Out And About....Again.

There was 2 Common Sandpiper at Conder Green again yesterday, one in the creeks and one down the channel towards the Conder Estuary. Four of the 5 Little Grebe seen were also in the creeks with just one on Conder Pool where there was a roosting Greenshank, 6 Curlew, and 3 Goosander.

Pink-footed Geese. Pete Woodruff.

From the coastal path, 73 Pink-footed Geese were over >south, 10 Long-tailed Tit and a similar number of Goldfinch.

An impressive sight in excess of 2,000 Golden Plover were on the Lune Estuary, with 82 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Great-crested Grebe and a Goosander noted. On the canal basin, 38 Tufted Duck seen, beware of the female with the white blaze, never as extensive as the Scaup, and this one has an obvious small tuft if you get close enough to it.

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

At Cockersand, 25 Black-tailed Godwit and 10 Bar-tailed Godwit were of Crook Farm, with 25 Collared Dove and up to 40 Tree Sparrow around Bank Houses. Up to 350 Curlew were scattered through the fields here today.

Great-Grey Shrike....AC strikes again!

Great Grey Shrike. Preesall Flashes 1 November. Chris Batty.

I was grateful for the call at 2.50pm to tell me of a Great Grey Shrike at Preesall Flashes, though not seen again by dusk....But there again this morning at 9.05am.

My sincere thanks to AC for the call, and to CB for the image. 

Water, water!

By way of a change its the south that appears to be getting most of the rain, and lots of it too, though the recent floods in Wales have also been a disaster. But the floods in April and May had a catastrophic impact on some of Britain's birds in particular on the Ouse Washes in East Anglia home to the largest concentration of nesting waders in lowland England, the floodwaters drowned the nests and breeding attempts of up to 600 waders including the Black-tailed Godwit.

For centuries land drainage took place across the UK, but the Ouse Washes is now the most important stronghold for wading birds including large numbers of Redshank, Lapwing, and Snipe. But the area is used as part of a flood relief system for the River Great Ouse by the Environment Agency, the river flows through three shires to the sea near Kings Lynn in Norfolk. During the summer months the RSPB Reserve Ouse Washes is grazed by cattle which create ideal conditions for ground nesting birds, but in times of extreme wet weather the sluices have to be opened to prevent flooding elsewhere in the catchment of the river, a problem its difficult to see a solution to.

Avocet David Cookson

Conversely, up here in the north of England at Leighton Moss the Avocets are having a roaring success this year and the last I heard there was 33 young with some apparently almost ready to fly....their best year yet at LM. Thanks to DC for the 'pic with a difference' of the Avocet.

And finally, try this for a Spanish trio....

Sardinian Warbler Ana Minguez Corella

The Sardinian Warbler a vagrant to the UK the first record being in 1955 on Lundy, Devon....Thanks Ana. 

Great Grey Shrike Isidro Ortiz

The Great Grey Shrike a mainly winter visitor to the UK the first record of which was claimed to have been in 1544....Thanks Isidro.

Purple Heron Antonio Puigg

And the Purple Heron another visitor to the UK and first recorded in Middlesex 1722 ....Thanks Antonio. 

Sorting out and looking back.

Six photographs to follow, non of which are competition quality but are essential to the post which relates to sorting out my records/photographs. All the photographs were taken by my old friend and mentor John Leedal, and the poor quality is down to how I have had to deal with them to get them on to Birds2blog. They are chosen at random to illustrate a hint of some quality birding JL and I experienced over many years.

I can't recall how many in total, perhaps they are all in this image which contains 8 Spotted Redshank on the Eric Morecambe complex at Leighton Moss on 10 October 1996. I'm not aware of the best ever count of this species here, but I certainly hadn't seen this number here before and not since. I appreciate you have to take my word that these birds are what I claim them to be as its not all that obvious in the picture....I assure you they are Spotted Redshanks.

Another 'goodie' on the Eric Morecambe pools was this Long-billed Dowitcher on 6 October 1998.

I remember all these bird observations in this post vividly - photographs have an amazing ability to give lasting memory recall - especially this one of the male Crossbill at Helsington Barrows in Cumbria on 28 February 1997. With no time to search my records for accuracy, this bird was one of a good number at this location which JL and I visited about five times during their stay of at least six weeks, to find an unusual male in that it was referred to - from a photograph - as ' a possible xanthachroistic male' in the Annual Birdline North West Report. We were intrigued by this bird which showed particularly yellow feathering around the underparts with a few hints of red, the mantle, back and upper wings were coloured as a female. If JL ever gave me a copy of the photograph of this 'odd' bird it appears to have been lost, if so, most unfortunate.

I clearly recall saying to JL, how unfortunate it was that the best shot he got of this bird had to have the empty can in the frame. This Marsh Sandpiper was at Seaforth in Liverpool on a date I cannot recall, but I'd say probably around 15 years ago in 1997.

    

The Snow Bunting was at Cockersands on 6 November 1999....

....and the Great Grey Shrike was at Marton Mere, Blackpool on 8 March 1998....Halcyon days, and theres more on the way for me too with just a couple more corners to turn yet!

Xanthachroistic....never did get my head round that one....anyone please!!

Pics2blog!

Well, you might suppose it would be as well to turn my attentions to photographs or maybe a bit of my birding history and change the name of the blog, but heyup....there's a pretty good 99.9% chance of a days birding tomorrow - Tuesday - so if you happen to bump into some oddball who's grinning from one side of his mug to the other its PW doing the rounds and boy will I be in serious birding mode, watch this space....if you're interested that is.

By the way I've seen another Stonechat record from Barbondale today, now there's a thought, and another kindly passed on to me from Foulshaw Moss, now there's another thought. Also the first record for 2012 of a Sand Martin at Cockermouth, Cumbria this morning. And here's a laugh....my spell checker has just suggested correcting Cockermouth to 'Blabbermouth'....well I know one or two of those!

So, here are the pics - with waffle from me kept to an absolute minimum - from four of the many birder/photographers I know well, and who kindly allow me to share their brilliant images to liven up the posts on Birds2blog....

Great Grey Shrike Colin Bushell 

Butcher bird the Great Grey Shrike which CB saw over the borders in Scotland recently....

Nuthatch Phillip Tomkinson

One of PT's brilliant images from his library of the Nuthatch....

Frogs David Cookson
 

And as no doubt everyone will have appreciated DC's frog picture yesterday, here are two more....frogs.

Duke of Burgundy Marc Heath 

And as MH commented on this excellent image of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, 'it won't be long now'.

Its Saturday....

....and as usual my birding is sidelined by 'other things' - yes there are 'other things' in life - and I have to get on with them like it or not. But never mind all that....

Please take a look at the video below whilst making sure you treat yourself to some more excellent photography, video's, and sound recording's on Hugh Harrop's Shetland Wildlife website, including the recently added Isabelline Shrike video which brilliantly illustrates why this bird is also known as the 'butcher bird' and which you can see along with others via the link from this Lapland Bunting video. My thanks to Hugh Harrop for allowing us to share these.

Lapland Bunting from Hugh Harrop on Vimeo.

Notes.

I've been contacted by a regular to Birds2blog who has given me some really interesting information regarding yesterdays post 'Clougha/Birk Bank' in which I described the truly magnificent panoramic view from the summit of Clougha Pike on days with perfect visibility. I have been told that on two occasions when he has reached the top to take in the view, he has actually identified two jutting peaks to the left of the Isle of Man as the Mourne Mountains in N.Ireland. It has been suggested next time I'm up on Clougha looking through by binoculars from the summit on a perfectly clear day, that I should look carefully to see if I too can add these mountains to an already amazing sight. Thanks for this BD, much appreciated for your interest in Birds2blog, your comments and info.

MEGA NEWS.

Locally, a Great Grey Shrike was found along the path to the Allan Pool Hide at Leighton Moss on Thursday and a couple of excellent pics can be seen of the bird in the 'Photos' section HERE with thanks to Steven Grimshaw.

Nationally, an 'albatross' species was reported on the RBA pager service flying west past Salthouse in Norfolk at 1.25pm.

And finally....

I could never have believed I would be making this confession on the world wide web, but since the good, the bad, and the ugly have been discarded from The X- Factor I've been glued to the television for in excess of two hours for the past Saturday evening or two. As I like to think of myself of at least average intelligence I find this very worrying and I'm going to have to deal with it as best can, but I tell you what....there's some pretty good talent on there, but following a very tough contest with some very tough and excellent challengers I'm predicting  - at this moment in time - Cher Lloyd to be the winner at the end of it all.

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING !