BIRDING THE LUNE ESTUARY THE FOREST OF BOWLAND AND BEYOND......................................................MEDITTERANEAN GULLS CONDER POOL PETE WOODRUFF

Monday 31 July 2017

Birding The Fast Lane!

I could only allow myself three hours birding time on Friday which would be taken up around the Lune Estuary, at Conder Green, Glasson Dock, and Cockersand, where the sole purpose was to be on Plover Scar an hour before the high tide. But in the end I only needed a couple of hours, as I arrived at the car park at Lighthouse Cottage I could see a mutt-lover and his two hounds out on the scar which thwarted my birding plans for Cockersand....Mutt-bound and birdless! 

Conder Pool saw 65 Redshank, 5 Little Grebe, and 3 Cormorant, all of which did a disappearing act at the sight of a patrolling Sparrowhawk. On the circuit, 8 Common Sandpiper were in the creeks and down the channel, the House Martins are still around Cafe d' Lune and River Winds with nests still active. A Red Admiral and Gatekeeper were seen on the coastal path.

On the Lune Estuary, 3 Common Tern adult and Whimbrel, with c.450 Redshank and 3 Dunlin feeding on the tideline to the Conder mouth, and Great-crested Grebe noted.

Common Tern.

Common Terns around the Lune Estuary and on Conder Pool have created a mix of interest of late.

Three juvenile Common Tern on the Lune Estuary July 2015. Pete Woodruff.

The three young had dispersed from Conder Pool soon after fledging and have been nowhere to be seen since, despite in previous years the juveniles have been found on the estuary as viewed from the bowling green at Glasson Dock and at Cockersand, two adults have been observed twice recently engaging in what appeared to be pairing behaviour on the Conder Pool pontoon, from where six adult were reported on 9 July. 

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