Coastal Birds....

....and nooks and crannies.

Eider. Pete Woodruff.

I gave Conder Green/Glasson Dock/Cockersands a good six hours today and not a stone unturned....well I thought not!

At Conder Green I was greeted by a Little Egret on Conder Pool with a Spotted Redshank, c.40 Redshank, c.75 Lapwing, and the Moorhen family seen last Thursday with three young still in tact. In the creeks 3 Black-tailed Godwit, and 11 Common Sandpiper. River Winds appears to have had a good season this year with at least 25 House Martins around obviously including fully fledged young, a singing Willow Warbler heard. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson dock I noted c.300 Bar-tailed Godwit once more, with c.150 Knot, 4 Greenshank, and a Goosander. I was otherwise distracted by two birders who wanted to talk about this and that, not wanting my 'anti social' mode to kick in I joined in but thereafter my momentum had disappeared and I left. Along Jeremy Lane 3 Tree Sparrow noted.

1st Summer male Marsh Harrier at Cockersands. Copy Permitted. 

At Cockersands, the 1st summer male Marsh Harrier - first seen here on 7 July - gave excellent views quartering fields behind Abbey Farm, and a more detailed count - than that of 120 on 27 July - resulted in up to 200 Tree Sparrows flocking here today, with 6 Linnet noted. On a quiet Plover Scar, at least 4 Whimbrel, 10 Dunlin, a single Golden Plover, and a single adult Ringed Plover prompted me to wonder just what may have become of the chicks seen here on 28 July. Off Plover Scar, 33 Eider included three young which I saw on 28 July. 

Kestrel. Pete Woodruff.     

This young Kestrel posed nicely for me this afternoon at Bank End.

Keeping in touch.

I'm always grateful to those who keep in touch with me and I'd like to use Birds2blog to thank three birders who - by coincidence - all e-mailed me on the same day recently to pass on some interesting records.

Male Stonechat. David Cookson. 

The first two both involved the Stonechat and the first one's subject was 'Stonechats or the lack of' and was from a birder who - like me - does a lot of upland birding, only differing from me in that he covers many more miles than I do whilst up there. He told me of a walk he did recently from Tower Lodge - Marshaw - Black Clough - Holdron Moss - Blaze Moss - Tower Lodge, the only detail he omitted was the mileage but sounds like a high one to me. On this walk the report was that not a single Stonechat was seen, to which I replied, he'd probably be no less surprised than I was about this result....bad news all the same. 

Female Stonechat. David Cookson.

The second correspondent sent me some better news in that he had found a family party of Stonechats on a lengthy walk in Bowland when he had observed three young being fed by adults near Langden Castle. Hardly an abundance of the species on another long trek in this part of the country, but at least it had some positivity to it.

Reed Warbler. Phil Slade.

The third e-mail contained some interest in that this birder discovered up to ten Reed Warblers in an area I  never cover, and have a distinct feeling nor does any other birder on a regular basis that I'm aware of. These birds were in the Phragmites along the canal in the Glasson Dock/Conder Green area.

Female Banded Demoiselle. Linda Gilhespy. 

This birder was also surprised to find at least two Banded Demoiselle along this stretch of the canal. Thanks to DC PS and LG for the photographs....excellent as ever.

Putting the record straight.   

In a recent post I suggested that young Ringed Plover found on 28 July on Plover Scar at Cockersands were 'surely a first record'....not so, the Flyde Bird Club Annual Report reports a record of two seen at the very same location on 15 July 2007.

I'D SOONER BE BIRDING !

SOMETHINGS BROKE....

....OR I'VE DONE SOMETHING WRONG!!

I JUST POSTED A DRAFT BUT FOR A REASON I'M NOT AWARE OF IT IS DISPLAYED  UNDER TUESDAY 26 JULY. IF YOU'D LIKE TO VIEW THE POST ITS CALLED 'INTERESTING BITS' AND  TO SAVE YOU HAVING TO SCROLL DOWN ITS HERE 

Sandwiches at lunch time.

Sandwich Terns. Pete Woodruff.

Interesting that this photograph of the Sandwich Terns at Knott End was taken a month later - 29 August 2009 - than the birds seen here today and gives precise detail on the advance of moult in the space of four weeks, also interesting that this species stops off at Knott End annually around this date and into August, today's count came to c.230 Sandwich Terns, with an adult Mediterranean Gull also seen through the heat haze.

Butterflies. Pete Woodruff.

From here on the day with JB/BT developed into more of a butterfly day than a bird day, and at Fluke Hall I noted at least 12 Gatekeeper, 3 Small Copper, 3 Red Admiral, 2 Common Blue, and the interesting and uncommon Corn Marigold, a vulnerable species according to the BSBI and about which - if you are really interested - you can read about HERE . The photograph above is of the Gatekeeper and Green-veined White the latter of which was not seen today.

Wildflowers. Pete Woodruff.

There is usually an annual show of colour in the wild flowers at Pilling Lane Ends and this year is obviously no exception, butterflies noted were at least 14 Common Blue and 7 Gatekeeper. A detour along Gulf Lane produced estimates of 30 Goldfinch and 40 Tree Sparrows amongst which I saw a Whitethroat.

House Martin. John Bateman.

At Moss Edge Farm, eight House Martin nests counted and adults were feeding three young obviously not long out of the nest and perched in the cover of a hedgerow. An excellent photograph of an unusual and great experience seeing these young birds so soon out of the nest, hiding under the hedge and looking quite apprehensive about it all.....Thank you John.

I now got the feeling we were calling in at places merely to comply with routine, and a brief look in at Cockersands giving the location no justice at all, gave the Black Swan seen again, and an uncounted 'good number' of Tree Sparrow. An equally brief look in on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock gave speedy notes of c.300 Bar-tailed Godwit, at least 40 Knot and 90 Golden Plover, with 2 Little Egret to note. We now left Glasson Dock and did something even my car won't ever do let alone me, and we drove past Conder Pool and home....Shuks!!

Coastal Path from Fluke Hall. Pete Woodruff.

Contrasting days in relation to the weather, with today's clear sky - above - compared to that of Friday 8 July below when JB and I abandoned all hope just after I took this picture in the early afternoon. 

Pluggin' Away.



I could easily have gone into Bowland today - the plan - but I didn't quite like the sound of the weather-mans voice so decided to carry on plugging away at you know where.

Common Sandpiper. Pete Woodruff.

I managed a half decent pic of three of the 16 Common Sandpipers I counted at Conder Green today, also of note was the intriguing sight of a juvenile then five hours later on the return an adult Little-Ringed Plover, intriguing because since the bird/s arrived here in the spring I've probably only seen them about six times and not for the want of trying. The last two sightings were of an adult I took to be sitting on 13 June, then two adult and a chick seen on 20 June, now today's adult and juvenile. So, not for the first time the Conder Pool LRP's make a fool out of me....alternatively the birds today are passing through. Also noted on Conder Pool 3 Wigeon, and a Moorhen with three chicks, in the creeks a Greenshank, Grey Wagtail, and 15 Goldfinch of note.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock, 2 Mediterranean Gull were both adult, c.300 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Greenshank, an Arctic Tern obliged at rest again for my third consecutive visit here, and c.150 Knot of which at least eight were in full summer plumage, I don't recall ever seeing this 'red dress' before on a Knot in my part of the world....or have I been birding with my eyes shut at times!

At Cockersands, Plover Scar was quite lively today with some estimates made, 500 Oystercatcher, 450 Golden Plover, 65 Dunlin, 8 Ringed Plover, and at least 5 Whimbrel. Off the scar, 56 Eider included three young, 24 Shelduck were all juveniles, and a single Red-breasted Merganser. Along the headland I saw 2 Wheatear, at least 50 Swallows gathering on a fence-line, and from the Caravan Park I saw a Pale-bellied Brent Goose though distant on Cockerham Marsh, and a Black Swan in the Cocker Channel.

Lesser Black-backed Gull. Pete Woodruff.

From my observations I reckon these two brutes made a failed attempt at breeding this year on Conder Pool. A bit of B+W photography which I just have the feeling has made an appearance on here once before.

Ringed Plover. Phil Slade

I have it on good authority that Ringed Plovers were seen today on Plover Scar with young....surely a first record.

Flogging a dead horse!

Waders. David Cookson 



There's a relation to the photograph of the Redshanks and Oystercatchers in that I've been down by the seaside again today. I don't usually use such language when it comes to my birding, but at times today I felt I was 'flogging a dead horse' though a grandad with two grandchildren, two youths who thought they'd have a days fishing, and a woman - my politeness shining through there - with 14 dogs - I'll just repeat that - 14 dogs, all played their part in ruining the day.  I think the first lesson to learn if/when you take up this birdwatching thing is to get used to the 'blank times' of which I had one or two today. 

It only took a few minutes to see that Conder Pool had been deserted and I never even got out my note book. In the creeks I found only 5 Common Sandpiper, a Spotted Redshank, and saw a juvenile Reed Warbler, having only moments earlier thought they had failed to turn up this year in the reeds upstream from the A588 road bridge, though at least two Sedge Warbler have been heard on my visits. On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock 2 Arctic Tern obliged today, at rest with the waders of which I noted at least 300 Bar-tailed Godwit, 450 Dunlin, 200 Knot, 320 Redshank, 5 Greenshank, and a solitary Golden Plover.

At Cockersands where the 'dead horse' - and the aforementioned 'woman' with 14 dogs - was certainly present. I did manage to get to grips with a count of at least 120 Tree Sparrows today, and a female Sparrowhawk. The only butterflies noted were 2 Red Admiral, but on last Thursdays visit I overlooked posting my records of c.55 Small Tortoiseshell and a Red Admiral at Cockersands.

And finally....

Grey Partridge. Geoff Gradwell

Nine of twelve in this covey of young Grey Partridge, a bird which can lay as many as 20 eggs. Thanks to DC/GG for the photographs.

Interesting bits!

Something about a book, something about Badgers, a couple of 'top of the range' photographs, and another photograph of a rarity in the country with some history about the species.

First the book which is about Nest Monitoring....don't forget to read the comments....interesting.

Then perhaps you'd like to help Save the Badger....I did....'cos its morally indefensible, and scientifically claimed to be not going to work, and thats the side I come down on heavily.

And the pics....

Blackcap. Geoff Gradwell

GG doesn't just have the Blackcap visiting his garden lucky him, he also gets an excellent photograph of the bird.

Whitethroat. Phil Slade

And the Whitethroat with thanks to my man from the Fylde.

Stilt Sandpiper. Dan Pancamo 

A Stilt Sandpiper was found at Lodmoor RSPB Reserve in Dorset on Sunday 24 July and still remains there today. The bird is a North American wader which winters in South America, we won't go down the road about 'whats an American wader - which breeds and winters there - doing in Dorset'.

The first record of this species in Britain was of a bird found by two boys in August 1954 at Kilnsea in East Yorkshire, they were staying at the Spurn Bird Observatory and actually saw the bird again the next day. On the 2 September some birders were alerted to the finding and in due course the bird was accepted as being the first British occurrence of the Stilt Sandpiper. This species remains a very rare vagrant to Britain, but an individual visited various sites over a six month period in Cheshire in 1984 and is by far the longest staying Stilt Sandpiper in Britain.

Devil Birds.

A bird about which a volume of books would have to be written to cover anything like the story of this truly amazing creature with wings. But here is a fraction of the many things making this bird remarkable, these are a few of the 'bits' I know about  it.

Swift. Simon Hawtin 



The Swift  - historically known as Devil Birds - must be one of the most fascinating and mysterious birds to visit these shores, a bird which for centuries has lived in close proximity to man, nesting under the roofs of our houses. Yet little is known about this bird which spends its entire life on the wing and flying literally miles measured in millions in a lifetime to the exclusion of the breeding season when they are hidden away in their dark nests. The European Swift spends most of the year in southern Africa, each spring migrating to Europe as far north as Lapland, inside the Arctic Circle, and eastwards to China to breed and to raise their young. 

All bird species have mastered the art of flying, but none so much as the Swift, a bird which can obtain everything it needs from the air, insects, water, and nest material borne on the wind. It can ride on air currents all night whilst sleeping on the wing, it is the only known bird having the ability to mate on the wing, this creature truly is a fascination to us all. As a group of birds Swifts are the fastest of all in level flight, and the Needle-tailed Swifts of Africa and Asia have been claimed by some experts in the field to have attained speeds of up to 105 mph....maybe that sounds even more impressive at almost 170 kph.

For a bird weighing no more than 50 grams the European Swift can have quite a long life-span averaging about five and a half years. But an individual found dying in Oxford in 1964 had been ringed as an adult in 1948 making this bird at least 18 years old, it was calculated to have possibly flown in its lifetime a distance of some 4 million miles, thats equivalent to flying to the moon and return eight times....ponder over that!

It wasn't until 1960 that the first British ringed Swift was recovered in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. A bird ringed in Yorkshire in 1962 was recovered  five months later in Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - 5,600 miles away thereby setting the southernmost limit to the distribution of the Common Swift.

Over the years there have been many legends about the Swift, but the real-life story of this amazing bird has slowly been pieced together through some amateur naturalists and professional ornithologists and the truth is, this extraordinary bird is in truth revealed as something much stranger than any of the legends surrounding it.

Simon Hawtins excellent image of the Swift has been featured on Birds2blog once before....Welcome Back!

Moorland Birds/Birding.

The Short List.

On a rare Saturdays birding for me and a good day weather-wise I couldn't resist giving Clougha/Birk Bank a 'going over' to see if it could offer me any surprises. Well it did....at c.400m and two hours into the visit I found a lone male Stonechat, but despite keeping my eyes on the bird and its immediate surroundings for fifteen minutes I found no other bird/s with it. Also of note, 5 Raven, at least 14 Red Grouse, 8 Meadow Pipit, a juvenile Wheatear, 2 Wren, and - taking into account the risk of duplicate counting - up to 8 Kestrel seen.  

Meadow Pipit. Phil Slade

It isn't really all that long ago that I would have steered clear of ever going up and onto the moorlands having never been attracted to what I used to refer to as dull places void of birds in particular during the winter months. If you do visit the moorlands in winter you'll probably end up being dismayed at the lack of birds, and its perfectly possible you'll see almost nothing for hours on end. But the key to any birding - and particularly moorland birding - is patience, and there are one or two moorland birds up there which I'm quite attracted to, and in a brief season during the summer months the moorlands are in fact quite rich in bird life. 

During the summer the bird you are likely to encounter most is the Meadow Pipit, a bird with the serious misfortune of always being on the agenda of the Merlin and its next meal, this bird of prey is my most favourite one and - along with another moorland bird the magnificent Hen Harrier - takes the Meadow Pipit by the hundred at this time of the year on their daily hunts for food. Not surprising then, the Meadow Pipit is a bird that I see as one with little ability to deal with a crisis, immediately it sees you it will go into panic mode fluttering up into the air whilst blurting out its series of sip, sip calls, flies this way and that way, giving the impression of never really knowing what to do or where to go next, but eventually dives into cover on the ground and in all possibility won't then calm down for some time to come. So, if you're a small moorland bird you really only have two options for survival, you either skulk all day long in the heather, or venture out and stay on guard, but not many birds are up to this latter strategy, but I know one that is, and I happen know it very well....    

Female Stonechat Brian Rafferty

The Stonechat has the habit of 'sitting' on elevated perches the reason being, it can scan the ground below for the movement of small insects to pounce on. For a small bird the Stonechat has large eyes which I reckon are capable of spotting a Merlin from a mile away and probably only falls victim to one very rarely. The other birds take advantage of this little beauty and its ability and willingness to stand guard whilst they live their lives knowing that if danger is imminent the Stonechat will give them the warning to take the cover needed to escape. 

Red Grouse Brian Rafferty

Another moorland specialist is the Red Grouse, this is the bird that often surrounds me on my regular visits to Clougha which is a stronghold of the species where I've counted in excess of forty birds on one occasion during a five hour visit here. Not liking my approach, they 'chuckle' away at me as they fly off, they are a bird whose ecology is so tangled up with heather that it is actually heather-coloured itself.

So, as opposed to about twelve years ago plus my knowledge that the Stonechat is now always present on our moorlands in Bowland - though much declined and absent in many areas - since the past two harsh winters - I always enjoy my regular wanders into the areas I once dismissed as bird-less and boring places to find the birds mentioned here plus the excitement of hopefully finding yet another of my favourites the declining....

Whinchat David Cookson   

Note once again the excellent photographs on Birds2blog, with many thanks to PS/BR/DC. 

Hit for six!

I gave Conder Green/GlassonDock/Cockersands a good six hours today and deserved better than I got for the effort....but enjoyed every minute of it.

Little Egret. David Cookson

With the exception of one seen from the Grisedale Hide at Leighton Moss on 10 May, I saw my first Little Egret since 1 April today, it was on Conder Pool, also on here, 7 Greenshank, a single Black-tailed Godwit, and a pair of Moorhen were feeding three young. On the circuit I counted 8 Common Sandpiper, heard a Sedge Warbler singing like it was the beginning of May, also a singing Reed Bunting, a Dunnock, House Martins still visiting nests at River Winds, and a Grey Wagtail seen was my first at Conder Green in at least two years.

Common Tern. Geoff Gradwell

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary I found an Arctic Tern conveniently - though distant - at rest with 250-300 Bar-tailed Godwit and c.200 Knot, also noted a similar number of Dunlin. A Peregrine Falcon on the left over of a tree trunk on Colloway Marsh was waiting patiently to change the landscape once it took to the wing. Whilst searching for an Arctic Tern photograph I came across the above Common Tern, a rather impressive result for the effort. Thanks GG....nice one.

At Cockersands I found my second Little Egret on Plover Scar and noted at least 3 Whimbrel with others heard during the visit, also c.250 Golden Plover all appeared to be of European origin, c.250 Oystercatcher, 50 Dunlin, 74 Eider, and 5 Greenfinch were a 'must' to be noted. I saw my second 'early' returning Wheatear of the autumn here.

Gannet. David Cookson

More impressive stuff with the Little Egret and Gannet, with thanks to DC. I found a 'not too long' dead adult Gannet this afternoon on the shingle at Cockersands.

Clement. Courtesy of BTO.

Are you keeping up with Clement and Co.