The Conder Common Terns....

....and some other notes.

I visited Conder Green on Monday and again Tuesday to have no sighting of Common Terns on Conder Pool, it was looking bad for getting anything conclusive on this excellent breeding record for the second year at Conder Green.

Common Tern Young Lune Estuary 21 July Pete Woodruff

But there was quite a sight waiting for me at Glasson Dock yesterday where all five Common Tern were on the Lune Estuary with the young being fed by both adults. But better was to come when I watched all three young birds eventually taking to the wing to join the adults to fish for themselves....great stuff.

And some other notes.

Common Sandpiper. Pete Woodruff.

Yesterdays count was of 15 Common Sandpiper at Conder Green, several of which were downstream from the old railway bridge from where a Buzzard was overhead. On Conder Pool, a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull was with Black-headed Gulls, also a Greenshank, and I noted a female Tufted Duck had just one lonely duckling, if this was the leftover from a brood of fourteen recently seen on Conder Pool, then this is a disaster for one pair of Tufted Duck.

Not too much else to note on the Lune Estuary, but c.200 Redshank and 20 Dunlin were feeding close by from the bowling green, with 5 Eider and 2 Red-breasted Merganser all hauled out on to the mud.

Turnstone 

Cockersands was heavy going, with a howler along the headland and not much reward for the effort, though c.150 Golden Plover were on the shingle below the abbey at high tide, accompanied by a stunning lone male Turnstone and Ringed Plover. Another lone bird was a Sand Martin off the Caravan Park, and the Whitethroat on Slack Lane aside, the return via the road was virtually void of birds.

On the way back to Lancaster, a return visit to Conder Pool about five hours after the first, I saw two adult Common Tern flying around, one of which had a fish in it's bill. Difficult to understand what was going on here as there was no sign of any young which I assume were still on the estuary....or were they back in hiding on the pool.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the male Turnstone, an exact copy of the bird I saw at Cockersands.