Whinging Through The Lockdown....

....but maybe more like a bit of self-pity coming through in today's post.

I've sort of enjoyed the self-isolation thing up to now, including recording the garden birds and butterflies, and finding the Carrion Crow having taken up residency in the area of our neighbourhood for the past few weeks - all a bit odd - and visiting our garden regularly for the odd slice of bread thrown out by KT, for who feeding the birds is a religion.

I'm also enjoying seeing the reports - though sickened by them for obvious reasons - of summer visitors to our area. I've seen good numbers of Wheatear reports, also Whinchat in decent number which is encouraging, and the warblers seem well represented too.

Hybrid Blue-headed Wagtail. Aldcliffe 21 April Dan Haywood. 

Over the past few days I've been impressed by the reports from Aldcliffe which have included a smart hybrid Blue-headed Wagtail on the flood, found and photographed by DH for whom I'm grateful to for sending me a copy of his record shot. Also here, a peak count of 5 Little Ringed Plover, a few Yellow Wagtail, and good numbers of White Wagtail. 

I've been equally impressed by coverage of the passage through Heysham which is in full swing, the count yesterday when I Iast looked at Heysham Obs was of 1,447 Arctic Tern past Heysham, with many going overland to the NE within the observers view....Great stuff. 

Not so much garden birding, but more computer birding me thinks, and I'm not convinced this personal enjoyment of self isolation and no birding can last. One thing for sure, the enjoyment will deteriorate as time goes on, and I'll develop an unbearable itch for freedom birding.

Meanwhile, the motto of the day is....Take Care Keep Safe.

A Day With BT.

No not British Telecom, Brian Townson. But I must have a weather whinge first....

In the top pic....This was the view from the car as we arrived at Stoops Bridge in Abbeystead on Friday last, it looked and felt like March 3 and certainly not May 3, the trees appeared to be as bare as they had been all winter, and not a Bluebell in sight. In the bottom pic....This was the scene at Stoops Bridge 2 years ago on precisely the same date of 3 May 2011. Quite remarkable I think you will agree and clearly illustrates how far behind we are this year. 

Blackcap Noushka Dufort  

But despite the gloomy scene at Abbeystead on Friday , a singing male Blackcap gave hope for better things to come, a Great Spotted Woodpecker seen, and a Robin disturbed accidentally from its nest in a near ground level tree hole, this/another Robin was in the same hole last year, a Buzzard was overhead.

A pull in at Jubilee Tower produced a Raven over, a Skylark singing overhead, and 4 Red Grouse. Down Abbeystead Lane we checked the number of Lapwing always present and breeding in the fields here and saw 2 Wheatear whilst doing so. Calling in at Tower Lodge we couldn't help but feel a couple of weeks should make all the difference to the bird scene here....and elsewhere hopefully. Meanwhile, in the time spent here it was dire with a Jay, Coal Tit, and Willow Warbler the sum total of our visit.

Reed Bunting Geoff Gradwell  

At Langden Brook to the pump house, a Common Sandpiper, 2 Raven, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting males, and a Peregrine Falcon high up and soaring. A good number of Chaffinch were notable here and were taking more advantage of the Pheasant feeders than the Pheasants were.

Blackbird. Pete Woodruff.

This Blackbird has had the good fortune to reach fledging in our garden, obviously having steered clear of the cats, lets hope it can continue to do so in the future.  

Thanks to Noushka for the excellent male Blackcap, to Geoff for the excellent male Reed Bunting.

And finally....

Blue-headed Wagtail. Copy Permitted.

This brilliant Blue-headed Wagtail was in a field in Thurnham yesterday morning and I was grateful for the alert about it....'not what you know but often who you know'....EXCELLENT. 

....And A Light Breeze In Dorset!!

This video is worth a look at, and better still if you view it full screen and your computer has sound....I wonder how many migrants didn't make it through this lot.

Bright and breezy yesterday in our area and beyond....or more to the point sunny and windy.  

At Conder Green a Chiffchaff was nice - and was calling - on the coastal path, a Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and 2 Spotted Redshank in the creeks. A Little Grebe, 2 Goosander, a Snipe, and 26 Redshank were noted on  Conder Pool.  

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary, 6 Goldeneye and c.120 Black-tailed Godwit were to note, the majority of the latter now appear to have returned to the Eric Morecambe complex at Leighton Moss to add to - and make up - the c.1,800 which were recorded there yesterday.

At Cockersands, 28 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding below Crook Cottage, close in and on the only small strip of mud left by the incoming tide. I managed to get up close to around 400 waders on Plover Scar at high tide and with some difficulty managed to estimate 180 Ringed Plover, 120 Turnstone, 90 Dunlin, 3 Grey Plover, and a Whimbrel. Probably 50 Swallow in total over my head at some point during the day at different locations, and the Siskin visited our garden feeders again yesterday, with a male Blackcap putting in an appearance this morning.

Approaching Cockersands Light. Pete Woodruff.

I reckon this is as big as they come into Glasson Dock and this one set sail from there passing the Cockersands Light just after 3.00pm yesterday.

Coming Soon....maybe they're here!

Yellow Wagtail.Marc Heath.

But if your birding is in our recording area you'll need to know where to look and you'll need some more look luck to find one. A very scarce and declining migrant breeder....try the Lune flood plain, a big area to search, but where a pair 'might' breed again this year.

Blue-headed Wagtail. Marc Heath. 

And the Blue-headed Wagtail, well....Good Luck.

Thanks to Marc Heath for the brilliant images - even more brilliant if you 'clik the pik' - and much appreciated Marc.

An even closer look.

There's an excellent 'Closer Look' Gallery which has recently been brought up to date on the Flyde Bird Club website and the American Golden Plover, Blue-headed Wagtail, Temminck's Stint, Kentish Plover, and White Stork are all examples of what you will find HERE 

Blue-headed Wagtail.

One of the birds featured on the Fylde Bird Club website is the Blue-headed Wagtail (BHW) and I've been taking a closer look for myself at this bird.

The fact that continental Yellow Wagtails differed from the British form escaped the attentions of ornithologists until the early 1830's when the distinction was eventually noted, and in 1834 at Colchester in Essex the first British record of a continental BHW was made. This form of the continental race is the most common one to reach Britain, and breeding with the British flavissima is today recorded almost annually.

American Golden Plover.

The first record of an American Golden Plover (AGP) - a North American vagrant - in the Lancashire and North Merseyside area was of a bird with Golden Plovers at Marshside in November 1984, four years later another was found at Fleetwood in September 1988.

The next record of an AGP in Lancashire became famous for both me and for the county, in my case it was the bird I 'twitched' with my old friend and mentor the late John Leedal, and for the county it became the first long staying AGP for Lancashire. This bird was found at Fishmoor Reservoir, Blackburn on 28 October 1995, and was last seen on 11 November which was the date JL and I went to see the bird and therefore we were amongst the last birders to see this individual. Having looked up my record of the bird I found I'd made the following note....

'After a three hour wait to see if the grim weather we had traveled to Blackburn in would clear up - which it didn't - and following a further period searching for the bird in rain we discovered it with the c.200 Golden Plovers it had been in the company of for almost two weeks now, we eventually had excellent views of the AGP, also of note here was a female Common Scoter'. The note ends....'A Good Day'.

Yellow Wagtail. Simon Hawtin

The Yellow Wagtail to be found in our area of North Lancashire is that of a scarce and declining migrant breeder of probably no more than 'one or two' pairs. The most reliable site I know of for seeing this species is/was the Halforth/Heversham Moss area where I've neither heard nor seen the place mentioned this year, though I have to confess to not having been there to see for myself.  

For the record....I have been given permission to post the photographs of the BHW/AGP.