Showing posts with label Knot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knot. Show all posts

Saturday, December 17, 2022

As Cold As Ice

Everyone is talking about the UK's cold weather. I am no exception. I have been marooned indoors  in minus temperatures and icy roads for a week, a now unusual but not unknown sequence of the natural cycles of weather. This is a real old fashioned British winter; when postmen trudged through six feet of snow, milk bottles froze solid to the doorstep and trains came to a halt in snowdrifts, not because of rail strikers.

I have been trapped in our north facing away from major roads cul-de-sac where the sun don't shine and gritters never venture.

Gritter

With plans for ringing and birding literally "on ice" and when standing around invited hypothermia I managed a couple of trips out Pilling way and then Knott End on Sea Ice.

At Pilling where I went to top up the supplementary seed - quick and rough counts of 30 Shelduck, 40 Teal, 50 Mallard, 180 Wigeon, 45 Lapwing, 40 Curlew and 15 or so Redshank. 

Of the small birds I found 10 or more Skylarks and 5 Meadow Pipits braving the elements but nothing else save for Blackbirds, Robins, Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, Dunnocks and a few Blue Tits. All were busy inspecting and devouring our offerings of millet, rape seed, niger and Luxury Picnic Mix. Moorhens, forced off the frozen water, joined in the feast.

Dunnock

Blue Tit
 
On a good bright morning I reckoned to have better luck with the tide and waders at Knott End where the ice and semblance of snow covered the beach, foreshore, walkways and the jetty. It didn’t take long to find a good but not especially numerous selection of waders either roosting or feeding, but I was careful not to disturb them nor venture too far onto the treacherous icy surfaces.

Ringed Plover

Knot, Turnstone

Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone, Knot

Redshank

Turnstone

Knot

Redshank

For the record my counts were 30 Turnstone, 1 Grey Plover, 48 Redshank, 22 Knot, 14 Ringed Plover and 3 Oystercatcher.

A few Shelduck in amongst the ice floes sailed past the end of the jetty, as they looked for food at the tide edges.

Shelduck

Also along the foreshore were the now annual visitors, approximately 45 Twite and a single Rock Pipit.

Twite

I’d spent an hour or more taking pictures and I was pretty much frozen to the core so headed home for a hot drink and a sit down next to a radiator.

It looks like the two week cold snap will end today with a return to the more normal wet and windy for Christmas.

Here's  wishing a Happy Christmas and a Successful 2023 to the many readers of Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni in Texas and Eileen's Saturday.



Friday, December 5, 2014

Birding Friday Fun

Following a spot of bird ringing inland on Wednesday it was good to go birding along the familiar coast today. However the weather wasn’t too friendly with wind and intermittent showers so there’s not a lot to report. 

I started off at Knott End for the incoming tide where the stiff north westerly made for cold hands and shaky optics. A far from complete count gave minima of 18 Eider and a single great Crested Grebe on the incoming tide. On the shore and near the jetty a mix of 1700 Oystercatcher, 700 Dunlin, 290 Redshank, 180 Knot, 145 Bar-tailed Godwit and 42 Turnstone. The jetty hugging Turnstones can be relied upon to provide a few pictures, the other species out on the shore proving much harder to approach. 

Turnstones

Knot

There was a flock of approximately 45 very flighty Twite. The birds were disturbed by a walker and then settled back down in the grassy marsh and out of sight. Two Pied Wagtails, 10 Goldfinch and 1 Rock Pipit also. 

At Damside, Pilling approximately 1800 Pink-footed Geese occupied the same fields they recently adopted. I searched through the scattered flock for the oddities that occur, the best I could find today a rather obvious partly leucistic bird. Leucism which differs from albinism is caused by a reduction in pigment of a bird’s feathers. This particular pinkie seemed to be leucistic on one side of the body only and so much more obvious when facing one way rather than the other. 

Pink-footed Goose

In the same field were approximately 120 Curlew, a couple of Oystercatchers and a single Black-tailed Godwit. 

Black-tailed Godwit

I parked up at Fluke Hall and walked the wood and shore circuit. Through the wood a Nuthatch called and a Jay shrieked off as I interrupted its feeding time. Along the shore, 12+ Little Egrets, 6 Whooper Swan, more Curlews, 140+ Shelduck, a Rock Pipit and a Stoat, Mustela ermine.

The Stoat was in an area where lots of Red-legged Partridge hang around. There’s no doubt a wily Stoat will help itself to more than a few of the shooters’ partridges in the course of the winter months. 

Stoat

The human race often interferes with the natural world without fully studying the possible or likely consequences. In the 19th century, Stoats were introduced into New Zealand to control rabbits but the Stoats had a devastating effect on native bird populations. New Zealand has a high proportion of ground-nesting and flightless birds, due to the long geographical isolation and the lack of natural mammal predators. The introduced Stoats took full advantage of the bounty. 

That’s all for today. Look in soon for more birds, birding and other tales from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Swallows, Knots And Crimbles

The early morning weather was poor, far worse than the forecast, with spells of grey cloud, rain, and worse of all a strong wind. There were however a few interesting sightings and a couple of new photographs to share with blog readers. 

Good numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins were on the move soon after 6am. That may have been induced by overnight storms in other parts of the country, the cool, grey, overcast morning or simply by the normal seasonal urges. Mid-July often signals the beginning of Swallow roosts containing locally bred young together with migrants starting their long southerly journeys. 

After seeing just handfuls of hirundines in the area of Conder Green and Glasson for several weeks, this morning’s increase in numbers was very noticeable. At Conder Green hirundines could be watched arriving from the north-west and flying directly over the pool before continuing south. I skipped the obligatory look on the pool and motored on up to Glasson Dock where Swallows and Sand Martins were feeding over the yacht basin, all the time flying steadily east and south-east towards Conder Green. 

Swallow

It’s hard to put a guesstimate together but perhaps 150 Swallows and 30 Sand Martin. At Glasson it appeared that the Swallows breeding under the road bridge finally have youngsters to show for their efforts with 4 fresh youngsters waiting to be fed while exercising their wings. Those are spots of rain on the youngster’s back, the photo taken at an un-summery ISO800. 

Swallow

Swallow

 Swallow

On the yacht basin a Great Crested Grebe and 5 Tufted Duck, while on the towpath, 3 Pied Wagtail and 2 Grey Wagtail. 

Pied Wagtail

 Grey Wagtail

There are token counts from Conder Green as the strong wind put many waders out of sight in the lee of the island and kept passerines low: 120 Redshank, 26 Lapwing, 6 Curlew, 5 Common Sandpiper, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Little Egret, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Stock Dove. 

Lapwing

A real surprise was finding an adult Knot on the island. The Knot was some 100 yards from the nearest viewing point and hence the poor photo, but good enough to appreciate where the full title of “Red Knot” originates. The Knot is more strictly a winter-grey shore bird found in huge numbers in Morecambe Bay but rarely on a pool such as the one at Conder Green. So unusual is the record that I captured it for posterity. 

 Knot (and Lapwing)

There are still 2 Common Terns, a male and a female. I made some drawings of Common Terns via FotoSketcher by converting the original digital images to sketches. The photos were taken in poor light and not good enough to use as blog photographs but they work quite well in depicting the “jizz”, the aerodynamics and flight postures of a Common Tern. 

Common Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Blog readers from Wednesday will know I set about researching the local place name of Crimbles, part of the Cockerham area. 

Crimbles

It seems the name may be a derivative of very old (1300-1500) North of England words such as “cruma” or “crymel” meaning a small piece, a scrap, a small section of land. Both words also had plural forms. This particular part of land is split north and south by the River Cocker and historically subject to high tide floods from the marshes to the north and west. A description of how the land appeared on a daily basis all those years ago would appear to be the explanation as to how the name of “Crimbles” came about.  

Like I said, Crimbles is nothing to do with Christmas or food, unless of course the word “crumb” comes into play? 

There will be more crumbs of comfort from Another Bird Blog very soon. Book your place now.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and  Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

The Right Decision

The prediction was for a short morning of decent weather followed by a strengthening wind with rain. The forecasters were spot on allowing me a couple of hours birding out Knott End way. By midday the rain had arrived and by 2pm it was time to blog. Remember to "click the pics" below for a light box view.

Readers to Another Bird Blog often comment on the numbers of Oystercatcher I see locally. The shore from Knott End, Preesall, east to Fluke Hall and further east to Cockerham is a traditional roosting area of many years standing. The roost along this relatively small stretch of the coast can peak in the autumn to 7 to 8,000 Oystercatchers and very occasionally 15,000 when the Oystercatcher population is high and full tides concentrate scattered roosts to make counting easier. My regular count of 2/3000 birds at Knott End is but tiny a fraction of the 40,000+ plus Oystercatchers that may winter in Lancashire and the 350,000 wintering population of Britain and Ireland. The Oystercatcher is a very common bird but their numbers can alter markedly if there are dramatic changes in the availability of their main prey, cockles and mussels. 

Oystercatcher

The sandbank roost was of very mixed species this morning with once again Oystercatchers to the fore: 2200 Oystercatcher, 600 Knot, 80 Dunlin, 25 Sanderling, 165 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 140 Redshank, 190 Lapwing, 3 Grey Plover and 14 Turnstone. On the incoming tide, just 4 Eider today, a walk along river failing to find anything other than a Pied Wagtail dodging the golfers marching along the fairway. 

Sand bank roost at Knott End

Oystercatcher

Turnstone and Knot

Knot

Sanderling

Redshank

I thought to try my luck up at Fluke Hall but there was a noisy shoot south of the hall and a recently flailed hedgerow where the waders have been hanging out for many weeks. So nothing to report except 6/8 Skylark, 6 Linnet, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Meadow Pipit and masses of Red-legged Partridge. 

Better luck next time on Another Bird Blog.

By the way, did you know that this weekend The Prime Minister could cut the life from the English countryside? Join the RSPB campaign  to get David Cameron to make the right decision.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday CrittersStewart's World Bird Wednesday, I'd Rather Be Birding and Camera Critters. Take a look there's lots of birds to see.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

What Waxwings?

Everyone is seeing Waxwings at the moment. All except me that is, even though I’ve been looking and listening most days this week and last. The answer could be to go chasing the ones being seen in regular spots miles away but that rather takes the fun, excitement and skill out of finding birds for oneself doesn’t it? No worries, I’ll see a Waxwing or two before the winter’s out, just like last year when I got a few photos near home. 

Bohemian Waxwing

It’s doubtful any Waxwing will be eating out of my hand like they do on Fair Isle. Nice jumper - just the job for winter birding at Knott End. 


I went looking at for Waxwings at Knott End this morning, a little coastal village with a distinct lack of trees bearing red berries, or fruit of any sort really. So I didn’t find any Waxwings, just the similarly shaped Starlings and un-waxwing like Pied Wagtail, Linnet and Goldfinch. The shore does have lots of grey undistinguished, boring waders though: 950 Oystercatcher, 140 Knot, 125 Redshank, 15 Turnstone and 8 Curlew. 

Knot

Turnstone

Couldn’t find any Waxwings out on the moss either, just an early morning movement of 20+ Redwings, 30+ Fieldfares and 4 Lesser Redpoll chattering overhead. Even the nets didn’t turn up a Waxwing, just darned Lottis and Blutis, but a bonus couple of male Reed Buntings. Now there's a real bird in the hand. 

Reed Bunting

Long-tailed Tit

 Another Reed Bunting

There no option really, everyone’s gone Waxwing crazy, so that’s where Another Bird Blog will be on Sunday - looking for Waxwings. Log in later to see more Waxwings or not.

This next week I'm linking to The View From Right Here, and I'd Rather Be Birding so I hope there's some Waxwings.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

More Food For Thought

Readers of Another Bird Blog will know of the intermittent mention of culinary things, bacon butties, fish and chips, even the occasional reference to curry. So dear reader, stay tuned for more gastronomic delights and even a history lesson sandwiched between today’s meagre bird news.

With rubbish forecasts for the next five days I headed into the face of today’s wind at Knott End determined to do a little birding, even though the tide at 0730 was only medium height and the wind too north westerly.

A mass of grey told me of Red Knot huddled together against the biting wind, and it was only when the tide turned that the Knot started to move around a little, before they went for a flying circuit and then settling again. I estimated 1700 of them, with 14 Redshank, 3 Turnstone, a few wind battered Curlew and 18 Shelduck. Out on the distant water I came up with 11 Eider, 4 Cormorant and 9 Red-breasted Merganser. The latter species always appear in the bay as if by magic after a blowy spell.

Knot

Turnstone

John James Audubon, in The Birds of America, began his description of the Knot this way: “The Knot, good reader, is a handsome and interesting species, whether in its spring or in its winter plumage, and provided it be young and fat, is always welcome to the palate of the connoisseur in dainties. As to its habits, however, during the breeding season, I am sorry to inform you that I know nothing at all, for in Labrador whither I went to examine them, I did not find a single individual.” The Knot’s nest went undiscovered to science until June, 1909, when Admiral Peary photographed one in the high arctic after his dash to the North Pole.

But Audubon was a man of his time, and even scientists studied wildlife for their “usefulness” to society - in the Knot’s case, as a delicacy. Its taste on a plate may even explain its name. One account of the Knot’s name has the Danish King Canute, or Knut, dining on a strange coastal bird. His compliments to his chef led his courtiers to dub the bird, Knuts, or Knots.

An alternative account of the origin of the Knot’s name also features King Canute. This one notes that the Knot often feeds in the water, even as the tide is coming in. Where the Sanderling chases the waves, running to and fro with the coming and going of the tide, the Knot seems to hold its ground, as though trying to hold back the tide itself. A legend associated with King Canute has the Danish monarch futilely attempting to hold back the tide, hence the association of the Knot and Knut.

I thought to take a look at Lane Ends again where in the last few days I’d seen lots of egrets in the plantation sheltering from the incessant winds. There were 12 today, huddled into a small area hidden from general view but where they could take a break from just ducking down in the salt marsh ditches as a way of avoiding the blustery weather.

Little Egret

I came across this information on good old Wiki – “The Little Egret was once present, and probably common, in Great Britain, but became extinct there through a combination of over-hunting in the late mediaeval period and climate change at the start of the Little Ice Age. The inclusion of 1,000 egrets (among numerous other birds) in the banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465 indicates the presence of a sizable population in northern England at the time, and they are also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429”.

Little Egrets had disappeared by the mid-16th century when the court chef had to “send further south" for more egrets.

Little Egret

“Further declines occurred throughout Europe as the plumes of the Little Egret and other egrets were in demand for decorating hats. They had been used for this purpose since at least the 17th century but in the 19th century it became a major craze and the number of egret skins passing through dealers reached into the millions. Egret farms were set up where the birds could be plucked without being killed but most of the supply was obtained by hunting, which reduced the population of the species to dangerously low levels and stimulated the establishment of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889. By the 1950s, the Little Egret had become restricted to southern Europe, and conservation laws protecting the species were introduced. This allowed the population to rebound strongly; over the next few decades it became increasingly common in western France and later on the north coast. It bred in the Netherlands in 1979 with further breeding from the 1990s onward.

In Britain it was a rare vagrant from its 16th century disappearance until the late twentieth century, and did not breed. It recently became a regular breeding species and is now common, often in large numbers at favoured coastal sites. The first recent breeding record in England was on Brownsea Island in Dorset in 1996, and the species bred in Wales for the first time in 2002. The population increase has been rapid subsequently, with over 750 pairs breeding in nearly 70 colonies in 2008, and a post-breeding total of 4,540 birds in September 2008. In Ireland the species bred for the first time in 1997 at a site in County Cork and the population has also expanded rapidly since, breeding in most Irish counties by 2010. The population is now spreading through English and Welsh counties.”

I took another look, and the forecast is much the same, so stand by for more archive photos and other menu delicacies in the next day or two.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Short Session

36 hours (so far) of rain and wind in Lancashire has meant no posts on Another Bird Blog. This morning’s rubbish weather restricted birding to an hour with the incoming tide at Knott End before the rain rushed in from the south west to send me scurrying back home. In the circumstances this is but a brief report from which there are a few good counts from the sixty minutes, but not too many bright new pictures from the grey overcast morning.

At the jetty I could see 10 juvenile Eider and 4 Cormorant loafing at the point where the construction tails off into the estuary. As the tide ran in and the 9am ferry arrived from Fleetwood the birds all took to the water, Eiders upstream and Cormorants out to the deeper waters of the bay.

A number of terns and gulls arrived on the beach with the rising tide, 41 Sandwich Tern, 4 Common Tern and 130 Black-headed Gull, where they joined 270 Oystercatcher, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Knot and 7 more Cormorants. Coming from the direction of Preesall Sands I counted 1100 Dunlin, 9 Ringed Plover and 4 Golden Plover, all heading upriver to the Barnaby Sands roost.

Golden Plover

Dunlin and Golden Plover

Luckily, I got a half decent picture of a Sandwich Tern a week ago when an adult bird accompanying a fully-fledged youngster came to warn me off when I approached too close. The second picture which appears to be black-and-white was actually taken this morning in the grey, cloudy, overcast conditions. However, autumn is a great time to watch terns in the local area as they breed some distance away from the Fylde coast.

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern and Common Tern

When the rain came with more force, I took to the car and sat out the rain for a while as the ever present gulls waited patiently for bread hand outs from parked vehicles. The gulls might have had a longer wait than normal today, a day for not venturing out.

Lesser Black-backed Gull
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