I got out and dusted off my twitching gear yesterday to eventually get off my arse to go see a Desert Wheatear, in and around the area since last Saturday when it was first found at Fairhaven Lake, Lytham St Annes.
The decider for me to go was a pager message claiming the bird still there yesterday morning, but 20 minutes down the M6 and unknown to me with the pager in my pocket, the message was that the earlier one was erroneous. I spent a couple of hours parading along the beach, eventually alone with not another birder in sight, in pursuit of a bird which had clearly done a runner.
Reed Bunting. Starr Hill. Pete Woodruff.
I had to settle for 4 Reed Bunting, one of which I got one of my half decent shots, and several Pied Wagtail, to leave here and call in at Fluke Hall on the way back to Lancaster.
Pale-bellied Brent Goose. Fluke Hall. Pete Woodruff.
When I got out of the car at Fluke Hall, from the sea-wall a Pale Bellied Brent Goose was on the saltmarsh and was the only quality bird of the day. A saunter along the coastal path to Cockers Dyke had me seeing relatively few gulls, a good number of Dunlin feeding with fewer Redshank, 10 Goldfinch, a Little Egret, and a Wren disappearing down into the sea defence boulders.
Yesterday I found this recently deceased juvenile Gannet on the shingle at Cockersand.
Juvenile Gannet. Cockersand. Pete Woodruff.
Although I've seen nothing official about the ID of the Fair Isle Siberian Stonechat present 16-30th October, the claim is that is has been proven as maurus on DNA evidence.
Pete. Shame you missed the Desert Wheatear,a bonny very active little bird which I was lucky to see on Tuesday.Iam certainly not a twitcher but couldn't resist a look at this rarity.Catch up with you soon Pete re Lancaster Bird Report.Take care.
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