Out and about

It's a great time to be out and about on local farmland. Oystercatchers and shelduck are on the move and likely to be seen anywhere and farmland birds are at their most active, with lapwings already displaying. Today I was in north Lancashire and I came across flocks of 28 whooper swans, 45 shelduck, 30 black-tailed godwits and 20 curlew, all in the same flooded field. A few fields away I found my first green sandpiper of the year on the edge of a flood in the middle of a field, and in the next field I startled a pair of shoveler on a hidden pond, whilst a woodcock flew up from under a hedge as I approached. A noisy flock of tree sparrows chased each other near some farm buildings.

Shoveler

Teal

Lapwing, black-tailed godwits and curlew.