Starling Spectacular.

With my birding in serious jeopardy - possibly for a few days - I can be thankful that Brian Rafferty hasn't been in the same situation with his photography and that he was able to get to Marton Mere at Blackpool this Wednesday 28 October to witness and record on film the truly amazing spectacle of an estimated 60,000 Starlings in flight and preparing to go to roost.



Brian also had the advantage of an equally spectacular sunset to compliment his already stunning images of an event which stays in the mind forever. Thanks once more to BR for giving me access to these pictures and allowing me to post them on Birds2blog.

Please visit BR's blog here http://brianraffertywildlifephotographer.blogspot.com/ or the link on the left of this post to see some excellent photographs.

Marton Mere remains my best ever experience of this same spectacle many years ago when an albino Starling was present with a similar sized flock to the current one here and stood out from the other birds quite clearly as I recall.

El Desperado!

It soon became desperate today though Conder Green gave up some of its specialities other than the recent Ruff and the Kingfisher both of which eluded me. Its going to be interesting to look for the Common Sandpiper on every visit to Conder Green as the winter progresses, last year it was a little weird to see one/this bird feeding in the Conder channel one day when the mud was white with frost. A Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Snipe, 2 Goldeneye, and the 11 Little Grebe noted again today.

The desperation was already beginning to set in and the wader numbers on the Lune Estuary were similar to the past two visits here with circa 1,250 Golden Plover, 850 Knot, and 720 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Little Egret also seen again. On the canal basin a Little Grebe noted.

In the hope of some PFG with collars to read or Whooper Swans with rings I drove to the Pilling area and scored a resounding zero with not a 'goose' or 'swan' in sight though I had no time to go searching inland, I came away with 2 Little Egret off Fluke Hall in my book.

Yesterday I observed two incidents of behaviour which intrigued me both involving the Pied Wagtail. In the first on Conder Pool a Pied Wagtail was in hot pursuit of the Common Sandpiper and had locked on to it in the way a Merlin has the ability to lock onto its prey, the Pied Wagtail chased it all the way across the pool and followed at speed every twist and turn with remarkable agility before letting go and flying off. The second incident was a role reversal on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock when a Lapwing was in pursuit of a Pied Wagtail all the way up the estuary before disappearing from view. In neither of these incidents could I understand what was going on, why was the Pied Wagtail chasing the Common Sandpiper then the Lapwing chasing the Pied Wagtail, in both cases with great determination and apparent good reason......but what was the reason.

Thanks to Peter Guy for the two excellent images of the 'green listers' in today's pic.

Stone Curlew......

......I don't think so. But I reckon this guy - well I suppose it could be gall - deserves a post all of its own so I'm giving it one. The Peruvian Thick-Knee, a bird I'd call 'brilliant' courtesy of Colin Bushell.

Northern Pintail (Anas Acuta)

Northern Pintail (Anas Acuta)
Originally uploaded by ebirdman

This is an experimental 'Blog this photo' from another website to see how it ends up on Birds2blog. It is a photograph taken by the son of Paul Baker in British Columbia, Canada one of my photographic subscribers to this blog.

Many Thanks Paul.

All over again!

Well not really all over again, I got no further than Cockersands today as I loitered along the way but to no avail and little - if anything - more to add to yesterdays excellent day along the coast. Needless to say I achieved no photographs worthy of going public with so I 'nicked' - with my fully up to date permit issued by the intrepid traveler Colin Bushell - a couple of Colins Peruvian exotica with the Franklins Gulls on the Lima coast above, and the truly amazing Inca Tern at Pucusana below.

Back to the reality of Conder Green where there are now 11 Little Grebe, the Ruff obliged yet again in the creeks, also Spotted Redshank, Common Sandpiper, and Kingfisher, the Goldeneye was still on Conder Pool. At Glasson Dock an adult Mediterranean Gull again, the Golden Plover number stood at around 1,200, c.850 Knot and c.720 Bar-tailed Godwit were to note, a Little Egret was again over by Waterloo Cottage.

I spent in excess of an hour at Cockersands sifting through good numbers of Redshank and Dunlin between Crook Farm and Crook Cottage to no avail, then went to the caravan park end to spend a similar length of time sifting through several hundred Black-headed Gulls again to no avail but did note 4 Little Egret, and if there are any Wigeon in this area of Morecambe Bay then its here but yet to be counted as I ran out of time and the light was rapidly fading. On the way home down Moss Lane I spotted c.25 Fieldfare from a moving car.

A year ago tomorrow (28 October 2008) John Bateman and I observed a truly amazing 300+ Whooper Swans in a field in the Cogie Hill area. I have a distinct feeling this is an event which will never be repeated anywhere near this area again.

Idleness......

Jay courtesy of Brian Rafferty.

......was my enemy this morning and dragging myself out of bed seemed an ordeal but I managed to get to Conder Green by 9.45 and soon 'nailed' the 10 Little Grebe on Conder Pool again, also noted on the pool the wintering Common Sandpiper, my first Goldeneye, 2 Goosander, 5 Snipe, and 7 Tufted Duck. The Ruff was in the creeks again as were at least 80 Teal, and a Little Egret was on the marsh off the old railway bridge and was the first of 23 I was going to see today.

At Glasson Dock 2 Little Grebe were noted on the canal basin, and on the Lune Estuary a Whooper Swan was a nice surprise and was the first of 59 I was going to see today. Also seen was a Merlin (on Colloway Marsh) 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls, c.1,250 Golden Plover were the only waders of note today, and I counted just 10 Wigeon, a Little Egret was over by Waterloo Cottage again, a Red Admiral was also seen. From Bodie Hill circa numbers were, 250 Bar-tailed Godwit, 120 Golden Plover, 75 Wigeon, and a Little Egret.

I planned to visit Cockersands as the tide came in and headed off towards Pilling. Opposite Sand Villa a group of 'swans' caught my eye and turned out to have been 4 Whooper Swans with 8 Mute Swans. Pilling Marsh was deserted by viewable birds but held c.200 Pink-footed Geese and 5 Little Egret. From Fluke Hall Lane 54 Whooper Swans were in a stubble field, and I saw a male Sparrowhawk and 2 Little Egret at Fluke Hall before I made a quick turnaround to head off to Cockersands where the juvenile Curlew Sandpiper finally gave itself up to me opposite Crook Cottage, also to note here was another Little Egret off Crook Farm, 33 Eider off Plover Scar again, and 12 Little Egret in the channel off the Caravan Park was a sighting which - even though we can find this species just about anywhere on our coastline these days - I still find the sight of this number together quite amazing......So the number of Little Egrets to be found on the coastline between Knott End and Arnside is 100 and how many?

Repeat Performance.

With BT today, a repeat of yesterday for me except we began

at Aldcliffe where 3 Little Egret were on the marsh and 6 Snipe were in the air as was a Sparrowhawk over by the tip. On Freemans Pools up to 20 Wigeon was almost double that of the count later in the day on the River Lune at Glasson Dock, also a pair of Gadwall and Shoveler were of note, and a Great-spotted Woodpecker was in flight.

At Conder Green the first sight to greet us was that of the entire wader residents of the Lune Estuary being in the air showing signs of mass panic the result of which had been caused by the female Merlin which I eventually tracked down to a post on the marsh, a sight to stir anyone to excitement. The Ruff was again in the creeks as were 3 Snipe, and again I could only find nine of the recent ten Little Grebe on Conder Pool. At Glasson Dock the Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot were at least the same as yesterdays count of 720 and 650 respectfully, an adult Mediterranean Gull seen again, also c.450 Golden Plover and a Little Egret, the 11 Wigeon count remains a low number in this area.

At Cockersands 33 Eider, 9 Red-breasted Merganser, just 6 Wigeon, and a Little Egret flew towards Plover Scar, the wader numbers here were unremarkable but we didn't linger today. In a field near Bank Houses 10 Stock Dove was a high count with Wood Pigeons and a Sparrowhawk cleared the field in an instant. On Pilling Marsh the PFG had deserted again but 12 Little Egret were seen between Lane Ends and Fluke Hall, 10 Whooper Swan heads were counted in the Broadfleet channel but bearing in mind I found twenty three here yesterday possibly more out of sight.

Thanks once more to David Cookson for the excellent image of six Whooper Swans.

Back to normal......

......well back to birding anyway and thats perfectly normal to me.

Perhaps I should deal with today's pic which I've posted for the sheer excitement of seeing the Gannet in the image as it plunges towards the sea, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything that follows but so what. My thanks to David Cookson for the pic.

I spent the best part of two hours peering into bushes and nooks and crannies everywhere at Conder Green this morning plus despite counting them a dozen times as they dived continuously I could only find 9 Little Grebe on Conder Pool, also the Kingfisher seen, I could win money taking bets on guarantees of seeing this bird here at the moment, 5 Snipe were also seen and 'the' Ruff was in the creeks again.

On the canal basin at Glasson Dock I counted at least 70 Tufted Duck and noted 2 drake Pochard. On the Lune Estuary I noted circa numbers of 800 Lapwing, 720 Bar - tailed Godwit, 650 Knot and 160 Dunlin, I saw no more than 10 Golden Plover here today, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, a most interesting count was 9 Goosander, a Little Egret was over by Waterloo Cottage, and an adult Mediterranean Gull was the star bird.

At Cockersands I managed yet again to 'miss' a Curlew Sandpiper obviously this years boggie bird for me, an adult drake Scaup was with 45 Eider, 4 Red-breasted Merganser, and a Peregrine Falcon revealed c.1,500 Knot and was eventually mobbed briefly by the noticeably smaller Kestrel, I made no attempt at counting unimpressive numbers of Redshank and Dunlin but did note a solitary Turnstone and Grey Plover.

Pilling Marsh at high tide had been deserted by the PFG and I had just counted 23 Whooper Swan from Lane Ends towards Fluke Hall when fifteen decided to relocate elsewhere inland, of the eight remaining six where immatures, 3 Little Egret where also on the marsh.

Between Fluke Hall and Cockers Dyke at least 450 Pink-footed Geese were on Preesall Sands and I saw three more Little Egret. By the time I reached Cockers Dyke I'd run out of time but did establish no Med Gull/s and nothing out of the ordinary amongst the waders but don't like the 'out of time' situation and couldn't do any counting, otherwise the day for me had certainly been birding and after a six day absence that's ......back to normal.

Erroneous!

No birding again today, to call this unfortunate is something of an understatement but hopefully things may change tomorrow when I can get back to checking out the birds of Conder Green and the Lune Estuary before turning my interests to some more upland - and elsewhere - birding/birds.

The main purpose for this particular 'gap filler' is to put my cards on the table in the brave manner I have become known for in my birding capacity and clear up an erroneous record I made on two occasions recently when amongst my sightings for the days in question I included the record of a 1st winter Mediterranean Gull on Conder Pool which in fact on reflection more resembles a 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull, but not being the greatest 'gull' person in the world would you please note I have referred to it as 'more resembling' and so as not to make an even bigger cock up on the issue - in case I'm wrong again - we'll leave it there and depart from that avenue.

I know - and am friendly with - most of the 'good' birders anywhere in and out of the LDBWS area and have always been grateful in the past for the help they have given me both on request and without it, and the help in correcting this error is no exception.

In the good old music hall tradition the saying goes......I'm not going to let this worry me......well why should I, after all the latest and greatest 'boob's' by other birders from a long line I've picked up along the way recently is a Lesser Scaup which turned out to have been a Tufted Duck, which isn't quite as big a 'boob' as the Green Sandpiper which was a Common Sandpiper, and should I conclude this rant with probably the worst one of all, that of the Cormorant which - even I knew - was a Shag.

If I do need to apologise for this error then I'm doing so now, the trouble with me is that I really think I'm infallible when in truth there's no such thing but you do come across one or two birders who think there is and couldn't face up to the type of confession I just made.

Not being prepared to post without a picture to brighten up the blog I'm grateful to David Cookson for the two stunning images of Little Egret on the Eric Morecambe complex at Leighton Moss as the sun set one evening recently. My photographic contacts produce an ever increasing perfection in the art.

Coming Soon.

With another of those enforced days 'off the road' and no way of overcoming it I thought it an idea to pass away the odd hour and keep the blog alive by posting one or two of my - mainly moderate - pics of some birds we can at least hope may be 'Coming Soon' to turn up in the area this winter like the Snow Bunting in the pic which I took at Lytham a few years ago, but the place I will be looking quite closely and regularly in our area will be Cockersands, a location well overdue the appearance of this bird.

A bird more likely to be seen will be the Twite which can be found at lots of locations including anywhere from Aldcliffe/Conder Green/Cockersands/Bank End/Pilling Lane Ends/Fluke Hall and all the way to Knott End. The bird on the left in this pic taken at Conder Green last year shows its pink rump reasonably well, not something easy to observe in the Twite.


The Waxwing never fails to draw the crowds when it shows up like this one which was at Levens Village last year with some of its relatives on 14 November. I must say this is just about the worst pic of this set but represents a nice record for me of this enigmatic species.

And finally the Bean Goose and another pic from last year when four birds were in a stubble field on Fluke Hall Lane at Pilling. Although two of the three in this pic are showing their rears it was probably my last chance to see that number of Bean Geese at one sighting in our area for some time I would guess.