Divers to Geese
| Red throated Diver | Occasionally seen from Potts Corner on very high tides. |
| Black-throated Diver* | Just one record of a tide line corpse. |
| Great Crested Grebe | Small numbers are seen intermittently on the Lune Estuary in early autumn, occasional in summer. |
| Little Grebe | Two known records from the Lune Estuary. One held territory at Baxter's Pool, spring '97. May breed in future years. Three together Oct. '98. |
| Manx Shearwater | Ten birds during a short high tide seawatch on 12/7/98. There were un-seasonally stormy conditions at the time and numbers here reflected counts in other parts of the bay. It is presumed that similar conditions during mid summer would produce more birds. |
| Leach's Petrel* | Strong SW-W winds in Sept./Oct. have been known to blow Leach's Petrel into the estuary. Anyone wanting to see this species, however, would be much better advised to watch from the North Harbour wall at Heysham in similar conditions. |
| Cormorant | Can be seen any time of the year but flocks of twenty plus seen most Septembers. |
| Shag | A tideline corpse found during a WeBS count on 8/11/98, following severe storms, is the only record. |
| Grey Heron | Always present but small groups gather at the weir on the River Lune in early autumn. |
| Little Egret* | One seen from Sunderland, 7/5/96. One present mid August '99 for two days. |
| Spoonbill* | One record, 15/6/96 |
| Mute Swan | Small groups are sometimes seen on the river or adjacent pools, including some colour ringed individuals. Record count was 40 birds from Sunderland car park on 5/7/98. Please forward any ring no's to the NW swan ringing group. (See Links). Bred for the first time at Baxter's pool, summer '98, successfully raising six young. 15 on Bowie Pool August '99. |
| Bewick Swan | Scarce passage migrant. 33 heading north in march '95 was exceptional. |
| Whooper Swan | Regular late autumn passage migrant. Usually in small numbers. |
| Pink Footed Goose | A common feature of spring and autumn visible migration. Winter flocks of 1000+ can sometimes be seen moving between feeding areas. |
| White-fronted Goose* | 19 birds of the Greenland race, seen in foggy conditions on Sunderland Point saltmarsh on March 11th '81 is the largest flock recorded in Lancashire and is still the only known record for the area. |
| Greylag Goose | There are a few records of individuals or pairs in spring. Generally scarce. |
| Barnacle Goose* | Scarce autumn passage migrant over Middleton Sands. |
| Canada Goose | Seldom seen. 50 on the estuary June '96 was exceptional. Two recent records from the Bowie Pool. |
| Brent Goose | Scarce. Sometimes frequents the southern tip of Middleton saltmarsh in the early winter period. Also seen occasionally on Sunderland saltmarsh. |
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