BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND................................................................................................................LITTLE OWL MARTIN JUMP

Wednesday 10 December 2014

The Shore Lark.

The Shore Lark found last Wednesday is still entertaining visitors to the shore at Rossall Point a week later. If it happens to stay until Sunday I'll maybe pull a fast one on KT and ask if she would like to visit the Freeport shopping complex at Fleetwood to top up her Christmas present list.

My one and only sighting of the Shore Lark (SL) was a memorable one 20 years ago on New Years Eve in 1994, when my old friend and mentor John Leedal and I visited Lytham St Annes where the birds were present. I remember the day well, the weather was a mix of wind, rain, and sunny spells, and it was during one of the latter sunny spells we had excellent views of three SL together....you never forget birding moments like that, and for me fond memories of J. Leedal too.

Shore Lark. Martin Lofgren Wild Bird Gallery 

All British records of SL are believed to be of the subspecies flava which breeds in Fennoscandia and western Russia, they migrate SW to winter along the coast of W Europe, the majority of which winter around the Dutch and German Wadden Sea, with a small number regularly in Britain, especially on the east coast....

Snow Bunting
Snow Bunting. Copy Permitted.

....often with Snow Bunting and Twite. The SL is rare in Ireland, and uncommon away from the mouth of the River Dee and Anglesey. 

Summering SL occasionally occur in the mountains of north and western Scotland where they were found breeding in two summers during the 1970's, but a fledged juvenile found in 2003 was the first confirmed breeding of SL in Scotland since 1977.

I'd sooner be birding....but the 'weather bomb' has arrived and little if any chance at the moment, the whole thing has gone pear shaped.

9 comments:

  1. I`m cabined up as well Pete keeping out of the rough weather,but hopefully like you I will be visiting Rossall to see the shorelark.

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  2. If we do both get to Rossall I hope to bump into you Martin.

    Yes, cabined up sounds about right, back to watching what damage the'weather bomb'does.

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  3. Hi Peter .. We are connected .. ha !!! :-))) .. How are you ??? Here in Madrid began the cold and snow in the high peaks .. What a wonderful picture .. (The cover) .. I love .. I hope you have a happy week... countryside and great pictures .. A hug ..

    Ana

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  4. Ana....You are too kind Thank You.

    Here we have a 'weather bomb' with high winds and high seas hit us particularly bad up north.

    My Kind Regards

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  5. Sounds a bit rough up there Pete, hope its not going to be like last year, that was a weather blitz here!!

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  6. You do choose some cracking headers Pete, that one is superb.

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  7. Not looking good the rest of this week Warren. I don't want to say it'll be next week before I get out birding again just in case it sounds I'm defeated by the weather.

    The header is occasionally one of yours too Marc, so on behalf of all the cracking photographers including you....Thanks.

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  8. Thanks Bob pleased you liked it....you keep well too.

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