Four Figure Godwits....

....with a couple of other notable 'frantic feeding' records at Cockersands for Monday 29 February, and some moderate photographic efforts too.

Black-tailed Godwit. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Perfect timing yesterday when I arrived along the road to Crook Farm at just after 3.30 pm, the tide had dropped off enough for at least 1,000 Black-tailed Godwit (BTG) to feed frantically on the freshly uncovered mud, a few of which were advanced in their stunning rufous neck and breast breeding plumage. 

I had seen a published record of 1,200 BTG at Sunderland Point last Tuesday 23 February, and that flock was probably matched by this one here today. In fact on Friday 26 February, I had seen up to 1,000 BTG on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, and later found 650 off Crook Farm at Cockersands, I had thought at the time, if these two groups of BTG were independent of each other, then 1,650 BTG were on the Lune Estuary on that date. Whatever, these are excellent counts of the species in this area.

Wigeon. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Also as the tide ebbed at Cockersands, several hundred Wigeon were also feeding frantically and were accompanied by at least one pair of Pintail, and more surprisingly a drake Shoveler, seen as a rare sight at Cockersands, and a scarce and irregular visitor elsewhere in our recording area.

Eider. C'sands. Pete Woodruff.

Twenty two Eider - heads down in the pic above - were also feeding off Long Tongue, this was four more than the eighteen I had seen here on my last visit which had been my first Eider here since 8 October 2015.

The rest of the account of the birds seen yesterday to follow....I ran out of blogging time today.