El Desperado!

It soon became desperate today though Conder Green gave up some of its specialities other than the recent Ruff and the Kingfisher both of which eluded me. Its going to be interesting to look for the Common Sandpiper on every visit to Conder Green as the winter progresses, last year it was a little weird to see one/this bird feeding in the Conder channel one day when the mud was white with frost. A Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Snipe, 2 Goldeneye, and the 11 Little Grebe noted again today.

The desperation was already beginning to set in and the wader numbers on the Lune Estuary were similar to the past two visits here with circa 1,250 Golden Plover, 850 Knot, and 720 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Little Egret also seen again. On the canal basin a Little Grebe noted.

In the hope of some PFG with collars to read or Whooper Swans with rings I drove to the Pilling area and scored a resounding zero with not a 'goose' or 'swan' in sight though I had no time to go searching inland, I came away with 2 Little Egret off Fluke Hall in my book.

Yesterday I observed two incidents of behaviour which intrigued me both involving the Pied Wagtail. In the first on Conder Pool a Pied Wagtail was in hot pursuit of the Common Sandpiper and had locked on to it in the way a Merlin has the ability to lock onto its prey, the Pied Wagtail chased it all the way across the pool and followed at speed every twist and turn with remarkable agility before letting go and flying off. The second incident was a role reversal on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock when a Lapwing was in pursuit of a Pied Wagtail all the way up the estuary before disappearing from view. In neither of these incidents could I understand what was going on, why was the Pied Wagtail chasing the Common Sandpiper then the Lapwing chasing the Pied Wagtail, in both cases with great determination and apparent good reason......but what was the reason.

Thanks to Peter Guy for the two excellent images of the 'green listers' in today's pic.