Purple Heron.

Well this is the nearest I can get to a photograph of the bird of the title being the Little Egret and both members of the group Ciconiiformes. Unfortunately I can't credit this image to anyone as I have no record of the  author so if you thinks it's yours please tell me.

Britain is claiming a first record this year as a pair of Purple Herons have taken to nesting at Dungeness in Kent but hey....these birds are under threat from an airport development here. The Purple Heron visits the UK in small numbers each year usually as individuals but this year a pair have arrived and decided to set up home in Kent. This member of the heron family normally breeds in southern Europe.

A protection scheme has been set up at the site but the potential development of an airport is casting a large shadow over this peninsula and the future of this brilliant location and the wildlife it supports. The Purple Heron isn't on it's own at setting up home in the south of the country as the changing climate pushes birds further north and species like this highlight the importance of places like Dungeness as a haven for displacement due to global warming.

So the Purple Heron - which has been struggling for the last few decades in Europe - is hopefully about to join the Cattle Egret and Spoonbill as first time breeders in Britain and all eyes are on the Great White Egret to become the next in line for this record.

Meanwhile, back at the RSPB camp there is a call for the government to haul in the planning applications for expansion at the nearby Lydd Airport, but wait a minute....the local authority of Shepway District Council consented the applications in the face of recommendations to refuse thereby illustrating that we still have lots of  'idiots' in what they may think are high places and are very dangerous people once they get their uniforms on and who need to be outvoted as soon as possible. 

Greet'ings.

Well today's totally unconnected pic of the Snipe is one of Brian Rafferty's who is certainly connected because he met up and accompanied me during the greater part of my 4.5 hours in the Cross of Greet/White Greet/Bloe Greet area today which ended with very mixed feelings in that 4.5 hours anywhere for me and not finding a particular species means its definitely not there. So,void of further comment no Stonechats seen here today, but an excellent record collected was the double figure of 10 Whinchat. Also of note here was a Cuckoo, the notable low count of just 7 Wheatear, at least 30 Meadow Pipit, 3 Raven, a Buzzard, only 2 Wren heard, single male Reed Bunting, and at least one adult Grey Wagtail was feeding two recently fledged young on the equally young River Hodder.

With the direct permission of the owner we were able to visit a private woodland later in the day where things were very quiet, but it's not really all that easy to make such a comment when a singing male Pied Flycatcher and male Redstart with another in song were seen, also 2 Treecreeper one of which was feeding young at a nest hole. I find it difficult to believe that - apart from a 'few white's' - I recorded just one butterfly in my entire seven hours today which was that of an Orange Tip.

And finally....

   

Well how's this for ending with a smart image of a smart bird. This is the 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler thanks once again to Paul Baker in BC Canada.

And Stocks Reservoir does it again with a Temmink's Stint found there this evening to follow on closely from the Spotted Sandpiper earlier in the week.

Adding a bit of cheer....

....to the blog.

Well the pic is just about as good a reversal of yesterdays as is possible, from the dead Black-winged Stilt in Malta to this truly smart little Hooded Merganser on Radipole Lake photographed by Mark Fellowes, and if you don't think this creature's cute then you're past your sell by date....Thanks for this Mark.

I thought it a good idea to check out Barbondale to look for any changes/additions since my last visit here on 29 April and soon found that a pair of Pied Flycatchers had arrived, also noted - on a visit not as intense both in time or area covered as is the norm for me - male Whinchat, a Wheatear, 4 Redstart, and by coincidence 2 Tree Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Great Tit, and Blue Tit, c.12 Willow Warbler, a male Reed Bunting and a Kestrel. Birds noticably 'missing' from here are the Cuckoo, Spotted Flycatcher, and the - perhaps less expected - Wood Warbler. 

A couple of hours on Newby Moor was a little quiet, even more serious than 'a little quiet' was the complete lack of any Stonechat sightings. Noted was another numbers coincidence with 3 Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting, and Linnet, a Song Thrush and a Redshank was of particular note.

A visit to the area around Clapham Station was well rewarded by 2 Spotted Flycatchers with a possible third bird, 6 House Martins were a nice find around the cottage below the station, a Blackcap and Greenfinch were of note, and 3 Grey Wagtails were on the River Wenning.

I had a conversation with a farmer in the Barbondale/Kikby Lonsdale area who I asked if he had noticed any changes in the bird-life at - and around - his farmland, he expressed his concern of too many Buzzards which had taken out the Lapwing chicks from 16 nests recently, he also commented on no House Martins 'again this year' were his words, but his best one was his last before I left him when he claimed a Corncrake had spent two days on his farmland before heading north, he told me his claim was confirmed when the bird put to flight.

And finally....

Many thanks to Ian Tallon who must have known I was going to find a Whinchat today at Barbondale when he sent me this pic yesterday....quite appropriate and thanks Ian, keep'em cumin!

Birds2blog.

It pleases me no end to be able to claim Birds2blog to be a roaring success. I'm not about to launch into a hundred reasons why but a glance at my 'Flag Counter' says it all and this is a great opportunity for me to thank everyone for taking an interest in the blog if only to dip in now and again or even visit on a daily basis as I know lots of you do, I really do appreciate it and never really thought I'd get this far down the line with something I started 18 months ago as a sort of fun thing, but which has become a large part of my passion for birds and birding.

Sadly the real reason for this post isn't anything connected with the above 'trumpet blowing exercise' but is more an important issue to me than the success of a blog. Please take a look at the picture above and note it illustrates the pitiful corpse of a Black-winged Stilt which died of gunshot wounds at the hands of not only hunters but illegal hunters on Malta.

All I ask my regular and casual visitors to Birds2blog, is that you click on the link to BirdLife Malta  from time to time and keep up to date with what's happening on that otherwise beautiful island, and if anyone asks you to sign a petition whilst you are on the website then please consider doing so, it's the least we can do to try and make some sort of mark on this barbaric way of 'enjoying' the things in life which is all that this 'sport' is for these people, I don't know about you but I'm not too keen on sharing the same planet as them but it seems I'm going to have to get used to the idea of doing so.

I suppose I'm breaking my Birds2blog non-controversial code here for once....well so be it as I knew it was going to happen on occasions. It's worth remembering Malta is breaking the rules governing their membership of the European Union with this hunting issue, but I'm leaving that there for now.

Well Spotted!

Spotted Sandpiper. Mike Watson.

Thanks to Mike Watson for this image of the Spotted Sandpiper currently at Stocks Reservoir. Please visit Mike's website HERE to learn a few statistics and the finder of this closely related to the Common Sandpiper and North American wader.

JB agreed we should make the short trip to Stocks Reservoir to see this small wader which gave excellent views not more than a 250 yards walk from the car park at the north end of the reservoir from the first hide, at one point it was accompanied by 2 Common Sandpipers for comparison which really wasn't necessary as the bird is in breeding plumage and shows the spots reminiscent of a Song Thrush. Also noted on an otherwise short visit here, a Garden Warbler and Blackcap both in song which was again good for comparison.

Having deciding to head off to some more familiar territory we pulled in to Langden Brook where a stroll to the small pump house produced just 2 Lesser Redpoll, a pair of Coal Tit obviously feeding young at a nest, 2 Dipper in flight together with the rear bird seemingly pursuing the front one, a Common Sandpiper, 4 Goldfinch, and it was good to hear yet another 2 Wren in song.

In the Tower Lodge area I found a male Redstart at Trough Bridge, and another behind the plantation at the lodge where I saw 3 Lesser Redpoll which is the same number seen here on 4 May, surely more lurking around somewhere here, also 2 Song Thrush, and I heard the Green Woodpecker 'yaffle' twice, in the stream a Dipper seen. At Marshaw a Common Sandpiper with JB having seen two birds during my absence.

A brief look in at Stoops Bridge gave us the male Pied Flycatcher whilst it's quite possible that a male I saw further downstream could well have be a second bird depending on the range of the first which appears to stick pretty close to the nest site. I personally saw a Spotted Flycatcher here whilst JB saw two, furthermore two birders already there when we arrived claim to have seen four all from a stand still position at the car park area....Mmmmm!

Today's disappointments were, having seen a pair of Stonechats opposite the small pump house on the track up the Langden Valley on 16 & 20 April none were found today when I had hoped to at least see them and even better maybe with young. Also no Spotted Flycatchers seen in the Trough Bridge/Tower Lodge/Marshaw area today, and still no House Martins at Christ Church, Abbeystead. 

And finally....

Thanks to Stuart Piner who achieved this excellent image of one of the - at least - seven Sedge Warblers from the road at Cockersands yesterday.

Nothing Riveting....

....but all birding is good birding.

Cattle Egret. Phil Slade.

But first....here's one of what I expect will be many excellent images we will be seeing soon from Fylde birder/ringer PS who has just returned from his holidays. PS was one of three Fylde birders I 'bumped into' today, a pretty decent trio to say the least and always something of interest to say, good to see you guy's. You can keep up to date with PS's birding/ringing/photographs HERE and when you do his header pic smacks you in the eye nicely. 

Of the few notables seen in my four hour slot today, I had to search from the west end of Conder Pool again to eventually find one of the Little Ringed Plovers lurking at the back side, but that added interest to my birding as it wouldn't be the same if they all stood in a line until you'd written them down in your book before jumping back into the car for the next call....now would it!  Another bird I'd rather not have seen on Conder Pool was the unforgiving Grey Heron which was in it's 'frozen' mode staring at the LRP as it quietly stabbed at the ground for food. Other than the summering drake Wigeon there was positively nothing else of note on the pool today but a Lesser Whitethroat near the old iron railway bridge was good, along with a Whitethroat seen moments earlier. Also noted had to be 2 Greenfinch rapidly becoming a rarity, a male Reed Bunting, a Wren always good to hear since our severe winter, and the 'local' Kestrel, it was also good to see 4 House Martins had arrived and were taking an interest in the eaves of River Wind's.

At Cockersands where I had 'missed' some good numbers - according to 'SP of the Fylde' - because of the state of the tide by the time I got there, I noted at least 7 Sedge Warblers from the road to the lighthouse from Bank Houses, also 3 Wheatear are still in the rolled soil  field, and 2 Skylarks were also of note.

At 7.48pm my RBA pager alerted me to a summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper at Stocks Reservoir....may be the cause of some burning rubber!

And finally....

The Pacific-slope Flycatcher, an image from my friend Paul Baker over there in BC Canada. Wouldn't mind coming across one of these little beauties at Tower Lodge maybe sometime....Thanks for the pic Paul.

OK....

....so this is getting silly.

Midland Hotel Morecambe. Pete Woodruff.

This Woodruff bloke is supposed to be running a bird/birding blog, he doesn't get out birding at weekends and usually fills the gaps in his blog with some excellent photography or interesting 'blasts from the past' and such-like bird connected things but this time it's photographs of Morecambe for goodness sake....Ahhhh well!

The pic above is a rear view of the now impressive Midland Hotel which is quite a smart place from the outside and once you get inside is even smarter. However, I speak not from experience but would suggest quite a loaded wallet would be required to purchase Sunday Lunch and a couple of drinks in this place, but if a loaded wallet isn't a problem for you I'd suggest giving it a go to try it out.

Midland Hotel. Pete Woodruff.

Another view of the Midland Hotel, this from the Stone Jetty. I think if anyone still wants to throw in the argument that Morecambe isn't trying to keep up to date with the resort in order to compete with others, a walk down the promenade from the Battery Hotel to Teal Bay may help to change your mind.

Well I threw this one in just because I liked the colours and am always attracted to red, apart from which a walk down the jetty is always a good idea birding wise. Talking of birds I can end on the subject with this post because I'm probably going to have to search out a decent new - well second hand - motor and whilst looking through some this afternoon at one of the garage's on White Lund I heard the voice of  Lesser Whitethroat in the bushes at the rear of the building....so it is a birding blog after all! 

The Quickie!

This is the shortest post ever on Birds2blog but may be added to later if time allows.

The image above along with....

....this one, are two of a set of photographs by Brian Rafferty and I'm not prepared to say more on them as I strongly recommend you visit Brian's website HERE  - or at the top of my sidebar where he belongs - to read about a memorable experience he had this week involving these brilliant Black Grouse. 

Did you know!

Bass Rock. David Cookson.

But first this stunning image of Bass Rock, location for up to 80,000 occupied nests and photographed by David earlier this year.

I've been rooting through some 30 year old Cumbria records and have noted the following ones of interest in varying degrees all from 1980.

King Eider. One recorded from Walney B.O. as it/one had also been the year before in 1979.

Ruddy Duck. A North American species introduced into Britain in 1948, it is thought that over a period of time seventy juveniles flew away from the captivity of Slimbridge. The species was admitted to the official British and Irish list in 1971 and this bird was found on Longtown G.P. on 27 August 1980 and was the first record for Cumbria.

Black Grouse. Was recorded at six locations in Cumbria in 1980.

Corncrake. Records of calling males were collected at three locations.

Little Ringed Plover. This bird is noted as a rarity in Cumbria in the 1980 records and was located at three sites in this year....I must now look up it's status in 2010.

Dotterel. This record I found very interesting and was of a successful breeding at an undisclosed Cumbrian site.

Turtle Dove. Another very interesting record in that it was claimed that over-wintering of these birds had increased over recent years....How things change!

Short-eared Owl. Now this one really intrigued me and gave details of a study of pellet content at a roost near Barrow which it is claimed contained five rings, those of a British Turnstone, plus two British, one Swedish, and one Norwegian Dunlin....amazing.

Stonechat. Showed a recovery from 1979 when there was a decrease in numbers recorded but still remained scarce inland in 1980.

Whinchat. I could find no mention of this species in the 1980 report which poses me the question....was it omitted in error?

Wood Warbler. A good breeding season throughout Cumbria. So how things have changed there in thirty years.

Nutcracker. Walney B.O. had the record of a bird seen on 1 December 1979 accepted by the BBRC. 

 

Bass Rock. David Cookson.

Blue Sky, Blue Sea....

....Blue'dy cold wind still!

Mare and Foal. Pete Woodruff.

No bird pics today but I did manage a couple of decent one's of this mare and its foal at Banks Houses Cockersands which - according to the owner - is barely a week old....both beautiful creatures.

I suppose I'd have to refer to today's birding as quiet and certainly so at Conder Green though the Little Ringed Plover pair did show on the pool but you do have to be patient with these two. Also noted a (the) Whitethroat was singing from the same branch of the same bush as Monday, and a Song Thrush, 2 Eider and 3 drake Wigeon were seen on the River Lune from here. On Jeremy Lane 2 Wheatear, a Skylark, and a male Linnet was observed feeding a female, a first for me.

At Cockersands where the tide was at it's height c.60 Dunlin and a similar number of Ringed Plover were pushed by the tide below the headland and gave good views, I was hoping perhaps one or two Sanderling would be with them, but if there's to be a repeat of these turning up here again as three years ago in 2007 - when 120 were present on 31 May - I'll need to wait a couple more weeks perhaps. Also of note, 12 Eider were off Crook Farm, a Great-crested Grebe has been a little rare anywhere off Cockersands recently. From the road back to the lighthouse from Banks Houses I saw just 2 Tree Sparrows, a Skylark, a Wren, 2 Sedge Warbler in full song, and 24 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were noted in a field, and a Lesser Whitethroat has either moved to the line of Willows on the road towards the lighthouse, or it's Mondays bird having moved, 6 Brown Hare were also noted.

I thought I'd give Aldcliffe a look over but a circuit here was a little unproductive, even the 'Whitethroats' went silent on me, the biggest surprise was a pair of Gadwall on the wildfowlers pool, the only other bird of any note was a singing Blackcap....such is the variation of birding. I saw only seven butterflies in six hours today, 3 Speckled Wood, 2 Orange Tip, and 2 Small Tortoiseshell, all at Aldcliffe. One worrying sight here today was that the two excellent and rather large stubble fields have become Lancasters 'Sahara Desert' and several Lapwing adults were stood around in a forlorn state....nothing new there then! 

I note no House Martins have arrived at Conder Green as yet especially at 'River Winds' where up to five pairs nested last year.