Resurrection!

Well my birding has been very patchy of late, in fact it's been non existent to be honest, but I'm working on getting myself out of the hole I find myself in. Meanwhile, there's some resurrection on the horizon in some areas starting with a fledged c.6 week old juvenile Tawny Owl seen in Bowland.

This is the best image available, a phone shot for the record. I've decided to keep my mouth shut about details on this one....Schedule 1 birds and all that!

The Lancaster Orchids.

It was good to find the orchids again this year east of Lancaster.

Southern Marsh Orchid June 2026. Pete Woodruff.

This time I found at least 120 spikes of Southern Marsh Orchid, a slight improvement on last year, when I made a count of up to 100 spikes.

Common Spotted Orchid June 2026. Pete Woodruff.

My count this year, was of 48 Common Spotted Orchid, better than last year when it was 25 spikes.

Garden Birds.

Our birds have had a good breeding season so far this year.

I managed to get some footage of the Blue Tit feeding young, also Great Tit, Goldfinch and Dunnock all have young, and a Blackbird with a juvenile. The House Sparrow has done well with a total figure of at least 40 adult and young.

Who knows how many adult and young Starling have visited us over the past few weeks, it could have been a three figure number, and included this bully juvenile on the apple.

Garden Bees.

The garden bees were busy on Sunday with the weather warming.

Red Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

The Mason Bees were back and forth to the hotel....

The Blue Mason Bees were filling in the holes, with an upstairs neighbour having a nosey!

Blue Mason Bee. Pete Woodruff.

....this one was resting on the roof. I think these will leave later than their red cousins, but both will have gone by the end of July.

Common Carder Bee. Pete Woodruff.

A Common Carder Bee was nectaring on Viper Bugloss.

Conder Pool.

It's good to see the Common Terns have taken control of the platform, and even better to hear they have started to produce this years chicks. The news from Conder Pool gets better by the day, when two new Common Terns arrived yesterday.

The Avocets are also having a good season, and adults have already succeeded to guide chicks off Conder Pool, to cross the busy B5290 to the River Conder. I have no accurate figures, but I get the impression there are at least 20 Avocet chicks with 5 nests to hatch.

There seems to be no end to the good news from the pool this year, when a new Avocet arrived here to breed. This is a bird ringed at Boulais in France 20 June 2008, according to its history, a much traveled 18 year old Avocet.

I am grateful to Howard Stockdale for this update with news and images from Conder Pool. 

The Disappearing Act.

By necessity this is a little repetitive as a update on the disappearing swans, and it begins with the 'repetitive bit'.

Since I last saw up to 200 Whooper Swan and 2 Bewick's Swan at Cockersand on 24 November which were destined to winter here, they mysteriously disappeared. Well not mysteriously really, as I'm convinced it was because a similar number of sheep - up to 200 - were driven into the same field, and the swans have never been seen since.

By coincidence, at the same time of the disappearing swans, at least 3,500 Pink-footed Geese also vacated a field a short distance away, and are also gone for good it seems. To be honest, this is not such a mystery as with the swans, the geese tend to roam around during the winter, so are now probably settled somewhere on the Fylde.

But good news came to me in the form of a message from AC to tell me of c.160 Whooper Swan he had seen in a field at Cockersand on 8 December, also on the same date, 30 Whooper Swan were at Braides, which sounded to me like the Cockersand herd made a short flight south to Cockerham.

Two days later on 10 December, more good news - excellent news actually - from AC, when he reports 2 Bewick's Swan at Braides with 123 Whooper Swan. But better still, was that 73 Whooper Swan were in a field on the north side of Abbey Farm. So the Cockersand Whooper Swans are back, albeit fragmented and now located at two sites....Wonderful stuff.

Friday 12 December.

I only had a couple of hours of freedom on Friday, but no matter, that was all I needed to get an update on the swan issue at Cockersand.

Whooper Swan Cockersand 12 December. Pete Woodruff.

Not quite as good as hoped for, just 44 Whooper Swan were in the field north side of Abbey Farm....So the Whooper saga goes on!

It was a pleasant sight to see and hear the trumpeting 'yak-ak-ak' of four skeins of up to 3,000 Pink-footed Geese in flight out of the Lune Estuary south and over towards Pilling Marsh. This was a good number probably leaving the Colloway/Aldcliffe Marshes. 

Four Of Six Moorhen. Pete Woodruff.

It was good if unusual for me to see 6 Moorhen in procession through stubble. I'm not acquainted with seeing numbers of these rails, though I did find 22 Moorhen together around the frozen wildfowlers pool at Aldcliffe 11 years ago in December 2014.

One of our resident Blackbird was enjoying a feast of Cotoneaster berries yesterday, whilst our Robin looked on before quickly flying off.

Friday 17 October.

I suspected some kind of recent disturbance had caused me to think, the best one word description for Conder Pool was dire. With the exception of c.120 Black-headed Gull, the best on offer was 7 birds, being a lone Redshank, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Mute Swan, a Robin was singing -  as they do all year round - in the hedgerow, with 3 Little Grebe bringing up the rear. 

The grebes seem to be moving away from Conder Pool earlier this year, according to my records they move to the creeks and on to the Lune Estuary early January, this autumn it seems they are deserting at least 8 weeks earlier. But as I made the move to leave the pool, things certainly took a turn for the better. Looking toward the creeks, I picked up a couple of small waders to see they were Curlew Sandpiper.

At the first cursory glance I prefer to rule out Dunlin, the sandpiper being more elegant and gangly. But on this occasion one bird started to preen, briefly showing its striking white rump and doing the elimination for me.

At Cockersand, I was pleased to find my first pair of wintering Stonechat here, they were in and around the dyke opposite the junction of Moss/Slack Lane. AC had already found two Stonechat last Monday 13 October, his birds were around the Bulrush dyke behind Lighthouse Cottage, I reckon mine were the same pair relocated slightly to the south.

Thanks to Ana for the stunning male 'Spanish' Stonechat

I managed the circuit to find 100+Linnet flighty around the fields off Slack Lane, the same flock here as those seen 22 September. Also a count of 6 Long-tailed Tit, with Song Thrush, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Great Tit, 2 Kestrel, and 38 Curlew were in a field north side of Abbey Farm. Two small skeins totaling 100 Pink-footed Geese were over Plover Scar>south.

Short and sweet again!   

The Wrong Day....Again!

Two birding days in a row being the wrong one. This time the plan was Birk Bank for an update on the state of the dragons there, but hey'up, it was a dreary start to the day, with cloud and low mist over Clougha as I gazed out the bedroom window, which is where Plan A went out of to be switched to Plan B to get an update on the birdlife of Conder Pool.

Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool 30 July. Pete Woodruff.

As I soon found to my great pleasure, this turned out to be an excellent switch of plans, the Little Ringed Plover pair had a trio of chicks surviving to at least 10 days old.

I had only been present at the pool about 10 minutes, when an adult dropped in front of me below the tern platform, then within another few minutes, one, then two, then three chicks....Alleluia!

In the hour I spent at Conder Pool, the three chicks never once came together, but this was the best of days for me at Conder Pool, and after the disasterous year for the LRP's and Avocets, this was an uplifting sight.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale who, with the delightful LRP family, claims a hat trick of recent header images on B2B.

With an update on the terns, I counted 10 Common Tern adult, with seven roosting on an island and two young still on the platform, and in a perfect line for easy counting, at the back of the pool, 17 Greenshank, up to 500 Redshank and 2 Little Grebe. Interesting, that unless they were in hiding, I saw not a single Avocet today.

Conder Pool.

Conder Pool has never failed to come up with at least some surprise for me over the many years I've been visiting this amazing location.

If I picked out just three of these memorable records, I would first choose the White-winged Black Tern which I found quartering the marsh on the Lune Estuary at Glasson 22 years ago on 14 August 2003, when Conder Pool was in its infancy, and where this brilliant bird visited on more than one occasion. The second choice would be the Black-necked Grebe which I found 1 September 2008, and the third would be the Common Scoter seen 27 October 2008.

Fast forward 22 years on, to add to the excellent record of the Little Ringed Plover pair, having made five attempts at breeding on Conder Pool, we have the success of 3 chicks still surviving when I last saw them on Wednesday.  

Common Tern. John Wallace.

And finally, we have the excellent record of a Common Tern bearing a white darvic ring CR3, ringed in Ireland, and if my information from a reliable source is correct, another Common Tern was seen on Conder Pool bearing a green ring, ringed in Germany.

Thanks to Ian Hartley for help with the info re the white ringed Common Tern. Also thanks to John Wallace for the use of his excellent image of the Common Tern.

Conder Pool....What next 😃

Garden Robin 2 August. Pete Woodruff.

The Woodruff family were delighted to see a juvenile Robin arrive in the garden yesterday 2 August. An adult Robin returned to the garden last year on 28 August, and the year before on 18 July 2023.

Third Time Lucky!

With the good company of Steve Graham, I made my third circuit of the surrounding area of Birk Bank in three weeks, with the perspective two pairs of eyes are better than one.

At the top end of the numbers scale and with song in our ears throughout, at least 50 Willow Warbler was impressive, whilst at the bottom of the scale, 3 Meadow Pipit was to say the least unimpressive, but only added to my list of 18 Meadow Pipit seen in 5 visits to Bowland during the month of April.

Two Cuckoo were heard, one sounded to be around Baines Cragg, the other on the top of Birk Bank, an area where the Cuckoo is annual.  

Throughout the walk between Rigg Lane and Cragg Wood, Bullfinch heard in the car Park and the area around Rushy Lea, I've seen Bullfinch before at both these areas. Other birds seen/heard to reaching Cragg Wood, 6 Blackcap were singing males, a Chiffchaff, 3 Mistle Thrush, 2 Song Thrush, Stock Dove, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, Robin, and Wren, a Buzzard overhead was the only raptor of the day.

At Cragg Wood, a Garden Warbler singing on territory - 100% volume needed to hear the bird in the video - was almost certainly the early bird I found here on 9 April. Also noted here, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Greenfinch and Swallow.

Along the lower path below Birk Bank, just the one Red Grouse, and 3 Stonechat were seen as a pair and male, having my records to read, possibly 2 pairs of Stonechat breeding this year below Birk Bank, future visits might confirm that.

Butterflies.

A small number of uncounted Orange Tip and Small/Large White, 4 Specked Wood, 3 Green-veined White, 3 Green Hairstreak, and 2 Peacock.

Damselfly.

Large Red Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

Seven Large Red Damselfly were all seen on Bilberry from the path to the bog.

On leaving Birk Bank bog, the day ended with the scarce sighting of a Slow Worm as it disappeared in the undergrowth.

Thanks to Ian Mitchell for his excellent image of the Large Red Damselfly.

Brief With A Little Quality.

By usual standards it was a bit of a whizz around the estuary surroundings on Friday, but at least there was a little quality about the findings, not least because the sight of up to 2,000 Black-tailed Godwit on the Lune Estuary at Glasson was a delight, also a Mediterranean Gull was amongst the gulls, and a Peregrine Falcon was on the south end of Colloway Marsh, recommended if you'd like to see one regularly there, or on the hunt and putting a few thousand waders to flight.

As I was leaving, 6 Whooper Swan flew upstream by me, before swinging south towards Conder Pool or Jeremy Lane I thought.

Thirty minutes later, it was my second guess the swans had chosen and settled on a flood on Jeremy Lane.

Little Owl At Cockersand.

On 28 November 2023, a visiting birder I met opposite Cockersand Abbey, was searching for a Snow Bunting. In a conversation he pointed towards Bank Houses and told me of a Little Owl he had seen on an out building there. In amazement, I told him this was the first Little Owl for Cockersand in 9 years when I had found one at Abbey Farm on 28 November 2014.

I never did find the owl the birder reported to me, but 9 years later on 25 October 2024, I connected with a Little Owl in the very same area he talked of 11 months ago.

Historically, the Little Owl could be seen regularly for many years on the derelict barn, now converted and called Bank House Cottage.

Action In The Garden.

Our resident Robin is friendly, bold, and very entertaining, following anyone digging in the garden. Also on Friday, a flock of 12 Long-tailed Tit worked their way through the garden, and our first Coal Tit in 11 months paid a visit. 

Thanks to Martin Jump for the excellent header of Little Owl.

News From The Bog!

Odonata enthusiasts in particular, may be interested in the news that the boardwalk along the perimeter of the bog at Birk Bank, has been removed and relocated from the corner of the old one, straight across to the east side.

On the positive side, this may be good news for the dragonflies and insects, in particular the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary with its partiality to Marsh Thistle.

Grey Start....Golden Finish.

With the weather we are having recently, it wasn't the start I had hoped for at Birk Bank on Monday. Nothing had changed at the bog, and to be honest I'd refer to it as being grim, and with a dark grey cloud hanging overhead didn't have things looking like they were going to change anytime soon. But sightings from the path to the bog cheered things up, with a Garden Warbler, a male Blackcap, and Song Thrush seen as I set off for a wander to Cragg Wood.

The Willow Warbler seems to have gone silent, but I did get good views of one, along with a juvenile Robin, 3 Wren, and a Red Grouse. A male Stonechat was alarmed at my presence, but I've yet to find evidence of breeding anywhere I have been this year so far, though there are a few 'probable's' according to pairs and behaviour I've observed.

Stonechat. Ian Mitchell.

Ian Mitchell is one up one me regarding Stonechat breeding records, with two juvenile seen on Hawthornthwaite on Monday.

When I arrived at Cragg Wood, a Spotted Flycatcher was seen again as it had been on 26 June, but I saw no Golden-ringed Dragonfly on the River Conder in the brief time I spent here.

Bilberry Bumblebee. Pete Woodruff.

On the return leg I came across this smart little Bilberry Bumblebee which gave me no opportunity for a decent picture, but it was my eighth this year, all seen around Birk Bank.

Sexton Beetle. Pete Woodruff.

Another smart little critter I came across, was the Sexton Beetle complete with phoretic mites which travel with the carrion beetle to scavenge on leftovers, and help keep the beetle clean.

The Golden Finish.

I was in the good company of MJ/AC/MP at Birk Bank bog during my two visits here on Monday, when I had given the best part of an hour on the first to connect with nothing.

Keeled Skimmer. Martin Jump.

But there was life on the bog on the second visit when 3 Keeled Skimmer were seen, including a mating pair. Things really took off when AC called Golden-ringed Dragonfly close in and coming closer, until the female came within touching distance and decided to start egg laying giving us the chance in a million opportunity of close scrutiny.

The Golden-ringed Dragonfly is the only Cordulegaster species in a large part of western and northern Europe including the British Isles. The female has a long needle-like ovipositor which can be seen in the video as it characteristically jabs repeatedly down into the bed of shallow water, as if on a pogo stick! It typically breeds in acidic waters which makes Birk Bank bog the perfect habitat for this brilliant dragonfly.

Claver Hill.

On Sunday I decided to check out Claver Hill which has a nature trail and is an area I have never heard of until I saw a piece in the local newspaper about an open day there at the end of July. There is a pond which I was keen to see, and found 6 Emperor Dragonfly including a mating pair.

Thanks to Martin Jump and to Ian Mitchell for their images, they are much appreciated. My header of Heather on Clougha I chose at random. 

The Birds And Bees!

Pintail Williamson's Park. Pete Woodruff.

Having been surprised to find a drake Pintail on the pond in Williamson's Park on 6 March. I was later reliably informed of one being seen recently on the canal in Lancaster. Thinking this was almost certainly one and the same bird I went off to take a look, but was disappointed not to find the bird where it had been reported.

As a bit of compensation for dipping on the Pintail, a pair of Goosander were on the canal in the Moor Lane area.

A mosey around Williamson's Park was rewarded by my first 2 Chiffchaff of the year, also Nuthatch, a Goldcrest, and several singing Robin. The Standen Park Rook colony have built at least 15 nests, and I found my first Red Admiral of the year.

I'm grateful to Howard Stockdale for his header image of the Spotted Redshank which is currently being being seen in the creeks at Conder Green. I have seen this bird at least three times over the past weeks but always on the Lune Estuary, which is where I repeatedly keep seeing the Avocets, but not on Conder Pool where the best count to date has been twenty five.

Also interesting on Conder Pool, 2 Mediterranean Gull reported including a colour ringed bird. The two beauties in the video are an adult and 2nd summer that I found here 25 June 2019.

..............................................................

Common Carder Bee Bombus pascuorum. Pete Woodruff.

With a slowly developing interest in bees, in particular the Bombus Bumblebees. I was drawn to an interesting and worrying article in the Lune Valley Beekeepers January Newsletter, from which this is an extract....  

Cruiser SB.

Ban use of bee-killing pesticide in the UK, business chiefs tell government. The UK government should stop ignoring the science and block a bee-killing pesticide from being used, business leaders have said. 

The neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB is used on sugar beet and is highly toxic to bees. It is banned in the EU but the UK has provisionally agreed to its emergency use every year since leaving the bloc. In 2017, the then environment secretary, Michael Gove, promised to use Brexit to ban all neonicotinoids. 

Government scientific advisers said in September they were not able to support an authorisation for Cruiser SB, because the “potential adverse effects to honeybees and other pollinators outweigh the likely benefits.”

Now a group of businesses that depend on pollinators, including some farmers and those who use botanicals in their products, have said the government must heed their advice and not allow bee-killing pesticides to be used. 

In a letter to Mark Spencer the farming minister, Anabel Kindersley the chief executive of Neal’s Yard Remedies, Tim Mead the head of Yeo Valley, as well as the boards of Lush and the Body Shop have all asked him to block Cruiser SB from use. “We need to listen to the scientists. Excessive pesticide use is killing our bees and other essential insect species that we rely on for a healthy, safe and clean environment,” they wrote. 

A single teaspoon of neonicotinoid is enough to deliver a lethal dose to 1.25bn bees. One-third of the UK bee population has disappeared in the last decade, and since 1900 the UK has lost 13 out of 35 native bee species.

Quiet Around The Lune Estuary....Again!

The lull before the storm migration takes off. But for what it's worth, high spring tides this week, 10.64m where I'm planning on going Tuesday. 

On Conder Pool, by the time I had noted the number had declined considerably from 4,000 recently to 1,500 Black-tailed Godwit today, a drake Scaup with 6 Tufted Duck had come into my view. This smart little drake was seen as another 'goodie' to add to the long list on Conder Pool, and was my first here since I found one 7 years ago in August 2017.

On the eerily quiet Lune Estuary at low tide, probably the same 9 Avocet as seen on 9 February/4 March, this time they were fragmented into 3 groups, 4 opposite Fishnet Point, 3 upstream opposite Waterloo Cottage, and 2 at the Conder mouth. The only other note was of 2 Goldeneye drake.

At Cockersand, the circuit was again quiet, but I had a brief view of a Barn Owl leaving its roost in a farm building, to perch on a post and return to roost 2 minutes later. A Sparrowhawk and later a Buzzard seen over fields, a Raven overhead on Slack Lane, from where c.35 Linnet poorly seen in the stubble field, and 4 Snipe exploded out of the ditch.

Through the doorway to the shell of a barn, I heard alarm calling which initially fooled me, until 4 Great Tit erupted out of the thicket.

Park and Garden.

Yes, this is the pond in Williamson's Park, and yes, this is a drake Pintail. 

I think Amazon have had a hand in the delivery of this duck here...I've seen the invoice!

And in the garden at dawn around at 6.15am, I watched a pair of Robin exploring the possibilities of using this open nest box for breeding....Definitely a case of watch this space.

On Wednesday, a Comma in the garden was my first, and the first one this year to be reported on the Butterfly Conservation website.

Thanks to Paul Ellis for the header image of the Scaup on Conder Pool Tuesday 5 March.

A Little Subdued On The Estuary.

To say the 4,000+Black-tailed Godwit were still on Conder Pool on Monday, is the obvious contradiction to the title of this post. But although on a nice sunny early March day albeit too windy for my liking, around the Lune Estuary was generally quiet on the sightings scene, with little possibility of finding any early migrants.

*Three Sand Martin reported yesterday Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve....LDBWS 

As I started to make a video, the godwits were spooked by something eyes right, necks stretched and flew off. 

The only other notable thing about the visit to Conder Pool, was a lone Bar-tailed Godwit in the midst of the godwit mass. That said, 4 Buzzard were together over the woods to the NE of Conder Green, seen as a group probably from nearby territories, a common social pattern and behavior by the Buzzard soaring in spring. 

Off Moss Lane, a Cattle Egret was with 75 Whooper Swan, and at Cockersand, a Merlin took off from the footbridge over a ditch on the north side of Bank House, and flew over the field behind the caravan park. I saw just the one female Stonechat, a lingering wintering bird along the bulrush ditch off Slack Lane.

Garden Birds.

Excellent news for the Woodruff's when 2 Robin were seen in the garden, one collecting moss with thoughts of breeding, the other taking a bath. Also, a Siskin continues to make occasional visits to the feeders.

And our resident Blackbird was serenading in the moonlight at dusk yesterday, not quite in full voice, but pleasant all the same.

Stonechat Passage.

With some excellent Stonechat data, AC was in touch to report 20 Stonechat he has seen since mid-February, and points out the difference of 40 seen this time last year....Thanks Andrew, much appreciate your enthusiasm.

The Header.

Flying the kite on the beach at Sandylands on Sunday with his kids. A friendly man who agreed with me, Lancaster City Council has pulled the plug on this years Catch The Wind Festival. The festival is the highlight of the summer season in Morecambe attracting up to 20,000 visitors....Dumped by a bunch of muppets.

Thanks to the friendly man for his brilliant Owl Kite in my header image.  

The Conder Godwits....Again!

The plan on Thursday, was to visit the Lune Estuary at Glasson to see if anything was going to be pushed close in by the incoming tide, then go to Conder Green to see if anything had been displaced by the tide and on to Conder Pool.

The Lune Estuary.

Numbers on the estuary were comparatively disappointing, but I was eventually rewarded by mid-distance views of the Spotted Redshank, it was on the tideline with up to 250 Dunlin and 175 Redshank downstream from the Conder mouth.

Drake Goldeneye. Pete Woodruff. 

Also to note, 6 Goldeneye, c.450 Wigeon, and a lone Greenfinch singing atop of a tree by the bowling green.

The Conder Pool Godwits.

There have been two recent reports involving all-time high counts of Black-tailed Godwits on the Lune Estuary, those of 4,500 and 4,600, both seen 18 February....LDBWS

It was immediately apparent why the numbers of waders was low on the Lune Estuary today, and also apparent that the number of Black-tailed Godwit on Conder Pool today was higher than I have previously seen which was 3,500 here on Monday 26 February. 

Black-tailed Godwit Conder Pool. Pete Woodruff.

My records for Thursday 29 February read, at least 4,000 Black-tailed Godwit on Conder Pool....Definitely the most spectacular show ever witnessed on Conder Pool, and all for free!

Williamson's Park.

I decided to give the park and cemetery in Lancaster a couple of hours, primarily in the hope of Bullfinch, but that part of the plan failed, but it was good that I found a Song Thrush which was accompanied by 5 Blackbird close by....Note the Blackbird mugging the Song Thrush and stealing its lunch!

A male and female Siskin showed on the feeders at Fenham Carr, a Treecreeper was in the cemetery, and up to 6 Robin and as many Nuthatch were heard in song.

Crocus Lancaster Cemetery. Pete Woodruff.

Stonechats.

I have collected 26 Stonechat records throughout February, but so far spring passage has been nothing like that of 2023, and only 12 Stonechat in these records can safely be regarded as passage birds.

And Finally.

Off Knowleys Road at Heysham last Sunday, a count of 75 Wood Pigeon in the field by the children's play area. And how about this one, a Yellow Wagtail seen at Grange in Cumbria Friday 29 February....A Cumbrian birder agrees with me, the first ever Yellow Wagtail in Britain in February, or more probably a Grey Wagtail!

Leucism.

Organising my images, I came across these two leucistic waders from the archives, the Knot and the Oystercatcher. Probably taken 30 years ago and buried beneath several hundred other images.   

New Arrivals....Long Stayers.

Monday wasn't quite the day I was hoping for weather-wise, with grey skies and a chilly wind, because of which I abandoned my planned traditional circuit of Cockersand, to backtrack to Glasson for my second look at the Lune Estuary and Conder Pool.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson, three sightings in particular grabbed my attention, 1) 9 Avocet were feeding in a tight group with bills sweeping side to side, before flying off upstream to disappear from view, 2) the huge number of up to 3,500 Black-tailed Godwit seen on the Lune Estuary today, seems to continue increasing apace, with an all time record of 4,600 reported here on Sunday 18 February LDBWS, 3) a leucistic Dunlin was seen briefly with a few other waders before soon flying off, unfortunately no camera at the ready to record the little beauty. Also to note, at least 350 Redshank and 75 Golden Plover. 

With a hair cut and other management work since my last visit 7 days ago, on Conder Pool a good record was of a pair of Shoveler at best irregular here, c.120 Black-headed Gull have certainly taking a liking to the new look landscape, no doubt in due course many of them will take over and dominate the islands to breed. Also noted, 45 Teal, 36 Redshank, 24 Snipe, 4 Curlew, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Little Grebe, a Greenshank and Goosander.  

Garden Birds.

Robin. Pete Woodruff.

Best news from the garden, we had 2 Robin yesterday 20 February, with much interaction between them, 2 male/2 female/a pair....who knows! A Siskin has made three appearances since the first female seen 9 February, and we also have 2 Dunnock and a Wren visiting regularly.

Young Garden Dunnock. Pete Woodruff.

Hoping the Dunnock breeds again in the garden this year as they have in the past.

Stonechat.

To add to the 6 Stonechat seen at Fairhaven Dunes on 13 February FBC, it's beginning to look like the spring passage has taken off, and I agree that 4 seen at Fluke Hall by AC on Monday were definitely a start to the spring passage of the Stonechat.

The Header.

The 4 Cattle Egret found in the field opposite Lighthouse Cottage on 25 October 2023, are still being seen in the area and are now 4 days short of their 4 month stay. Many Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image of one of them.