Another Coastal Sally.

First a little breeding news from Conder Green....

Cafe d' Lune. Pete Woodruff.

The House Martin is an Amber listed species, a bird in decline. I spoke with Jan at Cafe d' Lune on Wednesday, keen to establish if she had any problems about the House Martins which I had discovered had three nests at the house attached to the cafe, one of which is in view above the cafe. Lets be realistic about this, birds and droppings can't be good news for a cafe, especially one with outside accommodation as illustrated in the pic above, but it was good to hear Jan had no problems about the birds and I was convinced they would succeed with their breeding at the Cafe d' Lune ....strongly recommended by the way. 

House Martin At The Nest. Photo Doug Welch.

On the breeding subject, I watched 4 Swift around Conder Green Farm, one of which made two approaches to under the gutter but didn't convince me that it actually 'landed' even for a split second on the building, but as with surveying the cafe, here at the farm its not good staring towards a bedroom window through a pair of binoculars, perhaps next visit I'll make enquiries at the farm about the possibility of breeding Swift there.

Wigeon Martin Jump

On Wednesday another good search proved there was at least 10 Common Sandpiper still in the creeks, pool, and downstream from the old railway bridge. The Spotted Redshank was tucked in amongst 54 Redshank on the far side of Conder Pool, not all that obvious as most were resting horizontal fashion. Six Oystercatcher were quite entertaining with their dispute behaviour, all piping away at full throttle. I have a feeling four young Oystercatcher are showing on the pool now though three was my most convincing count in one view. The drake Goldeneye is obviously set to stay put which is what the 2 drake Wigeon have done all summer. Upstream from the A588 road bridge I heard a Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting in song.  

On the Lune Estuary I counted 75 Bar-tailed Godwit and a Curlew count possibly just reaching three figures. At Cockersands, a Buzzard seen off Moss Lane on a distant fence post, and a 'good number' of Swift and Swallow were notable feeding over the fields, with a number of the latter loafing on the telephone wires....seems like autumn is here. Two Whitethroat were at the Lighthouse Cottage, and a visit to Plover Scar found it to be a little more livelier than Mondays 4 Oystercatcher, with up to 40 Golden Plover, a single Grey Plover, 32 Dunlin, and 6 Ringed Plover, 7 Eider were seen off here.

Swift Simon Hawtin

Up to 50 Swift high over Bowerham, Lancaster at 9.30pm last night. 

Thanks to Doug Welch/Martin Jump/Simon Hawtin for the photography.