Perhaps the Avocets will try
again next year, the peak number of adults i.e (41) suggests there
were plenty of passage birds in the Spring. I will publish another
webpage in 2011!
25th August:- Well the Pools
have been flooded by several 10 metre plus tides now but very few
waders have taken advantage of the situation! I
think there may have been eggs laid this year but the abundance
of predators made
breeding impossible!!! The same thing happened to the BH
Gull Colony earlier in the year ( they just decamped to Leighton
Moss).
16th July:- The high tides have
now gone and left the Allen Pool flooded with water, however the
EM Pool is still dry. This is by design as the Islands on the EM
Pool
are
to be reconstructed using Mechanical Diggers in the next few weeks
to provide more Nesting spaces! The reconstruction
job has been postponed till next year.
21st June:- At Martin Mere the
first Avocet Chick fledged today! There does not seem to be any
hope of a similar event at LM (there is no water).
9th June:- One Avocet on the
Allen Pool (LM Log). This is the only Saltmarsh Pool with any water
now (It seem unlikely that the remaining water will survive to
the next 10m plus tide)!
4th June:- 9.30am, One Avocet
on The Allen Pool. Is this one of yesterday's birds or a third
bird? Plus Ten Little Egrets.
3rd June:- 10.15am, Two Avocets
on The Allen Pool. Probably the same Two seen on the 30th May,
I could not find them at 2pm!
30th May:- Two Avocets
seen briefly at 10.30am by A.N Other. They were not there at 12pm!
They are probably
feeding in the Saltmarsh Gulleys and roosting on the Allen Pool.
29th May:- 2pm, Two Avocets on
The Allen Pool, both birds sleeping!
27th May:- 9.30am, Yet again
the Avocets have departed ( I know not where), and so has most
of the water in the EM, Flood and Allen Pools. The next 10 metre
plus
tide
is in the middle of July when there may? be some relief of the
Drought!
26th May:- A day away in The
Trough of Bowland.
25th May:- 8.30am, Two Avocets
on The Allen Pool accompanied by non breeding BH Gulls and Shelducks.
Breeding Avocets at (this site) seem very unlikely at the moment!
24th May:- 1.30pm, Three Avocets
on The Allen Pool, (seen from the viewpoint). I'm not going down
to the Hides due to the extreme heat! There may be more, perhaps
it will be cooler tomorrow?
23rd May:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers However John
Wilson saw Six Avocets on the EM pools.
22nd May:- 9am, Six Avocets
on The Allen Pool! Good to see, But where
have they been and why have
there been no reports of Avocets in the Morecambe Bay Area since
13th May???
21st May:- 8am, Two Avocets
on the EM Pool. This Pool has almost dried up due to lack of rain
and
no sufficiently high Tides!
20th May:- 10.30am, Two Avocets
on The Allen Pool, both feeding well. However I could not find them
at 1.30pm! Meanwhile at Martin Mere on the 16th they have Avocet
Chicks,
see link.
19th May:- A day away on The
Fylde, however I was told that there were Two Avocets
on The EM Pool today!
13th May:- 9am, The Cows
have arrived and have churned up The Allen pool and frightened off
most
of the birds. The Electric Fence appears to have failed! 1.30pm,
The Farmer had rounded up the miscrient Cows and put them on The
Salt Marsh.
12th May:- A day away on The
Fylde.
11th May:- 8.30am, Three Avocets
on the Allen Pool. All the Saltmarsh Pools are drying up rapidly! But
there are Twenty Five breeding
pairs at Martin Mere.
10th May:- 9am, Two Avocets
on The Allen Pool and a Farmer on The Saltmarsh. Looks like there
will be
Cows on the Marsh soon!
9th May:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers
8th May:- 9.am, Four Avocets
on The Allen Pool. Looks like a pair and Two singles.
7th May:- 9.00 to 10.00am, No
Avocets on any of the pools, I will
continue with this if and when there are more sightings.
6th May:- 9.30 to 10.30am. 9.45am, One Avocet
on The Allen pool. 10am, Another Avocet flew in from the Flood direction.
The Two birds then
avoided each other and when they did meet there was a
fight! 2pm, Both birds now seem to be friendly (they both looked
like males). The Pools are rapidly drying up, the little rain we
have had seems to have had no effect
5th May:- One Avocet on the Allen
Pool (LM Log).
1st May:- 9.30am, No Avocets
on any of the pools, I will continue
with this if and when there are more sightings.
30th April:- 9am, No
Avocets on The Allen pool or any other Pool that I could see! (I
suspect
A Fox) Will "any" Avocets return? Watch
this space.
29th April:- 9.15am, Four Avocets
on the Allen Pool. There seems to be Two Pairs but there is no
definite breeding activity! It looked like there was a sitting bird
on the
27th but I was mistaken.
28th April:- A day away in The
Craven Dales. Five Avocets seen by LM Staff.
27th April:- 7.45am, Five Avocets
on The Allen Pool. Met a Photographer today who had been in The
Hide since 6am and he had not seen
more than Five Avocets Today! It looks as though there is One Pair
about to start sitting!!! The male is vigorously defending
his mate from the attentions of the single bird (obviously another
male).
26th April:- 12.30pm, Six Avocets
on The Allen Pool. I cannot confirm any Pairs
sitting! JW is seeing
more birds in the evenings which probably means there are Avocets
Feeding
away
and
just
roosting
on
The Pools
25th April:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers
24th April:- 8.30am, Four Avocets
on The Flood plus Four on the Allen
Pool. 12.30pm, Two Avocets on The Flood plus Eight on the Allen
Pool. I am almost certain there is One sitting Pair! I will try
to verify this on the 26th.
23rd April:- A day away in the
Kent Valley.
22nd April:- 11am, Eleven Avocets
on The Allen Pool. No definite breeding sites!
21st April:- 1.45pm, Ten Avocets
on The Allen Pool, Twelve were seen earlier in the day (LM Log).
No definite breeding sites. (There were Five
breeding Pairs on the 12th April last year)!
20th April:- 8.15am, Twelve Avocets
on The Allen Pool, One Pair feeding the remainder in a tight group
doing nothing!
19th April:- 10am, Eighteen Avocets
on The Allen Pool. Where have all the Avocets Gone?
18th April:- 8.30am, Four Avocets
on The EM Pool plus Seventeen on the
Allen Pool. The Total was the same at 12.30pm! Twenty
Avocets appear to be missing? perhaps they were just passing
through but if so there have been no reports of this number of
birds in the
area (there has been a sighting of Two Avocets
in the Sunderland Point area).
17th April:- 9am, Twenty
One Avocets on the EM Pool plus Two on
the Allen Pool. The Allen Pool was almost devoid of
birds today, somebody or something seems to have frightened the
birds off! There seemed to
be many birds feeding elsewhere today!!
16th April:- 1.30pm, Four Avocets
on The Flood plus Two on the EM Pool
plus Twenty on the Allen Pool. Poor
viewing conditions due to the strong sunlight! There seemed to
be many birds feeding elsewhere today!
15th April:- 9am, Thirty
Two Avocvets on the EM Pool plus Four on
The Flood. The birds had obviously been disturbed (probably the
Peregrine that was perched on a Fence nearby)! There was no sign
of any birds
sitting. John Wilson again saw Forty One Avocets today!
14th April:- 1.15pm, Twenty Avocets
on the Allen Pool plus Thirteen on
the EM Pool. There appears to be Two Pair sitting? I can't be sure
just with One sighting (I will
look again tomorrow)!
13th April:- 7.15am, Eight Avocets
on The Flood plus Eight Avocets on
the EM Pool plus Fifteen Avocets
on The Allen Pool. It looks like there are several birds feeding
elsewhere, perhaps on the nearby estuaries!
12th April:- 9.45am, Fifteen Avocets
on The Flood plus Fifteen on The EM
Pool plus Three on The
Allen Pool. Leighton Moss staff have been working in the vicinity
of The Allen Pool and have frightened most of the birds away! On
the Tenth it looked like there were Six Pairs about to breed but
there are no definite sitting birds as yet! (In
the Evening John Wilson saw Forty One Avocets coming in to roost)
a Record Count!
11th April:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers
10th April:- 8.30 to 9.30am, Nineteen Avocets
on the Allen Pool plus Six on the EM
Pool plus Six on the Flood.
9th April:- 7.30am, Ten Avocets
on the Allen Pool plus Five on the
EM Pool plus Seven on The Flood. Two
pair were showing interest in nesting sites!
8th April:- 9.20am, Twelve Avocets
on the EM Pool plus Seven on the Allen
Pool. Looks like a substantial influx at last. The birds are very
mobile and the count is only for this time and day. Are there
more Avocets in the area???
7th April:- 1.30pm, Ten Avocets
on the Allen Pool. All the birds are feeding today, warmer weather.
At least Two Pairs, but I'm not sure how many others will arise
from the scrum!
6th April:- 9am, Seven Avocets
on the Allen Pool. Very cold and windy, more like Winter than Spring.
John Wilson saw Two Pairs mating yesterday!
5th April:- 10 45am, Eight Avocets
on the Allen Pool; 11.10am, all the birds had flown to the EM Pool
and were sheltering from the strong winds!
4th April:- 7 40am, Six Avocets
on the EM Pool. Seven Avocets on the Lune estuary at Glasson Dock
(Birdguides), at last there seems to be a
significant increase in numbers!
3rd April:- 9.30am, One Avocet
flew over from the EM Pool to the Allen Pool, it was still there
at 1.30pm.
2nd April:- 9am, One Avocet on
the Allen Pool. Two Avocets seen earlier by John Wilson. Will the
wanderers ever return???
1st April:- 9.45, Two Avocets
on the Allen Pool. All the pools have a raised water level and the
Salt
Marsh is badly flooded.
31st March:- A day away setting
up my new Computer!
30th March:- 9am, Four Avocets
on the Allen Pool plus Three on the EM pool. John Wilson saw a
total of Eight Avocets earlier! The Saltmarsh is flooded and is likely
to be so again today (10.35 metres Tide). The Avocets are still
very
flighty so are dificult to count, there may possibly be more in
the area!
29th March:- Rain-Rain-Rain
28th March:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers
27th March:- 12pm, Only Three
Avocets on the Allen pool???
26th March:- A day away in the
Kent Valley.
25th March:- 11am, Seven Avocets
on the Allen Pool, however John Wilson saw Ten Avocets on the EM
pool earlier in the day!
24th March:- 1.45pm, Six Avocets
on the Allen Pool
23rd March:- A day away on the
Lake District Silurians, However while I was away a Female
Marsh Harrier turned up at Leighton Moss (Birdguides).
22nd March:- 10.30am, Six Avocets
on the Allen Pool, they seem to spend most of the time feeding. A
record number of Ninety Five Avocets at Martin Mere today! The
Marshside sightings page is out of date (the most recent sighting
is the 7th of
March)!
21st March:- 10am, Two Avocets
on the Allen Pool plus Four Avocets on the EM Pool. Where have
the four returning birds been since the 11th of March???
2th March:- 12pm, Two Avocets
on the Allen Pool, perhaps they are Commuting.
19th March:- 11.30am, Four Avocets
on the Allen Pool.
17th March:- Three Avocets on
the EM Pool (LM Logbook)
14th March:- A day away with Lancaster
Fellwalkers , however Two Avocets reported
on the EM Pool (LDBWS website)!
13th March:- 9am, One Avocet
on the Allen Pool. The Avocets in this area don't seem to have
settled down yet and the situation is in flux! However 50 Avocets
at Marshside
and 22 at Martin Mere. (Birdguides)
12th March:- 10am, No Avocets
found, 1pm again no Avocets, very few birds on the pools. Were
the Six Avocets yesterday on passage? If so were have they gone???? Two
Avocets at Heysham, Off Ocean edge Caravan Park (Birdguides)
11th March:- 10am, Six Avocets
on the Allen Pool, they later flew to to the EM Pool but had returned
to the Allen Pool by 1pm. There seemed to be much socialising among
the group when first seen on the Allen Pool, otherwise the group
concentrated on feeding!
10th March:- 1.30pm, Again no
Avocets in sight and very few birds of any sort, about
Forty birds in total on all the pools.
9th March:- 8.30 to 9am, No Avocets
on any of the pools, 2.30pm still no Avocets. Small pools on the
Saltmarsh searched no Avocets found.
8th March:- 11.25am, No
Avocets in view, only Twelve Ducks on all the Pools! The
Electric Fence to keep the Cows from the Nesting sites is being
erected! As in previous years nobody was told this was about
to happen!!!
7th March:- 9am, Two
Avocets on the EM Pool. 3.30pm Two Avocets on the
Allen Pool. Fifty Two Avocets at Marshside (RBA)
some of these birds will probably arrive at
Leighton Moss!
6th March:- 9am, One Avocet on
the Allen Pool, still present at 4pm.
5th March:- 8.15am, One Avocet
on The Flood, still present at 3pm. The bird was in the right hand
bottom corner of The Flood as seen from Crag Road (Probabably
not visible from the EM Hide)!
4th March:- 9am,
One Avocet on 'The Flood'.
Not found at 1.30pm but recent tidal flooding of the Saltmarsh means
there is a huge area of suitable feeding
areas!
28th February:- Twenty One Avocets
at Martin Mere, no reports from Marshside (there are probably more
Avocets there).
27th February:- Fourteen Avocets
at Martin Mere. (This is a significant influx)! (R. B. A.)
26th February:- Four Avocets
seen Briefly at Martin Mere. (Martin Mere sightings Page)
24th February:- Two Avocets at
Martin Mere plus? One at Marshside. Two reports at different times,
could be the same Two birds Commuting between the two Sites! (R.
B. A.)
21st February:- Two Avocets at
Marshside, from Sandgrounders Hide (Rare Bird Alert). A movement
north?
2nd January:- One Avocet reported
on Preesall Marsh opposite Coniston Avenue! There have been reports
of a single Avocet in the Cockersands area on the 31st October,
11/12/15th November and 2nd December 2009. An over wintering bird???