Notes and a pic....

Himalayan Griffon Vulture. Richard Shilling.

....from Richard and is of the Himalayan Griffon Vulture he saw whilst trekking in the Anapurna Himalaya in Nepal. Thanks for this Richard, not only a brilliant photograph of a brilliant bird, but also with a dramatic backdrop....Great stuff. Richards website is HERE and always a pleasant relief from the birds whilst viewing some truly creative 'Landart'.

Curlew Sandpipers have been showing well in the past few days in particular at Cockersands and Conder Green where I have seen three and four respectively. You can't have a Curlew Sandpiper in your sights without marveling at the travels of this bird which is the most easterly of any occurring wader in our area the breeding grounds of which are on the high-Arctic coastal tundra of Siberia.

It is interesting how their migration varies from year to year, and a search through old records shows Conder Green to come into the reckoning very often with an amazing flock of 65 there in September 1969, whilst 20 years later in 1989 only one bird was recorded there in October. There are occasional wintering records in Lancashire and North Merseyside and to put Conder Green in the picture once more, one remained there from October 1984 to March 1985 which leads me nicely into the next species likely to winter at Conder Green.

When I arrived at Conder Green yesterday there was twelve birds resting in an orderly line at the back of the pool which turned out to be nine Greenshank and three Spotted Redshank quite a rewarding sight. With regards to the latter it has wintered here 'a year or two' now and - along with the Common Sandpiper which has done so for the past two winters - I reckon the Greenshank will be the next to join them to winter here there already being an exceptional record of three birds here during the winter of 1953/4.

A chance look back at old comments buried down the list of posts revealed a quite astonishing one - which I could well have missed but thankfully didn't - from Mike Bainbridge on 1 September who commented on 'The Wood Warbler' which I posted nearly five months ago on 14 April which read as follows....

Hi Pete, I'm currently working on the Castoro Sei Laybarge and the ship is currently 'mobbed' by Wood Warblers at the moment. Perhaps I should explain we are building the Nord Stream Pipeline from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea and we get lots of hitch hikers.

Well I say WOW to that....you really never know who is viewing your blog and where.