The Disappearing Act.

By necessity this is a little repetitive as a update on the disappearing swans, and it begins with the 'repetitive bit'.

Since I last saw up to 200 Whooper Swan and 2 Bewick's Swan at Cockersand on 24 November which were destined to winter here, they mysteriously disappeared. Well not mysteriously really, as I'm convinced it was because a similar number of sheep - up to 200 - were driven into the same field, and the swans have never been seen since.

By coincidence, at the same time of the disappearing swans, at least 3,500 Pink-footed Geese also vacated a field a short distance away, and are also gone for good it seems. To be honest, this is not such a mystery as with the swans, the geese tend to roam around during the winter, so are now probably settled somewhere on the Fylde.

But good news came to me in the form of a message from AC to tell me of c.160 Whooper Swan he had seen in a field at Cockersand on 8 December, also on the same date, 30 Whooper Swan were at Braides, which sounded to me like the Cockersand herd made a short flight south to Cockerham.

Two days later on 10 December, more good news - excellent news actually - from AC, when he reports 2 Bewick's Swan at Braides with 123 Whooper Swan. But better still, was that 73 Whooper Swan were in a field on the north side of Abbey Farm. So the Cockersand Whooper Swans are back, albeit fragmented and now located at two sites....Wonderful stuff.

Friday 12 December.

I only had a couple of hours of freedom on Friday, but no matter, that was all I needed to get an update on the swan issue at Cockersand.

Whooper Swan Cockersand 12 December. Pete Woodruff.

Not quite as good as hoped for, just 44 Whooper Swan were in the field north side of Abbey Farm....So the Whooper saga goes on!

It was a pleasant sight to see and hear the trumpeting 'yak-ak-ak' of four skeins of up to 3,000 Pink-footed Geese in flight out of the Lune Estuary south and over towards Pilling Marsh. This was a good number probably leaving the Colloway/Aldcliffe Marshes. 

Four Of Six Moorhen. Pete Woodruff.

It was good if unusual for me to see 6 Moorhen in procession through stubble. I'm not acquainted with seeing numbers of these rails, though I did find 22 Moorhen together around the frozen wildfowlers pool at Aldcliffe 11 years ago in December 2014.

One of our resident Blackbird was enjoying a feast of Cotoneaster berries yesterday, whilst our Robin looked on before quickly flying off.

Hit And Miss!

Actually very few hits, the rest all misses on my latest visit around the estuary, and some concerns to be going on with.

I suppose I would have to admit, the birds seen on Conder Pool were representative of what is to be expected on a moderate day in the first week of December, and it was necessary that I recorded every thing seen here today in order to create a bit of something to read on the report. 

If I'm honest, the most exciting thing to be seen was 14 Long-tailed Tit in a procession working through the hedgerow by the viewing screen. On Conder Pool, 3 Snipe, 3 Little Grebe, 8 Wigeon, 20 Mallard, 9 Black-headed Gull, and a lone drake Tufted Duck.

A couple of decent counts on the Lune Estuary at Glasson, up to 2,520 Black-tailed Godwit and at least 1,500 Golden Plover. At the south end of Jeremy Lane, 5 Whooper Swan were seen as a family of two adult and three 1st winter. These were the only swans I saw in a 4 hour trawl around the Lune Estuary....More on that subject later.

Now the concerns began to develop at Cockersand....At first it wasn't particularly worrying, but an example of the days misses were, no sign of the short stay Snow Bunting, no sign of the even shorter one day Black Redstart, and despite the distinct possibility of three pairs wintering at Cockersand this year, no Stonechat today.

But now things get really serious....Since 27 October, at least 200 Whooper Swan have been resident at Cockersand, lately they have been spread over fields south from Moss Lane down to Bank End, but today zilch. Not a single large white bird in the fields around the Cockersand area....Misery!

The one thing I did find was the reason why the herd of swans have 'disappeared', but to see why in the bigger picture you have to clik the pik.... 

The c.200 Whooper Swan have been replaced along the same length of fields by a similar number of c.200 sheep. 

Bearing in mind, at least 3,500 Pink-footed Geese were at Slack Lane 24 November, they have now also 'disappeared'. But the good news out of all this is, the Bewick's Swans had relocated to fields by Gardner's Farm yesterday 6 December....Alleluia!

In short, not a swan or goose to be seen on this weeks visit to Cockersand, in my book this is a disaster.