Seconds Out....

....round 2,562....well, maybe not quite that many!

On Tuesday there was a little more 'life' at Conder Green than there had been when I was there the day before, in fact a Fylde birder reliably informed me of eight Greenshank and a juvenile Ruff in the creeks earlier in the morning. I missed the latter and of the eight I found just 2 Greenshank, 6 Common Sandpiper was two up on Tuesdays count. Also of note, 3 Little Egret, a Little Grebe, a Sedge Warbler seen with a bill full of insects, 3 Whitethroat, and a Grey Wagtail, c.220 Redshank were in the Conder channel. If the female Tufted Duck I saw on Conder Pool with three young is the same bird as seen five days ago when it had four, it has lost one I'm afraid.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit and a single Black-tailed Godwit which was in breeding plumage though obviously not doing what it's plumage suggests. At least 200 Redshank, 5 Dunlin, and a Little Egret noted.

There was little of note at Cockersands despite a good rake around including into some nooks and crannies, 10 Tree Sparrow, 8 Linnet, 2 Skylark, and good numbers of Pied Wagtail here and there.

The Conder Pool Common Terns.

Common Tern Noushka Dufort

The Common Tern pair are still performing their breeding roles of one sitting and one fishing, feeding, and standing guard. I've seen this feeding behaviour several times and really hope all this will come to a successful conclusion in early September....John Bateman would have loved this, he meticulously documented every species of bird to visit Conder Pool.

Ringed Plover Bob Bushell 

The Plover Scar Ringed Plovers.

Since my last sighting of the pair of Ringed Plover and three chicks on Thursday 17 July, Iv'e checked out Plover Scar at Cockersands on my following two visits. Although the tide has been out I've seen nothing to suggest they are still around with no sign of the adult birds and certainly no sign of the chicks. However, I'm drawing no conclusions until I see the high tide today/tomorrow when - if they do still survive - they'll be under my nose at the landward end of the scar.

Thanks to Noushka and Bob for the images. With the exception of any pics taken by P.Woodruff, Birds2blog images are always excellent and well worthy of a 'clik the pik'.