Back On The Hunt....

....this is getting silly!

I spent four hours at Cockersands yesterday, coastal but mainly inland, overcast, damp, often with drizzle, and pretty dull all day. Again I had the Yellow-browed Warbler - or similar migrant - in mind and gave the immediate inland area a good going over, but no point in labouring the issue, in these conditions....this really ain't my cup of tea!

It was about an hour short of high tide at Plover Scar which was void of anything at all though 8 Ringed Plover dropped in and 4 Snipe went over just as I left and set off along the headland where I found 5 Wheatear. Scratching around inland I noted at least 500 Golden Plover come up out of a distant field along with a few hundred other birds before dropping back down again after the panic. 

Collared Dove Warren Baker 

Up to 50 Collared Dove were an impressive count on the roof of a barn at Bank Houses and 3 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding in a ditch close by here, c.30 Linnet, a 'few' Tree Sparrow and a Dunnock seen. With the tide falling the Redshank and Dunlin numbers were beginning to build up and 4 Grey Plover represented an average count here rarely getting to a double figure at any time of the year at Cockersands, a Red-breasted Merganser and 13 Eider were offshore.

Mediterranean Gull Simon Hawtin   

At Glasson Dock an adult Mediterranean Gull brightened up another quiet area, a Greenshank, 6 Black-tailed Godwit, and a Little Egret. The 19 Golden Plover count doesn't come much smaller at this section of the Lune Estuary.

 Spotted Redshank. John Darbyshire.

At Conder Green, 3 Spotted Redshank were all adult, a Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, and a Snipe were in the creeks, whilst on Conder Pool I managed to get the count to 11 Little Grebe.

Thanks to Warren/Simon/John for the excellent images in the post, and to Paul Foster for the brilliant new Pectoral Sandpiper header image.

Leighton Moss. Copy Permitted.

Visitors to Birds2blog may be interested in the following, copied from an e-mail in my inbox this morning.

I have been asked to contact wildlife bloggers to spread the news that Autumn Watch will be based at Leighton Moss this year. They will be filming from the 17th of October and the programme will be broadcast from the 28th to the 1st November. I don't think I need to tell you that they will be looking for interesting sightings and stories. 

The Arnside and Silverdale AONB will have a hotline to the production crew so if you've got something interesting to report, please contact the Arnside and Silverdale AONB office on 01524 761034 info@arnsideandsilverdale.org.uk.