....said the man yesterday stood near my car as I returned to it after looking over the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock....'I'm not known to be a twitcher'....I replied....'but I have been known to travel good distances to see rare birds on occasion's, and do understand what drives the twitchers to undertake long journeys to see a rare bird'.
On the Lune Estuary I found 2 Common Sandpiper, noted a build up of Redshank and a few Dunlin, and with nothing more to stir me, to make my birding appear more meaningful I counted 72 Mute Swan viewable from the bowling green.
At Conder Green, at least 13 Common Sandpiper seen here, the Spotted Redshank was on Conder Pool, where I also took note of 3 Little Egret, and 2 Little Grebe. A Greenshank was in the creeks. I note Shard Bridge the only other serious competitor for Conder Green and Common Sandpiper numbers in autumn, had a count of nineteen this morning 8 July.
The good news from Plover Scar at Cockersands, is that I found almost immediately the two adult Ringed Plover, in a large area yesterday with the tide being out, but it took me around 20 minutes to locate the three chicks whilst the parent birds ran around calling constantly of which I got a pretty decent recording, a Little Egret was also on the scar.
Linnet. Warren Baker.
A pleasant walk round the area at Cockersands though little of note. I heard a Sedge Warbler on Slack Lane, saw 2 Greenfinch and a smart male Linnet, with good numbers of Swallow over the crop fields.
Butterflies and a Dragonfly.
Gatekeeper. Warren Baker.
A decent number of c.40 Small Tortoiseshell again at Cockersands, with a Small Skipper and my first Gatekeeper of the year at Conder Green.
Sombre Goldenring. Noushka Dufort.
But if I'd have found this dragonfly yesterday I'd have achieved overnight stardom. Unknown in the UK and has become quite rare in France, and is considered NT - Near Threatened - in Europe, it occurs in central and southern Europe, from the Pyrenees eastwards to the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine.
Cockersands Corn Bunting.
A Corn Bunting was recorded at Cockersands yesterday, first in the morning, and again late afternoon. A 'Mega' bird in our area where it is now regarded as no more than an irregular visitor in the summer months, with no records in 2012. Having never personally seen the Corn Bunting in our area, I was a little 'peed off' at missing this bird, it was heard about 6.00pm, an hour after I had been stood by the same bush.
Cockersands Corn Bunting.
A Corn Bunting was recorded at Cockersands yesterday, first in the morning, and again late afternoon. A 'Mega' bird in our area where it is now regarded as no more than an irregular visitor in the summer months, with no records in 2012. Having never personally seen the Corn Bunting in our area, I was a little 'peed off' at missing this bird, it was heard about 6.00pm, an hour after I had been stood by the same bush.
I'll have to look that Goldenring up Pete, cant see, first off, any difference to our Goldenringed Dragons :-)
ReplyDeleteI like your subtle approach to telling someone what the term 'twitcher' really means - rather than just a general birdwatcher. I must remember that one.
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