It was so quiet over at Pilling today that I think all the birds were indoors watching the sport on TV, along with most of the UK population. Me, I’d rather be birding, and if there were medals awarded for birding perseverance, I’d surely be in with a chance of gold.
The sky was bright in parts, but heavy cloud and thunder hung about the village as I set out from Lane Ends soon after midday. Maybe I caught the end of a morning movement or maybe it was on-going at that moment but both Swifts and Swallows headed directly east and south east into the sultry breeze, 150+ Swallow and 40+ Swift. After that a number of Swallows remained in the area feeding over the marsh and the incoming tide.
Looking south I caught sight of a Buzzard circling south east of the village and away from the bundles of heavy cloud.
Rain over Pilling Village
A few passerines today, with 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Skylark, 2 House Sparrow, 20+ Goldfinch and 4 Linnet, but most of what action there was centred on the incoming tide and the marsh. The Little Egret count doubled to two birds today with its grey counterpart Grey Heron beating it at three birds scattered across the marsh. On and close to the tideline, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Cormorant and 3 Common Tern, the latter arriving at high tide to roost amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls.
Wader count: 260+ Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 5 Redshank, 3 Oystercatcher, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 7 Lapwing, 12 Dunlin, 40 Ringed Plover and 8 Black-tailed Godwit flying east. Some of our commonest and normally most numerous waders, Lapwing, Redshank and Oystercatcher are all pretty scarce at the moment until we get an autumnal influx from further afield.
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Lapwing
Needless to say the Peregrine made another appearance, arriving from nowhere then sprinting off like Usain Bolt towards the roost at Cockerham to probably gain a prize or two.
The forecast looks OK for a spot of ringing tomorrow if only I can tear myself away from the telly. Tune in to Another Bird Blog later to find out.
3 comments:
They are all beautiful, but the oystercatcher with is orange beak ... WOW! Happy Critter Day!
Magnificas capturas en vuelo,son muy buenas.Saludos
Hey Phil...Guess what.. I should win a gold medal for being a friend of a good birder like yourself : } !!
I haven't watched a bit of it,sort of a waste of time as far as I am concerned, of course I haven't done anything productive with that time either ; }!
Massive clouds looming over the skies.. maybe the birds had taken cover!! They ought to be in the Olympics! They can do a good balance beam, tumbles,,and etc!!
You should come over and see my post..I have a smart birds on mine this time!!
Your gold medal worthy friend
Grace
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