Wednesday, December 11, 2013

The Lake District.

I bypassed Pilling this morning and made my way north to a local lake. Not quite “The Lakes” with the daffodils made famous by William Wordsworth, more the erstwhile pool at Conder Green now transformed to a deep-water lagoon by recent storm driven high tides. 

Piles of duck scattered across the water and some familiar waders in the roadside creek whereby my combined counts came to 190 Teal, 55 Wigeon, 7 Goldeneye, 7 Little Grebe, 3 Snipe, 2 Spotted Redshank, 8 Curlew, 4 Lapwing 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 1 Cormorant, 1 Canada Goose and 1 Little Egret. That’s quite a list and the old pool doesn’t disappoint, the only bird missing today being the Kingfisher. 

It’s a pretty awful picture of a Spotted Redshank, the Curlew slightly better. 

Curlew

Spotted Redshank

I walked the old railway path to Glasson Dock and for my troubles found a few passerines, not the least of which was a single Fieldfare, a scarce beast of late. The Fieldfare was feeding in the hawthorns with a few Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, 2 Reed Bunting and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

 Dunnock

There was a female Sparrowhawk over the marsh carrying quite large prey that may have been a Snipe, the hawk eventually flying into some dense trees to finish the meal. 

The rising sun made for hard work sorting the ducks against the bright light so I went around the other side of the yacht basin to examine the wildfowl on the expanse of calm water: 70 Tufted Duck, 45 Coot, 5 Goldeneye, 1 Pochard, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail. 

Glasson Dock

Tufted Duck

 Goldeneye

The view from the east made for a scenic photograph. It was so picturesque I sat down and rattled off a painting. If only! 

Glasson Dock

Glasson Dock - Painting

Grey Heron

I stopped off at Pilling to see 200+ Curlews in fields near Lane Ends and just a few fields away, 450 Pink-footed Geese. I gave the geese a good grilling but couldn’t find anything out of the rather ordinary so headed off home, job done. 

Pink-footed Geese

By the way, and for those readers who asked about the painted sheep in my last post. Local farmers mark their sheep with a series of colours so that they can later identify their own animals should the thousands of them become mixed up with an adjoining flock by wandering over field or marsh boundaries. 

There’s been many a fall out over lost sheep, counts that don’t add up, and even accusations of rustling.  Life’s never dull down Pilling Way.

8 comments:

Gordon said...

That's cheating that is phil, you had me going there, I thought you had made it up to our neck of the woods.
And you saw a hell of a lot more than me this morning.
All the best Gordon.

Sonja said...

I do like that photo of the Dunnock all fluffed up in the early light! You do live in an interesting area.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Nicely done. You write well.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Oh My what did I miss, I will have to take a look-see.
Glasson Dock sure is a beautiful spot...love the lighting in the painting!
You made some nice rounds this day and your images are good pay for your efforts as always...very well done!

eileeninmd said...

Another great outing, Phil! The Curlew is one of my favorites. The scenery and sunlight looks gorgeous. Wonderful sightings and photos. Happy Birding!

EG CameraGirl said...

I'm jealous that you see so many different birds when you go out looking for them. I'm seeing mostly Canada geese and mallards these days and would LOVE to see a variety such as you found here.

Russell Jenkins said...

I'm sure you'll get a partridge in a pear tree by Christmas, Phil. Nothing escapes you. Wonderful post fat with superb pictures and love the painting.

Esther Joy said...

Beautiful spot, and gorgeous shots! Looks like a place for an artist to bring out their brush! ...Or do as you did, and just capture it splendidly on camera!

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