It's All Twite By Me!

Twite. Pete Woodruff.

I'm always pleased to find them, and up to 40 Twite around the Cockersands Abbey area were my 'Birds of the Day' yesterday. The Whooper Swan herd remains in tact, although to be honest as opposed to last Thursday's count of at least 400, today's looked more like 300 with a lot of agricultural activity going on around the area causing some disturbance. 

Off Plover Scar, I counted 27 Eider, and the only waders of note were 24 Black-tailed Godwit off Crook Farm, and c.350 Golden Plover in the flood ruined field off Slack Lane. There was thousands of marauding Starlings here again today, and I saw 6 Brown Hare in the fields.

Fieldfare. Martin Lofgren @ Wild Bird Gallery  

Off Moss Lane, 24 Fieldfare, a Song Thrush, and a Kestrel were all in the field opposite Gardners Farm. 

The Lune Estuary lacked any action today, with c.450 Black-tailed Godwit my only notes. Colloway Marsh held at least 8,000 Pink-footed Geese strung out as far as the eye could see looking north from Glasson Dock, with surely other interest intermingling with them given a little less distance and a some haze to deal with.

At Conder Green, the Spotted Redshank was in the creeks, seen as the most reliable bird to be found in the area. On Conder Pool, 8 Black-tailed Godwit took off to go down again over the canal to Jeremy Lane, a drake Goosander and 3 Little Grebe were noted.

All a bit subdued, but brilliant to be out and about birding, the walk along the headland at Cockersands was a delight, and the Twite even more so....I think I'll do it again sometime!!

Thanks to Martin for adding a little glamour to the post with his excellent image of the Fieldfare.

The Numbers Game.

Pink-footed Geese. Brian Rafferty.

There was some impressive numbers to be seen on Thursday on the Lune Estuary, with probably in excess of 13,000 Pink-footed Geese seen, an estimated 4,000 were on Colloway Marsh, with 9,000 on Cockerham Marsh which I viewed from midway between Cockerham Sands Country Park and Bank End, amongst these was a Barnacle Goose

I found 1,300 Black - tailed Godwit on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, then later in the day as the tide raced in around 3.45pm, I saw up to 2,500 between the lighthouse and Crook Farm, that's an impressive 3,800 Black-tailed Godwit into the little black book, though I strongly suspect some were duplicated from the earlier count upstream from here at Glasson Dock, even so an unprecedented number of at least 2,500 of the species on the Lune Estuary.

When I found the Curlew on the Cocker Estuary I decided to become more diligent in my counting for once, and came up with 1,620 as another impressive number of a bird in serious decline. Continuing with my diligent counting, the long staying and excellent high number of swans had formed a more compact herd than of late, today up to 400 Whooper Swan were behind the Caravan Park, seen as another unprecedented number in our area.

Starlings. Brian Rafferty. 

There was huge black patches in the fields and black clouds in the sky with a combined total of at least 10,000 Starlings seen on Jeremy Lane and at Cockersands. 

The best of the rest.

On Conder Pool, 45 Wigeon, 21 Redshank, a Snipe, and 3 Little Grebe. Other notes from the Lune Estuary, 31 Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and a Goosander. And at Cockersands, waders in the fields included at least 200 Golden Plover, 4 Eider were off Plover Scar, and 6 Blackbird, a Meadow Pipit, and Robin were in Bank Houses horse paddock.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the Pink-footed Geese and the Starling mumuration at Blackpool North Pier. 

Monday 29 February Continued....

The Shoveler.

Shoveler Martin Lofgren @  Wild Bird Gallery

To add to the drake Shoveler seen at Cockersands on Monday, I had seen another drake Shoveler on Conder Pool earlier in the day, a scarce bird on the pool as it is at Cockersands, it's a scarce breeder at Leighton Moss and an irregular visitor elsewhere in our recording area.

And the also ran.... 

I noted 32 Wigeon on the pool, just one of 2 Little Grebe the other in the creeks, and the Conder Green star birds - the Spotted Redshank and Common Sandpiper - both put in an appearance in the creeks.

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock was somewhat deserted with Lapwing in the main departing to their summer/breeding grounds, and no Golden Plover seen. But c.200 Curlew, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, and a Great-crested Grebe were noted, with 52 Goldeneye counted. A Peregrine Falcon was again squat on Colloway Marsh as it often is.

At Cockersands, the c.300 Whooper Swan here in number since mid-January, appear to have no intention of making any moves just yet and have remained throughout and scattered across the fields towards Bank End. In Bank Houses horse paddock, I again counted at least 15 Blackbird, with a Kestrel on lookout from atop a tree. Plover Scar held c.350 Oystercatcher, and estimates of 450 Knot, 300 Curlew, 250 Golden Plover, and 2 Ringed Plover were off Crook Farm with Monday's Four Figure Godwits 

Thanks to Martin Lofgren for the drake Shoveler.

Four Figure Godwits....

....with a couple of other notable 'frantic feeding' records at Cockersands for Monday 29 February, and some moderate photographic efforts too.

Black-tailed Godwit. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Perfect timing yesterday when I arrived along the road to Crook Farm at just after 3.30 pm, the tide had dropped off enough for at least 1,000 Black-tailed Godwit (BTG) to feed frantically on the freshly uncovered mud, a few of which were advanced in their stunning rufous neck and breast breeding plumage. 

I had seen a published record of 1,200 BTG at Sunderland Point last Tuesday 23 February, and that flock was probably matched by this one here today. In fact on Friday 26 February, I had seen up to 1,000 BTG on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, and later found 650 off Crook Farm at Cockersands, I had thought at the time, if these two groups of BTG were independent of each other, then 1,650 BTG were on the Lune Estuary on that date. Whatever, these are excellent counts of the species in this area.

Wigeon. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Also as the tide ebbed at Cockersands, several hundred Wigeon were also feeding frantically and were accompanied by at least one pair of Pintail, and more surprisingly a drake Shoveler, seen as a rare sight at Cockersands, and a scarce and irregular visitor elsewhere in our recording area.

Eider. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Twenty two Eider - heads down in the pic above - were also feeding off Long Tongue, this was four more than the eighteen I had seen here on my last visit which had been my first Eider here since 8 October 2015.

The rest of the account of the birds seen yesterday to follow....I ran out of blogging time today.

Home On The Range....

....well something like that!

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

The water level has begun to fall on Conder Pool and the nest boxes can now be seen resting on the island again, ready and waiting for the Common Terns to arrive again this year, though this LBBG and it's mate always seem to show an interest in the island and its boxes, but they never seem to produce any results.

Conder Pool was fairly quiet on Friday, though to contradict that comment, 56 Curlew and 26 Wigeon were of note, with 4 Little Grebe seen. A Spotted Redshank was on the marsh with Redshank escaping the high tide. The Lune Estuary held two excellent counts, with up to 1,000 Black-tailed Godwit and 800 Knot present, 52 Goldeneye were also counted.

At Cockersands, the Whooper Swan herd are still around, and whilst trying to get a reasonable accurate count from a viewpoint behind Lower Bank House, 2 Barn Owl were hunting together again, and in Bank Houses horse paddock I counted 15 Blackbird. As I walked along the headland the Turnstones were all along the stony shore as the tide dropped, and 18 Eider off Plover Scar were the first I've seen here since I saw six almost five months ago on 8 October 2015.

Off Crook Farm, I estimated up to 1,250 waders feeding, broken down to 630 Black-tailed Godwit, 450 Knot, 170 Dunlin, a Grey Plover not unusual as a single, and a Golden Plover most unusual as a single. 

The Grey Partridge. 

Grey Partridge Geoff Gradwell

It was good to meet Maurice and Barry on Friday, and during the conversation I was asked when I last saw Grey Partridge, a species on the Red List, and declining nationally. I wasn't able to say at the time, but having now searched my records I note the last time I saw GP was 13 May 2014 when I had two birds at Cockersands. I'm not holding my breath for my next sighting.

And finally....

I was pleased to see a Little Stint had been found - Ian Hartley - yesterday, seen on the Lune Estuary from the car park at Conder Green with Dunlin and presumed to be the same bird found in the Cocker channel downstream from the railway bridge Monday 18 January....I'll second that presumption.

Thanks for the Grey Partridge Geoff....excellent. 

On The Up!

A brilliant calm sunny day on Thursday had me off to Bowland for a better day than my last visit here just over a month ago on 20 January when all I chalked up was a measly seven bird species in 4.5 hours - yes, seven species in 4.5 hours - on the very same trundle as today when I took notes of a slightly better 18 species, this time in 5 hours. So, if you have a good memory, you don't really need pen and paper to write down your sightings on a birding trip to Bowland. 

But my day on Thursday started off in fine style when, as I got to the access track to Hawthornthwaite, a bird whizzed across my path to perch on a fence post, it was a smart male Stonechat about two minutes into my day. As I wandered of up the track I was muttering to myself about wanting to find another one, and about three quarters to the summit, another smart male Stonechat, so two winter Stonechat on Hawthornthwaite....nice. 

Pheasant. Noushka Dufort @ 1000-Pattes  

Three Red Grouse and a Pheasant were the only other birds I saw on Hawthornthwaite to add to the list of 18 for the day. 

As I started off from Marshaw to Tower Lodge, one of the two Song Thrush I saw was in excellent voice, the brilliant songster can just be seen as a dot atop of this tall tree and was a delight to hear. The Lapwings are on territory in fields by Marshaw Farm, and a Buzzard was overhead, 6 Mistle Thrush were seen along the way, and 18 Fieldfare were a pleasant surprise. Up the track from Tower Lodge, as seen, a Nuthatch, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldcrest, and a Robin.

But the day went downhill from here, on the weather scene the day went cloudy and dull, and on the bird scene a wander north from Tower Lodge to Trough Bridge and on towards the track to Winfold Fell unbelievably produced not a single bird in two hours save 6 Red Grouse seen at a distance on the fell.

Bringing up the rear for the 18 species on the day....Chaffinch, Starling, and Wood Pigeon, with 6 Mallard on the Marshaw Wyre. Like I said....no pen and paper needed on upland birding.

Thanks for the Pheasant Noushka, and to Warren for the Song Thrush header, both excellent and much appreciated.  

Here And There....

....but I can't be everywhere!

I was grateful for a text I recieved on Tuesday morning telling me of geese in the Thurnham area. Though I put in my best efforts I did'nt get there until around 11.00am just as they were disturbed to fly off south and out of sight. I returned about four hours later at 3.00pm to find the area deserted. Not my lucky day, there had been 2 White-fronted Geese, and 7 Barnacle Geese with c.4,000 Pink-footed Geese....Pooh! 

I decided on going south to see if I could find any Fylde Fayre that might excite me, and called at Wrampool for my second showing of the male Stonechat there for three months now since 22 November, the bird appeared to be feeding well in the set-aside whilst I was there. By comparison to the usual high numbers seen here recently, little more than 8 Linnet seen today, with a Reed Bunting noted.

Twite. Fluke Hall. Pete Woodruff.

It took a while to find them - I'd been looking in the wrong area - but eventually up to 60 Twite were in the field and hedgerow behind the car park at Fluke Hall, at least 8 Skylark were in the same field, and in the hedge 2 Linnet, a Reed Bunting, Great Tit, and Goldfinch seen.

At high tide wader numbers by usual standards weren't all that impressive off Pilling Lane Ends, though good numbers of 17 species were noted, most notable but uncounted were, Grey Plover, and 2 Snipe, with a few Skylark and Rock Pipit. I scanned c.2,000 Pink-footed Geese a couple of times to find nothing odd amongst them, and heard a Little Grebe whinnying somewhere on the west pool.

A look in on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock on the way back to Lancaster had me note, c.600 Golden Plover, 450 Curlew, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, and 12 Goldeneye.

The Bar-tailed Godwit.

Bar-tailed Godwit Brian Rafferty

The Bar-tailed Godwits have disappeared from the Lune Estuary and beyond. Albeit I made an exceptional count of up to 2,000 two weeks ago on 10 February and two other records made at Glasson Dock barely reaching 100 this winter, I've seen just two birds here on 18 and 23 February, and a single bird at Cockerham Sands 21 February, I don't recall seeing any other reports anywhere....Where are all the Bar-tailed Godwits?

Nice Work If You Can Get It!

I paid two visits to Conder Green yesterday, the first was at high tide, but the waders were absent from the pool this time, though there was at least 50 Redshank foraging on what was above water on the marsh, they were accompanied by a Spotted Redshank. Conder Pool was playing host to 5 Goosander, a pair of which were mating with the drake 'ducking the duck' as they do, almost to the point of drowning in the process. Also noted, 8 Shelduck, 7 Tufted Duck, 5 Wigeon, 5 Snipe, and 4 Little Grebe. I found the Common Sandpiper in the creeks on my second visit five hours after the first, with a Kestrel seen.

Redshank. Pete Woodruff.

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock was unimpressive and wader numbers were unusually low, though c.400 Redshank were close in from the bowling green, and up to 350 Curlew and 95 Black-tailed Godwit were of note. A Merlin and 2 Peregrine Falcon were in quite close proximity to each other on Colloway Marsh, interesting in that the Peregrine will take out the Merlin given the opportunity, c.125 Pink-footed Geese were distant on the marsh. 

In fields off Jeremy and Moss Lane, at least 500 Common Gull, and the herd of c.350 Whooper Swan are still scattered from Moss Lane to Bank End. 

Cockersands was on a 'hard work little pay' day and the cold NW wind was still howling on the exposed headland, but an excellent count on the Cocker Estuary again was of at least 2,500 Curlew on the mud, and 3,500 Wigeon in the channel, with a solitary Bar-tailed Godwit feeding below 15 Cormorant in a line on the bank. I saw 4 Stock Dove, a Kestrel, and the Barn Owl showed once again hunting the rough ground behind Bank Houses.

Black-tailed Godwit.

Black-tailed Godwit. Howard Stockdale.

I found my first marked Black-tailed Godwit this winter at Cockersands last Thursday, they were in a field feeding but unfortunately flew off before I could get much detail. However, I managed to note enough on one leg to tell me the bird had been ringed in Iceland and the team involved, but not enough colour combination on the other leg to identify the individual....better luck next time! 

Thursday's Notes.

Not much of anything new on Thursday, but was another enjoyable wander around the Lune Estuary.

Most notable on Conder Pool was the count of 52 Wigeon, with just one Little Grebe, 4 Snipe, a Goosander, and a Little Egret. Notes from a circuit were sparse, but the Common Sandpiper was again on the Conder downstream from the railway bridge, and 2 Dunnock seen one of which was in full song. 

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, a distant Spotted Redshank, c.475 Black-tailed Godwit, and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were the only waders to stand out, with just 40 Goldeneye seen today, a drake Goosander, female Red-breasted Merganser, the most notable wildfowl was a drake Shoveler, unusual here, hauled out and resting with the Wigeon.

Off Moss Lane, 7 Bewick's Swan were still in a field by Clarkson's Farm, and the huge estimated 350 Whooper Swan herd was still spread out far and wide all the way towards Bank End. The Barn Owl was out hunting again, initially behind Lower Bank House and then went off in the direction of Abbey Farm hunting the ditches as it went. Up to 900 Black-tailed Godwit were on the shoreline opposite Crook Farm off the point at Sunderland. 

In Abbey Farm fields, up to 700 Golden Plover and 400 Dunlin were with lesser numbers of Redshank and Lapwing, the latter of which are now looking to hold territory in some of the fields, not a good idea at Cockersands....but the Lapwing never seems to learn.

Pink-footed Geese Brian Rafferty  

Off the headland, I saw the spectacle of at least 9,000 probably up to 10,000 Pink-footed Geese in the air over the Cockerham Moss area....I wish I could have heard them, an amazing sight and sound.

The Curlew.  

Curlew Noushka Dufort  

In excess of 2,500 Curlew were in the Cockersand area again on Thursday, with birds seen as at least 900 on Cockerham Sands, 1,300 on the flood and field by Bank End Farm, 200 in fields around Abbey Farm, and 100 seen off Crook Farm.

Bufflehead.

Bufflehead. Copy Permitted.

A drake Bufflehead was reported - RBA - Saturday morning on the River Wyre near Hambleton. The bird was with Goldeneye, it breeds in North America and is rare to Britain, most records of which are regarded as genuine vagrants.

Thanks to Gary, and to Brian and Noushka for their excellent photographs, they are much appreciated. 

Fylde Fayre.

The Wrampool Stonechat.

 

Stonechat . Sharon Whitley The Rambling Artist

Any birding day which includes finding a Stonechat is always going to be a good day for me, and Tuesday started well with some nice Fylde bird variety found, including a smart male Stonechat seen at Wrampool. This bird has been here almost three months now, found with a female on 22 November and seen here until 2 January, since when - the female having disappeared - just the male has been frequently seen. AC kindly passed these records on to me, and I note a female found at Winmarleigh Moss quite close to Wrampool last Friday 12 February....the Wrampool female is my bet.

Lesser Redpoll. Martin Lofgren @ Wild Bird Gallery

Also at Wrampool, a flock of flighty finches appeared to all be up to 80 Linnet in and around a set-aside field. At Fluke Hall a Lesser Redpoll was with at least 80 Twite, also 40 Tree Sparrow, 15 Skylark, and 2 Chaffinch in the area. The Twite have been around for several weeks now and I recorded c.130 here on 29 December.

I legged it along the coastal path to Cockers Dyke to find 180 Black-headed Gull, 32 Common Gull, and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull. Along the way here I had seen Pilling Sands crawling with at least 1,500 Dunlin a good length of the way, also 2 Wren and a Dunnock noted on the sea defences. 

Back on home territory, at Conder Green the resident Spotted Redshank was in the creeks, with 54 Curlew on Conder Pool, accompanied by a single Black-tailed Godwit presumed to be the very same individual I keep locating at Conder Green.

Legging it again from Conder Green to Glasson Dock, I found the Lune Estuary hosting another increase and peak count of 73 Goldeneye, otherwise the area was notably quiet, with c.130 Curlew, and just 45 Black-tailed Godwit of wader note, with a single Red-breasted Merganser seen. The canal basin produced the good record of a male and female Pochard.

Walking back to Conder Green, a Barn Owl flew towards me along the inner edge of the marsh below the footpath, did a u-turn to patrol the rough ground opposite the Caravan Park, then went on to the marsh at Conder Green, to then fly the length of Conder Pool at the back edge, then lost to view....I just hope this bird keeps clear of the very busy A588 and the equally busy B5290 to Glasson Dock which it obviously frequents on its hunting sorties.  

Thanks to Sharon for her painting of the Stonechat, and to Martin for his image of the Redpoll, excellent on both counts.