Another Post Meridian.

Eider Gary Jones  

I saw no Eider on the day but the header photograph of this drake for the post is as good as they come....Thanks Gary 

It was after-noon again when I got out on Thursday, the 10m tide was well on its way and the waders were off looking for high tide roosts. So before the road went under the tide, I paid a brief visit to Conder Pool to find a Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, and Common Sandpiper had already taken refuge on here along with 10 Little Grebe.

I decide to give Cockersands a pretty good going over, but a good 2.5 hours later proved it had never looked like it was ever going to resemble the west coast of Ireland. There was just a few meters of landward Plover Scar above water and a solitary Turnstone and Ringed Plover were hanging on to what was left with a Rock Pipit, another one/it was seen later. One of the Abbey Farm fields held up to 1,000 waders which went into the black book as estimates of, 550 Golden Plover, 230 Lapwing, 220 Curlew, an adult Mediterranean Gull was in the midst of c.120 Black-headed Gulls. 

I found it rewarding - in a way - that a birder I had a chat with at Cockersands was also having an unproductive visit here too which gave me the feeling I wasn't alone in the desert. But a count of at least 40 Skylark were of note, with 14 Tree Sparrow, 18 Goldfinch, and 6 Greenfinch. 

A Snipe flew up out of a ditch along Jeremy Lane, and calling in at Glasson Dock on the way back to Lancaster was to prove the tide hadn't dropped off enough for the waders to return, but I did note c.500 Golden Plover. 

And now....

Little Egret Ana Minguez 

An excellent image of the Little Egret having a scratch. A recent record of note is that of 117 Little Egrets leaving the overnight roost at Leighton Moss on the Friday morning of October 12.

Azure-winged Magpie Isidro Ortiz 

And a bird you may never see - the Azure-winged Magpie - unless your birding includes foreign travel to maybe Spain or Portugal. Thanks to Ana and Isidro for these two brilliant photographs.

And finally, another excellent video, this one of the Pink-footed Geese on take off....'Pink sky at night the birders delight' courtesy of Colin Bushell

The Aldcliffe Double.

Wood Sandpiper Antonio Puigg 

Today yet another Lesser Yellowlegs in our area was found at Aldcliffe along with a Wood Sandpiper for the double. With no time to look for a photograph of the rarer of the two, I have to thank AP for the Wood Sandpiper.