The Buzz Is Back.

A little more interest and movement at Conder Green on Wednesday than I had experienced on Monday, not least because I found 8 Wheatear in a ploughed field north of the picnic area at Conder Green, they were accompanied by 4 White Wagtail, 28 Black-tailed Godwit were feeding close in on the shore seen from here.

At Conder Green, 5 Common Sandpiper seen, and on Conder Pool the 2 Avocet looked settled here, a Greenshank, the Cockersand 2 Black Swan, 11 Tufted Duck, and 10 Teal.

Golden Plover C'sand 17 April. Pete Woodruff.

At least 220 Golden Plover and a White Wagtail were in the field behind Lighthouse Cottage again. I took great pleasure in spending 30 minutes looking through these birds, perhaps I might see a Dotterel with them, based on finding one with 275 Golden Plover in a field close by at Abbey Farm, albeit 6 years ago on 16 April 2013, and five Dotterel seen in the same field I was at today on 8 May 2015 (Stuart Piner).

Sand Leek. Pete Woodruff

In a recent conversation I was reminded that my long lost friend and mentor John Leedal and I had found a specimen of Sand Leek Allium scorodoprasum on the banking at the edge of the marsh north of Conder Green. 

It was because I went to search the area of the marsh for the Sand Leek that I found the Wheatear in this field....Thanks John, It was good my buzz returned today too.

Lost In Cumbria!

Well I wasn't lost in Cumbria....but the day was.

BT and I had set off on Friday with the usual good intent, but the day never really took off. We headed out towards the now silent Dunald Mill Quarry at Over Kellet to check if a Sand Martin population - which we discovered a 'year or two' ago - was still active, to find the place as deserted by them as the quarry has been by humans since its closure. I've no idea whether or not this population was ever checked by anyone else, but enquiries were made at the time of discovery with the quarry management to establish if the birds were known to them, and also were the Sand Martins protected as breeding birds, a positive response was received in this regard.

Some info passed to me about Foulshaw Moss by someone closely connected with the area, was confirmed when up to four Osprey were seen through the heat haze, though six birds together briefly turned out to certainly include two 'corvids'. It was good to meet Harry and Arnold here and we put the birding world to right on one or two matters by which time half the day had already been lost. See you again soon H and A....hopefully.

Sand Leek. Pete Woodruff. 

Passing through Witherslack I noticed the Sand Leek by the roadside and quickly stepped out of the car to get a shot of it, I counted at least 30 spikes. John Leedal had shown me the Sand Leek here many years ago. Through Witherslack Woods the butterflies were certainly not playing ball during the two hours there, and several highly mobile individuals went unidentified, though we did manage the ID of one High Brown Fritillary, two Silver-washed Fritillary, and a single Ringlet....and the day had run away with us.

And finally, more butterflies we may not see in our area this summer....

 Cardinal Ana Minguez  

I'm pretty certain we won't be seeing the Cardinal, also known as the Mediterranean Fritillary, common in southern Europe, also N.Africa, eastern and central Asia. A very rare immigrant with only two records, the first in Cornwall August 1911, the second in Dorset  - also in August - 1969. Some suggestions are that this species is under-recorded, being mistaken for Silver-washed Fritillary. 

Clouded Yellow Ana Minguez 

The way things are heading, I'm not convinced we're going to see the Clouded Yellow....

Painted Lady Marc Heath  

....or the Painted Lady either this year up here in the north of England, though I hope I'm proved wrong on both counts.

Brilliant images from Ana and Marc....with my thanks.

Never a dull moment!

Sand Leek. Pete Woodruff.

If I can be excused I'd like to start this post with a commemoration to my good friend and mentor John Leedal. Perhaps its becoming a little too regular that I mention JL on Birdsblog, but just this once again because of my finding the Sand Leek Allium scorodoprasum at Witherslack yesterday after a period of probably 12-15 years since JL and I first found it here, a few days after which it was cut down to which - as I recall - JL 'went to town' on the appropriate authorities responsible for the crime. So as I drove up to the corner yesterday were it was found all those years ago it was quite a nostalgic moment for me as you will appreciate when I saw it there as a memento to JL. I would welcome anyone who thinks my claims are inaccurate about this plants status and distribution which is confined to the North of England and Scotland and not too common. 

With BT we first went to Foulshaw Moss which didn't produce the hoped for Hobby or Osprey. However, I did find to my pleasure a male and juvenile Stonechat which showed distantly and briefly as viewed opposite the parking area here, but despite a thorough and closer search of the area wasn't seen again. Also of note were a few fly-overs of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin, the latter of which three females gave good views feeding, a Great-spotted Woodpecker was also seen in flight, good numbers of Swallow were feeding over the moss with House Martin and Swift seen, two Red Deer appeared one of which was a pure white albino and is possibly the same individual we saw here last year. I think we needed to be on the 'hunt' for dragonflies to collect some comprehensive records but one or two Emperor Dragonfly, a 'few' Four-spotted Chaser, and Blue-tailed Damselflies were noted. A brief visit to Latterbarrow gave us c.25 Meadow Brown butterflies and little else posing the serious question....what is the general status of the butterfly in the UK in 2011?....must do some reading up on this. 

Silver-washed Fritillary. Steven Cheshire



A visit to Witherslack gave some recompense for NO butterflies seen at Foulshaw Moss - to the exclusion of a very few 'whites' - when at least 4 Silver-washed Fritillary were seen with a Dark-green Fritillary, 5 Small Skipper, and 2 Comma all noted. Birds were represented by a nice sighting of the very localised Marsh Tit, and three Peregrine Falcon over Whitbarrow were seen initially in some sort of altercation.

A decent and enjoyable day with BT, though the title of the post isn't quite accurate....but reasonably so!

And finally....

Adder. David Cookson.

A couple of non-bird 'Cookson Crackers' with the excellent image of the Adder and....

Fox. David Cookson.

An equally excellent portrait of the Fox, a creature persecuted as much as many other forms of wildlife and more than most. Thanks for these....much appreciated DC