Doing The Rounds.

I was able to look in on Conder Pool on Friday, the lay-by was clear of roadworks machinery and there was no sign of human activity. The road has three large holes, two of which are filled in with temporary material, and the road is controlled by lights, but difficult to work out what is exactly going on here, relaying/repairs are on the cards but there's some delay in getting the job started.

Fifteen Little Grebe were quietly enjoying their diving and catching small fry by the dozen, they appeared to have the pool to themselves. In the creeks, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, c.80 Redshank, similar Teal, and 2 Little Egret.

I decided to leg it to Glasson Dock again, well apparently we have to be on our guard and on the look out for Yellow-browed Warbler around this time, so I went into jump to attention mode when I saw a small number of 'tits' working through the bushes on the coastal path, it was nice to find one bird amongst them was a Chiffchaff, otherwise Blue Tit, Great Tit, and Long-tailed Tit.

Common Gulls/Black-headed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

Checking the Lune Estuary I took notes of estimated 450 Common Gull, 420 Golden Plover, 150 Bar-tailed Godwit, 50 Knot, 2 Spotted Redshank, and 10 Little Egret.

Curlew Sandpiper Jan Larsson

At Cockersands, a Curlew Sandpiper was off Crook Farm and took the days 'pole position' for me, closely followed by an adult Mediterranean Gull which was with Black-headed Gulls in a ploughed field off Slack Lane where I saw 4 Greenfinch and the local Kestrel hovering overhead. Up to 500 Golden Plover were by the Cocker channel, and 3 Wheatear were along the headland. I wondered if these would be my last of the year, but knowing Cockersands and the Wheatear historically....probably not.

Looking forward to next weeks birding....Meanwhile, thanks to Jan Larsson for the excellent Curlew Sandpiper image.