BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND......................................................MEDITTERANEAN GULLS CONDER POOL PETE WOODRUFF

Wednesday 4 February 2009

Worth waiting for!

As JB says on the LDBWS website he had not been birding for
11 days, but my parting words to him as he got out of the car were....'worth waiting for John'.... and I know he agreed.

John has - as always - dealt with the details of the day, here are the highlights......

At Conder Green 3 Stonechats (2m/f) seen here again today are almost certainly the three seen by me on 8 January.This sighting is even more interesting in that I only ever saw three adult birds together on one previous occasion, these three appear to have been together for a month at least. Perhaps this is more the norm during the winter period but still remains only my second record in winter or summer. Also here, 2 Greenshank, a Spotted Redshank, and up to four Tree Sparrows. The Common Sandpiper showed itself to us again today.

A Little Egret was seen briefly before disappearing down a gully on Colloway Marsh, and from Bodie Hill 4 Whooper Swans seen.

From Moss Lane 45 Whooper Swans, and on the same lane nearer to Cockersands a male Merlin was in a tree within 8 mtrs of the car but soon departed when it saw John dive for his camera. Amazingly it was on a fence post a few mtrs along the lane but didn't hang around when it again saw the camera.

At Cockersands a Short-eared Owl was quartering the marsh as we turned the corner and if a sight like that doesn't excite then it's time to give up. The wintering male Stonechat failed to show and was the only down side of the entire day.

In the field opposite Sand Villa 26 Whooper Swans were with Mute Swans, and c.300 Black-tailed Godwit were in a field off Backsands Lane, at Fluke Hall 5 Stock Dove were to note.

At Bradshaw Lane Head - whilst straying OOA - a Short-eared Owl was hunting Pilling Moss, and 35 Corn Bunting were on wires near the feeding station, lending proof the species is still not extinct in this area, and just up the road from here at Eagland Hill c.12 Fieldfare seen.

En route home to Lancaster a detour round Gulf Lane gave c.2,000 Pink-footed Geese over the Winmarleigh Moss area.

The Wheatear in the pic is the next one on the menu just a few weeks from now, probably for me at either Fluke Hall/Cockersands. The pic is again grossly over cropped and if you can expand it please don't for my sake!
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