Miscellany!

In order to bring my second passion back to life, I've recently had to make a few diversions away from the birds.

Being one of the many thousands affected by the terrible Dr Beeching who wielded his axe on the  railways in the mid 1960's, in my case the footplate firemen. On Wednesday I found myself at Hest Bank for the purpose of trying for some footage of a train enroute to the renowned scenic Settle to Carlisle railway. 

The video turned out OK, and for the benefit of anyone not solely hooked on birds, and perhaps with a liking for steam locomotives and railway preservation....here it is.

When the train had passed I decided to check the channels off the shore at Hest Bank, and found up to 140 Eider here.

Conder Pool.

Numbers of waders continue to dwindle with just 86 Iceland bound Black-tailed Godwit seen, also a similar number of 80+Knot a good count for Conder Pool. Another good count, was of 25 Avocet, this is the same combined number of 25 Avocet seen at Conder Pool and the Lune Estuary at Glasson 2 April. Also seen Spotted Redshank, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Snipe, and a pair of Shoveler. One birder at the pool, told me he had seen 4 Little Ringed Plover but I found no evidence of his claim.

Lune Estuary.

At Glasson, 450 Black-tailed Godwit the majority being on the north side below Colloway Marsh, also  a pair of Red-breasted Merganser were to note. 

The Conder Spotted Redshank.

Image Courtesy of Howard Stockdale

The two images of the Conder Green Spotted Redshank were taken a year and one day apart, and a three way consensus including myself, is that this could be one and the same bird. Last years bird completed a full moult in 5 weeks. Howard Stockdale intends to monitor this years bird to see if there is a repeat of this amazing transformation....This will be interesting.

Chocolate Tip.

Ian Mitchell had quite a smart little moth in is trap on Thursday morning 9 April.

Chocolate Tip Moth. Ian Mitchell.

The Chocolate Tip has a disjointed distribution, mainly to be found in the south but expanding northwards. 

The first record away from the south was found at Astley Moss in 2010, followed by sightings at seven locations including one at Heysham in 2021 and at Longridge in 2022. I have no knowledge of records in our area of the Chocolate Tip moth beyond 2022, until Ian Mitchell's on 9 April 2026.

Garden Birds.

Summertime and the living is easy....Well that's how the song goes, but I reckon the Blue Tit collecting nest material on the Plum Tree in our garden, was thinking life is anything but easy!