BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND.....................................................................................BARN OWL COCKERSAND IAN MITCHELL

Sunday, 5 March 2017

GAME ON.

My day was made up on Friday when I found a female Stonechat on Jeremy Lane, since then AC had found 7 Stonechat by 10.30am yesterday morning, which add up to reports of 15 birds in our area in the first four days of March, all of which heralds the start of Stonechat migration...GAME ON!

Another excellent record for my book on Friday was two stunning adult Mediterranean Gull complete with black hoods on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, with c.150 Black-tailed Godwit, and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit. Of the 19 Goldeneye seen, 10 were on the estuary and 9 on the canal basin were I noted a Great-crested Grebe

The Great White Egret was in the field by Saltcote Pumping Station on Jeremy Lane with 2 Whooper Swan again. And on Conder Pool, 14 Tufted Duck, 12 Wigeon, and 3 Shelduck were noted. In the creeks, the Spotted Redshank, Common Sandpiper, and 3 Little Grebe, with a pair of Goosander seen upstream from the A588 road bridge.

Eider & Siskin.  


Eider. Cockersand 31 October 2016. Pete Woodruff.

With the exception of this single drake which had hauled itself onto Plover Scar on 31 October, I have recorded no Eider on the Lune Estuary from Glasson Dock to Bank End for almost seven and a half months since I saw seven off Plover Scar at Cockersand on 22 July 2016. 


Siskin. Mike Atkinson.

Mike Atkinson kindly sent me this image with the report of 9 Siskin in his garden at one time on 28 February, an exceptional record for an urban garden in Lancaster.

Thanks to Ana for her excellent header image of the Little Owls.  

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for that Richard.

    Ana's portfolio is brilliant as the Little Owl image shows.

    ReplyDelete