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

Wednesday, 22 August 2018

The New Post....

....another original title!

Adult/Juvenile Common Tern Conder Pool 21 August. Pete Woodruff.

Four Common Tern seen, including the juvenile which I actually saw in flight for the first time yesterday, albeit just a couple of metres after enjoying a bathe, to fly back on to the island. But unlike the pontoon young when fledged, in no time were flying and diving like lifelong experts, this bird seems reluctant to spend much time on the wing, and certainly hasn't yet been observed to fish for itself a week after fledging, but is adept at begging.

Also on Conder Pool, a new peak of 16 Little Grebe, 6 Greenshank, and up to 200 Lapwing spooked into the air en masse. In the creeks, a juvenile Ruff was again with the few Redshank, a lone Dunlin, and 2 Common Sandpiper. Upstream from the road bridge is obviously my best spot for Kingfisher when I had my third sighting in recent visits here. House Martin were noticeable for their absence at River Winds and the Cafe 'd Lune, obviously dispersed.

Odd ones out on the relatively deserted Lune Estuary were an adult Common Tern, 2 Goosander, and a lone Black-tailed Godwit. Of 11 Speckled Wood seen, 3 were on the coastal path to Conder Green, and 8 at Aldcliffe where I saw my first post-breeding Wheatear on a fence post out on the marsh, a species with a very protracted migration period which can be seen as late as November. Although the pools at Aldcliffe are once again water-filled, an hour here was otherwise virtually birdless, and the Wildfowler's Pools deserted. 

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