Good Afternoon!

I spent a few hours at two of my favourite locations during our fifth heatwave of the summer, and not without rewards.

Grisedale Brook. 

Stonechat (honestly) Pete Woodruff.

Too far off for much detail in my image above, this one was the third Stonechat on the gatepost by the newly installed bridge over the brook. 

An excellent start to my afternoon, was a pair of Stonechat to welcome me as I got out of the motor at Grisedale Bridge.  Also seen, 6 Goldfinch were atop of the gorse bushes, a Willow Warbler and Meadow Pipit were the only other birds.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly male. Pete Woodruff.

I managed to find 5 Golden-ringed Dragonfly, an obliging species away from water, were they can often be found settled and posing for photographs.

A pair of Common Darter in tandem, seen egg laying on Grisedale Brook as it entered Holme Wood, 2 Common Darter male were also seen. As I moved to leave the area, a Brown Hawker flew by me.

Hawthornthwaite Fell.

I called at Catshaw Pond on my way, to find a lone Emperor Dragonfly. Void of a search in my records, I think this is the fourth year I found one present here in Bowland. 

In Lancashire today, the Emperor Dragonfly is recorded as established in the Fylde, and in parts of central and east Lancashire, Heysham and Silverdale. I can find the Emperor Dragonfly at all sections of the Lancaster Canal that I visit, but historically it was regarded as absent in the uplands of north Lancashire. Until recently it was noted on the record website as a species outside the known area, a comment that has now been removed.

Hawthornthwaite Fell. Pete Woodruff.

I have a passion for Hawthornthwaite, born from the fact that it's as good for the Stonechat as anywhere else in Bowland, though I did only find a pair here today, but that brought the total to five Stonechat on the day, almost certainly 3 breeding pairs. 

A Golden-ringed Dragonfly flew by me heading towards Catshaw Grieve, which I found to have a steady flow considering the lack of rain this summer.

The only other bird was a Buzzard soaring overhead, but I did hear the single 'screech' call of a hidden Snipe, with every sheep close by, frozen and staring at the area. Butterflies seen were, 5 Painted Lady, a Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell. Thereby ending....A Good Afternoon.

Garden Goodies.

The heat has played its part in having our garden having a good spell of summer insects.

We had our fifth Hummingbird Hawk Moth visit this week and in the past month up to 120 Large/Small White butterflies have visited, also an impressive c.60 Holly Blue have come through the garden over a similar period. My header is one of this number.

Common Darter. Pete Woodruff.

On Thursday, a female Common Darter put in an appearance, it kept disappearing, then returned to the same perch a few times for several minutes. An excellent record which was preceded by a male Common Darter a few days earlier.  

Pool, Canal, And Stonking Moth.

Aqueduct Pool.

Aqueduct Bridge. Copyright Johnathon Price.

As it was located below the Aqueduct Bridge, it seemed appropriate that I decided to christen the small body of water Aqueduct Pool. It was here that I observed my first Emerald Damselfly on 10 August 2023.

Aqueduct Pool 23 July. Pete Woodruff.

It's no surprise to find no Emerald Damselflies, the pool doesn't look to have had any recent management, and the fact that a huge fast food chain has an outlet a few hundred metres away up the path, this results with the site becoming one of 'human remains' not wildlife. Add this to the fact that the Emerald Damselfly is a strictly still water species, favouring shallow water with extensive emergent and marginal vegetation, it being shy to fly over open water.

I count myself lucky to have had the one encounter with the Emerald Damselfly in August 2023. Also on previous visits, I have recorded Southern Hawker and Brown Hawker, both species egg laying, and Four-spotted Chaser....I don't think the Emerald Damselfly or any of this  will ever happen here again!

Emerald Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

When I visited Aqueduct Pool on Thursday there was little sign of anything here, though I noted 4 Common Blue Damselfly and 2 Common Darter male.

Dragonfly Exuvia. Pete Woodruff.

Being a novice in the world of odonata, I did manage to find my first exuvia, it was at the back of the pool, so difficult to get a half decent image. I doubt anyone could answer the question 'what's this then'. 

Lancaster Canal.

From here I walked the canal towpath back to Lancaster, being a little disappointed with the resulting 13 dragon sightings, 8 Brown Hawker, 3 Emperor Dragonfly, including a female egg laying, a Common Blue Damselfly and Common Darter both males. Butterflies were a mix of 18 Large/Small White, 6 Speckled Wood, a Comma and Red Admiral.

These records compare poorly with those on my last walk along this 2 mile stretch of the Lancaster Canal in August 2024 when I notched up 48 individuals, 23 Emperor Dragonfly, 12 Brown Hawker, 8 Common Darter, and 5 Common Blue Damselfly.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Martin Jump.

The Hummingbird Hawk Moth is a daytime flying moth, and a migrant species from Southern Europe and North Africa, it is occasionally seen in good number, especially during long hot spells like the one we have experienced over the past weeks.

* I found 58 records of Hummingbird Hawk Moth in West Lancashire this year March 5 - June 22.

Martin Jump.

As far as the photographic evidence he has achieved, my take on Martin Jump's recent encounter with a Hummingbird Hawk-moth, is that he's the luckiest person in Lancashire, if not in Britain.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth Egg Laying. Martin Jump.

I reckon Martin Jump was a step ahead of everyone in the County of Lancashire and beyond with this one, not only did he find the moth, but he managed to see it egg laying, and not only egg laying, but captured it on camera. Taking a closer look, there are three eggs in the image....I mean c'mon!

I was lucky to find a Hummingbird Hawk Moth on 2 September 2025, it put on a good show for me while I got some footage as it collected nectar with its long proboscis from the Wild Sweet William in the garden. 

Tuesday 2 Sept - Friday 5 Sept.

Not as much action on Conder Pool as my last visit 28 August, but impressive all the same, and didn't loose any ratings in the Hot Spot League as far as I'm concerned. 

I had been at Conder Pool about an hour, and had got back to the motor to move on, when AC knocked on the windscreen to tell me the Spotted Redshank had flown in and joined the company of 10 Greenshank....Thanks Andrew.

Also to note on the pool, 8 Little Grebe and a lone Black-tailed Godwit. I'm convinced this is the same BTG as seen here in previous years, and always alone. A Common Sandpiper was in the creeks.

Within the space of about 15 minutes, a Marsh Harrier, Peregrine Falcon and Buzzard were overhead, along with a good number of hirundine, high like dots in the sky.

Thirty minutes on the canal towpath at Glasson produced 2 Migrant Hawker and 2 Brown Hawker, and along the coastal path 4 Migrant Hawker, with a 'blue butterfly' seen. This was a disappointing sighting in that it was too distant for ID to species, so I was left with a possible third brood Holly Blue, or second brood Common Blue which can last until early September. Other butterflies seen, Painted Lady, 5 Red Admiral, 5 Speckled Wood, and 3 Small Tortoiseshell.

Migrant Hawker.

Migrant Hawker 2 September. Pete Woodruff.

I find the Migrant Hawker one of the easier dragons to observe, their behaviour is often to be seen hovering frequently, hawking along hedgerows, and regularly basking low down on vegetation as mine was today.

Conder Pool Friday 5 September.

I paid my second visit of the week to Conder Pool where the scenery was much changed and reduced in numbers of birds, though I was delighted to find my highest all time count upgraded by the presence of 32 Greenshank on the pool. The only other records of note were, 10 Little Grebe and a lone Ruff.

Birk Bank Friday 5 September.

My visit the bog at Birk Bank was suitably rewarded by recording 14 dragons in the hour spent here. Pick of the bunch was 2 Emperor Dragonfly which were something of a surprise, though I did find two here last year 19 September 2024....Late! 

Black Darter Birk Bank 5 September. Pete Woodruff.

Also seen, 5 Black Darter were all males, and 7 Common Darter were seen as 5 male/2 female. I had two sightings of Buzzard, both of which were seen as two pairs 10 minutes apart, but to be honest I reckon it was just the one 'mewing' pair seen twice.  

Garden Moth.

Seeing what appeared to be a moth through the kitchen window, I dashed out to find it was the most obliging of its kind, giving good views as it lingered a few minutes nectaring on Soapwort.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

In the header image, we can see the 'Keep Britain Tidy' man with the strimmer at Saltcote Pond has done the right thing this year, leaving the pond side vegetation to flourish, in which case it seems my conversation last year with Glasson Councilors has paid off. 

October Chats.

Being the last visit to Hawthornthwaite Fell was on 11 July, I hadn't realised my birding had made such a dramatic nosedive, but I was here on Tuesday, and also back on Harrisend again to find 15 Stonechat on the day.

I was only on the track up Hawthorthwaite for 15 minutes before I found 6 Stonechat, all in this small area of heather looking east in the picture. The birds were mobile, and moving generally south east. Walking on for about 50 metres, when I looked again there was no sign of the birds.

Other than the chats, I saw just 4 Red Grouse and several airliners in the couple of hours spent here.

Whilst spending a few therapeutic minutes by Cam Brook, I was reminded of the smart male Ring Ouzel I saw here on 27 May. This was my fifth consecutive year of finding the mountain blackbird on Hawthornthwaite, only one sighting of which I ever had evidence of breeding here and was a female in flight with food in its bill. 

There was also a pleasant 3 hours spent on Harrisend, where I found 9 Stonechat. As with the Hawthorthwaite birds, five were together in a small area of gorse. Also 4 Raven over and 3 Red Grouse seen.

Clougha Pike From Harrisend. Pete Woodruff.

Wish I had a pound for every Stonechat I've ever seen atop of this remnant of the Hawthorn. I reckon I could get myself a couple of bottles of Jack Daniel's in for Christmas!

The Gannet.

There was a little sadness about a walk along the promenade at Sandylands last week, when I found the corpse of an adult Gannet on the shore, seen as a possible victim of avian flu.

Only a vagrant Albatross in the Western Palearctic is a larger seabird than the indigenous Gannet. Of the worlds breeding population, 48% are found in Scotland. This year there was a 90% breeding failure of Gannet on Bass Rock.

Turtle Dove.

Turtle Dove Hest Bank. Howard Stockdale.

A 1st winter Turtle Dove has been at Hest Bank since 13 October. There has been a mix of opinion about the bird, some seeing it as a sickly bird, dicing with death at the hands of the mutt brigade and their charges, others saying the bird looks well as it does in Howards image, it feeds well, and is a tame individual. Whatever....the bird would be better advised to stay put at Hest Bank, up to 100,000 Turtle Dove are shot annually on migration over Malta.  

Bearded Tit.....Another one of those must see images.

Bearded Tit Leighton Moss. Martin Jump.

Many Thanks to Howard and Martin for sending me these excellent images.

And Finally.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Peter Rhind.

Couldn't possibly end this post without mention of the brilliant Hummingbird Hawk-moth which gave us about 60 seconds of pleasure as it checked out the Verbena in our garden yesterday afternoon.

Pity I didn't get a pik of the moth, but I did get 30 seconds of comic relief with these two ponies at Heysham in the week....You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours!

FULL SCREEN....SOUND ON

Derailed!

After last Friday's couple of hours freedom, birding and blogging prospects for me look like they've been derailed for a few days. 

Little Grebe Warren Baker

It was early afternoon on Friday when I got out leaving me little time to check out Conder Green where I managed to get my peak count to date of 16 Little Grebe on Conder Pool, also the Common Sandpiper was again on the pool, and in the creeks, 2 Ruff were both juvenile, with 4 Snipe and 5 Little Egret noted.

I'm not acquainted with Bank End at high tide, but I had good reason to go there on Friday where I connected with nothing more than a few Redshank, Dunlin, Knot, and Oystercatcher, probably little more than 500 waders viewable in total.

That's pitifully little birding, and pitifully few birds....but much better than no birding at all.

The Hummingbird-Hawk Moth.

  

Hummingbird-Hawk moth. Pete Woodruff.

Legging it back to Cockersands from Bank End, this Hummingbird-Hawk moth flew ahead of me, then took rest in the sun on the wall. By coincidence it was in the same area and on the same wall to sun itself as the one I saw here on 18 August last year. I had forgotten that I photographed that individual too, but today's was in better condition than last years as that one had a damaged wing. The Hummingbird-Hawk moth isn't the most attractive of moths particularly when it is at rest, but it's orange-brown hindwings evident in flight add some colour to it.

Thanks to Howard for the header image of the highly underrated Jackdaw, and to Warren for the Little Grebe....much appreciated.

And Finally.

I met this disgruntled up and coming birder one day last week at Cockersands, he had a good old whinge about being told Cockersands was the best place to find a Yellow-browed Warbler and was a bit miffed he hadn't done after several days on the hunt, you can tell he wasn't happy by the photograph of him....I told him he'd been mislead and should make haste to the Heysham/Sunderland area where YBW finders abound!! 

Cockersand'erlings.

I was pleased to find 7 Sanderling on Plover Scar at high tide on Monday where there was much coming and going of birds during the hour I spent at the scar, my best estimated peak count was of 120 Dunlin, 65 Ringed Plover, 11 Turnstone, and a single Knot. I did little wandering around today, but noted 5 Greenfinch, a Whitethroat, and saw c.170 Golden Plover over Lighthouse Cottage and going down on to the weed covered shore below the abbey again, a favourite haunt for these birds on recent visits.

Common Tern. Pete Woodruff.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, an adult Common Tern was on the buoy, with what little mud exposed on the south bank after the tide holding c.350 Redshank with not a Dunlin in sight, a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull, a Great-crested Grebe scarce here these days, and 65 Mute Swan counted.

At Conder Green, 4 Little Grebe on Conder Pool sees the winter number build up here, also up to 400 Redshank and 3 Dunlin noted. A scour of the creeks showed 10 Common Sandpiper, 8 Black-tailed Godwit, and 4 Little Egret. The House Martins are visiting nests at Cafe d' Lune still, with a lone Swift over, and I saw from here c.700 Lapwing come up from the Jeremy Lane area.

Butterfly and Moth. 

Small Skipper. Pete Woodruff.

The only butterfly I saw all day was the Small Skipper at Conder Green with some interaction between these two.

Humming-bird Hawk moth. Peter Rhind.

Our garden was honoured by a visit from the Humming-bird Hawk moth which I watched for three minutes at close range moving to feed from flower to flower on our Centranthus Alba pura.

Thanks to Peter for his excellent image of this brilliant moth.

The Moth Has It.

I was beginning to feel desperate at Cockersands on Monday, although I spent three hours in the area, waders were virtually non existent, and birds on the circuit were few and far between.

Wheatear. Geoff Gradwall. 

But it was good to see the Wheatear on the shingle along the headland, c.30 Goldfinch were in Bank Houses horse paddock again, and a sift through the Black-headed Gulls in a recently grass-cut field revealed one of those brilliant adult Mediterranean Gulls you can come across now and again....more often than now and again if you're at Heysham Harbour!

Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Pete Woodruff.

But the moth got the 'Gold Award' for me, as I walked from Cockersand to Bank End, when I saw ahead of me a moth in flight showing orange hindwings, it settled on the wall to allow me the picture of a Hummingbird Hawk-moth M.stellatarum. Not a particularly striking moth which unfortunately also has a damaged outer right wing, but no less a beautiful creature and an excellent find....The walk to and at Bank End was otherwise a fruitless affair.

Lapwing Noushka Dufort

Conder Pool had me seeing one Common Tern briefly in the air before returning to the island, with nothing to indicate anything precise about the state of the game. Also on Conder Pool, 5 Little Grebe, 2 Great-crested Grebe, and to make me feel like my birding had meaning I counted 30 Lapwing. In the creeks 2 Greenshank, a Grey Wagtail, and a Little Egret.

Thanks for the Wheatear Geoff, and for the Lapwings Noushka....Excellent.

The Conder Common Terns.

One of my Fylde birder contacts was in touch Tuesday to tell me of fish being brought in every 15 minutes over a one hour period, with one adult staying at the nest site....the best evidence of young to date.

We have lift off....

....but didn't get to the moon having to abort at Fluke Hall!

But first....

Hummingbird Hawk Moth. Martin Jump

I reckon to call this a pretty impressive image of the Hummingbird Hawk Moth would be something of an understatement. I've not particularly ever viewed many images of the moth, but this is by far the best I ever saw. Great stuff, and all credit to an amateur photographer who can achieve this kind of result  and thanks for allowing it on to Birds2blog Martin.

With JB/BT 'lift off' was at 10 o'clock Friday morning when we proceeded to Aldcliffe to find a Green Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover on the currently excellent condition flood. At Conder Green, we found the whole area generally quiet although JB's comprehensive records HERE will indicate otherwise, I noted my first autumn 4 Teal, 5 Common Sandpiper, and the Moorhen on Conder Pool now appear to only have two young from the initial three.

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary - in the time allowed  - I noted a Greenshank, at least 1,000 Lapwing and a similar 1,000 Redshank, 6 Golden Plover, and a Peregrine Falcon on the edge of Colloway Marsh bidding its time to take off and cause mass panic wherever it goes.

At Cockersands the 1st summer male Marsh Harrier gave excellent views again today, here for its sixth week having been first seen on 7 July. At least 85 'finches' seen here today being estimates of 60 Goldfinch, and 25 Greenfinch.

Not for the first time on Friday the days birding seemed to fall flat on its face from here on. A detour round Gulf Lane drew a blank, and at Pilling Lane Ends, 15 Common Blue were mainly attributed to BT, whilst I noted a single Gatekeeper and Peacock. From Backsands Lane, c.230 Greylag was a good count in my book. Despite a run to Fluke Hall the end was nigh.

Colours of nature. Pete Woodruff.

The visit to Pilling Lane Ends was all the worth while if only to see the stunning array of colour still on show in the flowers there....colour you could eat and a credit to all concerned in the village of Pilling.

Next week an attempt at MARS....that'll probably be of the chocolate bar kind - not the planet - the one that helps you work, rest, and play!!  

And finally....

Crescent-chested Puffbird. Colin Bushell.

You won't have to hold your breath until you find one of these on your patch in the UK....

Marbled Duck. Colin Bushell.

Or one of these either. Both species no doubt on CB's list again when he visits Regua in Brazil anytime soon. You can find lots more where these came from on Colin's website HERE