Unkindness thrills

A good couple of hours trawl around the parish this evening.

An amazing sight of a flock of 10 ravens were over the fields and marsh, eventually heading across the river toward Heaton. Quite unprecedented.
A couple of single ravens were seen later but may have been part of this original group, which presumably contained the local breeding birds.

The regular green sandpiper was at its favoured haunt on the upper pools at Freeman's while a couple of little ringed plover were also nearby.

A further 4 green sandpiper were at the Wildfowlers' Pools, though nothing else there of note.

I couldn't find anything interesting amongst the building gull flocks on the Lune - surely there must be a Med around somewhere?
3 eider and couple of common sandpiper were seen.

One adult and 2 juv kestrels were again in the dead trees by the 'owl' field.

Ravens rave on

A post-work trawl today had me arriving at Freeman's Pools just before 6pm.

A 'new' drake teal was present - which reminds me, I forgot to mention the 2 drake tufted ducks that were there on Friday.
Also, the successful coot pair have finished building a new nest. It would appear they are feeling confident enough to squeeze another brood out.
Otherwise, all was pretty quiet really.

Single LR plover & green sandpiper were on the shallow pools, seen from the western viewpoint.
A couple of newly emerged common darter were here too.

A kestrel and sparrowhawk were engaged in something of a dog-fight by Frog Pond, much to the annoyance of the local swallows.

The party of 6 raven were initially above the trigg-point hill, then seemed to be everywhere I went in ones and twos - unless there are more in the parish than I thought!

There was nothing seen at the Wildfowlers' Pools.

A group of 20 lapwing were by The Mud (formerly known as The Flood).

Ruddy heck!

Had a most unexpected Aldcliffe 'tick' (if indeed such things are tickable) late afternoon as a pair of ruddy shelduck flew down the Lune heading toward the Conder just after 5pm.
While mid-summer influxes of this species are well documented, I'm a bit sceptical about their provenance... I haven't even ticked the group of 7 or 8 I saw on the Hayle during the big influx in 1994 and it remains off from my British list. Having seen loads abroad I don't mind keeping it that way!

Other wildfowl news was more 'valuable', evidence of successful breeding was again implied by an adult female eider on the Lune, off Colloway, with 2 juvs - another 2 juvs were further down river.
Shelduck don't seem to have done overly well - a few juvs were seen, though nowhere near as many as used to be the case 10 years or so ago.

Single green sandpipers were at both the Wildowlers' Pools and Freeman's Pools with 2 juv LR plovers also at the latter site.
2 common sandpiper were on the river.

Up to 5 ravens were honking around and a couple of kestrels were busy hunting.

A couple of weasels were along the cycle track near the Low Wood paddocks.

Still amazing numbers of painted lady caterpillars around (see pics above) - this place is going to be absolutely filled with butterflies in a few weeks assuming all goes well...

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'pillars of the community

The big feature today was the amazing number of what I think were painted lady caterpillars - in their thousands. There were hundreds on the cycle track itself (including many squashed ones) between Freeman's Wood and Darter Pool.

Other than that spectacle, there was a single green sandpiper on the Wildfowlers' Pools and a further 4 on the island at Freeman's Pools.
An adult LR plover was also on the upper pools - as viewed from the western viewpoint.

Thank Freeman's it's Friday

Quick visit after work, an emperor dragonfly was hunting around the main Freeman's Pool.
I bumped into Guy who was at the western viewpoint where there were two green sandpiper and a little ringed plover.
Other than a near-biblical abundance of froglets on the cycle track there was little else to be seen, though great views of a kestrel catching a vole impressed Guy and myself no end!
A red admiral was by the Wildfowlers' Pools and loads of meadow browns were by F Pools.

Emperor strikes back

Enjoyed a gentle, late evening wander with Jenny through Fairfield Orchard, via Aldcliffe village and along the cycle track down to Freeman's Wood and up to Willow Lane.

An adult GS woodpecker was being followed around by two juvs in the Admiralty Wood where there was also a jay.

2 green sandpiper were visible from the gate overlooking the Wildowlers' Pools.

An emperor dragonfly, my first of the year, was on Darter Pool (still flying at 9pm).

Wader washout

Not a green sandpiper nor little ringed plover to be seen anywhere this evening. Have they all moved on or merely been disturbed to a temporary site?

There wasn't really much of anything, the highlight being a kingfisher which flew onto Freeman's Pools from the Lune. Otherwise, the mallard with her brood of 4 were seen, the original coot pair with their 2 growing young were intact though the new youngster(s) to the other pair were down to just one.
3 sheldcuk, 5 mallard, 3 heron & 7 greylag were on the main pool until Captain Nemo turned up again in his wetsuit and engaged in some Olympic training.
Maybe he's the Eddy the Eagle Edwards of his generation?
Freddy The Frogbotherer Freeman, perhaps...

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