Monday, 21 March 2011

Walkies!

Not the most appropriate of titles, not particularly original, and doesn't sound like one for a birding blog but....


I found this posted at Aldcliffe today, something in my view the birds/wildlife of Aldcliffe Marsh and surrounding area could well do without 'cos if these people get new customers from this advert - and thats the idea - bet your life their coming here to Aldcliffe and they'll beat the record of the two women at Cockersands recently with 18 of these creatures. Just one more note, I don't like the sound of 'off the lead'....so thats within the law now then is it with the 'on the lead' law scrapped?  

As usual on a Monday I was 'working' within a time limit and I soon forgot the idea of Conder Green etc as the tide was a mega one and almost at it's height submerging just about everything including the roads, but I did see a Spotted Redshank at CG, and from Bodie Hill, 2 Little Egret, c.130 Black-tailed Godwit, and c.45 Bar-tailed Godwit before deciding to give Aldcliffe a couple of hours.

I noted 2 White Wagtails around the flood with 14 Pied Wagtails, 2 male Bullfinch, a single Reed Bunting, and a Greenfinch. The biggest surprise here today was the sight of a pair of Gadwall - a species averse to a marine environment - on the River Lune with 18 Wigeon, completely out of context, and certainly a first for me. I found just one Greenland White-fronted Goose today with c.4,000 Pink-footed Geese as opposed to two seen here last Friday when circumstances - not least of all distance - prevented any assignment to race.

And finally....

Buzzard. Phil Slade  

If you're looking for a photograph of a Buzzard to study underpart plumage detail this is an excellent one.
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3 comments:

  1. Richard Shilling22 March 2011 at 08:43

    I had the "pleasure" of encountering these people at Conder Green. I was trying to enjoy a stolen lunch hour of peace and quiet and some bird watching but unfortuantely that was spoilt as the 7-8 dogs were flushing all the birds from the channels, the "professional" dog walker spent the whole time shouting one or other dogs name (to the point where I had to yell "shutup!" at the top of my voice, so exasperated I was). Some of the dogs did their business out of sight of the dog walker and so their excrement was left behind. And finally their van, parked up in the Conder Green car park was left with at least two pooches left inside (no windows, sealed van) as I could hear them barking while the others were being exercised for an hour or more. If I had paid for my dog to be walked I wouldn't be too impressed if mine was left locked in an enclosed van barking.

    Not impressed!

    Rich

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  2. Phil Slade22 March 2011 at 14:18

    Pete
    As a resident of Lancaster you should report this here.
    http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/forms/ShowForm.asp?fm_fid=41

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  3. Pete Woodruff22 March 2011 at 19:37

    Really pleased on two counts here Richard. First and most importantly it's good to hear from you again and thanks for looking in on Birds2blog though I'm aware you do so on a daily basis.

    There's not much point in adding to your comments re the 'pooches' and their 'walker' but sorry they managed to turn your stolen lunch hour into crap.

    Thanks for this Phil, I'll look up the link, act accordingly and let you know the result.

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