Rantin' & Ravin'.

Golden Plover.

Britain and Ireland's population of c.23,000 Golden Plover pairs, lie at the southern edge of their breeding range, they nest essentially on moorland, moving to coastal grassland and saltmarshes in autumn. 

Golden Plover. Pete Woodruff.

I've ranted on a couple of times recently on B2B, about the absence of Golden Plover (GP) on the Lune Estuary this winter, the best counts I've seen recorded on the estuary are 1,400 GP on two occasions. The peak for 2019 was a WeBS count of 3,952 GP in January, 3,712 being on the Lune Estuary. These are the kind of numbers I could easily find in winter, particularly in the fields at Cockersand and on the estuary at Glasson.

I note the Morecambe Bay WeBS count for January 2019, was 4,382 Golden Plover. Also worth noting, the high proportion of the total population of Golden Plover occurs on the Lune Estuary. So where have the Lune Estuary birds been this winter? Well at least 1,000 Golden Plover were back in the uplands on High Cross Moor in Bowland on Saturday 13 March, with a pair seen on Grit Fell, and two on Ward's Stone 18 March.

Black-tailed Godwit.

 Black-tailed Godwit Howard Stockdale View Full Screen

There was another rant last week on B2B, about issues surrounding Conder Pool, but this time the rant turned into a rave with an excellent report of 2,500 Black-tailed Godwit on Saturday 13 March, a clear indication that the pool continues to add to it's already impressive collection of rare/scarce/and common bird records, and to hold on to it's distinction of being one of the best things that ever happened in our area, when it was left to nature to become Conder Pool 18 years ago in June 2003.

Common Tern.

The terns are coming to Conder Pool, these birds will add to the above mentioned impressive collection of records for this brilliant area on the Lune Estuary. If these birds run true to form, they will arrive in the first days of May for their eighth successive year. The Common Tern has been seen here progressively earlier each year since their first arrival....

2 July 2014 

22 May 2015

6 May 2016

8 May 2017

7 May 2018

5 May 2019

2 May 2020....Looks like a possible date in April 2021!

I'm grateful to Howard Stockdale for keeping in touch with news and images, it is much appreciated.