BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND..RUFF CONDER POOL PETE WOODRUFF
Showing posts with label Great Bustard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Great Bustard. Show all posts

Tuesday, 17 March 2020

They're In!

I have news of 6 Sand Martin and 2 Swallow at Claughton-on-Brock fishing lake at 8.30am this morning, also the first report of a Wheatear on the Fylde coast.

A bit repetitive but couldn't resist, I got a better short video of the Golden Plovers yesterday in better light than my previous attempt.

View Full Screen

Although at least 900 Golden Plover at Cockersand was a lower number than of late - at least 2,000 on occasions - I was treated to a brilliant spectacle with the birds yesterday, including a Merlin hunting around the waders causing them to be unsettled all the time I was there with them, the 'whoosh' as they flew 15m over my head several times was amazing. 

Difficult to count, but at least 50 Meadow Pipit with 20 Skylark and 12 Pied Wagtail were in and around the same flood as the plovers east of Abbey Farm. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, c.1,500 Black-tailed Godwit fluctuating in number but remain faithful here, with 4 Goosander noted.

Great Bustard. 

Make sure you take a look at the guy with the Great Bustard in my side-bar.

Though Izhan Sheikh does ask....'WTF is wrong with our people'....he says he's trying to avoid swear words. I've no intention of trying to avoid them, and the most diplomatic description I can muster, is that he and his like are barbaric bastards.

Monday, 20 January 2014

Out Of Time....Again!

 Back In Ten Minutes!

Had a good seven hours estuary birding today but out of time for blogging....hopefully tomorrow.

The Cockersands Straight. Pete Woodruff.

When I saw the late afternoon sun on this reed-lined stretch of road at Cockersands today I had to take a pic and wonder....


Great Bustard. Copy Permitted.

....how far back in history would we have to go to see this area of Cockersands as a brilliant vast reed covered land crawling with Bittern and - out on the open grassland - the Great Bustard. 

The population of Bittern in Europe is estimated at 34 - 54,000 males. 
The estimated UK breeding population stands at 80 males. 
The UK winter population stands a 600 birds.

The Great Bustard was hunted out of existence in Britain by the 1840's....well I reckon that rings a bell!!