Geese And Chats.

Thursdays birding was a day that started just about as bad as gets, but soon took off to be as good as it gets as far as geese and to a lesser degree chats were concerned. 

Conder Pool, was virtually void of birds save 4 Wigeon, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Cormorant and a Little Grebe, and to make matters worse the wintering Stonechats appear to have moved on. But there was a little interest on the coastal path, with the sight of a Greenfinch being no better than an occasional bird here, in fact I'm struggling to recall the last one I saw at Conder Green. Something more positive from Conder Pool, 6 Avocet had moved in on Friday with news published by AC@FBC....But not reported since.

Along with Pete Crooks and J.C.Wood who joined me on Moss Lane, and later in the day Barrie Cooper at Cockersand, to quote Pete Crooks we enjoyed....'the best birding experience currently on offer in North Lancashire'.

Over the 3 hours spent at Cockersand, at one point I estimated a total of up to 5,000 Pink-footed Geese in the air, with 8 Barnacle Geese, and 3 White-fronted Geese seen earlier in fields opposite Lambs Farm on the south side of Moss Lane. 

With the first count made in fields, geese were in the air several times following human disturbance, and c.2,000 were in this field immediately north of Bank House Cottage.

Worth a mention, over the past few days during these pre-migration gatherings of geese, a peak count was made of 12 White-fronted Geese, with 3 Bean Geese and a Lesser White-fronted Goose per FBC. 

A little wandering had me find 5 Stonechat, seen as two male and a female on roadside fence posts east of Abbey Farm, and a pair on the spoil heaps in the field south of Lighthouse Cottage.

Disturbance.

Throughout my observations of 'the best birding experience currently on offer in North Lancashire' on Thursday, I witnessed or was reliably informed of several incidents of wilful disturbance of geese and swans in recent days.

In addition to my personal experiences, there was disturbance being seen as deliberate a few times in a field south of Moss Lane. Add to this, earlier on Thursday and on two occasions earlier in the week, Whooper Swans had been disturbed more than once in fields west of Jeremy Lane, and on 23 February south of Cockerham, up to 3,000 geese including Bean Geese, White-fronted Geese and Pink-footed Geese were disturbed by 'someone' on a quad bike.

This incident isn't directly related to the current post about geese and swans disturbed in fields, but....Wildlife is a low priority to some, you can educate a minority, but definitely not the ignorant majority! 

Edit.

The 5,000 Pink-footed Geese were flushed this p.m. again today by a farm vehicle deliberately driving through the birds in the same area as Thursday at SD445541 We have collectively to somehow try to stop this wildlife persecution, but an uphill struggle will ensue. Like I have said....it's nigh on impossible to educate the ignorant!