On Thursday evening at Hambleton I ringed the last young Swallows of the year, a nest of three where two eggs lay unhatched, the latter a not unusual outcome at the end of a busy but less than ideal season for Swallows. That’s 54 birds nestlings ringed at the site this year; just an average sort of year without it turning into the disaster I feared during the poor weather of May and June, but figures which broke no records. After this final brood, there are no more active nests at this site so there will be no Swallows finishing off the season into September this year, although there are still birds around other local farms.
This morning saw Swallows again when I looked around the Pilling patch from Lane Ends to Fluke Hall and counted about 140, scattered about the fields and along the shore. With such low numbers about and little sign of visible migration there seems to be a small likelihood of another large wave of Swallows following the mass emigration that took place in early August. Nowadays Swallows arrive historically early during late March and the first week of April, but are perhaps also departing the UK on a different timescale?
The image above is from Pilling Water, where I also counted 10 House Martin and saw most of my other birds, best find of which was a Green Sandpiper, flushed from a puddle of water in the sheep pen on my approach. It headed over to the wildfowler’s pools, as regular a spot as any to find one, but there’s no point in trying to photograph an out-in-the-open Green Sandpiper, one of the wariest birds ever. Little point also with 20/25 Teal in the ditches, another species that always fly off long before a human gets too close. The chap dropping the daily wheat supply to the wildfowl told me there have been 200+ wild Teal lately, not to be confused with the farmed Mallards put out for sport.
About here and long the sea wall I found 4 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 1 Redshank, 6 Linnet, 8 Goldfinch and 3 Wheatear. The Wheatears stuck to fence posts today, not to my ideal catching spot of the shore side rocks.
Out on the shore were 3 Ravens, a species now becoming more commonplace in the Fylde where they nest in quiet woods and up high on electricity pylons. I took a few shots of a Kestrel, hovering and circling with an entourage of Swallows.
I spent a quiet couple of hours, taking a rest from the hard labour of ringing sessions on the moss, but if the weather holds those pliers need a spot of oil for the weekend.