Common As In Sandpiper!

Snipe Paul Foster 

Other than it's a bird, the photograph has no relation to this post whatsoever, but it's one of those 'can't resist this one' pictures of a displaying Snipe, and probably the best of it's kind I've ever seen....Thanks Paul, brilliant. 

Well if I'm going to see reports of returning birds I've been expecting anytime soon at Conder Green you can bet I'm going to be there to see them for myself.

So there I was yesterday on the viewing platform looking over Conder Pool to soon find that if I'm going to record anything here today I'll need to put in my black book what little I saw, 14 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon, and 3 Little Egret, well you can't turn your nose up at 3 Little Egret can you!

Off I went on the circuit, only a couple of strides into it and what's this....one flew by, another, another, then four more, then five, that's a total of 12 Common Sandpiper in the creeks with c.120 Redshank. It's always good to do a circuit at a place like Conder Green, but today's was a little unproductive I have to say, though it was good to find the scaffolding and ladders have been removed from Cafe d' Lune where there are 5 House Martin nests, a Whitethroat put in a brief song around here.

On Jeremy Lane I heard a Sedge Warbler, and on Moss Lane a Whitethroat. At Cockersands, 24 Eider off Crook Cottage were seen as 15 female and 9 young, seven waders was the sum total on Plover Scar at high tide, a Grey Plover, a Ringed Plover, 3 Oystercatcher, and 2 Dunlin. A 'few' Sand Martin flew past me on the headland, and another brief burst of song from a Whitethroat at the far end of the horse paddock at Bank Houses.

Small Tortoiseshell. Copy Permitted.

At least 60 Small Tortoiseshell and a single Red Admiral seen today at Cockersands.

Disturbance.   

Walkies On The Marsh. Pete Woodruff.

I had a very interesting conversation with someone yesterday who is trying much harder than I am in attempting to halt the disturbance of birds on the coast in areas like Cockersands where professional handlers are taking up to 15 unleashed dogs at a time on to Plover Scar and further out on to the sands which can often cause mass disturbance to hundreds - sometimes thousands - of birds. 

Other than this person is finding it heavy going in trying to get an authority to budge on this issue, I'm not at liberty to discuss details, and don't have the permission to name names on Birds2blog at this point and in any case certainly never do, but I reckon lots of visitors to this blog will have a good idea who this authority is.

I'm considering lending a hand here and there's more to come on this, including an incident I observed on Plover Scar following the conversation so....watch this space.