Water Twitchit!

With an hour to spare before I had to be back in Lancaster, and being kept up to date on 'whats about' I decided to engage in a bit of a twitch and headed off to Conder Green where the Water Pipits are still hanging about having been found on Conder Pool on Sunday. With news that two had been seen again this afternoon and with my subscriptions to Conder Green fully paid up....I was off.

It wasn't too long before a Water Pipit obliged not too distant and gave me some prolonged views before it disappeared, but a little later a second bird appeared and was distinctly different from the first in that this bird was developing its summer plumage and was beginning to look pale pink across the breast with virtually no streaking below, the first bird I saw had some streaking persisting on its breast and flanks. The Water Pipit I first picked up attracted my attention by the pale supercilium and was easily identifiable when compared to a Meadow Pipit which was close by, a quite different bird altogether it being browner and more stripy.

British Water Pipits - which are thought to originate from the mountain chains of southern Europe - aren't an easy bird to come by in our area, in the LDBWS Annual Report of 2010 the bird never got a mention, though an elusive single bird can often be seen around this time of year at Leighton Moss, the Water Pipit is otherwise referred to as scarce.

Also noted on Conder Pool during this welcome hour long 'twitch', 2 Spotted Redshank one of which was becoming decidedly black compared to the other which was less advanced but turning patchy dark on its underparts, a Common Sandpiper, and a male Reed Bunting.

And finally....

Here's another look at the stunning Red-winged Blackbird, this time an excellent video of the bird in song, with some other gems to choose from if you wish at the end of the film.

Nine for the price of one!

I've come up with another one of those lame excuses for a post on Birds2blog, but I can tell you this bloody nonsense of no birding and skeleton like blogging is all coming to an end in the coming weeks and whatever normality is to a birder I'm looking forward to it, theres a lot to do....watch this space.

I just had an enjoyable telephone conversation with a  birder I know well, and received an  enjoyable e-mail form a wildlife photographer I know in Seattle, Washington, USA. Both the conversation and the e-mail have resulted in photographs for the blog.

Water Pipit. Copy Permitted. 

In the first photograph we get nine Water Pipits for the price of one in this excellent montage. Conder Green has gained even more popularity since Water Pipits were found on Conder Pool on Sunday creating another first for this great little location. But what generated just as much interest for me was that 2 Little Ringed Plover were also discovered there on the same day, quite amazing really as they have arrived on this pool on or around the same date for the past three if not four years.

Red-winged Blackbird Tim Kuhn

In the second photograph - the result of the e-mail conversation - we have a stunning Red-winged Blackbird, and by the way, if you missed Tim's 'Snowy Owl' on Birds2blog treat yourself....Its Here.  


The range of the Red-winged Blackbird stretches from southern Alaska to the Yucatan Peninsula   in the south, to the western coast of California and Canada to the east coast of the continent. Claims have been made that it is the most abundant and well studied bird in North America, the male is all black with a red shoulder and yellow wing bar. Unfortunately  it carries with it the tag of being an agricultural pest in some areas and it has been know for the birds to have been the subject of attempts to control numbers by the use of pesticides a practice which is illegal. 


The bird has quite an impressive song too....