Around The Estuary And A Trip Down The A6.

For starters, there was some bird behaviour to be see on my latest visit to Cockersand, nothing too surprising, but interesting just the same.

This silo is situated at Bank House Farm at Cockersand, and as I set off on the circuit, it came into view to reveal up to 60 Swallow. These birds took me by surprise, in that they were obviously feeding on the wing inside the silo, they kept appearing over the rim before dropping back inside. Something of a spectacle when 60 birds were up and down like a yoyos in and out of the silo.

When I returned 2 hours later, having walked along the headland to reach the spot again, in a similar number, Swallows were in the field behind the silo, this time they were feeding low and over Yarrow.

 

For a bird with a mammoth task ahead of it, opportunism at its best I thought, and a flight of c.8,000 to reach the continent of Africa after 6 weeks of virtually non-stop flying....Knocks y'er socks off dun'it!

The Cockersand Circuit.

Truth is, I'd been plodding along for an hour and had seen nothing of note, then all of a sudden 2 Wheatear dropped onto the kissing gate by the abbey. This was followed by another spell of nothingness, until I reached Bank House Farm again to make another check of the area. Well blow me over, there are 2 Yellow Wagtail on the rim of the 'Swallow Silo'.

Painted Lady Cockersand 20 August. Pete Woodruff.

A personally poor year for butterflies continues, though today I raised it to 'moderate', seeing up to 100 'whites' including 3 Green-veined White, 12 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Red Admiral, a Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, and a Silver Y moth.

Conder Pool.

I was rewarded with my best - and probably everyone elses - all time count of 27 Greenshank on Conder Pool, with 13 Little Grebe counted.

Little Ringed Plover Juvenile Conder Pool 20 August. Pete Woodruff.

Also a juvenile Little Ringed Plover present, and 2 Wigeon were both female and the vanguards of things to come.

Also present, 2 Ruff and 4 Snipe....Not all in the video.

A Trip Down The A6.

Nine years ago on 13 September 2016, I made the same trip down the A6 to Heversham Moss, to see the same two species of birds at the same place as I did this time. That day I saw 2 Wood Sandpiper a Pectoral Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper, and 22 Ruff.

Wood Sandpiper. Antonio Puigg.

On Fridays visit, I saw a Wood Sandpiper, 20 Ruff, up to 12 Pied Wagtail, and at one point a Sparrowhawk put up all and sundry from the flood, and eventually made one attack at Swallows before being lost to view.

With time on my hands and whilst in the area, I called at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve and went to the Eric Morecambe Hide. Not the best time of day for birding from this hide if the sun is shining brightly in your face.

Putting in a bit of effort, I estimated the silhouettes to be at least 260 Black-tailed Godwit, 60 Redshank, 8 Knot, 5 Avocet, 5 Snipe, 3 Ruff, and 2 Dunlin. On the inner marsh, 2 Great White Egret and 18 Little Egret.

Migrant Hawker. Pete Woodruff.

Along the path to the hide, a male Migrant Hawker and 5 Speckled Wood, 2 Red Admiral, and a Small Tortoiseshell. 

And Finally.

With favourable weather, there have been opportunities to find and photograph some insects in the garden, particularly on the Alium.

Hoverfly Syrphus sp and Honey Bee. Pete Woodruff.

Red-tailed Bumblebee Bombus lapidarius Pete Woodruff.

Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum Pete Woodruff.

Egret & Redshank Take Centre Stage.

Perfect timing on Tuesday, as I arrived at Conder Pool a Great White Egret dropped in and provided me with some footage. It was accompanied for a while by a Little Egret for some little and large comparison before it exited stage left.

Also of note on the pool, 14 Greenshank, 2 Mediterranean Gull, 8 Little Grebe were the first evidence of their return to Conder Pool, 6 Tree Sparrow flew into the hedgerow, up to 30 Pied Wagtail were predominantly juvenile, a Stock Dove, and c.150 Lapwing.

I made no attempt at counting Common Tern, but adults and juveniles seen, with just one young remaining and still to fledge on the breeding platform. Also no numbers of Avocet but adults and juveniles noted.

By far the best record for Conder Pool on Tuesday, was the count of at least 2,000 Redshank. An unprecedented number, not only for Conder Pool, but also for the Lune Estuary, and even surpasses the Morecambe Bay WeBS figure for August....Lancashire Bird Report 2022

A wander along the canal towpath Conder Green - Glasson Dock, had me find 11 Emperor Dragonfly including 2 female ovipositing, 6 Brown Hawker, 6 Common Darter all male, 5 Blue-tailed Damselfly, and a Sparrowhawk which flew across the canal and disappeared over the hedge.

On Saltcote Pond, 10 Common Blue Damselfly, 5 Blue-tailed Damselfly, 7 Common Darter, and a Brown Hawker. Butterflies on the day, 2 Gatekeeper, a Meadow Brown, and Large White was worryingly grim....again!   

By Way Of A Change!

The saying goes....A change is as good as a rest, and with a decent day and an hour or so free time, I was off to Leighton Moss for my first visit there in 5 years, since August 2018.

First port of call was the Eric Morecambe Hide. With the glare of the sun in your face, not the best choice, coupled with birds often in the distance of the far floods. The better choice would have been to view from the Crag viewpoint, from where most of the sightings have been made recently.

But the sun in your eyes didn't put into silhouette 5 Spoonbill, a Cattle Egret, and 15 Little Egret, all seen mid-distance. Also at least 500 Black-tailed Godwit solved the glare of the sun problem, when they took to the wing over the far flood, also a Greenshank put in an appearance before quickly disappearing from view.

I then decided the Causeway Hide was my next stop, from where I soon picked out 2 Great White Egret on the distant bare branches of a dead tree, and 30 minutes later picked out an Osprey in the same dead tree tearing a large fish to pieces for lunch.    

Several Migrant Hawker seen at Leighton Moss today, this one obligingly hovering in front of the window of the Causeway Hide, also a Kingfisher came twice to perch on a post close by.

With just a half hour left to spare, I gave the remaining time to Lillian's Hide - God forbid - but was truly amazed to find it void of Bearded Tit and Bittern hunters, so had the place to myself for a while, to see another Great White Egret putting in an appearance.

Black-headed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

 

In my experience, gull's are generally a much neglected species, but this one shows how attractive these birds are, and was one of around 60 Black-headed Gull from Lillian's Hide today. 

The North Corner From Lillian's Hide. Pete Woodruff.

The only other notes I made from Lillian's Hide, where of at least 70 Gadwall and 2 Little Grebe.

Saturday 2 September.

Migrant Hawker. Pete Woodruff.

A pleasant wander along the Lancaster Canal north from Garstang, yielded up to 20 Migrant Hawker, 9 Brown Hawker and 2 Blue Tailed Damselfly.  

Scrappy But Pleasant As Ever.

My recent visit around the Lune Estuary seemed a little scrappy, and somehow never settled into a steady flow. It started with a huge disappointment at Conder Green where Conder Pool was on the brink of deserted, but a Ruff was in the creeks with 16 Redshank. Worth noting, the Ruff holds a first record this year at Conder Green, in that the species has spent 8 months here since 9 April, and has been recorded every month since. A species no better than a scarce winter visitor, and uncommon spring passage migrant, though more common in autumn. 

Great White Egret. Brian Rafferty*

Of interest on the Lune Estuary viewed from the bowling green, a Great White Egret was on the east shore opposite Meldam Wood, and up to 120 Curlew and 350 Wigeon were to note. On the canal basin, I saw my first 3 Goldeneye drakes of the winter. On Jeremy Lane, 28 Whooper Swan were in the field on the north side of Bamber's Farm, I've never seen the Whooper Swan in fields at the south end of Jeremy Lane before. On Moss Lane, 32 Whooper Swan previously seen were still present at Clarkson's Farm.

A circuit of Cockersand was rewarded by a male and female Stonechat working their way along the Moss Lane roadside fence posts opposite Abbey Farm. A skein of 130 Pink-footed Geese went over>south. Also seen from the road, 8 Blackbird, 6 Stock Dove, and a Wren. On the sea between Plover Scar and the Cocker Channel, up to 2,000 Wigeon and 18 Eider.

Thanks to Ian Mitchell for the header image of the group at high tide Cockersand. Ian got a pleasant surprise, in that he hadn't seen the Snipe in the frame until he came to process the shot later.

*Having not been in touch with Brian Rafferty for some time now, I made enquiries about the use of his GWE image on B2B. I was pleased to hear he is doing OK following time off the road, and passed on to him my Kind Regards. 

Local Goodies!

Some good news I can't hold on to any longer. 

OK....So the pik is rubbish, but it matters not, as it's another first for the best garden in Lancaster LA1. A Chiffchaff took a liking to our plum tree this morning, briefly but long enough for me to get the grab shot through the kitchen window for evidence.

And a little further afield, Ian Mitchells egret fest continued as he found and photographed the dynamic duo of Great White and Little Egret at the Wenning/Lune confluence this very day.

Watch this space for more to come on B2B....Maybe a Baltimore Oriole next!!

The Rewind.

I've been perusing through my 2017 records, and pulled out some random finds and seen, and included my breeding records of the Stonechat which sadly doesn't make such good reading. In fact the records don't even mention Clougha, which - rightly or wrongly - I have abandoned as our once local stronghold in the same way the Stonechat has. I also visited Barbondale three times and found not a single Stonechat there. The Dalton Cragg record (*) credited to Bryan Yorke.

Eight Stonechat breeding records - 20 young - in 2017....Disastrous.

17 May Hareden, a pair and 2 young.
19 June White Greet, a female and 2 young.

03 July Foulshaw, a male and 4 young.

12 July Birk Bank, a pair and 2 young, a male, and a female. Four visits May - August.
12 July Harrisend, 2 male, a female, and a young.

17 July Hawthornthwaite, a male, two female, and 7 young. 

14 Sept Dalton Cragg, a pair and 2 young *

15 Sept Hawthornthwaite, a pair and one young. Five visits May - Sept.

Five December Lowland Stonechats.

10 Dec Heysham Half Moon Bay, 1st winter male and female.
11 Dec Crook Cottage Cockersand, 1st winter male.
22 Dec Off Caravan Park Cockerham Sands, 1st winter male and female.

Other notable birds found in 2017, and (*) not my credit.

20 Jan Conder Pool, Great White Egret. *

27 Jan Pilling, Red-breasted Goose and 10 White-fronted Geese. *

27 Jan Knott End, Black Redstart. *

03 Feb Conder Channel, Conder Green, Little Stint. 

17 Feb Moss Lane, 22 Bewick's Swan.

17 Feb Lune Estuary, Glasson, 46 Goldeneye peak count.
24 Feb Cockerham Marsh, 2 Shorelark. * (Andrew Cornall)

27 Feb Plover Scar, Snow Bunting. 

06 Mar Jeremy Lane, 6 Stonechat.

23 Mar Deep Cutting Lancaster Canal, 2 Little Owl. *

24 Mar Cockersand, Lapland Bunting.

10 Mar Conder Pool. 2 Avocet.

08 May Conder Pool, 2 Common Tern.
25 May Barbondale, 11 Pied Flycatcher.

25 May River Lune Bull Beck, 6 Little Ringed Plover including 3 chicks.
31 May Sykes Farm Bowland, 15 House Martin nests.
31 May Langden Brook, pair Ring Ouzel.
14 Jun Tower Lodge area, 6 Spotted Flycatcher.
19 Jun White Greet, 3 Stonechat, Bloe Greet 3 Stonechat.
12 July Birk Bank Bog, 3 Keeled Skimmer.

04 Aug Conder Pool, drake Scaup.

26 Sep Lune Estuary Glasson, 18 Ruff.

06 Oct Cockersand, 14 Ruff.
23 Oct Cockersand, adult male Stonechat.
02 Nov Crimbles, 2 Ruff on flood.

A decent selection of records, and if my birding this year is anything like as good as the last was, I'll be well happy.

Weekend Birding....Who Me!!

Saturday.

KT agreed we went on a twitch to Leighton Moss on Saturday, and, as opposed to the birder I heard telling another on the path to the Grisedale Hide, he'd had no sign of the bird in the time he spent in the hide, it was our lucky day as the Purple Heron came flying out of hiding within five minutes of our entering the hide, but within 60 seconds it became our unlucky day as a Grey Heron flew at the 'Purple One' which promptly flew back into the hiding from whence it came, never to be seen again....well not by us anyway.

Great White Egret Brian Rafferty

But we did have good views of a Great White Egret at the back of the pool, before paying a visit to the Allan Hide to see a Little Ringed Plover juvenile, a Common Sandpiper, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, and up to 550 Redshank.

Sunday.

I paid a brief visit to Heysham, but didn't have much in the way of rewards, with not a single Mediterranean Gull found on Red Nab or the outfalls, but a record count for me of up to 175 Cormorant on the old wooden jetty.

Butterflies on Buddleia in the Nature Park, 2 Painted Lady, 2 Red Admiral, 2 Peacock, and 2 Small Tortoiseshell. On the pool, a male Black-tailed Skimmer, and a Gatekeeper nearby.

Tuesday. 

Back at Heysham again yesterday, I found 13 Mediterranean Gull on Red Nab, seen as 10 adult, 2 near adult, and a juvenile, the moulting Little Gull was on Stage Two outfall. 

Conder Pool produced a peak count of 11 Little Grebe, and it was also good to see the female and four young Tufted Duck surviving and still heading for the first successful breeding record of the species on Conder Pool. Two Common Sandpiper and a Grey Wagtail were in the creeks, and 6 Speckled Wood were on the coastal path.

Seven Up!

Seven Stonechat found yesterday, with five seen on my first search of Jeremy Lane, another seen on my return, and one on the circuit of Cockersand. 

Also at Cockersand, one week later the Snow Bunting was again on the inner edge of Plover Scar today, and the long staying c.60 Twite were in the rough field behind Bank House Cottage accompanied by a Little Egret, 8 Blackbird and 2 Robin were noted in Bank Houses horse paddock, 120 Golden Plover were in the Abbey Farm field with Lapwing, the 4 Shoveler seen as two pair on 24 February, were still on the flood by the junction of Slack/Moss Lane, 2 Skylark seen, and 10 Brown Hare counted. 

An excellent return to the Lune Estuary of up to 2,000 Black-tailed Godwit upstream from the Conder Estuary, also c.420 Curlew, a female Goosander and drake Red-breasted Merganser seen. The Great-crested Grebe on the canal basin doesn't appear to have a mate as yet. 

Great White Egret. Lune Estuary 6 March. Pete Woodruff.

The Great White Egret was also on the Lune Estuary, by the Conder mouth initially, but made a couple of flights to come a little closer both times whilst I practiced my photographic skills which - according to this result - don't appear to be making much progress!!

Conder Pool was anything but inspirational, with 10 Tufted Duck and 9 Oystercatcher the stars, the Spotted Redshank and 3 Little Grebe were in the creeks.

Pleasant day, pleasant birding.

GAME ON.

My day was made up on Friday when I found a female Stonechat on Jeremy Lane, since then AC had found 7 Stonechat by 10.30am yesterday morning, which add up to reports of 15 birds in our area in the first four days of March, all of which heralds the start of Stonechat migration...GAME ON!

Another excellent record for my book on Friday was two stunning adult Mediterranean Gull complete with black hoods on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, with c.150 Black-tailed Godwit, and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit. Of the 19 Goldeneye seen, 10 were on the estuary and 9 on the canal basin were I noted a Great-crested Grebe. 

The Great White Egret was in the field by Saltcote Pumping Station on Jeremy Lane with 2 Whooper Swan again. And on Conder Pool, 14 Tufted Duck, 12 Wigeon, and 3 Shelduck were noted. In the creeks, the Spotted Redshank, Common Sandpiper, and 3 Little Grebe, with a pair of Goosander seen upstream from the A588 road bridge.

Eider & Siskin.  

Eider. Cockersand 31 October 2016. Pete Woodruff.

With the exception of this single drake which had hauled itself onto Plover Scar on 31 October, I have recorded no Eider on the Lune Estuary from Glasson Dock to Bank End for almost seven and a half months since I saw seven off Plover Scar at Cockersand on 22 July 2016. 

Siskin. Mike Atkinson.

Mike Atkinson kindly sent me this image with the report of 9 Siskin in his garden at one time on 28 February, an exceptional record for an urban garden in Lancaster.

Thanks to Ana for her excellent header image of the Little Owls.  

4,000 And Counting.

The fields around Cockersand on Monday held hordes of waders as they had on 30 January, in particular the field by Abbey Farm which was covered with up to 4,000 Golden Plover, a good number of Dunlin, with Lapwing, Curlew and Redshank, an amazing sight, even more amazing when a dread brought about an aerial display en masse....truly spectacular.

A couple of other good counts on Monday were the 120 Twite I saw, they were pretty evenly split at Bank End and in the recently favoured field behind Bank House Cottage at Cockersand. The swan herd spread across several fields from Moss Lane to Bank End is still in tact with 450 Whooper Swan at least, 8 Bewick's Swan were viewed from Slack Lane. 

Snow Bunting. Cockersand Plover Scar 26 February. Pete Woodruff.

Bird of the day was a Snow Bunting which gave itself away as it flit across the inner edge of Plover Scar and eventually gave me a brief opportunity to get at least a shot for the record, 4 Snipe were also seen.

It was good to find the 4 Shoveler on the flood again, and at Bank Houses horse paddock, a single Redwing, a Grey Wagtail and Dunnock, 10 Blackbird, 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Robin, and 2 Magpie.

The Great White Egret was accompanied by 2 Whooper Swan and 64 Mute Swan in the field by Jeremy Lane at the Saltcote Pumping Station. On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 3 Goldeneye and 3 Goosander were of note, with c.250 Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Goldeneye my only notes from the Lune Estuary. 

A cursory glance at Conder Pool would have had you think it was deserted, and it almost was, with not a bird in view on the water, but 15 Wigeon were grazing on the far bank, 9 Oystercatcher and 3 Curlew were also loafing around. The Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, and 3 Little Grebe were in the creeks.

Stonechat on Conder Pool.

I note with interest (Fylde Bird Club) a Stonechat found on Conder Pool yesterday. This is a first for Conder Pool, and leaves you wondering if this is an undetected wintering bird in the area, or is migration really underway.

 

Stonechat Gary Jones

Whatever, this is a WOW for me, and a bloody good excuse for yet another Stonechat pik....Thanks Gary.

Ducks And Others.

I noted 20 species in the time I was on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock yesterday, and ducks were worthy headliners, if only because 48 Goldeneye were the new peak count here surpassing 42 seen 1 February. Also on the estuary, a female Scaup was with 7 Goldeneye at the Cocker mouth, c.150 Black-tailed Godwit were difficult to count well scattered, with c.1,200 Golden Plover and 6 Snipe of note.

Great White Egret. Pete Woodruff. 

The Great White Egret was on the southern end of Colloway Marsh, this picture taken at Conder Pool 20 January.

A drake Pochard was on the canal basin with a Great-crested Grebe noted. Ten Tufted Duck had turned up again on Conder Pool where the drake Goosander was seen again, 5 Little Grebe, the Spotted Redshank, and a lone Black-tailed Godwit were in the creeks. In a field at the junction of Jeremy and School Lane, 2 Whooper Swan were with 42 Mute Swan.

In a shortened version of a visit to Cockersand, Whooper Swans here were seen as, 22 in a field behind Crook Cottage, and the herd of at least 400 were now mainly at Bank End. Off Slack Lane, 20 Bewick's Swan, and at high tide Plover Scar, 455 Oystercatcher, up to 50 Lapwing, 26 Turnstone seen, with c.1,500 Wigeon off the scar and to the south.

Snipe. Pete Woodruff.

I did well to spot the Snipe in the pik above, they were hunkered down in the field by Abbey Farm. One on the left can be picked out, two heads centre and right not so easily, but there are four Snipe there....honest! 

Thanks to Peter Rhind for his Goldfinch header, and to Peter Guy for the Conder Green cross column image....Much appreciated.

Other Notes.

Another first for our garden was 3 Robin together on Thursday, and a peruse through my records uncovered a Peacock on the wing seen on Clougha 11 February 2004, from memory my only winter butterfly record. 

News of a Peregrine Falcon shot and killed at St Thomas church at Lytham St Annes Here 

Late On Duty....Again!

Slow off the block again on Friday, and wanting to be at Cockersand for the high tide, I first called at Conder Green to find the Great White Egret back on Conder Pool again and posing on Tern Island. Interesting to note 75 Lapwing, 32 Curlew, and a few Redshank in the east corner, with 3 Goosander seen off and on since 9 January.

As on 30 January, there was huge numbers of waders in the fields again on Friday at Cockersand including an estimated absolute minimum of 4,000 Golden Plover with Lapwing and Dunlin next in the line of uncounted. Later in the afternoon, a Peregrine Falcon bombed through the area to reveal a clearer picture of just how many thousand waders were really in the fields at Cockersand today.

Pink-footed Geese Brian Rafferty    

As I watched large raft of up to 3,500 Wigeon drifting on the ebbing tide out of the Cocker channel, I saw c.3,000 Pink-footed Geese come up out of a field to the south of Crook Farm do do some lingering before flying off south, unfortunate for me as I could have got close to these birds, and enjoyed a good sift through them if they had stayed put. 

The flock of c.80 Twite were around Bank House Cottage again with a few Linnet in the mix, 6 Blackbird, a Song Thrush, and a Wren were in and around Bank Houses horse paddock, and 34 Teal were noted in the large ditch to the north of here. 

At Clarkson's Farm I counted 10 Bewick's Swan, with the herd of c.400 Whooper Swan still in tact to the south of here and towards Bank End. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I took note of c.450 Black-tailed Godwit and a count of 15 Goldeneye including one which had found it's way up the Cocker channel. Paying a second visit to Conder Green on my way back to Lancaster I achieved another double figure count of 10 Little Grebe - 14 on 27 January - all in the creeks save one on Conder Pool.

Many thanks to Mike for the header image of the Nuthatch, and to Brian for his Pink-footed Geese. Snowdrops Pete Woodruff.

Thought for the day.

The Hen Harrier Recovery Farce....I wonder if the RSPB have any plans to go to court to challenge moves to do Hen Harrier brood meddling in England this year??

Anything Interesting?

People often stop and ask 'anything interesting' and it's always good to see how keen they are to listen to what you have to tell them. But there was nobody around to tell and show them the Great White Egret on Wednesday. I had found the bird out on the marsh from the coastal path as I walked from Conder Green to Glasson Dock, from where I saw 3 Blue Tit, a Great Tit, 2 Robin, a Dunnock, and a Blackbird, it was good to hear a Song Thrush singing by Saltcote Cottage.

On the Lune Estuary, the godwits had finally arrived with a half decent count of 350 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Bar-tailed Godwit were over the other side of the river. Also of interest was my latest count of 42 Goldeneye, being an increase of five since the last peak count of 37 on 16 January, 25 Snipe and a drake Red-breasted Merganser seen.     

Shoveler. Noushka @ 1000-Pattes  

A Shoveler pair stole the show for me on the estuary, seen as a scarce breeder at Leighton Moss, irregular elsewhere and certainly so here where they were good to see today. 

There was another count of interest on Conder Pool where 37 Tufted Duck were showing, 7 Snipe, 5 Little Grebe, and a drake Goosander were also of note, and the Spotted Redshank was seen in the creeks again.

Dunlin/Turnstone. Pete Woodruff.

At Cockersand, the Plover Scar high tide roost consisted of up to 335 waders and two corvid, 250 Dunlin, 70 Turnstone, 15 Oystercatcher, and 2 Carrion Crow rummaging. A Sparrowhawk flushed 4 Snipe then perched close on the marsh on a large driftwood, at least 80 Twite were still in the field by Bank House Cottage and were accompanied by a lone Greenfinch, c.120 Curlew were in the same field, 6 Tree Sparrow were at Bank Houses, up to 22 Skylark came down into a field, I reckon entering this field might have flushed more. On Slack Lane I saw a Reed Bunting, and the Whooper Swan herd have now moved south to Bank End, distant and uncounted today.

Golden Plover on the Lune Estuary. 

Notable after the huge numbers in fields at Cockersand on Monday including 3,000 in one field alone, in five hours on the Lune Estuary on Wednesday around Conder/Glasson/Cockersand, I found not a solitary Golden Plover.

The One Hour Affair!

What was only going to be a couple of hours birding on Wednesday, turned out to be just a one hour affair when a phone call had me aborting and heading back to Lancaster.

But the timing to start my hour's birding was spot on, when I arrived at Conder Pool the Great White Egret was showing well, and a bonus to the third sighting for me of this elegant heron, was a sift through 52 Black-headed Gull and a few Common Gull which produced a smart adult Mediterranean Gull and a drake Goosander. In the creeks, a circuit turned up the Spotted Redshank and the Common Sandpiper which was down by the iron bridge.

There was little action of note on the Lune Estuary, though up to 1,750 Golden Plover were over on the Colloway side....But now my mobile is ringing!

Later in the afternoon I took a stroll through the local Williamson Park, to find a Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tits and a Coal Tit which rose just above the more expected Blue Tit and Great Tit, it was good to hear a Song Thrush in song as I left at 3.50pm.

The Small Blue. 

Every time I look at this board on Fenham Carr in Williamson Park, I'm puzzled why the six illustrations of five butterflies and a moth, includes that of a Small Blue butterfly. It isn't clear which of the butterflies is the Small Blue in my shot of the board, but it's the one top right of centre.

Small Blue Marc Heath

The Small Blue is the smallest native British butterfly and is a Priority Species for conservation, its main habitat are dry sheltered areas of grassland where Kidney Vetch grows, but isn't to be found anywhere near this location at Fenham Carr in Lancaster, and I don't understand why it is illustrated on the info board.