I'd Sooner Be Birding!

A little sun, a nice calm day, and a high tide on Thursday, sounded like a good idea was to go to Pilling Lane Ends where all the 'Pilling Lane Ends at high tide' birders go to see the wader spectacle. But today seemed to prove to me that the spectacle isn't guaranteed and today turned out to be one day it wasn't happening.

But I picked up a little compensation when I found 2 Mediterranean Gull, both adult drifting on the sea with a good number of Black-headed Gull. A Peregrine Falcon flew by in a purposeful and direct flight, and when I called back two hours later c.1,700 Pink-footed Geese had settled down here. 

Skylark. Pete Woodruff. 

At Fluke Hall I enjoyed playing with my improvised photographic equipment - I always vowed never to combine my birding with taking pics - pointing it at this lone Skylark which stayed motionless for several minutes. Also noted, c.60 Twite flighty as ever, with 4 Tree Sparrow, 10 Goldfinch, a Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Chaffinch, and Robin all in the hedgerow behind the car park. Hordes of waders were feeding after the tide dropped off, Knot, Dunlin, and Redshank, with a pair of Pintail on the tideline. I walked below the sea defences behind Fluke Hall wood to find a Grey Wagtail, with up to 1,500 Curlew resting quietly on the marsh. 

On the way back to Lancaster I called at Wrampool to see 3 Snipe come up out of the set-aside, and unable to ignore the Lune Estuary I paid a brief visit to Glasson Dock to find 115 Black-tailed Godwit and 4 Goldeneye. A quick look in at Conder Green had me see 3 Little Grebe on Conder Pool and Spotted Redshank and a lone Black-tailed Godwit in the creeks.

And a good time was had by all....again.