Today's omens were not good!
I rarely start birding early on a Sunday when I'm at home and by the time I left Preston the "mid-morning" reports were already on Birdguides. Cockersands Caravan Park and Bank End in the se. corner of Morcambe Bay were my first sites visited on another crisp and chilly morning. All the usual wildfowl were there including several Red-breasted Mergansers and plenty of Pintail. A Merlin was perched on a stick out on the saltmarsh and passerines included a female Stonechat, 30+ Fieldfare, 5+ Redwings, a couple of Song Thrushes and 6 Long-tailed Tits in the hdegrow near the caravans.
I'd been looking for some time when I finally found Twite. A small flock of 7 Linnet and 4 Goldfinches over the saltmarsh rang the alarm bells briefly but there was no mistaking the wheezy calls as about 40 Twite flew past, seemingly in pursuit of firstly a Great-spotted Woodpecker, then a Redshank!
My next stop was Cockerham Moss where I spent a bit of time with mixed flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers but failed to find any Pink-feet on the deck. Plenty overhead all afternoon though! Nearly 250 Black-tailed Godwits in with the Curlews and Redshanks at Pilling Lane Ends was a good count; there seems to be a lot around this winter on the Fylde and n. Lancs. A quick check of the gulls at Cocker's Dyke produced nothing of note but there was a single Barnacle Goose with the Pink-feet on the mudflats. Another 50 Golden Plover put up by a Merlin at Damside was the last notable bird until I headed for Bradshaw Lane and Scronkey.
There had been up to 4 Short-eared Owls this afternoon but they had not shown for half hour or so when I turned up. I was just about to take a ride round the area in the car when a Short-eared Owl perched up on a post on the other side of the field. Great 'scope views of this bird and even a few poor record shots in the fading light. About 25 Whooper Swans flew off towards Pilling as I left.
Sparrowhawk across the A6 near Brock was my last bird of a very pleasant half-day.
3 comments:
Finally got round to viewing (well a quick look on this first visit) your blog Colin and just wanted to thank you very much for your contribution on mine recently. I'll take a closer look at yours in due course, meanwhile another 'plug' for mine to tell you I have added another on eof tose 'blasts from the past' with aome archives from the LDBWS Annual reports.
Thanks for dropping in Pete. Yes how times have changed - even I remember when 4 Little Egrets together on the Ribble Estuary was a county record!
Very beautiful birds. Nice photo. I take photos of birds of South India. :)))
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