Better Late Than Never....Part 3.

Apologies for the title, I know it's becoming a little boring and repetitive, but apart from the fact it has been another week since I got some birding done, it saves me scratching my head for another one, and in any case, if I'd have known what was in store for me when I finally did get out again on Friday, I'd never have coped with the excitement....after all I always was easily pleased!

Even if the footage is a bit of jelly on a plate stuff, the Chiffchaff at Conder Pool - although busy and difficult to keep up to - was a delight out in the open and at close range. 

Kingfisher Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

Also on the pool, a Kingfisher came on to the outlet for around 5 secs, looked at me behind the viewing screen and promptly flew off, also a lone Little Grebe to note. A drake Pochard is only the second one I have seen on Conder Pool, and seen as nothing better than a rare breeder and declining winter visitor in the Leighton Moss area and Pine Lake, scarce anywhere else. Todays drake Pochard was probably the canal basin individual of late having a trip out.

Lune Estuary Looking To Clougha And The Bowland Fells. Pete Woodruff.

With too much water at near high tide, I collect just a few notes on the Lune Estuary at Glasson. At least 700 Dunlin is a best and low personal count here this winter, 2 drake Goldeneye, 4 Goosander and 3 Little Grebe, 50 Pink-footed Geese were on Colloway Marsh, almost certainly more out of view.

At Cockersand, up to 220 Curlew and a even mix of up to 100 Redwing and Fieldfare in the same field, 14 Greenfinch, 5 Wren and a Song Thrush. Three small groups totaling 12 Snipe, up off the marsh and calling in flight sounding like a muffled sneeze.

Six Stonechat seen today at Cockersand, these two were on the spoil heaps, a pair on Slack Lane by Lighthouse Cottage, and a pair in the rough field by Bank Houses, from where I saw a ringtail Hen Harrier, and later saw it on a return flight but was obstructed by the hedgerow for good views.

As I rounded the path at Lighthouse Cottage, a female Merlin shot by me a little more than a foot above the marsh. AC who I met later confirmed he had seen the bird 15 minutes after me, and had excellent views as it perched on a telegraph pole along Slack Lane.

I had good views of the Black Redstart along the shore south of the abbey, a stunning little bird in some excellent sunlight, and from where up to 300 Whooper Swan could be seen mainly inaccessible at Thursland Hill, but including c.50 on a drive past at the Thurnham end of Moss Lane.

Garden Birds.

The birds served us well yesterday when a male Blackcap spent a little time on the feeders, then one hour later a Chiffchaff made the day by searching the plants for insects a metre outside the patio window. This bird/another visited us on 20 September 2022.

And Finally.

I received some excellent images of an Otter seen this week for which I was truly grateful, it was seen in the east of our area. I also had a good count of 15 Brown Hare during the week at an undisclosed location.

Otter 19 January. Copy Permitted.

With six Stonechat at Cockersand and much more, a bit of birding magic for me on Friday....What next I ask myself!

Down But Not Out....Quite.

After This amazing record of 20 Avocet on Conder Pool last Saturday,  my efforts three days later on Tuesday, turned up just five adult and only one young, that's a staggering fourteen birds - five adult and nine young - down on Saturdays count. But ne'er mind, lets be positive, they were probably all out of view in some hidden corner.

Avocet. Pete Woodruff.

The only young Avocet seen Tuesday, one of the 22 May birds, growing nicely and looking good....which is more than can be said for the photograph.

Common Tern Conder Pool 20 June. Pete Woodruff.

The Common Tern family were also looking good, with one of the young looking through the perspex like a kid at a bedroom window....excellent stuff.

A wander along the coastal path to Glasson Dock and return via the canal was rewarded by excellent views of a Sedge Warbler collecting insects for young, a Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, and Reed Bunting. Butterflies seen, 6 Red Admiral, 3 Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, and Speckled Wood. 

Emperor Dragonfly Marc Heath

Also along the canal, 2 Emperor Dragonfly, these two patrolling males were easily recognised as a common and pretty conspicuous dragonfly of African origin, only recently colonising large parts of Northern Europe. It rarely settles, and is the only Anax in the UK of which the females oviposit without the male.

Thanks for the excellent image Marc.

A look in on the River Conder upstream from the A588 road bridge was well timed and lucky, as I briefly saw an Otter come out from underneath the riverbank to porpoise once before disappearing round the bend of the river. I pretty well knew I was wasting my time, but I went off in pursuit to see if I could get an advantage point to catch up with the Otter, but void of jumping over hedges and fences to trespass, the river wanders off into the unknown.    

Too Late....

....for the 'Tern Show' at Heysham yesterday.

Whitethroat. Noushka @ 1000-Pattes

But I managed to talk KT into an hour along the sea wall in the later afternoon to find 13 Wheatear, being 11 flying off Red Nab in procession toward Ocean Edge, and two on the waste ground at the south wall where there was 3 Willow Warbler, a Whitethroat, and a White Wagtail, 8 Common Sandpiper were below the sea wall between outfalls....Thanks for the Whitethroat Noushka.

Two Buzzard soaring high and loudly mewing together over Bowerham in Lancaster on Saturday.  

During the week a reliable report made to me was of an Otter in the sea off Happy Mount Park, seen as a scarce if not rare sighting in Morecambe Bay. Though the Eurasian Otter can be seen ocassionally in the sea, they require regular access to fresh water to clean their fur, they are sometimes incorrectly refered to as Sea Otter which is a native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean.

Thanks for this Colin, an excellent record for Morecambe Bay.

A Decent Bash.

Despite a good - well decent anyhow - 5 hour bash around the OK corral yesterday I didn't find the migrants I had hoped for.

Wheatear Ana Minguez  

But on a Cockersands 2.5 hour circular with diversions, I found at least 28 Wheatear, a few of which were in the Abbey Farm stubble field, in which the farmer had done them and 5 White Wagtail a favour with a recent muck and fly spreading exercise. Two Grey Partridge were a couple of rarities seen, with 6 Linnet, 4 Skylark, 3 Tree Sparrow, and a female Reed Bunting. Off Plover Scar 28 Eider, and I noted 7 Brown Hare during the visit.

There are still at least 150 Black-tailed Godwit in the Conder/Glasson area with 55 on Conder Pool. In the creeks, 7 Common Sandpiper, 2 Spotted Redshank, and a Greenshank. I saw my first Whitethroat on the coastal path along with a Speckled Wood and Orange Tip butterfly.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, 95 Black-tailed Godwit, and 65 Bar-tailed Godwit. Fourteen Eider here was a bit of an irony as not too long ago on this very blog I claimed the Eider to be at least unusual on this section of the Lune Estuary as viewed upstream from the bowling green according to my observations, but I have recently been seeing them regular here, obviously no longer 'unusual'.

Otter and Tawny Owl.  

A visitor to the area stopped to talk and told me of an Otter he'd seen on the canal somewhere around the second lock was the best info he offered. Also a Tawny Owl he'd seen along the coastal path by a culvert was the best he offered me on this.

And finally....

Chrysolina Beetle. Pete Woodruff.

An interesting little creature which I found at Cockersands, but confusion has set in on this one. I think Chrysolina menthastri - or Mint Beetle - can be ruled out, not necessarily, but this is scarce in Britain. So the confusion then is between C. hyperici and C. varians, I'm going for the latter. Help....anyone!

St Peter's Peregrines.....

....and the Otter.

Mobile Image. Pete Woodruff.

With a snoop last week around the west front and north side of St Peter's Cathedral in Lancaster I found two Lapwing corpses on the ground below the steeple. No real surprise there, though I have no idea of time scale, the Peregrine Falcon has been present at the church for many weeks - probably months - but if my informant is correct, didn't breed here in 2013.

The interest aroused by the finding of these and previous dead birds in the recent past in the church grounds, and my observations of this bird - there may be two - is that it appears to have adopted this structure as a wintering location. But I find it further interesting in that the questions arise....although quite a short direct flight for a Peregrine Falcon, why has this bird flown from the cathedral to the River Lune - possibly but not necessarily to Aldcliffe - on three occasions that I'm aware of, to find prey in the form of a Lapwing, then fly all the way back to consume the catch. Does this bird ocassionally make the journey when it finds nothing to hunt on the way, or does it persistently go to these lengths every time it needs to hunt for food. Alternatively, maybe this isn't its winter quarters at all, and that it just visits here and uses it as a 'plucking post' to feast on its latest kill....I'm intrigued.

St Walburgs. Brian Rafferty.

St Walburg's is in Preston, and though the spires of Salisbury and Norwich are taller, I must say this steeple has always struck me as the finest I have ever seen in the UK and rises 309ft above the City of Preston. 

Peregrine Falcon. Brian Rafferty.

I have no knowledge of the history of St Walburg's Peregrines, but I do know they have bred there for a number of years, and BR achieved some brilliant images of the Preston's Peregrines like the adult with prey and the two begging juveniles above from last years breeding success.

It really pleases me to see these raptors thinking they are nesting on a cliff face with a pointed structure. If the Peregrine Falcon isn't safe from disturbance or worse on the steeple of a church, then its never going to be safe anywhere, and they are most certainly much the wiser by staying clear of the dreaded uplands of Bowland just a few miles to the east of St Peter's Cathedral. 

And The Otter.

River Lune Otters. Brian Rafferty.   

On Saturday an Otter was reported on the River Lune in the area of the Skerton Weir. Excellent news though no big surprise as the Otter is known to inhabit the River Lune and BR took this image of these four individuals on Saturday 27 October 2013.

I must confess to not being fully up to date on either the River Lune Otters, or the construction of the M6 - Heysham link road project, so have no intention of launching into lengthy views on either. But take note this project has now begun and it will be interesting - important even - to see what the result of the Otter population is - and countless other wildlife species which don't have protection - at the hands of this totally disastrous and monstrous waste of time and money.

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING....And I'm off to do some right now.

Paying The Price.

View from the Lower Hide. Pete Woodruff. 

I paid the price for a visit to Leighton Moss today which happened to be my second choice, the first one abandoned due to circumstances out of my control.

The rewards for the first couple of hours were excellent and when I entered a deserted Lower Hide, straight out across the far side were 16 Little Egrets not visible in my moderate photograph above but honestly they are dead centre of the frame. It wasn't many minutes later that a juvenile Black Tern flew across the mere and perched on a post in the middle for the next thirty minutes, from my observations it appears to be the only one left from what was four birds during this week, 6 Greenshank were also at the back of the mere, and 2 Great-crested Grebe were of note. A little later on I noticed a few 'hirundines' in the air - some low some high - and eventually I estimated up to 100 House Martins with single numbers of Swallow and Sand Martin. But then came the best of the rewards I had already enjoyed when an Otter came in to view at 12.30 and 'porpoised' for several minutes, thirty five minutes later at 1.05 it appeared again, this time it eventually hauled itself out of the water on to the very area in front of the reeds where there was just five of the initial sixteen Little Egrets left, it stood staring at them within just a couple of metres, all the LE's were alert but not one of them moved off, the Otter then went back into the water and swam the full length in front of them and soon disappeared into the reeds....this is great stuff....and free of charge.

At the Public Hide I counted in excess of 200 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, and 3 Black-tailed Godwit.  Anyone who knows the Leighton Moss Reserve will appreciate this island is just small and this number of waders on here definitely meant 'standing room only' and the Redshank number far exceeds anything like this figure on here before in my records book. At the Grisedale Hide things were a little quiet but I noted 4 Black-tailed Godwit and c.15 Gadwall with a similar number of Shoveler, and watched a Snipe feeding like a sewing machine at half speed, as I was leaving the hide I spotted a Peregrine Falcon over the woods opposite.

Now I was about to pay the price of a visit to the RSPB Reserve of Leighton Moss, when I stepped into the Lillian Hide I was reminded of the days when Saturday night meant an evening for me in the Melbourne Club, a lively working mans watering hole with the associated noise, the same environment inside this hide isn't 'my kind of birding' and I made a speedy exit. But things were not about to improve unfortunately and now I'm in the Eric Morecambe Hide where I counted 29 Little Egret on the Allan Pool along with 7 Greenshank, a Kingfisher perched close by, and 42 Wigeon were of note. But inside this hide was a group of about six people who had obviously decided a day at LM was a good idea for a social gathering to discuss just about anything and to hell with any suggestion of 'quiet please' in the hides....I went home!

By the way if you are planning to visit the Eric Morecambe complex it's more reminiscent of Lake Windermere at the moment with not a cat in hell's chance of finding a wader on there. This complex was once described to me many years ago now by a high profile ornithologist as one of the best in the north of England to which I readily agreed at the time....and - in the right condition - still do.