Hard Labour....

....but I wouldn't mind being able to do it on a daily basis.

Birding was a bit hard going yesterday, and to make matters worse the first three hours were spent back and forth to the motor to shelter from some heavy showers and I was beginning to get that - 'shouldn't I be doing something more useful with my life' - feeling. 

Wheatear.

The day eventually turned into something a little more like early August by the time I got to Cockersands where I continued the hard labour but found and noted a Whimbrel, 4 Wheatear, 5 Linnet and 9 Eider. 

Oystercatcher.

The guardians of Plover Scar were the only birds seen on here with c.130 Oystercatcher counted. I also found a Common Blue butterfly at Cockersands today....so there's a great ALLELUIA to that one.

Little Owl. 

On my way to Cockersands the 'Jeremy Lane' Little Owl was half hidden on the beam in the corner of the loft in the old derelict farm building....obviously not the one in the pic.

But I had started at Conder Green - well  where else - noting 2 Spotted Redshank adults, the 3 Greenshank on Conder Pool I only found as a result of a search from the fence at the west end of the pool and were well out of sight from the viewing platform, one of the three was an adult noticeably still retaining full breeding plumage. 

Common Sandpiper.

Three Common Sandpiper and 3 Goosander were in the creeks, and at least 16 House Martin were around River Winds.

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary....surprise, surprise, 6 Ringed Plover were a remarkable coincidence, finding them just a few days after 'shouting my mouth off' they are never seen here on the Lune Estuary in This Post....so that'll teach me to run a blog making false claims, but that said, my comments in the post remain accurate at the time of writing according to my records and these six were a first here for me. Also noted, an adult Mediterranean Gull, and a Little Egret, wader numbers here were as low and unimpressive as my birding achievements today.

And finally....

Well its entered in my little black book so it might as well be reported on Birds2blog....Seen from the Caravan Park at Cockersands, Mrs Mutt was on the marsh at high tide with 12 - yes twelve - of her charges which were running amok....well there's a surprise!

Thanks to PW for today's four pics....you can tell they're his by the quality!