Thursday 1 February.

By the time I got to Conder Green the 10.19m tide was lapping by the roadside, and a few birds had taken refuge on Conder Pool including, 2 Greenshank, 110 Redshank, 3 Snipe, 3 Goosander, 26 Curlew, a Goldeneye, and 120 Common Gull. The 2 Rock Pipit and 2 Red-breasted Merganser on Conder Pool I don't ever recall seeing there before, certainly not the latter. On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 16 Goldeneye, a drake Pochard, Little Grebe and Great-crested Grebe. 

At Cockersand, waders today were concentrated in Abbey Farm fields down to Lighthouse Cottage, where there was probably 5,000 birds, including most notably 2,000 Dunlin and 2,500 Golden Plover. When I went to Glasson 30 minutes later I found another 1,500 Golden Plover, in which case my records read....'at least 4,000 Golden Plover on the Lune Estuary Thursday 1 February'.

I found the female Stonechat again on the tide wrack at the caravan park, with 2 Reed Bunting, and singles of Wren, Goldfinch, and Pied Wagtail. In the field to the north of Bank Houses horse paddock, 3 Stock Dove, and 13 Skylark.

Whooper Swans.

Whooper Swans Brian Rafferty

Having my best chance to date to get close to the birds, I counted a total of 550 Whooper Swan in the Cockersand/Thurnham area. 

When I got to the field NW of Bank End Farm, the majority of Whooper Swan were pitched up there with a few further inland, in total I counted 315 birds. Later I took to a public footpath through the fields off Jeremy Lane, to get close and count another 235 Whooper Swan.

Thanks to BR for his excellent Whooper Swans, and to MA for his Starling header, a stunning bird photographed in perfect light showing it's iridescent plumage to perfection.