Negatives.
It's rare that I use the word negative to describe any of my birding, but a session in the Lune Valley turned out to be the most negative experience for me in ages.
At Bull Beck where I had hoped to find Little Ringed Plover and the more guaranteed Sand Martin. I found neither, despite the date being a week later than the 'good number' of Sand Martin seen at the breeding colony last year.
Positive compensation was a Kingfisher whizzing past me downstream, a Common Sandpiper and a Goosander hauled out on the shingle. Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler seen from the footpath.
A wander down the River Wenning west from Hornby, then north-east upstream by the side of the River Lune to Lloyn Bridge, was an even bigger disaster than Bull Beck. I made notes of Willow Warbler, a Goosander on the river, and 5 Orange Tip.
Although I saw perhaps 30 Sand Martin milling around over the river, I saw the remnants of what was a thriving Sand Martin colony for as long as I can remember on the opposite bank on the River Lune. The area is now boulders and grassland. A little further downstream there is plant machinery, and an area marked as a tarn on the OS map known as The Snab is now a skeleton of what it was and has been drained, with not a bird in sight.
For the time being, I'll make no further comment until I know the facts. Meanwhile question....what's going on here!
Positives.
I'm grateful to Howard Stockdale for the excellent header image of the stunning adult Mediterranean Gull in breeding plumage on Conder Pool Friday morning. A bird currently at the head of a list of 'goodies' on Conder Pool in recent weeks, making it the top birding spot on the Lune Estuary including....
Avocet peak count of 19 on 5 April, and one seen with yellow flag 63, was one of last years young. Per Ian Hartley.
Short-eared Owl
Little Gull
Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Little Ringed Plover 4
Water Pipit
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Ruff
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Barnacle Goose
So what's next on Conder Pool.
Well, the Common Terns return is imminent, but what will they think of the something like 20 pairs of Black-headed Gull thinking of nesting there....No room at the inn!