Upland Wanderings....

....and some interest in the garden.

On a beautiful calm spring day, it was good to get myself on Harrisend for 3 hours on Thursday, to find 6 Stonechat, seen as two pairs and a lone male and female, almost certainly having mates which I failed to see and make four 'probable' breeding pairs to date on Harrisend.

At least 13 Meadow Pipit seen, 2 Wren, 3 Dunnock including a male displaying to a female, 3 Red Grouse, and a male Reed Bunting, which was initially tricky alongside a male Stonechat, both in the far distance, 10 Greylag overhead flying west.

Five of fifteen 7-Spot Ladybirds. Pete Woodruff.

I found 15 7-Spot Ladybirds in four small clusters on Gorse, and saw 2 Peacock butterflies.

Two hours on Hawthorthwaite, produced 3 Stonechat, seen as a pair and a lone male. Also, 8 Red Grouse, 7 Meadow Pipit, and 3 Wren. The bonus bird was a Woodcock, flushed and flew about 400m to go down by Catshaw Greave.

I was grateful for the report of 2 Barn Owls seen on Wednesday, one of which was reasonably obvious to have been the same one seen by me at and around the foot of Hawthornthwaite on 20 January, the other seen at the woodlands at the bottom of Cam Brow. Reasonable to suggest perhaps these two Barn Owls are a pair....Many thanks for this Simon.

   

Interest In The Garden.

There was a lot of enjoyment to be had in the garden this week, with visits by Bees, Butterflies, Birds, Hoverflies, and a colourful if nasty little critter.                          

 

With some video footage made, a visit to see the Reed Bunting in a Brookhouse garden was a success. A bit of a surprise, and not the bird to be found on your feeders on a regular basis, and not one I'm expecting ever on mine in urban Lancaster.

European Hoverfly. Pete Woodruff.

The Eristalis pertinax found in our garden, developed into something a little more interesting, in that I discovered the larva of this hoverfly is the Rat-tailed Maggot, one of which was seen in the garden pond last year....The larva's name doesn't conjure up anything of beauty does it!

Tree Bumblebee on Pussy Willow 

 

Buff-tailed Bumblebee. Pete Woodruff.

 

As the most familiar bumblebee, this Bombus terrestris was basking on Camellia in the garden, unfortunately giving a rear view only.

Yellow Dung-Fly. Pete Woodruff. 

And the nasty colourful critter which I couldn't miss, is the golden-furred male Yellow-Dung Fly on the branch of a Willow in the garden yesterday.

Footnote.

Hard to believe in the 21st century, but as my experience has clearly shown, you can spend 5 hours in the Forest of Bowland like I did today - often spending much more time than that - and not see a single bird of prey....Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Merlin, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Kestrel.  

Highlights Around The Estuary.

Highlights started with a visit to Conder Pool on Friday, where 16 Avocet have now pitched up, and are equivalent in number to the eight breeding pairs in 2021. Also there, the Short-eared Owl performed, and gave excellent views on the ground and hunting around the edges of the pool. 

In perfect light conditions, I couldn't resist another attempt at some more footage of this brilliant owl that has entertained droves of happy birders and photographers for three weeks on Conder Pool now.

View Full Screen

The other highlight was that of up to 400 Black-tailed Godwit, most of which were at rest on the island, whilst others were feeding along the back terrace. Two male and a female Shoveler were also excellent, not a particularly common sight here, also 5 Snipe and a Little Egret completed a decent short list for Conder Pool.

At Cockersand, I was pleased to find my first 2 Wheatear, the first of which was on Plover Scar....Well, where else would I find my first Wheatear other than on Plover Scar. The c.250 Whooper Swan I saw from a moving vehicle, were concentrated in the fields off Moss Lane to the south of Gardners Farm.

At least 2,000 Golden Plover were in the air again as they had been on my last visit to Cockersand. The Skylark were singing their seemingly never ending flight song, with one fluttering over my head, also 3 Stock Dove noted, 6 Linnet in stubble, and around 20 birds distant in the air in the same field, were probably the same, but unable to rule out Twite.

Miscellany.

My daughter has a stunning male Reed Bunting visiting over the past few days in Brookhouse. An urban Reed Bunting on garden feeders is a first for Lynn, and certainly is for me.

I saw my first butterfly, with a Small Tortoiseshell at Cockersand on Friday, and one in the garden yesterday. Also in the garden, a Tree Bumblebee, a 'social bee' known to be less represented in up to four areas of Lancashire, including my home town of Lancaster. A large bee escaped through the greenhouse window before I could get very much detail on it, but from what I did see, I thought it was a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee which emerge in early spring from February onwards, as one of the most familiar of banded bumblebees. 

Out For The Count!

On the pretence of being a 'proper birder', I decided to do a stock count Conder Pool on Thursday, and arrived at the count of 177 birds of 14 species in view. The count included the long staying Short-eared Owl which gave excellent views, albeit that it spends most of the time around the east corner of the pool hunting for an obvious abundance of voles, being it still hangs around two weeks since it was first reported at Conder Pool 27 February.

Couldn't resist a second helping of footage of the SEO and the Cockersand Snow Bunting, best viewed Full Screen. 

There was an arrival of 7 Avocet, though there had been 9 here on Tuesday 8 March. Many thanks go to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image.

Also in my notes for Conder Pool, 21 Tufted Duck, 18 Wigeon, 8 Teal, 7 Shelduck, 13 Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 47 Black-headed Gull, 2 Little Grebe, and a Little Egret. 

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson, c.300 Dunlin, 30 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit were accompanied by a lone Knot, 3 Goldeneye and a Goosander were also noted.

At Cockersand, a casual count of 23 species saw c.4,000 birds, the bulk of which was at least 3,500 Golden Plover in the air on the circuit, which I saw a few minutes after a female Merlin flew along Slack Lane to turn south and disappeared along the shoreline behind Lighthouse Cottage. I failed to relocate the grounded plovers again, but off Plover Scar, I counted 42 Eider, and strung along the shore south from here, at least 120 Shelduck noted.

The Snow Bunting was by the kissing gate north of Cockersand Abbey, and is one of the most confiding bird I ever saw, but not looking quite as exotic as it would have in the Cairngorms. There was at least 350 Whooper Swan over four fields today, including some in a field below and west of the A588, this was an increase in number of at least 150 since my last visit on 4 March. 

The day of the owl, the bunting, and although cloudy and windy, time checking Conder Pool, and another enjoyable wander around Cockersand....HAPPY DAYS.

    

The ferry leaves Heysham and out of Morecambe Bay into the Irish Sea, seen at 2.40pm. The far western Cumbrian landscape is in the misty background, with Plover Light off Plover Scar in the foreground.

Wheatear Banks Marsh 11 March Stuart Darbyshire

There's a claim to have found the first Wheatear for Lancashire at Banks Marsh on the mean arrival date of 11 March....I reckon Stuart is spot on.

Asio flammeus

I joined the merry band of owl enthusiasts at Conder Green on Friday to have excellent views of a Short-eared Owl which has been at Conder Pool since it was first recorded seven days ago on 27 February. 

The wings of the Short-eared Owl are proportionately the longest of any owl in the Western Palearctic, and when I first viewed this bird through the telescope, I noticed its right wing was hanging limp, but it lifted it to preen briefly, and soon took off to hunt when it appeared to have no problems, it was able to bank and make swift turns as it hunted as can be seen in the video.

View Full Screen

As I arrived at Conder Green, c.250 Black-tailed Godwit had been on Conder Pool, but up to 200 had taken off to leave and flew towards the Lune Estuary. It was good to see the arrival of 3 Avocet back on the pool. Also noted were, a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck with a lone female Goldeneye.

My visit to Cockersand was unremarkable, there was no show from the  Stonechats - probably back in Bowland by now - or Snow Bunting, though later I saw a report of the long staying bunting on the coastal path, in the FBC sightings page. There was a marked decrease in the number of swans, which now stands at no more than 200 Whooper Swan, with no search for anything accompanying them distantly. As the tide was rising, 3 Snipe came off the marsh.

On the circuit, it was good to hear the Skylark heralding early signs of spring, and Lapwing thinking of taking up territories in the fields, with 2 Kestrel hovering over the Caravan Park and Crook Farm, 52 Golden Plover were in a field to the north of Abbey Farm, and three large groups eventually formed up to 3,000 Starling.

Raven Cockersand 4 March. Pete Woodruff.

Four Raven off the headland flew by me close in at eye level. Zooming in on them, Heysham power station looks like it is on the shore at Plover Scar, Cockersand Abbey is on my right out of shot.

With too much water on the ebbing tide on the Lune Estuary at Glasson, 225 Black-tailed Godwit, and 70 Bar-tailed Godwit noted, with 550 Wigeon and 3 Goosander seen.     

On my way home to Lancaster four hours later, I called back to Conder Pool to have a second helping of the SEO, but finding the viewing platform crammed to the rafters, I abandoned the idea, thankful for my first sighting of this beautiful creature....Happy Owl Days!

Many Thanks to Paul Murphy for his excellent image of the SEO on Conder Pool Friday 4 March.