The Wildfowl Have It....Again.

I decided to give Cockersand and the howling cold wind a miss on Friday, instead I cut the estuary visit short and got my nose in on the parish of Aldcliffe for a couple of hours where wildfowl was the main feature.

With 3 Goldeneye and a Red-breasted Merganser all there was to note on Conder Pool, up to 450 Black-headed Gull dropped in, presumably a fragment of the couple of thousand seen off Jeremy Lane in the large recently sprayed field, on their way back to the Lune Estuary.

I legged it along the coastal path from Conder Green to Glasson Dock to find the low tide estuary pretty much the same as Wednesday, with just 75 Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Goldeneye of any significant note. On the canal basin, 9 Goldeneye, 2 Goosander drake, and a Great-crested Grebe, with the two drake Pochard 'missing'. A mooch along Jeremy Lane had me find 22 Whooper Swan in a field, split down the middle adult/juvenile.

Shoveler. Bob Bushell 

On Freeman's Pools, 56 Wigeon, 10 Gadwall, 8 Goldeneye, and 2 Little Grebe. A wander in a straight line with no detours along the road as far as Aldcliffe Hall Lane, found the Wildfowler's Pools like a series of lakes, 2 Goldeneye seen, with 10 Shoveler a notable count. A loud croaking Carrion Crow overhead, drew my attention to the Buzzard it was mobbing.

The Pintail.

Pintail. Bob Bushell  

I'm not all that well versed with the history of Aldcliffe, and had thought the drake Pintail I saw on the Wildfowlers' Pools was something of a scarcity there, but have since noted it on the Aldcliffe List for 2016/17, and my seeing six 2 years ago on Tuesday 15 March 2016, but I've no doubt it ever rises above occasional here, as the thirteen seen last Wednesday off Plover Scar.

Grey Partridge.

A bird with Red List status seen at Aldcliffe was the lone Grey Partridge which I watched heading away from me below the hedgerow in a stubble field. 

Grey Partridge. Geoff Gradwell.

The last Grey Partridge I saw was almost 2 years ago on 13 March 2016, and by quite a coincidence my record then reads....'seen below a hedgerow in a stubble field at Aldcliffe'. My previous record to this one was 4 years ago, when there was two birds seen at Cockersand on 13 May 2014.

Many thanks to Marc for the header, and to Bob and Geoff for their Pintail/Partridge images, all excellent, and all much appreciated.

Ducktacular!

Following Mondays spectacle, there was another on Wednesday, when I walked the length of coastline from Crook Farm to Bank End by which time I'd estimated at least 5,500 Wigeon stretching the entire length in some impressive rafts drifting in on the tide and including 13 Pintail and 12 Shoveler.

Stonechat Cockerham Sands 7 February. Pete Woodruff.

On the way to Bank End I saw the Cockerham Sands female Stonechat again. In the field NW of Bank End Farm, 245 Whooper Swan were accompanied by 2 Bewick's Swan. Returning from here, 7 Greenfinch seen, and 35 Twite were in the rough field behind Bank House Cottage.

At Conder Green I found 8 Little Grebe, my best count here in up to 3 months, probably dispersed from some frozen pool somewhere, six of these were in the creeks and two on Conder Pool which was almost frozen over save a small area where the grebe's had taken advantage with a Mute Swan which I reckon was responsible for the ice free patch. Also in the creeks, a Goosander noted, and the Common Sandpiper was down the River Conder from the iron bridge, and had the entire channel to itself.


The canal basin was also frozen over except for an area at the SW corner where the two Pochard drake were with a lone Moorhen, 46 Coot were mainly stood on the ice. 

 

Low Tide Lune Estuary Glasson. Pete Woodruff.

Birds were all over the place on the low tide estuary at Glasson Dock, but there was no decent counts to be seen, the best example I could find was little more than 175 Golden Plover, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Goldeneye, a Greenshank, and a Red-breasted Merganser, a Merlin was distant on Colloway Marsh.

Wigeon Spectacular....And More.

Seen at Cockersand a month ago on 8 January, there was another spectacular sight of at least 4,500 Wigeon again at Cockersand on Monday, on a flat calm sea, a huge raft stretching from the lighthouse, drifting in on the tide towards the Cocker Estuary. As a bonus, 19 Eider, 15 Teal - surely more given time to search - and 4 Shoveler. On Plover Scar, 72 Turnstone, 8 Knot, and 2 Grey Plover. A lone Pink-footed Goose was off Plover Scar, the bird looked healthy, but drifting on the water I wondered if it could fly. 

I watched at least 100 Black-tailed Godwit drop into the field by the abbey including one individual in near breeding plumage, with c.200 Curlew in surrounding fields, 15 Twite went over my head and SW out to sea towards Pilling, also a skein of c.150 Pink-footed Geese flew south 2 hours after I had seen the same number flying north over Glasson. Star of the show was the female Stonechat seen again on the tide wrack opposite the caravan park.

Goldeneye Brian Rafferty

Of 14 Goldeneye seen, eight were on the canal basin and six on the Lune Estuary, interesting that the species here this winter have been predominantly drake. Also on the basin, 2 Pochard drake and a Great-crested Grebe of note, and on the estuary, at least 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, and a Goosander drake.

When I arrived at Conder Green, a nice welcoming party of 75 Black-tailed Godwit were in the creeks with 2 Little Grebe and a Goosander drake, the Common Sandpiper was down by the iron bridge, and 16 Goldfinch were on the marsh below the coastal path. On Conder Pool, 12 Curlew and a Little Grebe, with a pair of Oystercatcher appearing to be intent on their breeding programme here. 

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the excellent image of Goldeneye on the canal basin at Glasson Dock, including two males displaying.

In The Picture.

You may have seen in the comments section of my last post - 'Third Time Lucky' - on Birds2blog, take a look at it Here

In fact I did indeed take this shot of an Iceland Gull through the fence at Heysham Power Station. Rather remiss of me I must say, though at the time I was unconscious to the security breach I was committing.

I think as a responsible birder, it's a duty that I come clean on this mistake and use it as an opportunity to draw attention to the fact that it's pretty irresponsible to point a camera to take photographs at a highly secured Nuclear Power Station, as a warning to other birder/photographers, some of which are no more than self centred pricks, intent on getting a better pik than anyone else, which they always fail to do anyhow.

There's some sound advice and a warning about the consequences of photography at this location Here  

Whatever you do....Enjoy your birding.

Third Time Lucky.

I managed to talk KT into a walk along the seawall at Heysham this Sunday afternoon with the sole intention of seeing if we could find any of the celebrities available here over the past days. 

Iceland Gull Heysham Harbour 4 February. Pete Woodruff.

The Iceland Gull was picked up in flight across the harbour, and was quite mobile over the waterfall area before eventually disappearing into the south corner of the power station, it then flew over the Fisher rooftops and went down out of view behind a crane on the south quay, it made a brief appearance out in the open here from where I got a shot, acceptable by my standards....Third time lucky.

Chough Half Moon Bay 4 February. Mike Atkinson.

An earlier visit to Half Moon Bay gave me another chance at the long stay Chough, surrounded by hordes of 'walkies' and 'snappers'.

Stonechat Half Moon Bay 4 February. Mike Atkinson.

The long stay female Stonechat gave excellent views here again, also having tolerated the daily parade of dogs. 

Thanks to Mike for sending me the excellent images of these two equally excellent birds which he saw for himself this week.

Thursday 1 February.

By the time I got to Conder Green the 10.19m tide was lapping by the roadside, and a few birds had taken refuge on Conder Pool including, 2 Greenshank, 110 Redshank, 3 Snipe, 3 Goosander, 26 Curlew, a Goldeneye, and 120 Common Gull. The 2 Rock Pipit and 2 Red-breasted Merganser on Conder Pool I don't ever recall seeing there before, certainly not the latter. On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 16 Goldeneye, a drake Pochard, Little Grebe and Great-crested Grebe. 

At Cockersand, waders today were concentrated in Abbey Farm fields down to Lighthouse Cottage, where there was probably 5,000 birds, including most notably 2,000 Dunlin and 2,500 Golden Plover. When I went to Glasson 30 minutes later I found another 1,500 Golden Plover, in which case my records read....'at least 4,000 Golden Plover on the Lune Estuary Thursday 1 February'.

I found the female Stonechat again on the tide wrack at the caravan park, with 2 Reed Bunting, and singles of Wren, Goldfinch, and Pied Wagtail. In the field to the north of Bank Houses horse paddock, 3 Stock Dove, and 13 Skylark.

Whooper Swans.

Whooper Swans Brian Rafferty

Having my best chance to date to get close to the birds, I counted a total of 550 Whooper Swan in the Cockersand/Thurnham area. 

When I got to the field NW of Bank End Farm, the majority of Whooper Swan were pitched up there with a few further inland, in total I counted 315 birds. Later I took to a public footpath through the fields off Jeremy Lane, to get close and count another 235 Whooper Swan.

Thanks to BR for his excellent Whooper Swans, and to MA for his Starling header, a stunning bird photographed in perfect light showing it's iridescent plumage to perfection.  

Hunt The Celeb's.

There's little purpose in this post, other than to point out a failure to find the birds. 

Against my better judgement, I decided on a 'Hunt The Celeb's' on two dates, there having been a selection in the Heysham Harbour area recently, with a list including....

Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull
Little Gull
Mediterranean Gull
Shag
Brent Geese

Chough 

Wednesday 24 January was my first failure date. The session started in good style and an encouragement to move on to my hunt at Heysham Harbour, when I soon found the Chough and Stonechat at Half Moon Bay. But 2 hours later, and in pretty difficult windy conditions and a gust almost blowing me off the south wall and into the sea at one point....I found bugger-all.

The hunt on Tuesday 30 January for a repeat 2 hours at Heysham, also had the same miserable 100% failure rate when again I found bugger-all. Imagine, not one bird from seven possibles, despite constantly grilling, including in excess of 300 mainly Black-headed/Herring Gulls at Red Nab/Outfalls/Harbour. Ironically, this day ended as the first attempt had started on 24 January, when I went to see the Chough and Stonechat, and found them both again within 15 minutes of arriving at Half Moon Bay.

  

Wot No Birds & No Piks

Most of lifes rewards can be found in birding....that's my take on it anyway.

Turned Out Nice Again!

Lucky for me, this lot just skimmed by as I was on the headland yesterday at Cockersand....

....to eventually create a rainbow spectacle, with some good long spells of sun, but still a cold wind off the sea on the headland at Cockersand where birds were hard to find to be honest, and the fields pretty much deserted. 

But all the effort needed to find anything was well rewarded when I saw the female Stonechat again on the tide wrack opposite the Caravan Park, 4 Greenfinch and a Pied Wagtail also seen. Up to 300 Curlew were of note on Cockerham Sands, and c.60 Twite were in the rough field again behind Bank House Cottage, 4 Stock Dove were seen in the field north of Bank Houses. I made no attempt at the Whooper Swan count, which has now moved further inland east in the Thursland Hill area.

Lune Estuary notables in view from the bowling green at Glasson were few in number, up to 380 Golden Plover, 145 Curlew, c.450 Wigeon, 3 Goldeneye, a pair of Shoveler, and 2 Great-crested Grebe. On Colloway Marsh, 18 Pink-footed Geese were on the south end, and on the canal basin, 16 Goldeneye.

Conder Green ended the days 'hard work' theme, with a Greenshank, 4 Goldeneye and 4 Goosander on Conder Pool, a Common Sandpiper and 2 Little Grebe were in the creeks.

Cockersand Transformed.

Cockersand was completely transformed yesterday, where the fields had recently been crawling with waders by the thousands, they were deserted, birdless and silent, creating a sense of eerie about the place.

On the east shore at Sunderland Point, c.450 Curlew was a good count seen off Crook Farm. On Plover Scar, 2 humans and 2 mutts were trespassing as far as I'm concerned, 950 Wigeon and 7 Eider were off here. I found no Stonechat again today, but 6 Greenfinch, 3 Goldfinch and a Wren were on the tide wrack at the Caravan Park, with 4 Stock Dove seen, and a Stoat running ahead of me across Slack Lane.

The Barn Owl.

Barn Owl Brian Rafferty  

As I looked inland from Cockersand Abbey, I picked up a Barn Owl hunting a ditch east of Abbey Farm. The bird eventually perched on a fence post, and was joined by a Magpie, which soon became four Magpies. All four began to harass the Barn Owl continuously, jumping off one wire to the next, dropping to ground, then flying up toward the owl as if to stab at the bird with their bills. The owls head twisted and turned to watch all four birds, but otherwise ignored them and their antics, before having had enough and flew off.

As I walked along the headland I kept the hunting Barn Owl in view, until I lost sight as it flew toward the rough field behind Bank Houses.

Thanks for the image Brian, I reckon this could well be the very bird you photographed here recently. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

On Conder Pool, all the three's was as good as it got, with 2 Goosander drake, 28 Mallard, 2 Shelduck, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull seen. In the creeks, 2 Little Grebe made it into the notes. 

A Merlin squat on Colloway Marsh was presumed to be the culprit for twice in 30 minutes causing a mass dread amounting to several thousand waders, most notable of which were, up to 2,750 Golden Plover, 170 Black-tailed Godwit, and 6 Goldeneye, 2 Shoveler and 2 Goosander were all drakes. I found only 2 Goldeneye on the canal basin, and on Jeremy Lane, 22 Whooper Swan.

Wednesday 24 January.   

On Wednesday I had to be in Morecambe mid-afternoon, but I had a couple of hours to spare, and went to see if I could find the Chough at Half Moon Bay. 

I watched the bird performing its impressive aerobatic skills in the windy conditions, before dropping down into a field for me to stalk it down to a few metres and get a couple of half decent shots as it displayed it's fearless character whilst worming. Later the long stay female Stonechat also offered good views for me down on the shore.

Estuary Business.

Not too much business on Monday actually, and the visit to Cockersand was close to a disaster, with the cold howler rendering birding pretty unpleasant and hopeless, especially along the headland and looking out to the estuary. I actually made no notes in the book in two hours here, though the waders in the fields ruled my birding and continue to amaze. Golden Plover remained well into four figures and probably represents almost the entire bay population, also descending in number, Redshank, Curlew, Dunlin, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Turnstone, including up to 50 feeding on the headland close to the abbey, from where 4 Grey Plover were noted on the shore near high tide.

Tree Sparrow Crook Cottage Garden Cockersand 22 Jan. Pete Woodruff.

Calling in to see Mrs G at Crook Cottage, from the kitchen window I saw and made attempts to photograph Tree Sparrows visiting the feeders. I saw little else on the small bird front on the circuit, though a flock of finches distant and dropping into the rough field by Bank House Cottage were 'probably' c.50 Twite. From the three there recently I found no Stonechat, though AC reported to me later, the Cockerham Caravan Park female seen.

On to Conder Pool which held just 42 Redshank and 2 Goosander drake, whilst 120 Redshank and the long time no see Common Sandpiper was down the Conder channel, my first sighting of the bird since 5 December, despite eleven visits to Conder Green. 

Estuary waders and three mates. Pete Woodruff.

On the canal basin at Glasson Dock, 2 Pochard drake again, with a Great-crested Grebe noted. A new peak of 26 Goldeneye - a notch up of 5 on last Thursday's 21 - were seen as 18 here and 8 on the River Lune, where 450 Wigeon, 225 Redshank and similar Dunlin, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, and a Great-crested Grebe were all close in from the bowling green.

Windy, cold, and 'you must be mad' as deemed by another birder who saw me on the headland from his car, and who obviously knows what he's talking about....But a good time was had by all!