BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND.................................................................................BRENT GEESE HEYSHAM PETE WOODRUFF

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Oh No Not Conder Green Again!

Yes Conder Green once again and I can't think of a single reason why not.


Little Ringed Plover Antonio Puigg

It was an even better idea I went there again on Monday as I had excellent views of all three juvenile Little Ringed Plover for the first time in four visits since I first saw them on 31 July. I did see a report of an adult and two juveniles on Conder Pool on Monday too....Mmmmm!

Also noted on the pool which was pretty quiet, the 2 Little Grebe being an adult and juvenile, 2 Teal, and the long stay Goldeneye drake. Interesting that I found no Wigeon on here today. On the circuit, Spotted Redshank and Greenshank were both lurking in the creeks, with 4 Common Sandpiper seen. Down the Conder channel towards the estuary, up to 200 Redshank and 4 Dunlin with a Little Egret on the marsh. 

At Cockersands I staked out to watch the last hour of the tide coming in, Plover Scar collected a roost of 6 Whimbrel, a solitary Sanderling and Turnstone, and an almost impossible to count c.40 Dunlin and similar Ringed Plover. A Wheatear put in an appearance, and 8 Tree Sparrow were round Abbey Farm. Thanks for the brilliant portrait of the Little Ringed Plover Antonio.

And finally....some hawk-moth interest.


Lime Hawk-moth Caterpillar Ray Purser 


KT had the good fortune to come across a Lime Hawk-moth caterpillar in Sainsburys car park on Monday, not a major event in the moth world but a nice local find all the same. Thanks to Ray Purser for the image of the caterpillar at 2 weeks.


Lime Hawk-moth Ian Kimber 

Although there are records of the Lime Hawk-moth back to 1893, it was not until the early 1990's that it started its main expansion to the present distribution. It is however a rather erratic moth in its appearances and is probably best described as locally common....I've yet to see my first.

Thanks to Ian Kimber for the image of this brilliant moth, and to Stephen Palmer at Lancashire Moths for communicating with me, much appreciated on both counts. 

4 comments:

  1. Didn't know a Lime Hawk Moth existed! Good choice to include that image.

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  2. If Conder Green was nearer to me, I think that I'd be tempted to be a regular visitor too!

    I'd love to see a Lime Hawk Moth. There's something inspiring about all the Hawk Moths, but the Lime's just fabulous!

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  3. Adam....I suppose 'cute' is one way of describing the Little Ringed Plover.

    Christian....Pleased you learned about the Lime Hawk-moth.

    Richard....Conder Green and the Lune Estuary as you can see in my view, ranks amongst the best in our area - and better than most - for birds/birding.

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