[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Pectoral Sandpiper #8990

A decent haul of 10 species of wader on the salt-marsh pools this morning:

The adult Pectoral Sandpiper was again on the Allen Pool and, at one point, showed very well from the Eric Morecambe Hide. (See Jarrod Sneyd’s photos on Leighton Moss Twitter.)

75+ Avocet – with 25+ juveniles / small chicks still on the Eric Morecame Pool North, with several of the adults clearing this pool of all other waders.
3 Greenshank – Allen Pool
2 Common Sandpiper – 1 each on Allen Pool and Eric Morecambe Pool North

The following were seen from the Crag Road viewpoint on the Eric Morecambe Pool South and / or Flood and were not visible from the hides:
285 Dunlin
120 Black-tailed Godwit
140 Redshank
305 Lapwing
100 Knot – difficult to count as distant and roosting in tightly packed groups
2 Golden Plover – EM Pool South, briefly then flew off towards Jenny Brown’s Point

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Conder pool #8970

Nice photo. Note the blue darvic ring on the juvenile’s left leg – presumably attached by Ian Hartley.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel flock – including colour-ringed bird #8819

The colour-ringed Whimbrel I saw at Shippon Hill, Langthwaite Road on 2/5/24 was ringed at Llansantffraid, Llanon, Ceredigion on 1/5/21.

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel flock – including colour-ringed bird #8757

24 Whimbrel in the regular field by Little Fell Road, Quernmore this afternoon.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Herons etc #8722

Shaun sent me a further text:

He also had Osprey, 2 Med Gulls and a Spotted Redshank.

“Wasn’t out long really. All in all that would’ve been an amazing weekend 20 (or even 10) years ago.”

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #8672

Hi Brom,

I think I was that other birder!

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #8671

Hi Eddie,

What I’ve termed ‘the usual stop-over field’ is on the east side of Little Fell Road, south of its junction with Littledale Road (which is also known as Stock-a-Bank). In my experience Whimbrel tend to favour the large second field south of Littledale Road (SD 508 607). It is best viewed from looking down from Little Fell Road, but take care as this road can be busy with passing traffic. Whimbrel many be present at any time of day, but they will disperse to feed in the improved pasture fields across the whole of the Quernmore area. I’ve found late afternoon is a good time for them at this site, though you may need to view the field from a couple of different positions along Little Fell Road as there are several deceptive bumps and hollows that can hide roosting birds. The good news is that the Whimbrel passage tends to peak during the last week of April – so still plenty of time for seeing them.

Pete Crooks

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Golden Ball, Heysham & Morecambe #8221

A check of the Heysham Bird Observatory blog reveals a photo of the same c-r Pale-bellied Brent Goose off Knowlys Road on 25/01/21.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Freehold waxwings #8174

Up to 9 Waxwing and 1 female Blackcap visiting the white berry rowan opposite the front of 50 Rydal Road early afternoon. (The rowan tree is at the bottom of the garden of 90 Windermere Road.)

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Colour-ringed Cormorant & Common Scoter #8127

Richard du Feu has informed me that its the first Dutch ringed Cormorant seen in Lancashire.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Green Sandpiper #8109

I think the area that Gar is referring to is roughly at Grid Reference SD 516 794.

Pye’s Bridge Lane is the minor road heading NE off the A6 at Hale (just south of Beetham). It goes over the railway (west coast mainline) at Pye’s Bridge and joins the B6384 NW of Holme.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Need advice on birdwatching binocular! #7642

Well spotted Andrew, though your comment prompted me to read her profile on Wikipedia, where I learnt that she is Dutch not Danish!

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Need advice on birdwatching binocular! #7640

Leighton Moss hold monthly binocular & telescope demonstrations where you can compare different models and find something to suit your budget. Try phoning Leighton Moss to ask when the next event is. I’m not sure about night vision optics though.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #7408

I received the following from Tony Cross of the Mid Wales Ringing Group about the colour-ringed Whimbrel:

“Yes, definitely one of ours but I’m afraid we have ringed over 500 in the past 14 or so years and they nearly all have the same colour combination so without the 3 digit code I’m afraid there isn’t a lot else I can tell you other than that it was ringed in Wales, probably near Aberaeron.”

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #7393

After Ian Hartley saw 75 Whimbrel in the usual field at 9.00 am, I had a check this lunchtime and saw 73 at 12.30 pm (though some may have been out of slight beyond the break of slope at the far side of the field). The group included a colour-ringed bird – a yellow ring with a 2 or 3 character code (too distant to read) on its right tibia and a green ring on its left tibia.

Also: 2 Wheatear (male and female).

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Whimbrel – Quernmore #7388

33 Whimbrel in the same field as above at 1.40 pm today, with 37 there at 3.40 pm.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Foulshaw & Fell End #7230

Four different Ospreys have visited the Foulshaw Moss nest in the past week – as revealed by the nest camera images on the ‘Foulshaw Ospreys’ Twitter page:

White YW (right leg) – the regular male – arrived on 27/3
Unringed female – joined White YW at the nest on 27/3 (and 28/3 ?)
Blue CE (left leg) – hatched in Easter Ross, Scotland in 2009 – joined White YW at the nest on 28/3 and 29/3
Blue 35 (right leg) – the regular female – arrived on 31/3

White YW and Blue 35 are now back together for their tenth successive year.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Lesser white-fronted goose #7191

The adult Lesser White-fronted Goose was originally with 170 Pink-footed Geese in the roadside field just by the southernmost pool at Barrow Scout – directly below the Crag Road viewpoint from 11.55 am, until the goose flock was flushed by a passing motorbike at c.12.45 pm. Comparisons of photos showing the pattern of blackish feathering on the belly of this bird and the one seen recently at Moss Lane, Thurnham confirm that they are the same bird.

Also from the Crag Road viewpoint:
12 Avocet – on The Flood
c.740 Black-tailed Godwit – on Eric Morecambe Pool South
1 Great Crested Grebe – on the Allen Pool (I cannot recall seeing one here before)

Earlier a visit to Foulshaw Moss failed to produce any Osprey, though the noticeboard stated that one – a passage bird ? – was seen there on 23rd March. Great views of 2 Water Rails feeding beneath the bird feeders at the start of the boardwalk. Also: 2 Stonechat on the moss, with 1 male Lesser Redpoll, 1 female Siskin and 6 Tree Sparrow on the bird feeders by the car park.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Large flock of Pink Footed Geese, Thurnham #7077

The Moss Lane / Jeremy Lane area currently offers the best birding experience in north Lancashire. I spent about 40 minutes checking through the c.4000 Pink-footed Geese in fields south of Moss Lane late this afternoon and saw:
1 adult Lesser White-fronted Goose – of ‘unknown origin’
8 Russian White-fronted Geese – groups of 5 and 3 (up to 12 have been seen in recent days)
8 Barnacle Geese – in a single group among the Pink-feet

Also: 1 adult Mediterranean Gull among Black-headed and Common Gulls following a ‘muck spreading tractor’, with a different adult in the same area last Friday.

Also seen in recent days by various different observers:
3 Tundra Bean Geese
1 Greenland White-fronted Goose
Up to 8 adult Bewick’s Swan
450+ Whooper Swan

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Conder & Thurnham #7021

8 adult Bewick’s Swan south of Gardner’s Farm, Moss Lane – two groups of 4 adults among two separate flocks of Whooper Swan.

1 Greenshank, 185 Black-tailed Godwit in the Cocker Channel off Bank Houses, Cockersand

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Leighton Moss #6997

Barrow Scout Fields – 17 Pochard (14 males, 3 females)

Level crossing fields – 1 1st winter Russian White-fronted Goose among mixed flock of Greylag and Pink-footed Geese

Lilian’s Hide, Leighton Moss – female Ring-necked Duck
54 Tufted Duck
13 Goldeneye (2 males, 11 females)

Skytower – 3 Marsh Harrier (male displaying to 2 females over reedbed between Lilian’s and Grisedale Hides)
1 Great White Egret (near Grisedale Hide, but visible from Skytower)
4 Fieldfare

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Willow Lane Bean Goose #6904

‘Into the sun’ views of the Tundra Bean Goose looking south from Willow Lane at 12 noon.

Good views of 2 adult Russian White-fronted Geese with c.2000 Pink-footed Geese in the fields by the cycle-track south-west of Freeman’s Pools mid-afternoon.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Aldcliffe geese #6826

Yes, presumably the same birds. Although they were among a large mixed flock of Pink-footed Geese and Greylag Geese while at Aldcliffe, on at least one occasion they flew off on their own – then later few back to rejoin the other geese.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Grey Phalarope – Heysham Harbour #6414

The Grey Phalarope was still present in the harbour this morning and showing rather distantly from the south harbour wall.

11 Mediterranean Gull (9 adults, 1 2nd W, 1 1st W) between the outfalls and Red Nab

230 Grey Plover off Potts Corner on the rising tide, but nothing of note among the Dunlin flock.

Pete C

[Pete Crooks]

in reply to: Scaup #6097

Hi Brian,

I think the two birds in your photo are both female Tufted Duck.

Pete Crooks

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