Mr Blue Sky.

A beautiful day yesterday with barely a cloud in the sky most of the time, cold but brilliant to be about and checkin'em out .

Whooper Swans Brian Rafferty

I'd only been at Conder Green a few minutes when 2 Whooper Swan dropped in on Conder Pool. Although the star birds - SR and CS - were nowhere to be seen, of note on the pool, 4 Little Grebe, 8 Wigeon, a Snipe, 27 Black-headed Gull and 3 Common Gull, a sprinkling of Redshank, Curlew, and Teal were in the creeks. Thanks for the picture Brian, could have been my two dropping in on Conder Pool....Wonderful stuff.

I legged it to Glasson Dock via the coastal path where a Sparrowhawk flew across ahead of me and on over the marsh. It was low tide with some birds on the Lune Estuary close in from the bowling green, most notably up to 300 Black-tailed Godwit with a few uncounted Bar-tailed Godwit. My count of 47 Goldeneye was down on the last two visits here, but c.600 Wigeon was probably a peak in my records for this section of the river this winter, a Great-crested Grebe and Red-breasted Merganser noted.

From Moss Lane, 7 Bewick's Swan in a field by Clarkson's Farm still, the Whooper Swans were still scattered far and wide from Moss Lane towards Bank End.

Barn Owl. Howard Stockdale.

By way of a change I parked by Cockerham Sands Country Park which turned out a good idea as a Barn Owl was again hunting over the rough field behind Lower Bank House. 

In and around Bank Houses horse paddock, 15 Blackbird, 6 Tree Sparrow, 3 Robin, and a Song Thrush. In the fields beyond the paddock, at least 650 Curlew, and c.25 Twite were very flighty around Cockersand Abbey and Abbey Farm.

Thanks to Howard for the much appreciated and excellent image of the Barn Owl.