The Clougha/Birk Bank Trundle

If that sounds like something of an ordeal

its not supposed to as the day was
a pleasant one with bright sunshine and no wind for a change, also my mission
was a much more enjoyable one than yesterdays at Pilling Lane Ends where
I had to spend 45 minutes staring at 20,000 plus waders and wildfowl
sorting and counting the blighters whilst trying hard to dispel thoughts of......
why do I find myself in this position and who talked me into this every month.

The highlight birds were of course the Stonechats though I only found four today, I'll give the Merlin second place, this bird silently drifted over my head from behind me. These birds never fail to excite and this is my favourite raptor. The Red Grouse appears to be making a comeback as I note higher numbers as each year passes, today I saw a minimum of seventeen. I always use the word minimum when recording this species as it moves around constantly left to right, from the back of me and from the front, so always a conservative number to avoid duplication. A Woodcock was a nice surprise, flushed from close to the path, and about twenty Fieldfare were gorging themselves on the berries beyond Ottergear Bridge.

Mission accomplished I then dusted off and donned my 'twitchers hat and coat' and pointed the car towards the Thurnham Mill Inn car park to be treated with good views of the Long-tailed Duck on the canal, an obliging first winter bird. A brief visit to Cockersands (inland) was rewarded with the Little Owl well concealed in a tree by the paddock at Bank Houses. This or another Little Owl has never been seen here since July 2007, though the now restored building in the field opposite Bank Houses always had a Little Owl perched somewhere on or around it. A Little Egret was my final bird of the day, it was in the ditch just down the road from Bank Houses and last year I recorded it regularly here.