Set-aside.

Set-aside at Cockersands. Pete Woodruff.

If you visit Cockersands you can't have helped but notice over the past year a curious 'wedge' shaped area having been developed in the field by the side of the road near the Lighthouse Cottage. I made some enquiries recently and it turns out to be what it's obviously looked like all along which is a set-aside. I still need more details on this but on the face of it it looks good and has currently turned a rapeseed yellow colour.

I managed a set-aside today too amounting to four hours for birding in a couple of areas the first being Conder Green where the Spotted Redshank gave good views, this bird rarely presents any difficulty in locating it and was accompanied by at least 160 Redshank and 3 Dunlin in the creeks here today, also noted were 5 Common Sandpiper, 3 Reed Bunting, and a Dunnock, House Martins were still active at River Winds but I made no attempt at counting them today, and 3 Wigeon are still on Conder Pool.

  

Common Tern. Gary Jones.

At Cockersands a Common Tern fishing off Plover Scar was almost certainly the Lune Estuary bird seen from Glasson Dock on 24 June, also the guardians of Plover Scar were a similar number as on my last visit here being c.60 Oystercatcher. Birds noted from the road on the circuit, c.12 Tree Sparrow was a higher number count than of late, 2 Sedge Warbler are still vocal, 2 Skylark, 3 Linnet and the same number of Greenfinch, the surprise bird of the day was a singing Whitethroat in the Hawthorns just to the north of Lighthouse Cottage, the bird was also performing its characteristic song flight occasionally, I don't recall this species seen here by me before. The only butterflies seen were a Small Skipper, c.20 Small Tortoiseshell and 8 Meadow Brown.

The photograph of the Common Tern 'scooping' water at Preston Docks is thanks to Gary Jones, an excellent shot of this behavior which I personally don't recall ever seeing before....thanks Gary. I'd also like to thank the visitor from New Zealand who gave Birds2blog it's 55th flag, many thanks....I hope you enjoyed what you saw and that you come back for more!