Down by the riverside.

River Lune. Pete Woodruff.



The River Lune snakes its way through the beautiful Lune Valley, in the pic above  - note the foreground tools of the trade - the river is actually flowing north east which is more towards the direction it came from. Ingleborough is in the distance the very tip of its summit in cloud, but as the river goes out of sight on the left in the pic it turns to head south west again towards Lancaster and on to the estuary about 12 miles downstream at Cockersands. So here I was doing what I love to do the best, to the neglect of everyone and everything.

Little Ringed Plover. Pete Woodruff.

Five hours plus on the River Lune upstream from Bull Beck yesterday produced some excellent results and I refused to award the Gold  to a species as I was torn between 5 Little Ringed Plovers - note above my latest attempt at international level photography - including two unfledged but growing young, and the 4 Green Sandpipers I saw together an hour later further upstream on the best flood I've seen in ages and in perfect condition, a Kingfisher seen was also excellent. With the risk of duplicate counting taken into account I recorded at least 22 Common Sandpipers, also of note a lone Ringed Plover, 8 Grey Wagtail, a juvenile Robin, a Kestrel, 3 Red Admiral and a 'few' Small Tortoiseshell noted. 

Oystercatcher. Pete Woodruff.  

Oystercatchers were dotted about here and there on the shingle and I saw one young chick on the visit. I have no idea of the status of the Sand Martin on the River Lune in 2011, if there is info somewhere out there about this I've had no time to look for it, what I do know is that I'd rate the numbers I saw here yesterday as at least 'quite large' and it was a joy to watch young in the bank opposite peering out of the many nest holes, quite a few of them with three little bodies vying for pole position at the entrance.

Living on the edge.

During the visit here I couldn't help but think, the natural world these birds are part of is also their enemy particularly during the breeding season. The Little Ringed Plover adults were watching their two young every move whilst threats like the Grey Heron, 'gulls' and 'corvids' were all on the prowl. Also the fact these birds are breeding on the shingle banks are at some risk of being washed away following any prolonged heavy rain causing the river to flood and wash away everything in its path including the many hundreds of Sand Martins trapped in their nest holes until fledged.

MEGA NEWS.

A Greater Yellowlegs has been found at Daventry Reservoir in N'hants. The first record in Britain of this N.American wader which winters in the USA south to southern America, was shot by an obvious 'rhymes with tanker' on the Isles of Scilly in 1906.

....and Clement the Cuckoo!

I've recently received some very welcome e-mails telling me of Stonechats seen in Bowland, they are from birders who visit Birds2blog and I'd like to show my appreciation for the information publicly with a thank you. However, despite these records in the positive from Bowland I'm personally still visiting areas that have 'lost' the Stonechat, some of these areas are previous strongholds for the species since 1999. Today Harrisend didn't manage to spring any surprises on me and the 2.5 hours spent there produced the expected Stonechat zero. But my interests in birds and birding don't begin and end with the Stonechat they're only a part of it, todays efforts didn't produce anything spectacular but enjoyable and with interest just the same. 

At Harrisend I noted at least 18 Meadow Pipit, 7 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 3 Linnet, 3 Reed Bunting being two male and a juvenile interestingly all three birds together, also a juvenile Dunnock, 4 distant Redstart appeared to be a family party but not including a male, and 2 Buzzard. Butterfly interest was in 5 Small Heath, and a Green-veined White.

At Conder Green 11 Common Sandpiper, 3 Black-tailed Godwit were all in full breeding plumage. On Conder Pool, 66 Redshank and 3 Wigeon drakes were of note. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, c.250 Bar-tailed Godwit again, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, and a Greenshank were the best of an otherwise deserted area of the River Lune.

Two birds I had hoped to see today had apparently moved on....

Scaup. Copyright Granted.

The first was a drake Scaup - the very bird in the picture - which had been at Glasson Dock for a couple of days on the canal basin. 

Marsh Harrier. Simon Hawtin

And the Marsh Harrier, a first summer male - not the one in the picture this time - which was at Cockersands yesterday but wasn't seen today.

You must be as intrigued as I am about Clement the Cuckoo, well hes surprised the 'Tag Team' and everyone else by moving 400 miles out of France and into Spain, see for yourself.... HERE

The Corn Bunting.

Corn Bunting. Phil Slade

The Corn Bunting (CB) has a feeble flight and with its legs dangling it doesn't suggest a strong flyer, yet the species has at one time or another managed to colonise the remotest fringes of Britain. The CB owes much throughout history to mans alteration to the environment, the spread of cereal agriculture across Europe and reaching Britain a few thousand years ago resulted in the clearing of vast areas of woodland creating open habitats suitable for the CB.

In the north of its range the CB is largely confined to arable farmland, in winter the bird feeds mainly on cereal stubble a habitat which has declined greatly over recent years. In Lancashire the CB was uncommon towards the end of the 19th century and Mitchell commented it was 'very locally distributed and seldom seen except where grain is grown'. Today the reason for the dramatic crash of the CB - and the Yellowhammer for that matter - is unquestionably down to intensification and changes in farming methods which include the switch to autumn sowing of cereals with the subsequent loss of seed-rich stubble in the winter, and replacement of hay by silage, food supplies have also been depleted by the use of herbicides, pesticides playing their part  in the dramatic fall of the CB.

The CB is often referred to by some as a 'dull bird'. I personally don't know of a single species of bird I'd ever refer to as 'dull', but I do know if I'd like to see the CB in our recording area in north Lancashire I'll need a good deal of luck on my side, and if I do it'll be a 'straggler'. In our area 52 years ago in 1959 the CB was a scarce and very local resident, by 1997 it was declared as possibly extinct, today it most certainly is. However, just outside the border on Tuesday 18 January I recorded up to 100 CB's on Union Lane. Areas in south-west Lancashire and the Fylde are where the CB has a healthy status, that of a common breeding bird.

By the way, this I found both news and interesting, and if you're local....  

High Brown Fritillary. Steven Cheshire

....did you know about Myers Allotment and the High Brown Fritillary 

Early Finish!

Today I had no plan to go into the Bowland uplands, but as the pic above shows, for the second consecutive day its just as well it wasn't the plan, this taken on the coastal path from Fluke Hall to Knott End just after lunch time. Soon after this JB and I decided enough was enough of sitting out the 'monsoon' which followed and we were on  our way back to Lancaster and an unplanned early finish. But before all this....

I had noted on Conder Pool, 10 Common Sandpiper, 3 Greenshank, c.200 Redshank, a solitary Black-tailed Godwit, and 5 Shoveler unusual on here, in fact - although I'm not absolutely certain - could be a first record....but I know a man who will. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I took note of c.250 Bar-tailed Godwit again, c.180 Redshank, c.50 Knot, and 2 Shelduck accompanied by 23 young. At Cockersands - where it was virtually unsafe weather-wise to get out of the car - up to 15 Goldfinch noted.

Whitethroat. John Bateman.

At Fluke Hall 4 Whitethroat, 10 Tree Sparrow, and a singing Skylark were followed by a sit in the car to shelter from the aforementioned monsoon. We decided it's always best to face up to defeat, and the elements had beaten us yet again. On our way back to Lancaster we called back in at Conder Green but, here we go again and the rains came once more....the final straw!  

Red-legged Partridge. David Cookson.

There are some birds which I never record, in fact some I refuse point blank to do so and the Red-legged Partridge is a good example, though to contradict this claim I actually posted one in my records on Monday of this week at Cockersands, my excuse here is that the single adult bird had 11 very young with it and was 'running' down the road with them following on in a line.

Rook. David Cookson.

Another example is the Rook, but again this is a rule I break sometimes, an example would be if I encounter unusually high numbers of this corvid. At the end of the day this was a good excuse for posting a couple of brilliant images from the man who isn't going to stop taking photographs until hes dead....well thank goodness for that! 

You dont have to take my word about his photography, just take a look HERE

The butterfly has it!

This photograph taken at Cockersands looking east to the fells of Bowland clearly illustrates why I didn't go up Harrisend which is blotted out by the cloud and rain this afternoon. So Plan A out the window and Plan B put into place once again and away I went to the coast and kept reasonably close to the car in case a dash from the showers was necessary.

At Conder Green the Spotted Redshank was in the company of at least 200 Redshank on Conder Pool, also on here, 6 Greenshank, 8 Common Sandpiper, and a pair of Oystercatcher have one young on here. In the creeks another c.100 Redshank, and a single Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit gave an excellent opportunity to compare these two species - similar in certain conditions and distance - at close range.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, c.250 Bar-tailed Godwit included ten males in their stunning summer dark rufous underparts, also noted a Greenshank, 2 Eider, and 2 Wigeon. On the canal basin a pair of Tufted Duck had three chicks. 

Marsh Harrier. Phillip Tomkinson 

At Cockersands I decided to do the circuit until the tide came in to give me some time to loiter off Plover Scar to see if the Wyre Estuary AGP had decided to pay us a visit....or maybe a Broad-billed Sandpiper with the Dunlin perhaps!

To be honest at one point I went into one of my 'shouldn't I be doing something more useful in life than this' modes but I soon came out of it when I clapped eyes on a Marsh Harrier quartering the Abbey Farm fields. Also noted on the round, probably no more than 15 Tree Sparrow seen today, up to 8 Goldfinch, and a Sedge Warbler still in song. 

Painted Lady. Phillip Tomkinson

I had given the Marsh Harrier today's Gold Award but this only lasted a couple of hours until I found the Painted Lady fluttering by, at which point I decided the award should go to the insect and not the bird. Last year I had found two Painted Lady butterflies here at Cockersands four weeks earlier on 7 June, but I think the records will show a poor year in 2010, but just in case I'll put my parachute on ready for being shot down on that suggestion.

Golden Plover. Brian Rafferty 

To watch the tide gaining height I put myself opposite the lighthouse and sifted through c.250 Golden Plover and c.35 Dunlin to no avail, the young 'fluffy' Oystercatcher was seen to be still surviving, and 7 Eider were off the scar.

A conversation with farmer Brian from Gardners Farm on Moss Lane revealed on questioning only about three pairs of Swallows this year, on asking how this compared with recent years he told me they could have as many as twelve pairs at times....interesting.

Thanks as always to PT/BR for the excellent images of Marsh Harrier, Painted Lady, and Golden Plover.

An even closer look.

There's an excellent 'Closer Look' Gallery which has recently been brought up to date on the Flyde Bird Club website and the American Golden Plover, Blue-headed Wagtail, Temminck's Stint, Kentish Plover, and White Stork are all examples of what you will find HERE 

Blue-headed Wagtail.

One of the birds featured on the Fylde Bird Club website is the Blue-headed Wagtail (BHW) and I've been taking a closer look for myself at this bird.

The fact that continental Yellow Wagtails differed from the British form escaped the attentions of ornithologists until the early 1830's when the distinction was eventually noted, and in 1834 at Colchester in Essex the first British record of a continental BHW was made. This form of the continental race is the most common one to reach Britain, and breeding with the British flavissima is today recorded almost annually.

American Golden Plover.

The first record of an American Golden Plover (AGP) - a North American vagrant - in the Lancashire and North Merseyside area was of a bird with Golden Plovers at Marshside in November 1984, four years later another was found at Fleetwood in September 1988.

The next record of an AGP in Lancashire became famous for both me and for the county, in my case it was the bird I 'twitched' with my old friend and mentor the late John Leedal, and for the county it became the first long staying AGP for Lancashire. This bird was found at Fishmoor Reservoir, Blackburn on 28 October 1995, and was last seen on 11 November which was the date JL and I went to see the bird and therefore we were amongst the last birders to see this individual. Having looked up my record of the bird I found I'd made the following note....

'After a three hour wait to see if the grim weather we had traveled to Blackburn in would clear up - which it didn't - and following a further period searching for the bird in rain we discovered it with the c.200 Golden Plovers it had been in the company of for almost two weeks now, we eventually had excellent views of the AGP, also of note here was a female Common Scoter'. The note ends....'A Good Day'.

Yellow Wagtail. Simon Hawtin

The Yellow Wagtail to be found in our area of North Lancashire is that of a scarce and declining migrant breeder of probably no more than 'one or two' pairs. The most reliable site I know of for seeing this species is/was the Halforth/Heversham Moss area where I've neither heard nor seen the place mentioned this year, though I have to confess to not having been there to see for myself.  

For the record....I have been given permission to post the photographs of the BHW/AGP.   

The AGP....

....and about 130 'early' Europeans at Cockersands.

But first - to start the post with a bit of colour - a couple of excellent images of the male and female Linnet with thanks once again to Phil Slade

On a brilliant sunny Monday morning I'd have been a fool not to have 'shot off' - as all good twitchers do - to Skipool Creek on the Wyre Estuary to have excellent views of the stunning summer plumage adult male American Golden Plover, still here as I write at 9.00pm this evening. Having had my fill of the bird and duly 'ticked' - as all good twitchers do - in my records I left to call at Fluke Hall with the idea that today was surely a good one for butterflies, well I was wrong again on that one, save noting c.12 Meadow Brown, a Red Admirable, and a Whitethroat continues with its scratchy song.

Eider. Pete Woodruff. 

On to Cockersands where the first returning 130 Golden Plover were waiting for me to count them, along with a miserable 8 Oystercatcher and two young, c.10 Dunlin, and a solitary Lapwing were all accompanied by a Brown Hare looking decidedly out of context though often seen on Plover Scar, 19 Eider were off here. Small birds seen, up to 50 Tree Sparrow were pretty difficult to count and spread far and wide, 2 Sedge Warbler, a Dunnock, Reed Bunting, and 2 Sand Martin over, a Red-legged Partridge had eleven chicks in tow on the road and living dangerously, and a Red Admiral noted.

With the rest of the area under water at the height of the tide I just checked Conder Pool today and found 6 Greenshank on here with the Spotted Redshank and a noticeable change in plumage considering its only five days since I last saw this bird, also 4 Common Sandpiper, and 23 Redshank.  

And finally....

Spotted Flycatcher. Warren Baker

The classic pose of the Spotted Flycatcher which can be identified a mile away, with thanks once more to WB. 

Lyster is the only remaining Cuckoo still in the UK, and Chris isn't dead after all, hes in the Moselle region of France....LOOK HERE

Ahhhh....well!

Just switching off and going to my kip, but wait a minute....a quick and final dip for the day into the Flyde Bird Club website produced an excellent image of the American Golden Plover still present on the Wyre Estuary, North of Skipool Creek at Ramper Pot per RARE BIRD ALERT.

American Golden Plover.

Couldn't resist this one, and don't worry about the credit for the image, I have the permit and it is all HERE 

The Young Ones....

....plus a link to the very creative Landart man RS, and another link, this one to Chris the satellite tagged Cuckoo who 'may' be dead, though this is just me at my most pessimistic.

Little Owl. Phil Slade



Three contributors to Birds2blog have taken some excellent photographs of young birds recently and they are great material for my 'gap filler' post. In no particular order, the man from the Fylde achieved this brilliant shot of the young Little Owl which is a bird that can be found at numerous locations in our area, they are excellent subjects for photography, if you find one and pull up quietly and even quiet close in your car they are very tolerant of your presence and will simply glare at you with that....'oh no not another one of those idiot birder/photographers again'....whilst you fumble with the camera to gain winners like this one from PS.

Dunnock. Warren Baker

Another young one is the Dunnock from my man in Kent who is a daily reader of Birds2blog and always prepared to make a comment which is much appreciated and an encouragement for me to  'keep on blogging'....Thanks Warren. 

Meadow Pipit. John Bateman.

And last - but in no sense least - a photograph of the young Meadow Pipit. This is the second young bird of this species for JB and myself in the same week, if you haven't seen and read about the first one it's HERE it was being fed by a parent bird and gave John an excellent opportunity to 'get clicking'....Thanks for this and the Bowland bird, just another example of what our birding is all about John.

Landart by Richard Shilling.

Landart by Richard Shilling.



Time for another update on the 'doings' of RS and its always best to take a look for yourself at his website. This man continues to amaze me, he's always in my sidebar....and HERE  

Chris. Courtesy of BTO.

If you've been taking an interest in the five satellite tagged Cuckoos you may like to have an update on them, in particular CHRIS whose tag doesn't appear to be transmitting for some reason or other....all riveting stuff. 

Hopefully an update of my own tomorrow with the traditional Monday four hours to spare for birding in the Conder Green/Glasson Dock/Cockersand area.

Full House....

....or more to the point, an excellent full brood. But first the 'weather whinge'....

At one location yesterday on a fell top whilst out of what little sun was on offer and into the wind, I'd suggest the weather was more reminiscent of the end of April and quite pathetic, how any of the insect eating birds have fed themselves - let alone young - and copped with this appalling summer weather is beyond me, but then, what do I know about insect eating birds and the effects of weather on insects....end of whinge.

Marbled White. Linda Gilhespy 

An excellent butterfly photograph to start the post off and add some much needed colour to it. A unique creature, no other British butterfly has this pattern....Thanks Linda.

It was Plan B again yesterday, Plan A to do three upland searches primarily for Stonechats was cancelled until the weather looked more favourable and I ended up doing just two having first gone to Conder Green where the Spotted Redshank, 5 Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, c.80 Redshank, and 2 Wigeon drakes were all on Conder Pool.  I found only 5 Common Sandpiper in the creeks, and noted up to five House Martin nest active at River Winds.

But here's were my birding really took off and I found 9 Stonechats from the west side of Hawthornthwaite Fell, being a pair with a full brood of five - excellent is the word - and a single male and female. Also of note, a Wheatear, 7 Meadow Pipit, c.16 Sand Martin, a Reed Bunting, and a Buzzard. On the east side of Hawthornthwaite Fell I found myself back to square one with the Stonechats and could find no sign of any up here once again. I noted at least 14 Meadow Pipit, 3 Curlew, 3 Grey Wagtail, and 3 Kestrel.   

My birding now fell flat on its face in the two hours I spent in the Tower Lodge area and by comparison to previous visits here this summer it was as if someone had caused a great explosion or something and every living bird had disappeared en-mass, but wait a minute, just as I was about to get into the car something in flight took my eye, binoculars on my nose end and....its a smart little male Siskin. Well would you believe it, there I was recently shouting my mouth off about not being able to recall the last time I saw Siskin anywhere in our area, and there it is, 'twas like finding my next rarity. Well....when it comes to birds and birding I excite and find satisfaction around almost every corner!

And finally....

Purple Emperor. Steven Cheshire 

Another excellent photograph, this of the Purple Emperor. The upperside of this butterfly is brown with white splashes, but the male gleams deep purple when seen from certain angles. Really appreciate this Steven....Thank You.