Out For A Duck!....

....and one or two other birds.

There was no more than 40 Teal at Conder Green yesterday, but despite sifting through every last one of 'em, I failed to see the juvenile male Garganey....another first for the green, been here since 28 September.

Conder Pool is more appropriately called Conder Lake once again, and the best of four attempts resulted in 13 Little Grebe, with a few no doubt finding plenty of hiding places in the channels and out of view behind the islands. Otherwise quiet with 3 Greenshank and 21 Curlew making up the numbers. Two Goosander were in the creeks, and a Red Admiral can't have been the happiest butterfly on the wing today, windy, and lashing it down 15 minutes earlier.

Redshank. Howard Stockdale. Clik the pik

The left legged Curlew Sandpiper with injury to it's right leg, seen again on the Lune Estuary as last Thursday, it was accompanied by a Ruff, with Redshank and Dunlin amounting to little more than 200 birds. Of c.380 Greylag seen, I reckon those to make up last Thursdays count of at least 620 were out of sight upriver below Colloway Marsh where I counted 16 Canada Geese. A Great-crested Grebe and 17 Wigeon were noted, the Golden Plover were noticeably absent.

Home Sightings.

Four skeins of up to 300 Pink-footed Geese SW over Bowerham this morning, also a Red Admiral in the garden.

Thanks to Howard for the in flight Redshank and lone Dunlin, and to Martin for putting the record straight, that we've not had a Stonechat image on B2B for ages.

P.S....This is amazing, and a First for Ireland 

Trickling Migrants.

An obvious northerly Swallow movement yesterday albeit a trickle where I was  - c.60 birds in 6 hours - including interest being shown by single birds lingering around Gardners Farm and Conder Green Farm.

With the exception of 6 Sand Martin over Conder Pool, interest at Conder Green yesterday was with 3 Greenshank in the creeks, and 2 Common Sandpiper, both of which were in the Conder channel downstream from the iron bridge where a Kestrel came to hover.

Along the coastal path to Glasson Dock, I found 2 Chiffchaff, and on the low tide Lune Estuary, 11 Black-tailed Godwit, a pair of Eider, and 12 Wigeon were to note. Gulls here didn't amount to a three figure count and were in the main Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull. 

Whimbrel Cockersand Pete Woodruff

At Cockersand, 2 Whimbrel were off Crook Farm, and it was interesting to see 2 Tree Sparrow with a pair of Great Tit in the garden at Lighthouse Cottage. Six Skylark all in the air singing their seemingly endless flight song, with 2 Whooper Swan and 11 Mute Swan on the now almost deserted flooded field, a female Reed Bunting was around the cover crop on Slack Lane.

Value For Money.

On an Easter Monday wander with KT around Leighton Moss, the sight of up to 1,500 Black-tailed Godwit from Lilian's Hide, virtually all in their stunning rufous summer plumage, was in itself worth every penny of RSPB membership fee in my book. 

Garganey Noushka

Also from the Lilian's Hide, a smart drake Garganey with it's brilliant white crescent over the eye to the side of it's nape. A Cetti's Warbler gave a few loud outbursts of song along the causeway, and at least 15 Willow Warbler, 12 Chiffchaff, and 8 Blackcap on the round, all added to make it an excellent visit to the Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve

Thanks for the Garganey Noushka....Brilliant image of a brilliant bird.

I'd Sooner Be Birding....

....but since last Thursday my prospects have not been good.

Wheatear. Simon Hawtin.

So I'm taking a look at some migrants I might find in the next four weeks before March is out, not least of which will no doubt be the Wheatear and in my case will probably be at Cockersands. The all time earliest Wheatear in Lancashire was a male at Pilling Lane Ends on the Fylde coast as early as 26 February 2003.

Sand Martin. Simon Hawtin.

Other earliest ever February arrivals in Lancashire have been Sand Martin which was seen on 24 February 1990, and a Garganey found by quite a coincidence on the same date of 24 February five years later in 1995. 

Another 'early bird' in the month of March could be the Little Ringed Plover and I'm hoping they turn up and stay to breed on Conder Pool this summer. Lancashire's earliest LRP was found on 8 March 2010.

Other earliest Lancashire arrivals in March....

Osprey. Seen 4 March 2005 at Arkholme. 

Swallow. Seen 10 March 1997.

Ring Ouzel. Seen 11 March 1999.

Sandwich Tern. Seen on 13 March 1990.

Spotted Flycatcher. Pete Woodruff.

A summer visitor I'm looking forward to seeing again this year is the Spotted Flycatcher. Though the species is a Red Listed and declining breeder, it has appeared in Bowland in the Marshaw/Tower Lodge/Trough Bridge area in decent number these past few years. On 9 August 2011 I found an excellent ten Spotted Flycatcher in the Tower Lodge and surrounding area, with five birds seen in May 2012. I found the same number of five in 2013 and were seen as two pair and a lone bird, and saw another five on 13 June 2014 with two young out of the nest and being fed.

The earliest Lancashire record of Spotted Flycatcher was on 20 April 1985.

The Garden Bird.

Greenfinch. Ana Minguez.

I was made up this morning when a pair of Greenfinch turned up, a MEGA bird for our garden.

Thanks to Simon Hawtin for the excellent Wheatear and Sand Martin images, and to Ana Minguez at Naturanafotos for the brilliant Greenfinch.

A Bright Idea.

When KT came up with the suggestion we paid Leighton Moss a visit on Sunday, it sounded a bright idea. Well....Leighton Moss means birds and that's good enough for me, and much better than no birding at all.

Marsh Harrier. Brian Rafferty.

Everything we saw was predictable, but it was good to see 3 Marsh Harrier during the visit, and BR's images are excellent, giving typical views of the birds hunting over the reeds at Leighton Moss, also a couple of Buzzard sightings. Records are more often ones of the male Blackcap in song and up to eight were heard during the visit, but we had good views of two males and more unusual a female on one occasion. There was a 'few' Chiffchaff mainly heard, but much fewer Willow Warbler I noted.

On the way to the Lower Hide a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a brief male Bullfinch seen, also 9 Red Deer were resting quietly in the corner of a field. Of note at the hide, 11 Pochard, a 'few' Gadwall, and a Great-crested Grebe. Large numbers of Sand Martin with a few House Martin seen, all feeding high up.

In the Lillian Hide, large numbers of 'chattering' RSPB members taking a look at....'not much about'....following a few quid spent in the shop, and bowl of soup with a roll in the kaf. At the Grisedale Hide excellent views of a Garganey pair with a Raven doing a little loitering overhead.

Like I said....better than no birding at all!

Whimbrel. Brian Rafferty.

Calling in at Teal Bay in Morecambe yesterday I found 4 Whimbrel on the groyne at high tide just as I had thought I might.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the excellent trio of Marsh Harrier and Whimbrel.

At it again!

Updating that is....to keep the blog breathing, with only a little advance in the change of circumstances which - as you will already know if you follow Birds2blog - has brought my birding life to a grinding halt for the time being and also reduced the blog to a skeleton.

If your in the camp that gets fed up of hearing me going on about 'shooting birds for fun' or 'slaughtering them as pests' then perhaps you'd better move on. If you're staying there's some brilliant photographs and a little info on some of the birds which have recently advanced my passion for them a little further.  

The Blue-winged Teal breeds over much of North America and being a long distance migrant and 'summer duck' is very much the equivalent of the Garganey. The pattern of appearances in the British Isles is complicated by escapes, but a ringing recovery from New Brunswick in 1971 in Suffolk proved conclusive  that there are genuine vagrants, this individual was ringed as a juvenile in Canada. But there's a sting in the tail of this little piece about the species in that I recently read someone had cause to make the comment that it was a worry when people with guns can't identify birds. Sadly it looks like someone in Ireland lived up to this worry when a Blue-winged Teal was shot on 10 November at Upper Lough Erne in Co Fermanagh.

I throw my chances of the popular vote to the wind as I have no desire to gain popularity when it comes to the shooting fraternity, therefore I'm always ready to oppose and 'shout my mouth off' about those who shoot birds for fun, but this time I'll resist the temptation to launch into a vitriolic attack on them. Incidentally, there's a petition regarding the fight against raptor persecution and those who slaughter them as pests which I was going to put on Birds2blog but find it's on other blogs and websites for you to sign. There's a link to the petition and a small taste of discussion on the subject HERE 

On a lighter note there's a nice little video of the Blue-winged Teal HERE

Of course any post on Birds2blog wouldn't be complete without at least one or two excellent photographs so try these....

Buzzard. Gary Jones

The Buzzard was taken on one of Gary's many visits to the Lakes where he does some of his mountaineering and where others fear to tread judging by the dramatic photography he achieves whilst up there....visit his website and see for yourself....there's a good example of his latest 'adventure' in Wales HERE



Merlin. Paul Foster

My most favourite bird of prey the Merlin, taken by Paul on a Hebrides adventure he had earlier this year....please take a look at his blog.

Eastern Black Redstart. Marc Heath

Marc recently encountered this Eastern Black Redstart at Margate in Kent, the bird represents the first confirmed record of this form in Britain. Below is a video of another one recently on Holy Island, Northumberland.



Desert Wheatear. Mike Watson

Here's another 'goodie' to have turned up in the country this autumn, the smart little male Desert Wheatear seen and photographed by Mike on his visit to Bempton Cliffs on Yorkshires east coast in November. Interesting that the species was once classed as a member of the Thrush family but is now more generally considered to be an Old World Flycatcher. The first Lancashire record of the species was of one found 20 years ago at Rossall Point, Fleetwood in November 1991. The first for Britain was 111 years earlier at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland in November 1880. There was an interesting Desert Wheatear trapped at Landguard, Suffolk, in October 1987 which subsequently moved overnight c.270 miles south-west to Devon. This bird clearly illustrated that what might appear to be unrelated vagrants may involve the same birds moving around the country and appears to confirm the suspicion that autumn vagrants arriving on the east coast tend to filter south-westwards. It is also an indication of the kind of distances many migrants may fly in one night. 

Laughing Falcon. Colin Bushell

And another little beauty, this one seen by Colin on his visit to Colombia. The Laughing Falcon is also called the Snake Hawk, erroneously since its not a hawk at all, though it is a specialist snake eater. 

The video's good....though you do need your speakers plugged in to get the full effect and hear the bird laughing.

Thanks to Garry, Mark, Paul, Mike, and Colin for these brilliant images, and many thanks to all those visitors to Birds2blog - old and new - who still look in despite the 'bare bones' about it at the moment....I really appreciate you. Also a special thanks to all those who took time to comment on 'Closing Down' and later on 'Delighted with my failure'....these were some welcome comments which I noted and much appreciated.

There's a lot going on in the birding world both here and afar but didn't want to 'overload' the post....perhaps later.

I'D SOONER BE REPORTING ON THE BIRDS I'VE ENCOUNTERED!

By way of a change.

I thought my best bet was to pay a visit to Leighton Moss today, I really wanted to get into the uplands and must do so in the next few days with one or two locations in mind, but the weather isn't up to it at the moment and the plan was to be able to dodge the showers between hides, as it happens -  apart from some nasty stuff around 11.00am - the day wasn't all that bad and there was no showers to dodge.

Two photographs today have nothing whatsoever to do with the post or my birding, but they are 'gooduns' and liven up the blog no end. 

Bluethroat. Gary Jenkins 

My records are of mainly predictable birds and there are some I didn't see but had hoped to, but as always an enjoyable change of non 'cutting edge' stuff which began in the Public Hide where I noted a male and female Marsh Harrier, 3 Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk, a 'good number' of Swift, and a pair of Greylag with six young. Notable was just five wildfowl being three Pochard and a pair of Tufted Duck, a Coot had two balls of fluff in tow under the watchful eyes of the two brutish Greater Black-backed Gulls nesting on the island. From the road end of the causeway I heard a Garden Warbler and Chiffchaff.

At the Grisedale Hide a Little Egret put in a brief in flight appearance, a 'few' Gadwall, and 2 Red Deer generated some excitement to a full hide, a drake Garganey eventually put in a brief three minute appearance and promptly disappeared probably for the next three days being the elusive creature it is. The Garganey is an annual summer visitor to Leighton Moss but there are no 100% breeding records at the reserve. At the centre I heard a Chiffchaff.

At the Eric Morecambe/Allen Hides I counted 23 Avocet, c.220 Black-tailed Godwit, at least 8 Gadwall, 2 Wigeon, and 2 Skylark. As I was about to leave I noted three ducks fly in which halted my exit and turned out to be two drake and a female Garganey. From the path here I heard a Garden Warbler and Whitethroat, and during my visit I inevitably heard Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler. 

On the way home I called in at Teal Bay to find 3 Whimbrel, 8 Eider, 8 Red-breasted Merganser, and 2 Whitethroat.

And finally....

Puffin. David Cookson    

Not just a photograph of Puffins but of two involved in a dispute of sorts brilliantly captured by DC.