And Finally....An Owl At Cockersand.

It was good to find 2 Grey Wagtail on Conder Pool yesterday, they were collecting insects on the tern raft for several minutes, and according to another birder had been doing so earlier in the day when he called in. A rare sight, I don't recall the last time I saw Grey Wagtail on Conder Pool. Other notes from a stock taking exercise, 112 Mallard, 45 Wigeon, 2 Tufted Duck, 5 Goosander, 10 Little Grebe, and a Grey Heron.

On the Lune Estuary, up to 2,000 Black-tailed Godwit, half the number disturbed and flying downstream, with a 'white' individual amongst them but not discernible in the video. An adult Mediterranean Gull was ringed on the left leg, unreadable at the distance, but looked white or possibly very pale green with a metal ring on the right leg, otherwise gull and wader numbers were low.

At Cockersand, despite the effort made for a circuit, there was little to report, and the 13 Whooper Swans of 10 October obviously decided to move on. However, I did manage to log 3 raptor species, with a Buzzard atop of a telegraph pole, a Kestrel which thought it was a Merlin zipping at a metre height over a stubble field before hovering, and a Sparrowhawk. As I left Cockersand, a Barn Owl flew across the road in front of the car and over the Bank Houses paddock.  

Little Owl.

In company with Andrew Cornall on Monday, Ian Mitchell had good views of the Little Owl in residence at Cockersand, and in the circumstances with poor light, achieved a decent image of the bird....Thanks for this Ian, it is much appreciated.

Little Owl. Ian Mitchell.

According to my records, this is the first record of Little Owl at Cockersand for 10 years, with one last seen at Bank Houses 10 November 2014. I also found a Little Owl at Abbey Farm on 31 October 2014, at the time I thought this was the Bank Houses bird having a day out as I had never found one at the farm ever before or since.

Little Owl 10 July 2020. Pete Woodruff.

This Little Owl was a surprise find at the junction of Green Lane and the Kirkby Lonsdale Road 4 years ago. I managed this grab shot from my car with traffic behind me....I've not seen a Little Owl anywhere else since.