Cockersands.

I suppose a more appropriate idea would be to have done a personal 'Highlights 0f 2008' article....later perhaps.

Meanwhile, searching through some records from 2007 I came across some sightings from Cockersands which included a record of Sanderlings on (or off when I took this pic) spring passage. The photograph was taken on 31 May when a peak of 130 birds were resting up at high tide, I had already counted 62 two days earlier.

This was certainly one of the years highlight's for me as the Sanderling is rarely seen at Cockersands in fact I think I ever only saw a single bird and cannot recall more than once, and so this was something of an event here at the end of May both for myself and the LDBWS records whose checklist states it to be a bird usually missed on passage as they move through the area rapidly at the end of May beginning of June, though I note some Webs counts have resulted in up to 2,500 - 4,000 birds in the past. I had hoped for a repeat of the Sanderling passage at Cockersands in 2008 - with maybe even higher numbers - but it didn't happen for me unfortunately but it will be interesting to see if it did for anyone else when we see the 2008 LDBWS Annual Report.

The person who passed on to me the sighting of four Little Egret seen recently from the Lancaster Canal in fields in the Galgate area, has also told me of a drake Wood Duck at Galgate Marina. I know nothing more about this bird and have heard no mention of it before, the only authenticity I can vouch for is the reliability of this persons information.