A bit of this....

....and a bit of that, including two - unrelated to today's birding - photographs of a couple of birds you may need a little luck to see in the UK....and the picture of a church.

The Sardinian Warbler. Phil Slade.

With JB/BT as its Friday....BT's car seemed apparently to make its own mind up once again to head of first to Freeman's Pools which we found to be almost deserted save a drake Wigeon not remotely inclined to want to breed but spend the summer here. On the flood at Aldcliffe I found a Little Ringed Plover and heard 2 Whitethroat. 

At Conder Green one of the days nice surprises was that of c.150 Bar-tailed Godwit in the Conder creeks making a pleasant sight as they appeared in a relaxed mood in the shelter from the unusual cold wind of May 27 whilst either feeding or preening quietly. The only other two birds to enter my book here was a Whitethroat and Linnet almost side by side in the bush. Noted on the canal basin at Glasson Dock was a pair of Mute Swans with the poor breeding result of just three cygnets, and on the Lune Estuary I noted 8 Eider. Along Jeremy Lane, a Skylark seen with three more on Moss Lane, also at Cockersands, 12 Eider, c.100 Dunlin opposite Crook Cottage which were put to panic by a passing Peregrine Falcon, a Sedge Warbler and a 'few' Tree Sparrows also noted. 

Christ Church Abbeystead. Pete Woodruff.

So....with the 'bit of this' dealt with we headed off for a 'bit of that' in the Tower Lodge area of Bowland. On a crawl in the car through Wellington Wood at Dolphiholme a Blackcap seen. At Christ Church in Abbeystead home of up to sixteen House Martin nests mainly and worryingly unoccupied in 2010, eight birds seen around the church today. At Stoops Bridge I found a female Pied Flycatcher being another of the days nice surprises, though the tree nesting pair appear to have failed to return this year, also a Spotted Flycatcher seen, a Chiffchaff and Blackcap were both heard. I may also have seen a Coal Tit with a full brood flying from one tree to the next some distance ahead of me but only saw the adult feeding a couple of young by the time I caught up. In the Tower Lodge area, up to 3 Spotted Flycatcher seen, and a Grey Wagtail, five distant and high soaring raptors were almost certainly Buzzard.

And finally....

The Audouin's Gull. Phil Slade.

The excellent Sardinian Warbler and Audouin's Gull photographs are courtesy of and thanks to Phil Slade