The birding was so quiet at Lane Ends and Pilling Water this morning that I barely opened my notebook, and it took a text message from SP to liven up the morning somewhat. I’d done the sea wall walk from the car park and then back but recorded not much, the recent finch flocks reduced to single digit counts; 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 7 Linnet, 4 Skylark, 6 Goldfinch, 10 Pied Wagtail, 1 Greenfinch, a handful of hirundines and 7 Grey Heron. Unlike the grey variety, the Little Egrets of recent days are now absent, but if they are post-breeding dispersals from the Bangor, North Wales colony as seems likely, the mystery remains of their more local movements.
Whilst heading back from Pilling Water I remembered to switch on the Nokia; lucky I did as a message told of a brood of Ringed Plover chicks at Plover Scar, Cockersands - well if there aren’t plovers at the aptly named Plover Scar there must be something wrong. But two heads and certainly two pairs of eyes and binoculars are better than one when searching for Ringed Plover chicks against the adult’s distraction techniques and the fast running youngsters. After one false start SP and I found the three chicks, just a couple of days old but well capable of leaving us behind in a sprint across the rough shingle. This is a good breeding record for the Cockersands area and whilst the shore is more than suitable for breeding Ringed Plovers, the overall daily disturbance probably limits the species success here in too many years.
Also out on the scar were 5 other Ringed Plover, c40 Golden Plover, 8 Whimbrel, 15 Oystercatcher and 2 Wheatear.
I was back home in time to hear the pitter-patter of tiny raindrops on the conservatory roof. Time to grab Brownie Points, then catch up on IPMR and a few ringing records.
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