Now you see me....

....now you don't.

The Conder Common Terns had us fooled yesterday morning. I had an e-mail from a Fylde birder to tell me there was no sign by just after ten o'clock, and when I arrived at mid-day....no sign. But leaving my scope trained on the nest site I eventually picked up a black cap, followed by a red bill and....there she blows. The bird was squat and hidden by the vegetation which is going to make it difficult to see any chicks which should be there by this weekend according to my mathematics.

Humble though it may be, the Conder Green list for Monday looks like....

On Conder Pool, a Common Tern still sitting on the island, also 3 Little Grebe, and a Little Egret. In the creeks, a Greenshank, a solitary Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Common Sandpiper, and in the channel downstream from the rail bridge, c.400 Redshank and a 'few' Dunlin. 

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, the number was swelled by the birds from the Conder Channel which I watched fly off to join and make a total of c.600 Redshank, 25 Dunlin, and a Little Egret.

At Cockersands, the high tide was at 5.33pm, was a relatively low 7.80m, with the sun directly into my eyes, all making for a not so perfect set of circumstances for observing birds, but I managed to estimate at least 200 Dunlin, and 8 Ringed Plover including a juvenile.

Yellow Wagtail Martin Jump 

Prior to the Plover Scar session I did a wander along the headland to be rewarded by a juvenile Yellow Wagtail in the field behind Bank House Cottage. I also noted c.20 Goldfinch and 60 Tree Sparrow. Thanks for the photograph Martin, my bird was a juvenile but I'm pleased you was granted access to see this excellent adult Yellow Wagtail.  

Over the same field as last Thursday, I again estimated 'hirundines' virtually all of which amounted to 300 Sand Martin with a 'few' Swallow, House Martin and a single Swift seen....This field/area is presumably producing an emergence of insects.

  Common Tern Brian Rafferty  

I don't think we will be able to see the Common Terns on Conder Pool at this stage, but it would be nice if we did. Thanks for the image Brian, much appreciated.

The Ringed Plover.

 Knot David Cookson    

A multitude of waders use our estuaries during the winter months, and the spectacle of seeing a mass of these birds in the air like the Knot in DC's image is quite an experience. But the scenery is changing and populations of the UK's most popular waders have declined during the past 10 years. The precise reasons behind the declines is not fully understood, but the distribution of wintering waterbirds appears to have shifted, and there may also be a connection caused by young waders produced in the Arctic being fewer in number. 

Ringed Plover Simon Hawtin

Amongst the most abundant of wintering waders on the UK's estuaries, the Ringed Plover (RP) is the species suffering the greatest decline of almost 40%, which to some extent adds to the pleasure of finding a pair with three young at Cockersands on 1 July. 

The relatively small breeding population in Britain and NW Europe today is the most southerly in the world, and a combined total of British and Irish birds in the early 1990's was estimated to be that of 10,000 pairs. Today the figure of this bird breeding in Lancashire is probably fewer than 50 pairs which is another reason for it being an excellent breeding record at Cockersands this year.

Predominantly passage migrants with the largest numbers in spring, it was brilliant to record up to 900 RP's at Plover Scar on 13 May this year. August and early September should show coastal passage birds though usually in smaller number than those in spring.

  

Mitchell recorded the RP as....'the commonest wader of the Lancashire coast which breeds along the entire shoreline'. But even then human disturbance was beginning to take its toll on the species breeding in the vicinity of the then rapidly growing seaside resorts, and both he and Oakes recognised this.

To be honest, taking into account the amount of dog traffic I witnessed  - sometimes six at a time with professional handlers - on almost every visit I made to Plover Scar during July and all along this section of the coast at Cockersands, I'm quite surprised the RP pair with three young were able to tolerate and survive to fledging and the ability to escape the threat by these animals. This kind of disturbance is an issue we really must address, to try and halt the unnecessary threat to these coastal birds. 

Thanks to DC and SH for the must 'clik the pik' images.     

We Have Lift Off....

....well having checked out the dates at Plover Scar in my little black book we should have!

The three Ringed Plover young I've been watching since finding them on Plover Scar at the beginning of the month, have now surely fledged, though I had no evidence of this on my last visit on Friday when I found them once again. This despite the perils of a place like Plover Scar where I had to confront - diplomatically you understand - a dog handler who came out on to the scar with six hounds despite seeing me obviously observing birds and actually walking through my field of view.

OK, so there was no more than 100 waders on here at the time, but that's not the point. To be fair when I approached him he seemed very understanding when I explained the situation and pointed out the need - particularly for the young birds - to be without the danger and disturbance of dogs roaming free. Asked if he could 'avoid the area for at least the rest of this week please' he said he would. 

Also on Plover Scar, c.60 Dunlin and c.40 Ringed Plover. A flock of at least 100 Tree Sparrow seen in the Bank Houses area with another small flock along Slack Lane, 2 Whimbrel were off Crook Cottage.   

Swift Arkive

An estimate of at least 400 'hirundines' were over a field at Cockersands, and were broken down to c.300 Swift, and 100 Swallow, with a 'few' House Martin and Sand Martin.

At Conder Green, 2 Common Tern, 2 Greenshank, a Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Grebe, c.350 Redshank came on to the pool as the tide pushed them off the estuary, with 6 Dunlin and a Snipe noted. Five Common Sandpiper and a Little Egret were in the creeks, and there was at least 20 House Martin around River Winds and Cafe d' Lune, with up to eight nests at the two buildings. I located a Whitethroat nesting in brambles opposite the entrance to the Caravan Park.

Absent without leave.

Little Ringed Plover Noushka Dufort

The Little Ringed Plover, of which I've seen only one at Conder Pool this year, an adult on 30 May and not since. Thank you Noushka....Excellent. Also, many thanks to Paul for the new header of the brilliant little RNP....yes, brilliant. 

Short And Sweet.

I didn't have much spare time on my hands on Tuesday - and had none at all on Wednesday - but I was intent on checking 'The Plovers of Plover Scar' at high tide.

But I had time to first look in on Conder Pool to find the Common Tern still sitting with no sign of its mate. A Spotted Redshank was roosting with a small number of Redshank on the island to the right of the viewing screen, 5 Common Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, and a Little Egret were in the creeks.

I almost stayed put in my car ready to abandon the visit to Cockersands which offers panoramic views across the bay and out into the Irish Sea to always give a clear indication of the weather which on this ocassion was that it was going to 'P' down anytime soon. But such was my intent that I pushed my luck and off I went. On my way to the scar I had an excellent sighting of at least 120 Tree Sparrow in two groups of c.80/40, 10 Greenfinch, and 8 Linnet.

Dunlin Phillip Tomkinson 

With the tide well up Plover Scar was reduced to a smaller area above water and the pair of Ringed Plover and three young were soon located. Also on the scar, c.40 Dunlin, 10 Ringed Plover, and a Whimbrel.

Storming Cockersands. Pete Woodruff. 

Short but didn't end all that sweet, as the rains won the race and got to me before I could escape them. It took me all of 12 minutes to get back to the motor by which time I was a wet Mackerel once again. But I have to admit it was all worth while to find this scarce little breeding wader - along with the scarce breeding Common Terns - and still on the road to success.

Clouded Yellow.

Clouded Yellow Marc Heath 

A search through my records to find the following on 7 August 2006.....'Seen in thirty minutes along the sea wall between Fluke Hall and Cockers Dyke 12 Clouded Yellow were all on the wing and flying NE'....has prompted me to wonder if I'm going to see Clouded Yellow butterfly this August.

Local Breeders....

....other birds to note, and a BD.

Checking up on the local breeders yesterday, I found a Common Tern at Conder Green, sitting tight on the nest on the island on Conder Pool, but had no sighting of the other bird on two visits I made there. Also on the pool, 2 Little Grebe one of which was in summer plumage, I counted at least 52 Lapwing and 40 Redshank, and noted in the creeks, 5 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, a Snipe, and 2 Little Egret.

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock held too much tidal water and waders were too distant in the haze, but I could estimate 300 Redshank and 150 Dunlin from the bowling green, with 2 Goosander seen again.

Ringed Plover Juvenile Brian Rafferty     

At Cockersands, high tide Plover Scar was desperate and I found no more than eleven waders in total, but hey....the other local breeders the Ringed Plover family were found still in tact, the three young were the first birds I clapped eyes on when I arrived at the scar and are set to fledge before the week is out....looking good.

There was even bigger numbers of Swallow today over the fields and loafing around on the fence wires, with a few Sand Martin in the mix, also at least 60 Tree Sparrow seen, and a Whitethroat seen disappearing into a bush, with 7 Whimbrel off Crook Cottage. Four Peacock butterflies were in the cover crop field on Slack Lane.

The Banded Demoiselle.

Banded Demoiselle Marc Heath 

The Banded Demoiselle have expanded their Lancashire range more than any other species in recent years, they are mainly found along slow-flowing lowland streams and rivers, particularly those with muddy bottoms. 

Only two species of damselfly in Britain have obviously coloured wings. In the Banded Demoiselle the wings of the mature male have a dark blue-black band across the central portion. The body colour in the male is metallic blue-green, the flight is fluttering and butterfly-like and I was impressed in watching the beauty of a male 'stream-side butterfly' the Banded Demoiselle as it flew back and forth on the River Conder upstream from the A588 road bridge before disappearing from view.

Thanks to Brian and Marc for the excellent 'clik the pik' photographs.  

Playing The Game.

Excellent news from M&S with a free ad for them on Birds2blog. 

You may remember reading about the issue almost a year ago that M&S were starting to sell Red Grouse in a select range of stores. At the time M&S were taken to task by conservationists and the public at large about the fact they could well be being supplied Red Grouse from moorlands where birds of prey have been relentlessly persecuted in the name of maintaining good stocks of this game bird.

Red Grouse Brian Rafferty

The game bird proved highly popular with M&S customers when it became the first supermarket chain to sell it last year. It was available in two London stores, and M&S had hoped to sell grouse much more widely in some of their other stores. But now they have ceased to stock the game bird on their shelves whilst a code of practice for suppliers is researched.

All this is another small step of many in the right direction of ending raptor persecution on our moors once and for all, and is to be added to three peaceful protests coming up next month on 10 August at Dunsop Bridge in the Forest of Bowland, Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, and South Tyne Trail at Lambley, the latter of which is a FULL event with a capacity crowd booked in at the venue.

 

Hen Harrier. Copy Permitted.

However, on a down note, I recall my claim that an e-petition to 'Ban Driven Grouse Shooting' was an all time best petition with regards to attempting to 'Save The Hen Harrier' and I still maintain that opinion. But as I see it to date this petition is certainly not looking like a success at all. When I looked at the figures for signatures a few minutes ago after being up and running for several weeks now it stood at a mere 9,387.

OK, so there are some who won't want to sign anything which is aimed at banning any method of driving birds towards guns....But where are the one million plus RSPB members signatures on this petitions list who you would suppose are the country's greatest 'Bird Lovers'.

Would you sign the petition HERE please.

Thanks to BR for the excellent Red Grouse, photographed perfectly in its natural environment on Clougha in Bowland, an area I personally know well.

On The Move.

The Common Sandpipers at Conder Green are always amongst the first to show themselves as early movers having been there since last month.

Sanderling Brian Rafferty

But on Thursday I had more evidence of movement when on Plover Scar at Cockersands I found 2 Sanderling, at best a rare autumn migrant here and a delight to see. They were accompanied by 5 Whimbrel seen as more movers. A Wheatear was off the headland, my first autumn bird and was another species to join the 'Movers Club' along with a 'few' Meadow Pipit. 

Merlin. Phillip Tomkinson.

Bringing up the rear of movers at Cockersands was a Merlin, a juvenile/female down from the moors at an early date skimming low over the field off Slack Lane. 

A thorough search of Plover Scar just after high tide had me finding two adult Ringed Plover but no sign of any young, but I'm still not prepared to call this final as these birds could well have had their heads down amongst the stones so will give it another try hopefully on Monday. Others on the scar, estimates of 350 Oystercatcher, 60 Dunlin, a Little Egret, and 4 Eider off here. Swallow were in good number over the fields, with an odd House Martin or two, also with counts less than a double figure, Linnet, and Tree Sparrow. 

Stoat. Phillip Tomkinson.

As I drove along Moss Lane a Stoat ran ahead of me for a while on the grass verge.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, numbers of Lapwing and Curlew are building up, and I saw 5 Pink-footed Geese here again, with at least 15 Greylag, 2 Goosander, and 2 Little Egret. Unable to ever drive past and ignore Conder Pool, a few minutes here gave a Common Tern on the island, with 6 Common Sandpiper in the creeks, and a Grey Wagtail noted.

Thanks to BR for the Sanderling, and to PT for the Merlin and the Stoat, they are really appreciated. 

Seconds Out....

....round 2,562....well, maybe not quite that many!

On Tuesday there was a little more 'life' at Conder Green than there had been when I was there the day before, in fact a Fylde birder reliably informed me of eight Greenshank and a juvenile Ruff in the creeks earlier in the morning. I missed the latter and of the eight I found just 2 Greenshank, 6 Common Sandpiper was two up on Tuesdays count. Also of note, 3 Little Egret, a Little Grebe, a Sedge Warbler seen with a bill full of insects, 3 Whitethroat, and a Grey Wagtail, c.220 Redshank were in the Conder channel. If the female Tufted Duck I saw on Conder Pool with three young is the same bird as seen five days ago when it had four, it has lost one I'm afraid.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Black-tailed Godwit which was in breeding plumage though obviously not doing what it's plumage suggests. At least 200 Redshank, 5 Dunlin, and a Little Egret noted.

There was little of note at Cockersands despite a good rake around including into some nooks and crannies, 10 Tree Sparrow, 8 Linnet, 2 Skylark, and good numbers of Pied Wagtail here and there.

The Conder Pool Common Terns.

Common Tern Noushka Dufort

The Common Tern pair are still performing their breeding roles of one sitting and one fishing, feeding, and standing guard. I've seen this feeding behaviour several times and really hope all this will come to a successful conclusion in early September....John Bateman would have loved this, he meticulously documented every species of bird to visit Conder Pool.

Ringed Plover Bob Bushell 

The Plover Scar Ringed Plovers.

Since my last sighting of the pair of Ringed Plover and three chicks on Thursday 17 July, Iv'e checked out Plover Scar at Cockersands on my following two visits. Although the tide has been out I've seen nothing to suggest they are still around with no sign of the adult birds and certainly no sign of the chicks. However, I'm drawing no conclusions until I see the high tide today/tomorrow when - if they do still survive - they'll be under my nose at the landward end of the scar.

Thanks to Noushka and Bob for the images. With the exception of any pics taken by P.Woodruff, Birds2blog images are always excellent and well worthy of a 'clik the pik'.

Mediocre!

 

Woodchat Shrike Antonio Puigg

Not connected to today's post, but it kinda reminded me of Friday 9 May, a day a little more exciting than my birding day was yesterday. 

Thanks Antonio....Excellent. 

Well I'm probably likely to try again many more times on the Conder/Glasson/Cockersands tour, though yesterdays results won't go very far to encourage me to do so, this is at best mediocre, but here goes....

Though the weather certainly wasn't dull, and I don't use this kind of language readily, I'm tempted to say my birding was dull yesterday, the count of 4 Common Sandpiper at Conder Green was a clear indication of this. Other notables were singles of Greenshank, Snipe, Little Egret, Little Grebe, with c.120 Redshank, and 3 Dunlin.

Yellow Wagtail Simon Hawtin

Two reports of Yellow Wagtail at Cockersands on Sunday/Monday had me spending the rest of the afternoon looking for these Mellow Yellows to find two in the dried out ditch running through a field to the south of Slack Lane. A good number of Swallow with fewer Sand Martin and fewer still House Martin, were feeding over the many fields having had a grass cutting day here. I saw a mobile flock of at least 30 Tree Sparrow, and picked out a Peregrine Falcon overhead before going into rocket mode to take a wader out of the sky over the Cocker channel in what must have been the easiest strike this bird has had in a long time.

Common Tern on Conder Pool.     

The female Common Tern on Conder Pool sits tight on the nest whilst the male was seen heading off to some nearby fishing ground.

I reckon with luck there should be young here by around 6 August, they are known to leave the nest in three days though they return for brooding, which means they could be seen by 9 August, they can swim at an early age, and should be fledged by 3 September. Watch this space, or better still....watch Conder Pool.  

More Of The Same....

....and a trip to the harbour - well Red Nab - on Friday afternoon.

A visit to Conder Green on Thursday had the pair of Common Tern still engaged with their 'late' and first breeding attempt on Conder Pool. Also the now resident Spotted Redshank with c.80 Redshank, 4 Little Egret, 2 Little Grebe, 4 Wigeon, and a female Tufted Duck with four young. The peak autumn count this year of up to 16 Common Sandpiper were in the creeks and in the channel off the old railway bridge, with 5 Dunlin noted.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, a distant 10 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.120 Redshank and 20 Dunlin were close from the bowling green, 5 Eider were hauled out, 17 Canada Geese noted again, with the recently seen 5 Pink-footed Geese and Greylags nowhere to be seen.

I moved no further than Plover Scar in the time I spent at Cockersands where initially the place looked deserted after c.60 Golden Plover took to flight as I approached, but I eventually located the pair of Ringed Plover and three chicks which appeared to be returning from a wander in the direction of the abbey along the shore. From the coastal path I watched them settle back down on the scar as the tide reached its height.

Ringed Plover Marc Heath 

The Plover Scar chicks are two weeks older than this one and noticeably so by now, they need up to two weeks yet before the month is out to reach fledging....here's hoping.

The Red Nab Gulls.

Returning from over the border in Cumbria on Friday I decided to pay a visit to Red Nab to watch the gulls on the incoming tide to count 12 Mediterranean Gull including the/another green ringed bird, though unfortunately distance had it I was still not able to nail the marks. 

Peregrine Falcon Martin Jump

Two Peregrine Falcon did what they do best and cleared out every last gull off Red Nab en mass. On the reserve I saw the male Emperor Dragonfly patrolling the pool again, a female ovipositing, and 4 Gatekeeper seen.

Thanks to Marc and Martin for the excellent RP and PF....Much appreciated.