Plover Watch.

Ringed Plover. David Cookson.

Nice and sunny, but also quite windy yesterday especially on the headland and Plover Scar at Cockersands for 45 minutes where I found 4 Ringed Plover adults but no sign of the chicks, though I'm quite confident they are still around alive and kicking. I have a suspicion there may be two pairs with young on the scar judging by the behaviour of the other two adult birds. I'm also curious about the 4 Oystercatchers also present here on every visit I've made recently. 

But I'm sorry to say there's bad news on the horizon....next Monday 14 July at 1.00am the tides culminate with a height of 10.6m, there will be little - if any - of the scar with its head above water and with nowhere else for the chicks to go to be honest its not looking good....time will tell.

I only paid a brief visit along Slack Lane at Cockersands where it was good to find 3 Whitethroat, an adult and two juvenile, also noted a Skylark and Reed Bunting. I had only diverted to here until a dog walker out on Plover Scar when I arrived had departed.

Common Tern. David Cookson.

The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock remains quiet, but as I arrived there a 'tern' caught my eye coming off the river to fly over the road to the canal basin. I went in pursuit to see it moving off the basin and over the dock in time to find it was a Common Tern. I noted 4 Bar-tailed Godwit distant in the haze, no Pink-footed Geese seen, but 17 Canada Geese still around, and the 15 Greylag have increased from five adults to 10 and 5 juvenile. 

At Conder Green, the adult Spotted Redshank obliged on Conder Pool on the near stony island, roosting with 2 Greenshank and a 'few' Redshank, a Little Grebe also seen. I could only count 10 Common Sandpiper in the creeks with 2 Little Egret. A Sedge Warbler sang briefly near the Stork Hotel, and 2 Great-crested Grebe juvenile came into view off the far bend down the Conder channel from the old railway bridge.  

Thanks to David Cookson for the Plover and Tern images in this post, excellent and much appreciated.

A bit of somewhere in the uplands stuff in the pipeline for tomorrow maybe!