The Two Hour Short List.

A couple of hours to spare on Tuesday only gave me time to check Plover Scar coming up to a 9.66m high tide at 2.41pm, but a good hour was taken up when I found something like 1,500 Dunlin with 350 Ringed Plover in what had been a ploughed field off Slack Lane a couple of days ago, but was now more like a carpet having been rolled flat which had suited the birds nicely. 

High Tide Roosters. Cockersand. Pete Woodruff.

Also in the roost, it was good to see 4 Sanderling - 'clik the pik' there's two in there, with one in winter plumage, the other to the left with it's head down in advanced summer plumage - and a single Turnstone, 2 Stock Dove were in an adjacent field. Another Sanderling was on Plover Scar with 225 Dunlin, 3 Turnstone, and a Whimbrel.

Calling in at Conder Green I was a little surprised to find a Common Sandpiper still here, the last in 2015 were four seen on 1 May. The Common Tern pair were also still present, though I've seen a report of the terns and everything else on the pool disturbed by someone on a four track speeding on the bund yesterday with 100+sheep still on here last time I counted them, none of which can hardly be conducive to any ground nesting birds.

I'm off to check the 'Birds of Barbondale' now....that'll take a little more than two hours I'd say.