Cockersand....Best & Brilliant.

On a lovely sunny, cold, and calm day, Cockersand was at its best and brilliant on Monday, and produced a nice little trio to add to some other good things.

But I first called in at Conder Green to note 2 Kingfisher in flight down the creeks, one in pursuit of the other, before doing a U turn to fly back upstream and out of sight. On Conder Pool I counted 46 Wigeon, 7 Snipe, and a lone Little Grebe. Interesting, that the Conder Pool winter population has rapidly fallen in number this year, since the all time peak count of 32 Little Grebe recorded here 25 September, and numbers usually remain in decent double figures here until after the turn of the year.

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A circuit of Cockersand is always on the cards as a traditional thing for me, as is the case for most other locations I visit on my birding sorties. Today was no exception, and with the conditions, Cockersand was perfect for some birding.

In fields north behind the caravan park, up to 180 Whooper Swan including 28 off Slack Lane. As I wandered along the road, 13 Blackbird counted, 3 Greenfinch, and a Reed Bunting, and as I rounded the corner at Lighthouse Cottage to head south back to the Caravan Park, a male Merlin shot across my path and flew along the shoreline to Crook Cottage before turning inland and out of view. Almost certainly the same male Merlin I found here 8 October.

I counted 135 Wigeon drifting on the sea, in a line from Plover Scar upstream and out of view towards Glasson. 

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I got this clip of the Whooper Swans south of the abbey, looking east with the Bowland Fells and Hawthornthwaite in the background, whilst c.300 Golden Plover shot over my head to the shore, and from here I saw the only Brown Hare of the day, seen racing through the field.

When I got back to the caravan park it was to my delight I found a pair of Stonechat amongst the tall grasses above the shingle. Whilst stalking the chats to try for a pik, a visiting birder from Skipton - who I had met earlier along the headland - called that he had seen an owl that had gone to ground distant over the fields behind Lower Bank Houses. A Buzzard and Carrion Crow had gone down in the same area seemingly curious as to what was going on with the owl. We had to wait a while for the bird to reappear and take to the wing flying towards us, it was a Barn Owl....Thanks Duncan, nice one.

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I was at Cockersand until 4.00pm as the sun was setting, a pair of Stonechat and a Barn Owl was the prefect end for me. If it's a little therapeutic birding you're after, I recommend Cockersand....Be there.  

At 8°C a Small Tortoiseshell was in our garden briefly yesterday. 

Top Ten On Harrisend.

Weatherwise the day started well on Thursday, but by midday it turned cloudy eventually becoming drizzle for a spell in the afternoon with a cold wind, not the day I had hoped for.

But the inclement weather didn't succeed in putting the damper on my visit to Harrisend. By the time I took this photograph of the view toward Clougha almost hidden in the murk, I had found a perfect 10 Stonechat looking set to winter here.

I love this image of the stunning male Stonechat, it takes me back to the moment where and when I found the bird isolated on the remains of the old lone Hawthorn.

This male Stonechat was amongst the gorse where there was another surprise find, in and out of the gorse was a Coal Tit. Unexpected, I never thought I'd find a Coal Tit on moorland, being a woodland bird, preferring conifers particularly spruce, also a regular garden visitor. Just 2 Red Grouse seen, with no Raven or Buzzard seen, as opposed to a mix of 6/8) seen here 6 October.

I came across this Dusky Puffball Lycoperdon nigrescens on Harrisend. This fungi rarely occurs in large number, is found in acid coniferous woodland and on heathland, and is regarded as suspect and inedible. 

A comparatively short visit to Hawthornthwaite had me finding 14 Red Grouse, and a Wren skulking amongst the heather.

Thinking I was going to draw another blank as I had on 6 October, I was five minutes away from the end of the visit, when I came across a pair of Stonechat, the male being in the short 30sec footage above.

Garden Birds and Moths.

I was grateful as ever that Mike and Ian were in touch with news and images from their respective Lancaster gardens recently.

Brambling Male. Mike Atkinson.

Sparrowhawk Juvenile. Mike Atkinson.

Feathered Thorn. Ian Mitchell.

Merveille du Jour....Wonder Of The Day.

Merveille du Jour. Ian Mitchell.

One of the most beautiful of UK moths, with a brilliant name to match.

Thanks to Bob Bushell for his excellent header image of the Redwing.

After The Break!

On a lovely wall to wall sunny day on Thursday, there was nothing more I wanted to do, than to get to do a 3 mile circuit Rigg Lane-Birk Bank-Cragg Wood-Littledale Road-Rigg Lane. There was half a chance of me finding the last Common Darter around the bog, and maybe some winter thrush to be seen.

Well, two visits to Birk Bank Bog, one at the start of the walk, and one at the end, proved my first hope wasn't to be, with not a darter in sight. But as I was leaving the boardwalk, the sound of a loud chattering 'schack-schack-schack' filled the skies above me, and by the time I ended the walk 3 hours later, I had seen the arrival and roaming around a wide area, of at least 365 Fieldfare. Flocks were seen several times in 3 hours estimated at 200/100/60/5 

Mostly seen distant and in flight, the Fieldfare were accompanied by a few noticeably smaller Redwing, this flock were mobile west of Cragg Wood later in the afternoon at 3.00pm.

Couldn't resist a picture of the Robin by the lane to Rushy Lee.

Robin Rushy Lee. Pete Woodruff.

Seeing none today, I heard just one Red Grouse, 3 Raven drifted overhead as did a Kestrel which I saw twice later hovering in hunting mode, and as I wandered along Rigg Lane a small group of Long-tailed Tit were working through the trees.

A brief glimpse of a butterfly in silhouette around the top of this tree on Rigg Lane would have had me thinking Purple Hairstreak had it been mid-summer, presumably a Red Admiral seen.

Epilogue.

It's been almost a month since my last post on B2B, and nearly the same length of time since I last escaped for some birding. On both counts that's the biggest gap since I started this blog 13 years ago on 15 November 2008 Here

I'm hoping to successfully address some issues to avoid any continuation of this situation which may take a while. Meanwhile, 300+Fieldfare around Birk Bank on Thursday certainly helped me on the way to that goal....Watch this space!