Friday Fix

With a cold easterly breeze and full grey cloud the morning held spits of rain, as well as the promise of more to come, so kicking my heels I waited until the sky brightened a touch then headed out Pilling Way hoping to finish Friday with a flourish. 

I gave the Fluke Hall and Ridge Farm area a decent going over without finding anything spectacular, least of all an early Wheatear in such unpromising conditions. A number of Pied Wagtails were searching the recently ploughed fields and the roadside midden where more than one local family dump their horse manure, the resulting gunk as good a place as any to look for feeding birds. Mixed in with the mainly wagtail flock were a couple of Meadow Pipits, 6 or 7 Skylarks, and towering above the passerines 40+ Oystercatcher, several Lapwing, 4 Redshank and 3 Curlew, all burying their bills a little deeper than the small birds could manage. 

Oystercatcher

Pied Wagtail

Further back in the same field were 400+ Pink-footed Geese, a small sample of the several thousand out beyond the sea wall towards Lane Ends. All the geese took flight a little later when a light aeroplane flew over sending the birds in the air for a few minutes before they settled back to feeding on the marsh again. 

Pink-footed Goose

Other bits and bobs here and from the sea wall: 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Reed Bunting, 5 Little Egret, and a couple of singing Chaffinches with calling females close by. 

Backsands Lane has dried out more than a little, birds there today restricted to 30 Redshank, 15 Lapwing, 10 Greylag and the resident Kestrel. From Lane Ends car park Pilling Marsh was a mass of distant grey geese, too far out to make anything of in the murky light. 

Cockerham proved better with a distant, albeit good selection of birds, mostly waders on the managed flood - 80+ Dunlin, 40 Redshank, 120 Golden Plover, 300 Starling, 15 Curlew, 1 Little Egret and 160+ Lapwing. 

Golden Plover

A number of male Lapwings were in full display mode, tumbling crazily over the field, showing off their flying skills to females below. I could see one of the females a distance away had a ring on its left leg, the bird too far away and the light too poor to read the inscription. 

Lapwings are not only long-lived but also extremely site faithful through generations and I wondered if this female was one of the hundreds of Lapwing chicks I’d ringed along this stretch of coast over many years - perhaps no, but possibly yes. More visits required in a week or two when the female will be there and perhaps much closer, looking after a clutch of youngsters and still displaying the evidence of an earlier day in my company when I gave her a shiny new ring.

Lapwing

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Today's post is linking to Madge's Top Shot  and to Anni's Birding Blog .