling locations....Happy Days. 

Thanks to Martin and Jan for the excellent photographs.

Seen Any Butterflies Yet?

I don't expect to see any for a while just yet, but as with with my birding motto....'what next and where'....I'm going to be looking for my first butterfly of 2018.

A Red Admiral was spotted three weeks ago in two counties on New Years Day, and has been reported widely across the south of England since, the temperature in Plymouth yesterday was 12C/53F. A Peacock was also seen on 1 January, and since then, there have been reports of Brimstone and Comma, and nearer to home, a Small Tortoiseshell was seen at Banks near Southport on 7 January.

On the subject of butterflies....

Small Tortoiseshell. Pete Woodruff.

I took this shot of the ST in our garden in August last summer, but until I got the image up on my computer screen, I hadn't realised there was a moth to the right of the butterfly.

Even with a serious crop like this, I was only able to ID the moth as the difficult to seperate P.purpuralis or P.aurata, and certainly so with an image of poor quality like this, but according to the experts, the latter.

Back to birds today, but need the time to do the write-up.

Thanks to John Whittle for the excellent Dunlin in flight header.

Another Field Day.

The field waders at Cockersand were reduced in number yesterday, but still a few hundred birds in all fifteen fields I checked there, including 420 Black-tailed Godwit which never fail to impress me, similar number of Curlew and uncounted Redshank, Dunlin, and Turnstone, with Golden Plover reaching four figures still in their favoured field viewed off Slack Lane, and of 3 Grey Plover seen, one was also unusually in a field, and 2 Snipe flushed out of the ditches.

Red-throated Diver off Plover Scar 18 January. John Whittle.

The bird of the day with Mega status at Cockersands, was the Red-throated Diver off Plover Scar around the high tide, excellent views though difficult to keep up to as it was diving constantly.

Up to 225 Oystercatcher were the only waders on Plover Scar at near high tide, and notably odd, not a single one of them made a move when a Sparrowhawk came on the scene over the scar, to cruise out across the estuary in the direction of Sunderland Point, 25 Eider and 2 Great-crested Grebe were off here. The Cockerham Sands female Stonechat was playing hard to find and I had to search half way to Bank End towards the east end of the Caravan Park, before finding it on and around the marsh minus any sign of it's mate the 1st winter male, nor did I find the male at the lighthouse end yesterday.

Other notes on the return route, 2 Tree Sparrow were at Bank Houses, in and around the fields, 7 Stock Dove, 7 Reed Bunting, 5 Skylark, and I watched at least 30 Meadow Pipit drop into a field, 3 Knot were seen on the shore as the tide dropped off by Crook Farm.

I had no intention of attempting to count again, but claim the swan herd - the nearest of which could be seen close by off Moss Lane, and the farthest down at Bank End - still stands at around 250 Whooper Swan. On Jeremy Lane, 4 Bewick's Swan were with 92 Whooper Swan.

The canal basin at Glasson Dock produced the 2 Pochard drake again, with a drake Goosander, and of the new peak count of 21 Goldeneye, sixteen were on here, the other five on the Lune Estuary. A quick check of Conder Pool on the way back to Lancaster, 62 Mallard, 25 Curlew, 20 Wigeon, and 12 Redshank.

The Barn Owl.

Brian Rafferty has been recently seeing Barn Owl again, in particular at Cockersand. 

Barn Owl. Brian Rafferty.

I had an interesting conversation with a farmer yesterday, in which he volunteered some info about a successful breeding season last year, in which five young were successfully fledged.

I'm grateful to John Whittle for forwarding me his image of the Red-throated Diver as promised, nice one and thanks again John. Also another big Thank You to Brian, for his excellent Barn Owl image, one of many he achieved recently in our area Here