On Parade And On The Prowl....

....but it didn't get me very far on Monday, though a trickle of c.30 Meadow Pipit moving along the marsh at Conder Green was as sign of the season, another sign of which was last Wednesdays c.275 Black-tailed Godwit on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock being present here again, most of which are well advanced into their resplendent breeding plumage though today 34 of them had moved in on Conder Pool where the Common Sandpiper was found lurking in a corner, also 4 Goldeneye, 12 Tufted Duck, 8 Wigeon, a single Little Grebe and Little Egret. A Spotted Redshank was in the creeks.

Pintail Astland Photography 

Also on the Lune Estuary, a single drake Pintail accompanying c.50 Wigeon was at least unusual here, with 17 Goldeneye seen. 

The visit to Cockersands was a 2.5 hours relatively birdless affair - 'birds what birds' - but more on that another time perhaps.

Little Egret David Cookson

A Little Egret was in the large ditch to the north of Bank Houses Cottage where it is seen regularly. The Whooper Swan numbers here had fallen dramatically, probably 200 of the long stayers had departed and it was interesting to note on the same day - Monday - a record of a 'sizeable' flock of Whooper Swans on the sea off Heysham. Thanks to DC for the excellent Little Egret.

Brown Hare Brian Rafferty

Any visit to the Cockersands area will produce sightings of the Brown Hare, though not in the numbers of recent years according to my observations. Thanks to BR for the excellent images of the Brown Hares he saw early on a frosty Monday morning in Bowland.