Conder & Cocker.

Conder Pool continues to oblige when Sundays single became a double with 2 Common Tern present. Other interest was, the high concentration of Avocet which continues to increase, and the season getting off to a good start.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

I saw just one Little Ringed Plover. The Black-tailed Godwit remain in decent number, some of which are well advanced into stunning breeding plumage. The Greylags now have seven goslings in tow.

Knot Conder Pool. Howard Stockdale.

The Knot also remain in numbers not seen on Conder Pool before, their status here is at best an occasional visitor in single figures, some of these birds are attaining their breeding pale brick-red plumage.

In the creeks, a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull was with Black-headed Gulls, 4 Greenshank, and a Common Sandpiper, and a wander around the circuit had a Cetti's Warbler briefly heard, a Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Reed Bunting.

At Cockersand, the star of the show was seen, when a Reed Bunting caught my eye coming out of a reed lined ditch, I saw another bird distant perched upright, and looked a bigger bird than the one I was hoping it would be, but climbing over the gate and walking through the field to get closer, I found it was a bit of Cockersand magic to make my day, it was a brilliant male Whinchat.

This was my first Whinchat at Cockersand since the last one 4 years ago on 23 April 2018.

Other notes include, 2 Raven, and after seeing small flighty groups several times, 10 Linnet were seen along the headland, from where I saw 2 Wheatear, a White Wagtail, and up to 40 Eider which were off Sunderland Point. In the 3 hours at Cockersand, I saw only 3 Swallow north.

Birding On Your Doorstep....

....but first the Short-eared Owl.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the header image, which shows what looks like what can only be described as a twig protruding from the birds right armpit. I'd suggest this is the possible cause of the inability to fly any distance, and is the reason the owl has remained on Conder Pool for two months now, since it was first seen here on 27 February....I've seen no reports of sightings of the bird in the past few days.

A visit to Lancaster Cemetery was primarily for more evidence that the Nuthatch are breeding in the Cypress Tree. Eventually I got the confirmation, when a bird emerged from the nest hole as I was leaving the site. Earlier I had trained my camera on the tree, if only to get the recording of a bird in the area, with a song new to me. I was confused - nothing new there, as I'm easily confused - but hey, a fellow birder threw in his opinion, and we had a result. 

 

Sound On

....'Song of male Nuthatch a uniform series of loud notes, very variable in tempo, from drawn-out whistling notes slowly repeated, to very short notes rapidly repeated'....BWP

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On my next visit, more evidence of the breeding Nuthatch, when the bird came to the tree and went to the nest hole and appeared to feed a grub to the sitting female.

Other interest in the visit, up to 3 Chiffchaff and singing Blackcap heard, 4 Nuthatch, 2 Jay, and a Goldcrest. Butterflies, 8 Orange Tip, 3 Speckled Wood, and 2 Red Admiral.

Tree Wasp. Pete Woodruff.

Also in the cemetery, this 22cm queen Tree Wasp is common, but with the grand scientific name Dolichovespula sylvestris.

Common Carder-Bee.

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This Bumbus pascuorum seemed to take a liking to the garden insect hotel before flying off.

Common Tern.

Common Tern Conder Pool 24 April. Howard Stockdale.

A Common Tern returned to Conder Pool on Sunday morning, hopefully to breed successfully for the ninth year. It is the second April date for first arrival, quite amazingly on the same April day as last year. The previous six first dates have been in May, with the first Common Tern record for Conder Pool being on a late date in July 2014....

02 July 2014

22 May 2015

06 May 2016

08 May 2017 

07 May 2018

05 May 2019

02 May 2020

24 April 2021

24 April 2022

Negative Turns Positive.

Negatives.

It's rare that I use the word negative to describe any of my birding, but a session in the Lune Valley turned out to be the most negative experience for me in ages.

Sand Martin Bull Beck April 15 2021

At Bull Beck where I had hoped to find Little Ringed Plover and the more guaranteed Sand Martin. I found neither, despite the date being a week later than the 'good number' of Sand Martin seen at the breeding colony last year.

Positive compensation was a Kingfisher whizzing past me downstream, a Common Sandpiper and a Goosander hauled out on the shingle. Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler seen from the footpath.

A wander down the River Wenning west from Hornby, then north-east upstream by the side of the River Lune to Lloyn Bridge, was an even bigger disaster than Bull Beck. I made notes of Willow Warbler, a Goosander on the river, and 5 Orange Tip.

Although I saw perhaps 30 Sand Martin milling around over the river, I saw the remnants of what was a thriving Sand Martin colony for as long as I can remember on the opposite bank on the River Lune. The area is now boulders and grassland. A little further downstream there is plant machinery, and an area marked as a tarn on the OS map known as The Snab is now a skeleton of what it was and has been drained, with not a bird in sight. 

For the time being, I'll make no further comment until I know the facts. Meanwhile question....what's going on here!

Positives.

I'm grateful to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image of the stunning adult Mediterranean Gull in breeding plumage on Conder Pool Friday morning.  A bird currently at the head of a list of 'goodies' on Conder Pool in recent weeks, making it the top birding spot on the Lune Estuary including....

Avocet peak count of 19 on 5 April, and one seen with yellow flag 63, was one of last years young. Per Ian Hartley.

Short-eared Owl

Little Gull

Spotted Redshank

Greenshank

Little Ringed Plover 4 

Water Pipit

Black-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

Ruff

Green Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Barnacle Goose

So what's next on Conder Pool.

Well, the Common Terns return is imminent, but what will they think of the something like 20 pairs of Black-headed Gull thinking of nesting there....No room at the inn! 

Barnacle Goose Takes Top Spot!

My visit to Conder Green was something of a repeat of my last on 5 April, though some numbers had changed, and new birds were in. 

Conder Pool laid claim to its first Barnacle Goose yesterday, present there since Sunday, it was with 16 Greylag and a lone Pink-footed Goose which appeared to have a damaged wing. 

Barnacle Goose Conder Pool 

After a few counts, I arrived at a total of 18 Avocet including four in the creeks. Godwit numbers were, 130 Black-tailed Godwit and 9 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.150 Knot, 3 Common Sandpiper, a Ruff and Greenshank, 3 Little Ringed Plover, and 2 Stock Dove.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool

On a wander round the circuit, a Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were in the picnic area, also an Orange Tip. 

A Swallow seen at Gardners Farm along Moss Lane. Otherwise, it was quiet at Cockersand, though 10 Wheatear sounds something of a contradiction. A Snipe shot out of a ditch, and I probably saw/heard at least 8 Skylark. Plover Scar held a small and easy high tide count of just 12 Ringed Plover. Butterflies noted, 2 Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock.

On my way back to Lancaster, I called in again to Conder Pool and found a Wheatear.

After The Fall, And Four Nice Chats

As the result of a fall in perfect conditions, in the four hours around the Birk Bank area, I recorded at least 22 Willow Warbler most heard only,  Otherwise, a lone Chiffchaff, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Buzzard soaring and mewing, and 2 Dunnock in the car park on Rigg Lane.

It was good to get myself back on the top of Birk Bank again on Thursday to find 4 Stonechat. A little early in the season to get the full picture of breeding birds here, but if I get myself back up at the end of April, the picture will be more convincing.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee on flowering Bilberry. Pete Woodruff.

I saw a few Buff-tailed Bumblebee, and also saw White-tailed Bumblebee, the taxonomy of which is complex and the subject of ongoing research. The label Bombus lucorum is used to include two other species, B.magnus and B.cryptarum, and are treated as 'aggregate' species....Add to this, much more science of interest....But I'm out of my comfort zone now!

Green Hairstreak. Pete Woodruff.

Other insect interest was 5 Green Hairstreak seen.

Up the path from the car park, I was confronted by a rogue Red Grouse, the second of its kind, with one behaving in the same manner was seen several times a couple of years ago in this area. They are aggressive, and the last one actually flew at me on one occasion. I reckon neither of these birds can fly any distance if at all, and behave for some reason in a retarded manner.

Bilberry Bumblebee. Copyright David Whitaker.

It would have been great to have found my Birk Bank Buff-tailed Bumblebee was a Bilberry Bumblebee like David Whitaker did. With the help I've had from some experts, I may decide to take on the quest to hunt them down in Bowland. 

I'm grateful to Ian Mitchell for being in touch with the moth in his trap recently.

Blossom Underwing. Ian Mitchell.

A scarce moth, not common anywhere, found locally in the south and Wales, and infrequently seen in NW England. Its name is given by the pink-tinged hindwings distinguishing it from most other species. Nice one Ian, many thanks.  

Cold, Wet And Windy....But Who Cares!

An excellent 3 hours under the roof at the viewing platform at Conder Pool yesterday, made the wet and windy conditions easier to deal with. 

The videos that follow will be better Viewed Full Screen....Hopefully!

Todays count of 19 Avocet - 18 in the video - demoted my 16 on 18 March into second place.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

Other notes include, it was good to find the Little Ringed Plover on the pool again this year. There was a count of c.250 Black-tailed Godwit, some in advanced stunning orange-rufous summer plumage, they were accompanied by 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 65 Knot, and a single Dunlin.

A Ruff presented itself and pleased everyone as it stayed around the end of the island for a while. A Greenshank was also obliging and paid a visit to the creeks before returning to Conder Pool. Also noted, up to 80 Redshank, 3 Stock Dove, at least 15 Pied Wagtail, and a lone Swallow - my first - took centre stage as it flew across the pool flying north.

It was a close call which bird took bird of the day award, in the end the Water Pipit did it for me.

Water Pipit Conder Green. Pete Woodruff.

Plenty of interest on Conder Pool yesterday, and had I have gone there the day before, it would have been 6 years to the day since my last Water Pipit at Conder Green, when I got this record shot of this bird in breeding plumage on 4 April 2016.

I'm grateful to Paul Murphy for the use of his Water Pipit on Conder Pool yesterday.

Park, Cemetery, And Garden.

Williamson Park.

A walk through the park proved eventful, with a pair of Mistle Thrush found to be nesting in a Sycamore, also up to 10 Chiffchaff mostly heard, though one bird gave excellent views. Also noted, 16 Blackbird, 5 Nuthatch, 5 Robin, 4 Great Tit, a Wren, and 2 Long-tailed Tit.

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Two Herring Gull and a Lesser Black-backed Gull were at the pond in Williamson Park....Well, you can't call 'em 'seabirds' can you!

Lancaster Cemetery.

On to the cemetery which also proved to be eventful, in that I had another sighting of at least 3 Bullfinch which were seen short of 1/3 mile east of the male I found in the area on 17 December last year. These sightings have been made on inaccessible/private land unfortunately. Also in the cemetery, I found 2 Nuthatch behaving in a manner that made it likely to become a breeding site. 

Making a return visit the following day, I watched the male Nuthatch coming down the tree and appear to feed the female a small food item through a hole bottom right of the split in the trunk....So, a bit of interest here to keep me on my toes for a few weeks.

The Garden. 

Butterflies and Bees have been visiting the garden recently, particularly the latter, this Tree Bumblebee and the Buff-tailed Bumblebee were showing the benefit of our Pussy Willow.

We had the pleasure of a visit by a Greenfinch to the feeders. A declining species and scarce visitor to our garden. Footage through the kitchen window, and a little too enthusiastic with the zoom....Well thats my excuse anyway.

Stonechat Black Moss Reservoir. Courtesy of Martin Jordan.

Stonechats....In the first quarter of this year to 31 March.

With no duplications, I have noted 137 Stonechat individuals in 71 records taken from FBC/LDBWS websites. Only 5 of my personal records are included in these, and are represented by 15 Stonechat, 9 of which are now on territory. 

I have categorised these Stonechat records as 30 wintering birds seen from 2 January until 27 February, the early date migration took off, when 13 Stonechat were seen by a birder on one birding date.