Halton & Caton & Glasson

Yellow-legged Gull, Glasson

YLG with escort flock of Golden Plovers!

It's checking to see if it still has a bar on P5!

Spotted Redshanks, Glasson

Distant adult Med Gull, Glasson

Small Tortoiseshell, Halton

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Quiet weekend. I had a calling Tawny Owl in the tree next to the van at COL HP on Friday night. Both Saturday and Sunday morning were spent a) lying in bed as long as possible and b) walking along the Lune at Halton Mills Weir with Karen and Billy. On both days a pair of Dipper and at least four Grey Wagtails, a couple of Goosanders and a Kingfisher were present. The budleia along the bank of the river were full of Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and Peacocks plus some Large Whites. To be fair we spent most of the time staring at the river and watching the fish jumping - trying to see the biggest one. I saw a trout which I would guess would have been 4-5lb.

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Over the HP at least 4 Buzzards were soaring on both days - yesterday a Kestrel was also resident. The feeders were generally ignored yesterday - today a large tit flock moved through and produced a brief blizzard of activity as the birds took advantage of the food. Around 15+ Blue Tits plus 7-8 Great Tits, 5 Coal Tits and a Nuthatch with a single Siskin also seen.

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This afternoon I dragged myself out for a couple of hours late afternoon. Conder Creek had a few Redshanks and 2 Ruffs (one still summer plumaged) - I also had a brief glance on a small wader on the pool which interested me - unfortunately it disappeared. At Glasson virtually the first thing I saw was a different adult Yellow-legged Gull and one that posed reasonably close and in good light for a change. Around 102 Golden Plovers were on the mud flats and I found a distant adult Med Gull with the BHG's. The Redshanks were all roosting on a rocky bar - at least 5 Spotted Redshanks were present with them.

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I met a nice lady from Blackburn Bird Club who had been watching a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper with the Dunlins - it had dropped underneath the near bank shortly before I arrived. I set to waiting for it to reappear when all the birds on the estuary went up. Shortly after we were treated to superb views of an adult Peregrine straight over our heads. The Dunlins evenutally settled back down, however before I could pin down the Curlew Sandpiper three blokes went out into the channel cockle picking (or something) and flushed all the waders. The lot flew straight out of the estuary. Bloody marvellous. And with that I went home.