Seek And Ye Shall Find.

Well you may not always find, but on this occasion I did eventually. 

Wheatear Cockersands 10 April. Pete Woodruff.

I raked about at Cockersands for 3.5 hours yesterday, and it was 2.5 hours before I decided to turn off the road to take the Abbey Farm track and check out the stubble field and dung heap, and hey, what a good idea that turned out to be. So the Wheatear isn't some mythical creature after all 'cos I didn't just find the one in my pic - never photographic excellence my pics - but two. Not many minutes later in the adjoining stubble field I found up to 120 Linnet, an excellent count for the species in our area. Also of note, 2 Swallow, 10 Meadow Pipit, and singing Skylark. I estimate up to 150 'swans' in the distant fields and with only my secondary bino's round my neck I reckon the vast majority Mute Swan but a 'few' Whooper Swan still here, I must try to get to grips with figures next visit.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, by recent comparison low number of c.40 Black-tailed Godwit and 28 Bar-tailed Godwit, with just one female Goldeneye seen, and as if to turn my suggestion on its head....'scarce in this area of the River Lune as viewed from the bowling green'....8 Eider seen today. Fifteen Sand Martin were seen as ten over the canal basin, and five flying up the River Lune.

Conder Pool held the wonderful sight of 195 Black-tailed Godwit quietly resting in the far west corner, 2 Spotted Redshank and a Common Sandpiper were in the creeks. 

And finally....a little picture gallery for your entertainment.

Osprey. Howard Stockdale.

I've 'missed' at least four birds I'd very much liked to have seen recently at Cockersands, like this Osprey seen flying over the Whooper Swans off Moss Lane....

Marsh Harrier. Howard Stockdale. 

  ....and this Marsh Harrier, also seen recently in the Crook Farm area at Cockersands. Thanks for the images Howard....excellent.

And I thought you might like to know, Mrs Mutt has decided the marshes in the Conder/Glasson area are good for exercising the mutts. This woman has eight dogs with her on this occasion, though that doesn't look like the count in this pic. 

Incidentally, yesterday I saw another walkies outfit a mile out on the sands off Cockersands Abbey walking south towards the Cocker, this person had 18 mutts in her charge. I assumed she was aware of the tide table, even three hours prior to high tide and none of them would have got back across the Cocker Channel and would have been trapped on the sands.