It’s Not All Rubbish

At last the builders have gone. I swept the final dust from the driveway and set off north through Pilling village in the direction of Conder Green and Glasson Dock. 

Rubbish

There were no Barn Owls this morning but compensation came along Head Dyke Lane with a Blackcap in song and a roadside Kestrel atop a telegraph pole. At Braides Farm behind the sea wall and distant from the road was another Kestrel, this one taking exception to and then dive bombing a Buzzard generally minding its own business on a nearby fence. 

Kestrel

Damn. There was a wagon running its loud engine and parked up in the layby at Conder Green. As if this wasn’t bad enough the driver was having a wander both across and up and down the road to stretch his legs, all the while oblivious to birds scattering left, right and centre from the pool and the creeks. 

Adopting Plan B I drove the half a mile to Glasson Dock where a Common Sandpiper was busily feeding along the edge of the path which skirts the yacht basin. An unusual sighting here as there aren’t really muddy margins for wading birds. 

Common Sandpiper

There was a Common Tern searching the yacht basin and the dock for food. I watched it catch a fish and head off towards Conder Green - shades of 2014 when the male of the pair nesting at Conder Green regularly fished the same circuit to feed his mate half-a-mile away. Otherwise both the dock and the yacht basin seemed very quiet with just the regular Swallows, Mallards and Coot near the water and small numbers of Swift and House Martin overhead. 

 Coot

The canal towpath proved fruitful birding by way of 2 singing Blackcap, a singing Chiffchaff, a Song Thrush in loud voice, and several Reed Bunting flitting about the vegetation. Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers fed recent fledglings which hid in the reeds and umbelliferae which grow in profusion along the margins of the canal. Try as I might the little blighters wouldn’t cooperate. 

Reed Warbler

Conder Green was quiet again, the errant driver gone to create havoc elsewhere. Not many birds had returned although to be fair to our driver friend the pool has been rather devoid of birds and excitement all spring and summer except for the still resident Common Terns. Redshank and Lapwing numbers were quite healthy with 80+ and 30+ respectively, 10 Curlew, 15 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Sandpiper, and 2 Greenshank. Early July and the Greenshanks are dead on time as returnee migrants from their breeding sites way north and east of Lancashire. 

Greenshank

Oystercatchers

A walk of the circuit and the railway bridge produced 3 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Reed Bunting, 5 Whitethroat, 7 Greenfinch and 1 Sedge Warbler. 

So the moral of today’s story is that while we all know that mid-summer can be a quiet time for birding, we should also realise that it’s far from rubbish and infinitely better than DIY.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Saturday.