It was a case of keeping tabs on Conder Pool on Friday, my birding allowance barely gave me time to do it, but it was my fix for the day and thankful for it.
The count peaked at 6 Common Tern today, two were visitors which flew around a few minutes and then disappeared towards the estuary, the other four are the summer resident two pairs, the females of which are now sitting, four of the 6 Avocet seen are also sitting, and at least 25 Sand Martin were hawking over the pool, the Little Ringer Plover allowed good views, 6 Little Egret were in a gang in the creeks, and a Reed Bunting was in the hedgerow.
A Kestrel was hovering upstream from the A588 road bridge, with 2 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler seen as I made my way to the coastal path from where I picked out 11 Eider hauled out on the Lune Estuary at low tide.
Along the canal between Glasson and Conder Green, there was an abundance of damselflies on and around the sections of canal-side vegetation, and I spotted a pair of Common-blue Damselflies in tandem, a mature male coupled with an immature female....
....and an immature male Blue-tailed Damselfly.
A Kestrel was hovering upstream from the A588 road bridge, with 2 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler seen as I made my way to the coastal path from where I picked out 11 Eider hauled out on the Lune Estuary at low tide.
Common-blue Damselflies. Pete Woodruff.
Along the canal between Glasson and Conder Green, there was an abundance of damselflies on and around the sections of canal-side vegetation, and I spotted a pair of Common-blue Damselflies in tandem, a mature male coupled with an immature female....
Blue-tailed Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.
....and an immature male Blue-tailed Damselfly.
No Vacancies.
The Common Tern having been beaten to the pontoon by the soon to hatch Black-headed Gull, have been joined by an Oystercatcher with the same plan. All this - and the two ridiculous plastic decoys appearing to be dead and lying on their side - all makes for trouble ahead, and it's not going to be nice.
Conder Pool 2018. Pete Woodruff.
Add to this, I recently roughly counted 90 sheep on the land surrounding Conder Pool, despite having it on good authority that....'The sheep weren't supposed to go on until mid July to reduce disturbance and try to get a taller sward for breeding Redshank'....Ground nesting birds and 90 sheep are not compatible and are a dangerous mix.
Edit.
I've edited the post to add a relevant comment found in records from Conder Pool on Sunday....'Several sheep on the 'island' last week were practically standing on the nests'....
Thanks to Ian Mitchell once again for his excellent header image of the Conder Pool LRP.
The Common Tern having been beaten to the pontoon by the soon to hatch Black-headed Gull, have been joined by an Oystercatcher with the same plan. All this - and the two ridiculous plastic decoys appearing to be dead and lying on their side - all makes for trouble ahead, and it's not going to be nice.
Add to this, I recently roughly counted 90 sheep on the land surrounding Conder Pool, despite having it on good authority that....'The sheep weren't supposed to go on until mid July to reduce disturbance and try to get a taller sward for breeding Redshank'....Ground nesting birds and 90 sheep are not compatible and are a dangerous mix.
Edit.
I've edited the post to add a relevant comment found in records from Conder Pool on Sunday....'Several sheep on the 'island' last week were practically standing on the nests'....
Thanks to Ian Mitchell once again for his excellent header image of the Conder Pool LRP.
Nice to see some Odonata creeping on your page Pete. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marc, and for the e-mail too, much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards.
I echo Marc's words, Pete. You're doing better with damselflies than I am this year! My very best wishes - - - Richard
ReplyDelete