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! 

Moths & Waders.

A couple of birder/photographers who keep in touch with me and B2B, have had some remarkably good fortune with moth and wader encounters recently which demand to be featured here.

Ian Mitchell.

Ian has been in Bowland multiple times recently, and has had some amazing encounters, not least of which he has seen multiple Emperor Moths on a visit to the moors....

Emperor Moth Female. Ian Mitchell.

....and came across a female which was soon accompanied by several males....

 

 

....and had the double bonus of observing mating and achieved some excellent video footage....I personally turned a sickly green with envy at this news and the brilliant video.

Ian also attended the recent meeting for monitoring moths at Potts Corner, the result of which was a count of up to 50 Belted Beauty. 

Belted Beauty Male. Ian Mitchell.

Seen as one of the rarest moths in the UK, it was only first discovered on the coast north of Sunderland Point 50 years ago in 1975.

Belted Beauty Female. Steve Palmer.

The Belted Beauty is noted for its ability to survive against all the odds on the open saltmarsh, the male rarely flies, the female is wingless, and is often referred to as looking like a large hairy Wood-louse. I'm grateful to Steve palmer who was in touch to give me permission to publish his image of the female Belted Beauty.

Martin Jump.

Martin has been staking out on the coast at dawn for several days and has made some excellent discoveries and achieved some brilliant images.

Spoonbill In Flight. Martin Jump.

An excellent in flight shot of the Spoonbill at sunrise.

Spoonbill. Martin Jump.

And an even more excellent shot with perfect timing, and a Stickleback for breakfast, note the detail focusing on the eye of the fish.

Lapwing. Martin Jump.

Martins image of the Lapwing, like it's in the leading role of the Swan Lake Ballet. The pose of the bird, and the photography to capture it are classic.

Avocet. Martin Jump. 

Martin has also had some good fortune with the Avocets. This one was ringed as a chick on Conder Pool 2021 by Ian Hartley and shows the bird to have wandered across the English Channel for a winter break in France in November 2023....I'm grateful to Ian Hartley for securing the history for me.

Ring number	EW87052
Colour code	6L
ringed as chick	Conder Green, Lancs, UK. 53.993N 02.829W	18/06/2021	Ian Hartley
sighting	Morecambe Pool, Leighton Moss, Lancs, UK. 54.154N 02.805W	22/07/2021	Richard du Feu
sighting	Wolferton mudflats, near Wolferton, Norfolk, UK. 52.845N 00.439E	17/07/2022	Bernard Siddle and Carole Davis
photo	Frampton Marsh, Lincs, UK. 52.929N 00.020E	17/08/2022	Toby Carter
sighting	Frampton Marsh, Lincs, UK. 52.929N 00.020E	18/08/2022	Bernard Siddle and Carole Davis
photo	London Wetland Centre, Barnes, London, UK. 51.479N 00.231W	16/03/2023	ggwildlife via twitter
sighting	Conder Green, Lancs, UK. 53.993N 02.829W	09/04/2023	Howard Stockdale
sighting	Conder Green, Lancs, UK. 53.993N 02.829W	09/04/2023	Ian Hartley
sighting	Conder Green, Lancs, UK. 53.993N 02.829W	10/04/2023	Howard Stockdale
sighting	Réserve Naturelle des Marais de Séné, Séné, France. 47.616N 02.712W	20/11/2023	François Hémery
photo	Newton Marsh, Freckleton, Lancs, UK. 53.756N 02.828W	25/03/2025	Paul Ellis
Sighting	Conder Green, Lancs, UK. 53.993N 02.829W	28/03/2025	Ian Hartley
photo	Newton Marsh, Freckleton, Lancs, UK. 53.756N 02.828W	04/04/2025	Martin Jump per Pete Woodruff

Avocet. Martin Jump.

EY98060 N1  24/05/15 KCL Seal Sands, Teesmouth (SALINE), Stockton-on-Tees

W/B R/Y O 3  Sighted (R) 13/06/15 AS Seal Sands, Teesmouth (LONP), Stockton-on-Tees (20 days)

O 3 Sighted 25.07.15 Newbiggin, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria (137km WSW 62 days)

O 3 Sighted  19.06.16 Hesketh Out Marsh, Ribble Estuary, Lancashire (149km SW, 392 days)

O 3 Sighted 01.06.17 Hesketh Out Marsh, Ribble Estuary, Lancashire (149km SW, 739 days)

O 3 Sighted 27.03.19 Hesketh Out Marsh, Ribble Estuary, Lancashire

O 3 Sighted 22.04.19 Newton Marsh, Lancashire

O 3 Sighted? Newton Marsh, Lancashire

O 3 Sighted 22.08.23 Colne River, Essex

O 3 Sighted 17.02.24 Colne River, Essex

O 3 Sighted 24.04.24 Newton Marsh, Lancashire

Sighted 27.08.24 Killingholme Haven, Lincs

Sighted 11.09.24 Killingholme Haven, Lincs

Sighted 25.03.25 Newton Marsh, Lancashire

Sighted 05.04.25 Newton Marsh, Lancashire

I'm grateful to Chris Brown for sending me the history of this bird, and for permitting me to publish on B2B.

Black-tailed Godwit.

The bird Martin found plays a leading role in the story to save the Black-tailed Godwit in the 21^st century.

Black-tailed Godwit 13 April. Martin Jump.

After an absence of more than a century, the limosa subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit returned to breed in England in the 1930s, reaching a peak of 65 breeding pairs on the Ouse Washes in the early 1970s. However, a series of spring floods saw numbers halved by the late 1980s, and now the majority of the population is found at the Nene Washes, where just 42 pairs were recorded in 2016.

The Header.

Howard Stockdale sent me three images of the Conder Green Spotted Redshank, they show the result of plumage transformation over 3 weeks since 1 April. This bird will have completed the moult into full breeding plumage before the week is out.