Sidelined Again!

Off the road again for five days, but although pleasant if cloudy there was good birding around the Lune Estuary in the week. 

Conder Green.

Starting at Conder Green with my first Whooper Swan this winter, it was accompanied by 2 Mute Swan on Conder Pool. Also of note, 3 Greenshank, 4 Wigeon, and 7 Little Grebe on Conder Pool was my best count of the day here.

The customary circuit turned up an adult Ruff preening alongside a Redshank in the creeks, with 2 Black-tailed Godwit and a snorkeling female Goosander.

Lune Estuary.

Viewing from the bowling green, there was much more life on the Lune Estuary than my last visit here on 28 September. I picked up 8 Mediterranean Gull, seen at a distance, all adult save one 2nd winter bird. Godwit numbers were at around 350 birds, estimated to be 260 Black-tailed Godwit and 90 Bar-tailed Godwit, also c.550 Knot, 8 Snipe, and a Great-crested Grebe. Two adult Avocet were by the Conder mouth, two seen in the creeks at Conder Green when I returned there after the high tide were possibly the same two.

On the canal basin, 45 Tufted Duck and a Great-crested Grebe. Noted in a field on Jeremy Lane, 120 geese in a pretty even mix of Canada Geese and Greylag Geese 

Cockersand.

It was an enjoyable hour at Plover Scar, made all the more enjoyable with the appearance of a smart Little Stint still retaining much breeding plumage.

High Tide Waders Plover Scar. Martin Jump.

There was much coming and going of waders for the hour up to high tide. Just as I arrived at Plover Scar, 3 Grey Plover were departing south along with a swathe of other small waders. As more birds flew in and settled, I estimated at least 350 Dunlin, with 55 Turnstone and 45 Knot at the peak.

I walked along the headland back to Bank Houses, from where I could see 15 Whooper Swan some distance in a field to the north. I reckon this group had been joined by the 6 Whooper Swan which flew by me inland over Cockersand C.P.

Right Place, Right Time....A Leighton Moss Treble.

Cetti's Warbler. Martin Jump.

Thanks to Martin Jump for the 'rare to be seen out in the open' Cetti's Warbler checking out the grit trays.

Bearded Tit. Martin Jump.

And the Bearded Tit, doing the splits.

Bittern. Martin Jump.

The Bittern 'we have lift off' from Leighton Moss, up and away into the blue out yonder.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the Little Stint in the header, seen on Plover Scar about a month ago in mid-September.

Conder & Cocker.

Conder Pool continues to oblige when Sundays single became a double with 2 Common Tern present. Other interest was, the high concentration of Avocet which continues to increase, and the season getting off to a good start.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

I saw just one Little Ringed Plover. The Black-tailed Godwit remain in decent number, some of which are well advanced into stunning breeding plumage. The Greylags now have seven goslings in tow.

Knot Conder Pool. Howard Stockdale.

The Knot also remain in numbers not seen on Conder Pool before, their status here is at best an occasional visitor in single figures, some of these birds are attaining their breeding pale brick-red plumage.

In the creeks, a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull was with Black-headed Gulls, 4 Greenshank, and a Common Sandpiper, and a wander around the circuit had a Cetti's Warbler briefly heard, a Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, and Reed Bunting.

At Cockersand, the star of the show was seen, when a Reed Bunting caught my eye coming out of a reed lined ditch, I saw another bird distant perched upright, and looked a bigger bird than the one I was hoping it would be, but climbing over the gate and walking through the field to get closer, I found it was a bit of Cockersand magic to make my day, it was a brilliant male Whinchat.

This was my first Whinchat at Cockersand since the last one 4 years ago on 23 April 2018.

Other notes include, 2 Raven, and after seeing small flighty groups several times, 10 Linnet were seen along the headland, from where I saw 2 Wheatear, a White Wagtail, and up to 40 Eider which were off Sunderland Point. In the 3 hours at Cockersand, I saw only 3 Swallow north.

Trickling Migrants.

An obvious northerly Swallow movement yesterday albeit a trickle where I was  - c.60 birds in 6 hours - including interest being shown by single birds lingering around Gardners Farm and Conder Green Farm.

With the exception of 6 Sand Martin over Conder Pool, interest at Conder Green yesterday was with 3 Greenshank in the creeks, and 2 Common Sandpiper, both of which were in the Conder channel downstream from the iron bridge where a Kestrel came to hover.

Along the coastal path to Glasson Dock, I found 2 Chiffchaff, and on the low tide Lune Estuary, 11 Black-tailed Godwit, a pair of Eider, and 12 Wigeon were to note. Gulls here didn't amount to a three figure count and were in the main Lesser Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull. 

Whimbrel Cockersand Pete Woodruff

At Cockersand, 2 Whimbrel were off Crook Farm, and it was interesting to see 2 Tree Sparrow with a pair of Great Tit in the garden at Lighthouse Cottage. Six Skylark all in the air singing their seemingly endless flight song, with 2 Whooper Swan and 11 Mute Swan on the now almost deserted flooded field, a female Reed Bunting was around the cover crop on Slack Lane.

Value For Money.

On an Easter Monday wander with KT around Leighton Moss, the sight of up to 1,500 Black-tailed Godwit from Lilian's Hide, virtually all in their stunning rufous summer plumage, was in itself worth every penny of RSPB membership fee in my book. 

Garganey Noushka

Also from the Lilian's Hide, a smart drake Garganey with it's brilliant white crescent over the eye to the side of it's nape. A Cetti's Warbler gave a few loud outbursts of song along the causeway, and at least 15 Willow Warbler, 12 Chiffchaff, and 8 Blackcap on the round, all added to make it an excellent visit to the Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve

Thanks for the Garganey Noushka....Brilliant image of a brilliant bird.

The Cetti's Warbler.

Cetti's Warbler Phillip Tomkinson

A secretive bird, living in thick undergrowth usually close to water, it is therefore a difficult bird to find/see and PT has done well to achieve this excellent photograph of one at Marton Mere in Blackpool....Thanks Phillip, it was hard to find a permissible photograph of this species and yours saved the day.

The first record of Cetti's Warbler (CW) was only just over 50 years ago in Hampshire 1961, it was heard by an observer who admitted to not being able to identify the song which was heard again the next day by others. Fortunately the bird hung around the area for two weeks when even more fortunately it flew into a mist net and into the history book. Breeding in the UK was confirmed 11 years later in 1972 and numbers increased rapidly to in excess of 1,000 singing males in 2004 rising even more to 1,400 in 2006.

In our own area of Lancashire the first record of CW was of a bird heard at Marton Mere in October 1990, it stayed there almost five months until March 1991, since this record Marton Mere holds the track record for CW's in Lancashire. Nearer to home the CW was first seen at Leighton Moss in October 1995, two days after it was found it was trapped and ringed and remained at LM for a little over 4 months. Now, in 2012 a pair of CW have bred for the first time at Leighton Moss, an exciting and excellent record for our area and evidence of the species range expansion.


As for the name of the bird....It was named after Francesco Cetti who was an Italian Jesuit priest, zoologist, and mathematician, he was born in Germany in 1726 of Italian parents from Como. He was commemorated in the name of the CW by another Italian, Alberto della Marmora - Marmora's Warbler is named after him - who was an army general and naturalist, he had a distinguished career in the Napoleonic wars.

Spotted Redshank Dave Appleton

I note the Spotted Redshank is back at Conder Green today, seven days earlier than last year according to my records, and only absent from here a matter of a few weeks.

Common Sandpiper Dave Appleton

Also back at Conder Green is a Common Sandpiper more or less on time, double figures can be seen here in a matter of a few days perhaps, but certainly in a week or so. Will one stay here again this winter I wonder. 

The Redstart.

Redstart Brian Rafferty

Having visited Barbondale again yesterday I was reminded of just how easy it is to see the Redstart here, in fact a quick count would bring me to suggest this area to be one of the very best in our locality for finding at least 25 species - some of which I'd say were of desirable bird sightings to many a birder - in an hours stroll along the path for not much more than a half mile from the footbridge to the plantation entrance gate and return. 

Whitethroat Warren Baker

The male Redstart must surely be one of the most striking and colourful birds to grace our shores in the summer, but there was a collapse in the population during 1965-75, which is thought to have resulted from drought conditions in the Sahel zone of Africa, these conditions also severely affected the Whitethroat. But the following 20 years saw an almost doubling of the population of Redstarts, though this level is still below the peak of the1960's. A general rise in both clutch and brood sizes appears to have been behind the recovery of the Redstart,and in common with other short distance migrants, the laying date has apparently advanced since the 1980's.

Interestingly, the Redstart in Ireland has always been a scarce and sporadic breeder, with rarely more than one or two pairs and not in every year, otherwise the bird is a scarce passage migrant in spring and autumn in Ireland. Most of the Redstarts we see here during the summer months winter in the Sahel zone of Africa, whilst some are in S Arabian peninsula.


Thanks for the Redstart/Whitethroat BR/WB.


And finally, well not quite....

Dipper David Cookson

The flying Dipper....thanks DC.


And this time, finally....

I was both amazed and disappointed that a pair of Cetti's Warblers having created a first breeding record a Leighton Moss this year had to rely on a local newspaper to break the news about them posing the question....Have the 'newscasters' within the ornithological societies lost interest in what their members/birders would dearly like to know on the news front, or is this what we call suppression and if it is, in the case of this excellent and exciting record....why?  

The Cetti's Warbler.

Fallow Deer. Brian Rafferty.

With no photographs of the Cetti's Warbler the excellent one of the beautiful stag Fallow Deer is good enough to headline today's post. You can keep up with Brian HERE 

I see the excellent news of a singing Cetti's Warbler (CW) found in Northhumberland yesterday, evidence of the species expansion northwards taking a giant leap whilst creating the hope the bird will winter there and be the forerunner of colonisation there.

The first CW to be found in GB was in March 1961 in Hampshire with breeding confirmed in 1972. In our county of Lancashire the first record is of confirmation in November 1990 at Marton Mere of a bird heard singing there the previous month, this bird stayed at Marton Mere until late March 1991. At Leighton Moss a bird was seen in late October 1995 and trapped and ringed there two days later, coincidentally this bird stayed here until March 1996 an almost identical length of time as the first recorded one did at Marton Mere,  this/another bird was found at Leighton Moss later the same year in October 1996. 

Yesterday at Fleetwood Nature Park two CW were trapped and ringed, and news on the LDBWS website in the 'Sightings' section says the fourth CW this autumn was trapped and ringed just a couple of days ago making the news on this species improving and becoming more exciting by the day it seems. I have no idea of the current national status of the CW but by 2006 there was a figure of 1,400 singing males, numbers being up on the figure of just over 1,000 in 2004.

It's always good to see something positive happening in the bird world both around us and worldwide, and whilst its easy to read that most CW's are to be found in the south of England, SW and East Anglia, it's also good to see they are now in places nearer home like Marton Mere, Fleetwood Nature Park, north at Leighton Moss, and now even further north in Northhumberland....where next! 

Landart by Richard Shilling. 

I've often been thanked for pointing people in the direction of Richard Shilling's Landart from Birds2blog and these are two recent additions to his ever growing collection, 7 Dogwood Colour Strips on the left, and Autumn Beech Sun Curtain. If you don't already know about Richard, he takes no materials with him on his mission's and collects all he requires to create his art from around the location, he never ceases to amaze me and a visit HERE as a relief from the birds is recommended to see for yourself.