The Saturday Short List.

To start with....

Teal. Noushka Dufort.

Not connected to the post, but an excellent image of the female Teal, especially if you want to study upperpart plumage details.

A pretty decent day again on Saturday got me out and birding though nothing more than a short list achieved, though another excellent count made.

At Conder Green the Common Sandpiper obliged once again but only after a search for it and found down by the railway bridge, a smart drake Goosander was the only other bird of note in the creeks Also quiet on Conder Pool, with 4 Little Grebe and 3 Goldeneye noted. 

At Glasson dock, on the canal basin, 6 Goldeneye, a Little Grebe, and a female Pochard. On the Lune Estuary a minimum of 6,000 Lapwing, 2,000 Wigeon, 1,200 Dunlin, 450 Black-tailed Godwit, 250 Redshank, 15 Goldeneye, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, and a Goosander.

To be honest Cockersands today was - pardon the pun - a 'dead duck', but a look behind Lower Bank House produced an excellent 15 Blackbird, better still 4 Song Thrush, and 2 Fieldfare.

The excellent count.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock an excellent count of c.1,450 Bar-tailed Godwit. 

I received an e-mail from a birder who was at Glasson Dock the day before me - Friday 10 January - who claimed over 1,000 Bar-tailed Godwit, adding he'd never seen so many here before. I certainly haven't, and although I've done only a little record searching and have no figures for 2013, a peak count of 3,735 was made at Ocean Edge in February 2012.  

And to end with....

   Continental Cormorant. Noushka Dufort.

Also not connected with the post is this excellent image of the Continental Cormorant P.c.sinensis and was a reminder of one I found on the canal basin at Glasson Dock on 28th February 2011.

Thanks to Noushka - 1000-Pattes - for the excellent photography in this post.