I was out with JB/BT today and decided on arrival at Cockersands lighthouse I'd walk along the headland and meet them again at the caravan park, so off I went collecting along the way 3 Wheatear, 7 Linnet, 7 Goldfinch, 5 Skylark, and Tuesdays c.30 Greenfinch seen again, the only wader of note was a single Grey Plover which retained a good part of its summer plumage, and....
I did my best to get a decent pic of the Small Copper butterfly above, but wait a minute 'cos here comes the sickener....When I get back to the car JB/BT have the nerve to tell me they had 5 Curlew Sandpiper back at the lighthouse end after I left them, so OK you can't win 'em all! JB's comprehensive records are HERE please take a look, John's records don't always tally with mine as we don't hold hands.
Before Cockersands we had called at Conder Green to find singles of Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Greenshank, and 2 Common Sandpiper. On Conder Pool I could only find 6 Little Grebe today with the 4 Wigeon, a pair of House Martins are still visiting a nest at River Winds. At Glasson Dock - where I let JB collect the 'full' records - I noted c.350 Golden Plover, and a solitary Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Great-crested Grebe on the river represented a 'long time no see' bird on the River Lune here. From Bodie Hill a Little Egret was on Bazil Point, and from Jeremy Lane the Little Owl seen again.
The run to Pilling Marsh was worth the while if only to find on an early date the surprising number of up to 3,500 Pink-footed Geese. When I checked my records I found I had seen c.145 here on the same date of 17 September last year, 2 Little Egret were seen here with another at Fluke Hall. Butterflies on the day in addition to the one above were 6 Red Admiral and a similar number of Speckled Wood.
Red-necked Phalarope. SP.
Today's local star bird is the juvenile Red-necked Phalarope still present early evening on Fairhaven Lake at Lytham....This is an excellent photograph of the bird with my thanks to SP. There's a good selection of photographs on the Fylde Bird Club website HERE please take a look.
Brilliant images.
ReplyDeleteYou missed the Curlew sands but got the Small copper, a fair trade ?? Good pic too :-)
ReplyDeleteWell the RNP certainly is 'brilliant' and if you're including the Small Copper then I'd like to thank you very much John and Sue, your contribution is much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks also to you Warren who I can always rely on.