Not The Best Of Choices.

Masked Shrike. Colin Bushell.

But first....one of Colin Bushell's Lesvos 2010 exotica in the form of the smart Masked Shrike.

Not the best of my three options for today but the other two I didn't fancy doing on account of my distrust in the weather which turned out to be a false distrust as it kept nice and sunny. Anyway 'ordinary' birding can often become extraordinary though it didn't today....but that's birding. So I found myself checking the 'gull's' on the River Lune behind Sainsburys before heading off to check everything else on the calorie burning trek to Glasson Dock in the hope perhaps a Wryneck would jump out at me along the way....but didn't.

A quick look over Freeman's Pools showed it to be a lake rather than a pool now so it'll be a surprise if any of the 'parishioners' find any waders on there for a while. Two Wheatear were seen along the embankment and the only 'geese' on the marsh were c.75 Canada and 6 Greylag. Between Aldcliffe and Conder Green I noted a Raven over the golf course with a Brown Hare on there, 8 Goldfinch, a Kestrel, 4 Red Admiral, and 6 Speckled Wood....this is desperate stuff you know!

At Conder Green a less than serious circuit produced 2 Ruff, a Greenshank, and another Wheatear. Conder Pool is also in ruins now resembling a lake with no edges but 9 Little Grebe was another increase in their number and three short of last years peak of twelve, interestingly the count has gone back up to 4 Wigeon on here for the first time since 2 July.

   

Black-eared Wheatear. Colin Bushell.

Exotica number two from Lesvos is the Black-eared Wheatear. Thanks for these Colin, much appreciated.... I'll be looking out for the Peruvian flag!!

By the way....The Masked Shrike - Eastern Mediterranean east to Iran and winters in sub-Saharan Africa - was one of six species of birds which were removed from the British List in 1962 in connection with the 'Hastings Rarities Affair'. Since one was shot at Woodchurch in Kent in 1905 there have been just two records of this extremely rare vagrant the last of which was at St Marys on the Scillies on 1 November 2006.



The Afternoon Shift.

First things first, and this image of my most favourite raptor the male Merlin is by kind permission of Peter Guy and was taken in an area of outstanding natural beauty the Forest of Bowland.

It was 11.00am before I decided the rain would hopefully cease and I called in at Conder Green to find it all a little quiet. The first bird to note was the local Kestrel which can be seen at almost every visit at the moment obviously nesting nearby. I was more than a little worried at what I saw today as it flew by with prey in its talons with two Redshank in hot pursuit, if the prey was what I reckon it was I didn't like it at all. A pair of Shelduck were accompanied by ten 'balls of fluff', they nest unnoticed each year in the banks of the Conder creeks, the lonesome drake Wigeon is determined to spend the summer on Conder Pool, 2 Reed Bunting were noted, 2 Swift were over, and a surprising 12 House Martins at least are nest building at River Winds.

At Cockersands if I'm to be honest I was hoping some late Sanderling would be putting in an appearance here again this year but not so. A Seal was a first here for me, unidentified Common/Grey due to distance and only a snout above water on brief occasions. Also of note on the circuit, along the headland 14 Eider, and a Wheatear. The return via the road, another first for me was a Tree Sparrow feeding what appeared to be a single young bird, 5 Skylark, 2 Linnet, 4 Meadow Pipit, 9 Stock Dove, and bird of the day a -  rapidly becoming rare - Greenfinch. I wasn't really counting Brown Hares here today but did see at least twelve.

And finally....

The Masked Shrike, a smart image of a smart bird taken in Lesvos this April by globetrotting birder Colin Bushell. Take a look HERE to see and read about more of Colins travels both here and abroad.....Thanks for both these images Peter/Colin they are very much appreciated.

The first record of a Masked Shrike in Britain was that of a bird in Kent in 1905 but this record was rejected following the so called Hastings Rarities Affair. Today there stands just two records of this smart looking bird, that of a juvenile found in Fife in Oct-Nov 2004, and another juvenile on St Mary's, Scilly in Nov 2006.