The Cockersands Crawl....

....and ten minutes at the dock.

 

 Penduline Tit Noushka Dufort

Other than being a bird, this image of the Penduline Tit - a vagrant from central or eastern Europe - is nothing remotely connected with what follows, but its a stunning photograph of a stunning bird. Thanks Noushka.

Stock Dove. Copy Permitted.

I made another three hour 'crawl' around Cockersands on Wednesday and found 2 Mediterranean Gull both adult, and 5 Stock Dove in the 'Lapland' stubble. Between Crook Farm and Plover Scar I noted 43 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Bar-tailed Godwit, up to 200 Dunlin, with uncounted but nothing like big double figures of Redshank, Lapwing, and Curlew, 3 Eider, and a Sparrowhawk. The rest of the time spent here turned out to be a void, empty, fruitless affair, and I ended up counting in excess of 100 Herring Gull on Plover Scar. Now when you're birding is reduced to counting Herring Gull its time to go home and think about taking up knitting!

With a few minutes to spare on the way back to Lancaster the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock showed little of note, but I eventually picked up a - routine these days  - Mediterranean Gull and noted 2 Red-breasted Merganser. But by now it was 4.30pm, the light had been fading for thirty minutes, and the rain was coming in....its winter.

Twite and Stock Dove at Cockersands.

Twite. Howard Stockdale.

I'm reliably informed of 11 Twite at Cockersands last Saturday 26 October. Thanks for the photograph of one of them Howard....look no rings! Also at Cockersands on Wednesday, 60 Stock Dove reported, an unprecedented record hot on the heels of another unprecedented record here of 17 Greenland White-fronted Geese last Sunday.