LANCS: Five hundred Sarnies!

Wayne Rooney's packed lunch?
No, number of Sandwich Terns on the Ribble Estuary roost this lunchtime!

Last look of the week at the Ribble today was interesting despite the hordes of grockles out and about in the Lancashire sunshine. There's been a notable influx of Sandwich Terns in west Lancs over the last few days (thanks to the Fylde Bird Club's website sightings page), also noted in Ayrshire today too. Having drawn a complete blank on Sarnies on the estuary the past week it seemed sensible to check the beach at St Annes (north of Lytham) as there is usually a roost there from late July into August. I couldn't drive past Newton Marsh without a quick stop though and glad I did as there was a distant juv' LRP at the back of the entrance pool. Not much else there apart from a Teal and a juv' Dabchick so I made haste for the coast

Newton Marsh 6August 2009
Little Ringed Plover 1 juv
Little Grebe 1 juv
Teal 1

A quick stop at Fairhaven (where it was heaving with people) at high tide produced little but I could see a few Sandwich Terns in with the BHG's and could hear a lot more somewhere. In the distant shimmering heat-hazed mouth of the estuary I could see lots of white "blobs" though.

Fairhaven 6 August 2009
Eider 40
Bar-tailed Godwit 3
Sandwich Tern 3

From the dunes overlooking the beach at St Annes it was immediately obvious that most of these "blobs" were actually terns so I started to "sift & count". Most were Sandwich Terns (including many juv's) but there were quite a few "Commics" out there too.

St Annes Beach 6 August 2009
Sandwich Tern 500 (!)
"Commic" Tern 47
Oystercatcher 350+
Grey Plover 7
Bar-tailed Godwit 61

I've had three-figure Sarnie counts here before but 500 was unexpected. I hate figures ending in zeros for counts of birds, but I did count exactly 500. Wader numbers weren't too bad either: 350+ Oycs (OK, a guesstimate, not a count), 7 Grey Plover (many in summer plumage) and 61 Barwits including many red ones. The "Commic" Terns were mostly Commons as far as I could see but pretty distant and with the haze it was hard to be certain. A dog put the lot up a couple of times and I couldn't see any tiny ones with them. One day I'll get Little Tern here, maybe?

Painted Lady, Fulwood 6 August 2009.

I paid a quick visit to the Lytham slipway to see if there were any roosting waders but scored a big zero on that one. Just too many people around today I guess. So it was back to the inner estuary at Warton with the tide dropping.

Warton Marsh 6 August 2009
Sparrowhawk 1
Mallard 10
Cormorant 1
Oystercatcher 3
Lapwing 693
Golden Plover 13
Curlew 10
Dunlin 200+
Redshank 6
Greenshank 3
Black-tailed Godwit 5
Black-headed Gull 246
LBB Gull 6
Common Gull 1
GBB Gull 1
Herring Gull 2

So nothing out of the ordinary there but Lapwing numbers building. No chance of scrutinising the Dunlin flock as the Sparrowhawk kept spooking them. Wouldn't mind some more Goldies to look through though.

Red Admiral, Fulwood 6 August 2009.

Back at home the Buddleia was attracting quite a few butterflies - Peacocks, "whites", Red Admirals and mostly Painted Ladies. No Small Tortoishells this year (although I did see one at Warton). Found this on the internet today about the decline of Small Tortoishell - worth a look:

BBC film about Small Tortoishell and Sturnia bella