I was really pleased to have found this local Nuthatch again this week. According to my records, these are breeding for the third consecutive year.
Birds2blog
Wednesday 17 April 2024
The Nuthatch, Tits, And Hedgehog.
Sunday 14 April 2024
Spotty In The Spotlight!
It took me about an hour to find the Spotted Redshank in the creeks at Conder Green, finding this bird again was the culmination of a decent haul at Conder Pool on Friday. In the two weeks since I last saw the Spotted Redshank, it has transformed into breeding plumage by half, at this rate it will be in full summer dress in under three weeks.
Whilst recording some footage of a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull, I had a lucky break to find when I opened the film on the computer, unknown to me, 2 Little Ringed Plover had come on the scene to make a pleasing little threesome video.
Two Cattle Egret were present but soon flew off, they appeared to have some orange tone, particularly to the crown. Also present were 8 Avocet, a Common Sandpiper and Greenshank, 3 Back-tailed Godwit, up to 250 Redshank, 200 Knot and 2 Stock Dove. Seen from the viewing platform, at least 8 Swallow were flighting around Conder Green Farm, and eventually came over Conder Pool.
A check of the canal basin at Glasson Dock proved little of interest, but a walk to the churchyard at Christ Church found 2 Chiffchaff, one giving good views in the wooded area here.
At Cockersand, 8 Wheatear were in the field by Cockersand Abbey, the same 120 Linnet as seen 26 March were in the field by Lighthouse Cottage, 8 Eider were off Plover Scar, 22 Whooper Swan were the only winter remnants seen lingering distant in fields behind Bank End Farm. I saw just one Small Tortoiseshell on Slack Lane.
Garden Birds.
Sunday 7 April 2024
Black-tailed Godwits.
Monday 1 April 2024
The Short List!
A short list on a restricted visit, with nothing much to shout about on a recent blast around the Lune Estuary, but I did find my first 2 Wheatear at Cockersand....well where else, seen together from the path above Plover Scar, from where I noted 82 Dunlin, 55 Ringed Plover, and 46 Turnstone.
On the Lune Estuary as viewed from Glasson, 23 Avocet were distant upstream from the Conder Estuary. More obliging were 86 Black-tailed Godwit a few were feeding below the bowling green as the tide came in, some looking smart in their advancing rufous breeding plumage, and two of which were ringed. Other interest here was up to 1,500 Knot, a number of which I don't ever recall seeing on the Lune Estuary here before, also 4 Eider were of note.
I'm grateful to Richard du Feu and to Boddi for their help in recording the Black-tailed Godwits. I look forward to seeing the history of both these godwits from Boddi in Iceland.
Woodchat Shrike.
Todays plan was to mow the lawns, but the weather had other ideas. So to find something to fill the gap, I looked through my records of 10 years ago, to find anything of interest in my birding for 1 April, but the best I could find wasn't until May 2014.
On this day I had intended to walk the embankment south from March Point, to return via the footpath towards Lancaster.
Having walked just a few hundred metres, I spotted a bird atop of this tree....
....it was instantly recognisable as a stunning male Woodchat Shrike....My passion for the birds had gone through the roof once again!
Thursday 28 March 2024
Conder Pool's Got Talent.
Good results at Conder Pool Tuesday, including my finally catching up with a count of 19 Avocet including a bird marked Yellow Flag 6V. Another excellent find was 5 Mediterranean Gull which were seen as 2xadult, 2x2nd summer, and one unaged out of view save a full black hood behind the island.
Distracted by the other excitement, I failed to get a count of the godwits which flew off before I could, but I made an estimate of up to 900 Black-tailed Godwit which were accompanied by the lone Bar-tailed Godwit which obviously thinks it is one of them, and up to 400 Knot, a number I've never seen on Conder Pool before.
Sunday 24 March 2024
The Birds And Bees!
Having been surprised to find a drake Pintail on the pond in Williamson's Park on 6 March. I was later reliably informed of one being seen recently on the canal in Lancaster. Thinking this was almost certainly one and the same bird I went off to take a look, but was disappointed not to find the bird where it had been reported.
Wednesday 20 March 2024
Mainly Godwits & Gulls.
Well mainly godwits and gulls on Conder Pool on Monday, because I'm still waiting to find my first migrant despite a couple of hours spent at one of the best locations for the first Wheatear in our area at Cockersand, though I note just a few miles south down the coast, AC found his first two Wheatear at Fluke Hall....wrong place wrong time for me it seems!
I was pleased to see the godwits still hanging on at Conder Pool, though reduced in number, with at least 2,500 Black-tailed Godwit, they were accompanied by a lone Bar-tailed Godwit and up to 200 Knot, a sight not to be ignored, and one not surpassed by me, as a wader not regularly featured and rarely in a three figure number on the Lune Estuary let alone on Conder Pool. Another bird seen hanging on at Conder Pool and the estuary, was a Greenshank.
As for the gulls in the title....Up to 150 Black-headed Gull on Conder Pool as a noisy screeching colony, probably 75 pairs looking to nest here.
At Glasson, I never tire of finding 5 Shoveler here, seen as three drake and two duck. Eight Avocet seen again and still not seen by myself on Conder Pool. At the south end of Colloway Marsh and spreading north in the distance were c.3,500 Pink-footed Geese.
On Jeremy Lane a chance meeting with J.C.W was a stroke of luck, when a female Merlin was seen mid-distance....Nice.
At Cockersand there was little to surprise despite spending two hours and doing the circuit there, and from this experience no wintering or passage Stonechat here today. But the milder sunny weather, coupled with the Lapwing showing off its spectacular alternating flight of rising and diving, twisting and turning with territorial song, and the accompanying flight song of the Skylark, gave the feeling of spring turning to early summer. Otherwise, numbers were at around 350 Whooper Swan spread over three fields, 35 Linnet were flighty over fields.
Sunday 17 March.
A pleasant walk along the promenade, was rewarded with 33 Brent Geese seen off the children's play area at Heysham. And a female Siskin pays regular visits to our garden feeders. Our resident female Blackbird is nest building, and spent several minutes yesterday collecting material, then spent another several minutes frozen....
I was a little puzzled by this behaviour.
Sparrowhawk.An interesting note, I'm not sure there is any connection with the sex of the bird, but as perfectly illustrated here, the Sparrowhawk's eyes change colour with age from yellow in younger birds to red with maturity....Thanks Mike, much appreciated.
Saturday 9 March 2024
Quiet Around The Lune Estuary....Again!
The lull before the storm migration takes off. But for what it's worth, high spring tides this week, 10.64m where I'm planning on going Tuesday.
On Conder Pool, by the time I had noted the number had declined considerably from 4,000 recently to 1,500 Black-tailed Godwit today, a drake Scaup with 6 Tufted Duck had come into my view. This smart little drake was seen as another 'goodie' to add to the long list on Conder Pool, and was my first here since I found one 7 years ago in August 2017.
On the eerily quiet Lune Estuary at low tide, probably the same 9 Avocet as seen on 9 February/4 March, this time they were fragmented into 3 groups, 4 opposite Fishnet Point, 3 upstream opposite Waterloo Cottage, and 2 at the Conder mouth. The only other note was of 2 Goldeneye drake.
At Cockersand, the circuit was again quiet, but I had a brief view of a Barn Owl leaving its roost in a farm building, to perch on a post and return to roost 2 minutes later. A Sparrowhawk and later a Buzzard seen over fields, a Raven overhead on Slack Lane, from where c.35 Linnet poorly seen in the stubble field, and 4 Snipe exploded out of the ditch.
Wednesday 6 March 2024
A Little Subdued On The Estuary.
The only other notable thing about the visit to Conder Pool, was a lone Bar-tailed Godwit in the midst of the godwit mass. That said, 4 Buzzard were together over the woods to the NE of Conder Green, seen as a group probably from nearby territories, a common social pattern and behavior by the Buzzard soaring in spring.
Off Moss Lane, a Cattle Egret was with 75 Whooper Swan, and at Cockersand, a Merlin took off from the footbridge over a ditch on the north side of Bank House, and flew over the field behind the caravan park. I saw just the one female Stonechat, a lingering wintering bird along the bulrush ditch off Slack Lane.
Garden Birds.
Excellent news for the Woodruff's when 2 Robin were seen in the garden, one collecting moss with thoughts of breeding, the other taking a bath. Also, a Siskin continues to make occasional visits to the feeders.
Sunday 3 March 2024
The Conder Godwits....Again!
The plan on Thursday, was to visit the Lune Estuary at Glasson to see if anything was going to be pushed close in by the incoming tide, then go to Conder Green to see if anything had been displaced by the tide and on to Conder Pool.
The Lune Estuary.
Numbers on the estuary were comparatively disappointing, but I was eventually rewarded by mid-distance views of the Spotted Redshank, it was on the tideline with up to 250 Dunlin and 175 Redshank downstream from the Conder mouth.
Also to note, 6 Goldeneye, c.450 Wigeon, and a lone Greenfinch singing atop of a tree by the bowling green.
The Conder Pool Godwits.
There have been two recent reports involving all-time high counts of Black-tailed Godwits on the Lune Estuary, those of 4,500 and 4,600, both seen 18 February....LDBWS
It was immediately apparent why the numbers of waders was low on the Lune Estuary today, and also apparent that the number of Black-tailed Godwit on Conder Pool today was higher than I have previously seen which was 3,500 here on Monday 26 February.