Nice Day....Short List.

Superb Fairywren. John Darbyshire.

With no other appropriate photographs, thanks to JD the Superb Fairywren is a colourful opener for the post. The species is found throughout south-east Australia and took first place in a recent national poll to become Australia's most favourite feathered friend.

Nice Day.

By recent standards yesterday was an exceptionally nice day with some wall to wall sun for a while and almost spring like when sheltered from what little cold wind there was. But the list ended up a rather short one with nothing new found despite some serious searching.

Short List.

I keep seeing between five and seven on Conder Pool, today I found 6 Goldeneye with 5 Little Grebe, and a Little Egret, a Spotted Redshank was asleep in the creeks, and another Little Egret was on the marsh off the picnic area. On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 18 Goldeneye and a Great-crested Grebe, and on the Lune Estuary, a male Ruff was with the Redshank again, with 14 Goldeneye and 3 Little Grebe noted, the waders were in the air several times with undetected raptor disturbance. 

At Cockersands I devoted most of what time I had there to two fields, after a thirty minute plus grilling one of the fields by Crook Farm was eventually found to hold at least 2,500 Black-headed Gull with a 'few' Common Gull. The other field off Moss Lane held c.240 Whooper Swan, but with much better and closer views today than of late I was able to identify 13 Bewick's Swan of which four were juvenile, these birds were presumably the same group as seen off Slack Lane 20 January....

Black Swan Arkive  

....also the Black Swan seen again. A bird of Australia where they are nomadic, and not to be taken seriously either side of the fence in this country, but a beautiful bird all the same.

Hard to believe it took me five hours to collect the above results, but an hour at Conder Green, two hours at Glasson Dock, and another two hours at Cockersands including a little wander around, time runs away with you....especially when you're having fun!! 

Sunday's Mega.

Ross's Gull L Moss Sunday 9 Feb. Copy Permitted.

On Sunday a Ross's Gull at Leighton Moss was reported by the RBA news service at 1.28pm and later confirmed as being seen giving good views until flying off at 4.15pm.