An excellent days birding well rewarded for my six hours serious legwork around Conder Green/Glasson Dock/Cockersands. A wintering male Stonechat was found at Conder Green one day earlier than last year, the bird was the best start I could have hoped for here. If I'm honest it was quiet here today with all the specialities absent from view but I did count 10 Little Grebe again but gave up on trying to 'nail' the twelve here last Friday, 2 Goldeneye and a single Snipe were the only others to enter the book.At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary birds noted were, c.2,000 Bar-tailed Godwit again, but lesser numbers than last week of c. 750 Knot, and c. 80 Golden Plover, 2 Goosander, 2 Little Egret, and at last a little increase in c.55 Wigeon here today.
On the way to Cockersands at least 20 Fieldfare seen from Moss Lane, another male Stonechat was at the lighthouse end, this bird appeared here three days earlier than last years bird though I did find one on 6 October at the caravan park end where a male eventually wintered. The only waders I noted around the lighthouse/Plover Scar area were, a good count of 42 Turnstone, and 2 Grey Plover, wildfowl noted were just 5 Eider today, 3 Shoveler I can only refer to as at least unusual here, but in excess of 300 Wigeon was encouraging, 3 Meadow Pipit and a Kestrel were also noted. I saw 3 Little Egret on Cockerham Marsh from the entrance to the caravan Park.
As I came through the kissing gate walking south east towards the concrete ramp heading for the caravan park I saw a bird movement which made me 'jump to attention' but it turned out to have been a Meadow Pipit, however about five seconds later another movement put me into alert mode once again, this time it was a smart 1st winter/female Black Redstart in the field with the red brick building, it was quite mobile and went on to the shingle several times and also perched atop of one of Bank Houses farm buildings, the bird was still mobile in this area two hours later in fading light when I returned to check it out. So......if you plan a days birding tomorrow and would like to get off to an early good start I'd suggest visiting Cockersands to search either side of the concrete ramp i.e. the shingle and the field with the aforementioned red brick building as a Black Redstart was about to roost there when I left at 4.40pm this early evening.
I'm really grateful to Ian Tallon for permitting me to post the excellent image of his male BR at Linskeldfield in Cumbria.
Pete. What an excellent day you have had and all your hard work and effort have paid off with an excellent find of a black redstart.Plenty of variety as well and a healthy number of turnstones.
ReplyDeleteWell done and you must now be feeling much better.Take care.
Yes, nice find Pete. About time you were rewarded at C'sands.
ReplyDeleteColin
Yes much better for seeing the Black Redstart Brian.
ReplyDeleteWhat a simply cracking day and cracking bird at Cockersands Colin. As I walked the headland this afternoon it was like mid May rather than early November.
Thanks to the pair of you for comments.
Fantastic find! Take no notice of Jon Stagg's pathetic comments on the LDBWS site... this seems to be the party line at the moment... get all bloggers/birders to ignore what birdwatchng is really about... the story, the quest... and just reduce it all to a bare list, for the convenience of those who compile reports and the like. As you know, it is this sort of tripe that pushed me off the Aldcliffe blog. If you want to look at what I am doing, my blog is a blogspot one like yours, but its called mostlybirdingwithray.... snappy eh! There is a link to it from the aldcliffe site, not put there by me I must say.
ReplyDeleteHi Pete,
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know about the black redstart. It's nice to know that there are some cracking birds turning up near my house at the moment - just a shame I don't back from work in time to see them!
As someone who has always been on the periphery of the birding scene, occasionally toe-dipping into newsletter editing, surveys etc, but never lasting very long, Ray (and is this case seemingly Jon (but I didnt see the posting))fails to understand the difference between PERSONAL blogs where anything goes and people who access them expect to be entertained (Ray's and your site are both very good examples) and SITE-SPECIFIC websites/blogs where people appreciate concise information which might help them find any particular birds they wish to see in the region being covered. I appreciate his posting is a dig at the Heysham site which is basically an on-line bird/mammal/insect log, taking the place of an A4 log and being available to a whole lot more people than a diary sat in an office!
ReplyDeleteI found a Black redstart this autumn Pete. I was chuffed to bits! well done mate.
ReplyDeleteOK so now we've entered the 'no controversy' arena which - as everyone who follows Birds2blog - is an area I have successfully avoided - and swore I would - for a year now.
ReplyDeleteI find it both quite amazing and unbelievable that having FOUND a Black Redstart at Cockersands and posted it both on RBA pager service INSTANTLY, and later on the LDBWS website and yesterdays post on Birds2blog, we've ended up with what is heading towards a page of 'dribble'.
There's a good chance this subject will be the matter for a near future post when I don't get out birding one day soon, it will be the best advert for Birds2blog I have ever had and as the newspaper editor would say 'good for sales numbers' ......Watch this space!
By the way......I do hope people find my blog more informative than entertaining depending on the definition of 'entertaining' in this context.
Apparently the post/comments by Jon Stagg have been 'dumped' by admin on the LBDWS website but I need to know what was said......anyone?
ReplyDeletemerlin4@tiscali.co.uk
In complete agreement with you, Pete, re-Black Redstart situation
ReplyDeleteRegards
Pete
I think a further comment about the difference between personal and site-specific blogs/websites is that the latter have a 'duty' to be updated daily, especially those professing to be observatories. Sometimes these postings can be minimal and hardly worth the effort other than to maintain a daily just about relevant 'presence' e.g. the recent load of dross about a dog running about off Ocean Edge. Walney and Portland are excellent examples of this kind of routine daily information. However, there is no real time on a daily basis for the often excellent essays posted on personal blogs and this might also not be what the regular user of the site-specific blog/website wants. So the 'creative writing' is sacrificed for simple daily postings in a manageable time-allocation
ReplyDeleteI have nothing more to say on this subject Pete - which as always has gone off topic somewhat - being more interested in the fact that -as expected - the responses to 'A Dump To Late' were overwhelming. I reckon we all experience this deafening silence from time to time leaving you wondering who supports your opinions/comments and who objects to them, I'd be lying if I said I didn't know why.
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure Pete, is that I can always thank you for your contributions even though I find myself disagreeing on occasions.
The hierarchy at LDBWS should take note that its people like 'Mr Person' who will eventually leave the LBDWS website in ruins. I could offer them - but won't - a list of birders who haven't viewed and won't ever view again let alone contribute to it because of unessesary and unpleasant comments remarks made to/about them on there.