Lets Celebrate!

I celebrated the 'Inglorious Twelfth' on Tuesday by shooting off to Conder Green/Cockersands again....its a drug I'm hooked on and not looking for a cure.

Juvenile Sandwich Tern Arkive  

Conder Pool was lively again as the tide came racing in to displace good numbers of waders off the estuary. I was greeted by the sight of a juvenile Sandwich Tern, another first for the pool on the appropriate recently christened 'Tern Island', the bird eventually flew off to go SE along the canal and out of view. Meanwhile a Common Tern sits tight on the nest waiting for its mate to return with the next meal.

By the time I left, the wader number on the pool had reached in excess of eight hundred, broken down to c.450 Redshank, 300 Lapwing, 55 Dunlin, 4 Common Sandpiper, singles of Black-tailed Godwit, Spotted Redshank, and Greenshank. Also of note, 5 Little Grebe included a juvenile, and a Great-crested Grebe, 3 Swift over were the only ones of the day.

At Cockersands, I found the 'Bird of the Day' in a stunning juvenile Yellow Wagtail in the Bank Houses horse paddock, it was accompanied by around 12 Pied Wagtail with up to 40 Tree Sparrow in the bushes. Further down the lane I had good views of a Sedge Warbler, and along the way, 8 Linnet and 6 Greenfinch.

Waders were taking refuge from the tide and wind again in the abbey field as on Monday and showed as c.220 Dunlin and up to 100 Ringed Plover. When I got to Plover Scar 1.5 hour later it was reasonably obvious by the number present that they had returned to the scar, with 4 Whimbrel, 3 Turnstone, and a Little Egret. A Peregrine Falcon flew leisurely overhead disturbing all in the process. 

Sandwich Tern. Paul Foster.

Thanks to Paul Foster for the two added photographs of Sandwich Terns - an adult in flight, and the breeding colony - from his visit to the Farne Isles earlier in the summer....Excellent.

They have shops all around the UK including one in Penny Street Lancaster. The company supports the fight against the slaughter of our Hen Harriers and I think we should support them in return where and when we can....I've added Lush to my sidebar.