Snow Good

Yes, it’s an awful pun but very good to catch up with that wanderer from close to the Arctic Circle, the elusive Snow Bunting. Still no northern thrushes, but all week there’s been Snow Buntings dotted around the UK, even a flock of more than 30 on the North East coast. 

Last week’s high tides left lots of tide wrack, an environment which Snow Buntings often exploit, and I’ve been half hoping to see the whitish buntings along local shores. It was the early morning walk at Pilling which turned up trumps when I recognised the clear “tew” calls and watched a party of eight arrive high from across Morecambe Bay to then settle down on the tideline ahead. 

Within minutes a jogger had sent the birds into the air, calling as they went, me cursing as I watched the birds fly off. Luckily I found a single one further along the walk, possibly a returnee of the original party or a ninth bird. This one hunkered down from the westerly wind and buried itself in the tidal debris where it rapidly found lots of seeds. It ate so fast and continuously that I had to use ISO400 to stop the action. The tide wrack is very deep, the bird so submerged in it that I couldn’t get a single shot to show its shiny black legs, but viewers will get the overall picture. 

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

It’s a number of years since I watched Snow Buntings at the top of the Cairngorms in Scotland, one of the species’ few UK breeding sites. For readers yet to see a summer Snow Bunting below is a photograph courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service which shows the species in its summery but snowy surroundings and wearing seasonal dress. 

Snow Bunting - courtesy of USFWS

After taking a number of shots I wished my Snow Bunting good luck, left it searching through the tideline and continued my walk west to Pilling Water. 

Kingfishers are the most frustrating bird, so tiny and inconspicuous, sitting silently on a featureless bit of the landscape where their fine-tuned eyesight can spot a human being from 100 yards to allow a quick escape. I was beaten again when one circled ahead of me at Broadfleet and then flew back in the direction I’d just travelled.

Sea Embankment - Pilling

Godwits were in force at the flooded stubble fields with 80 Black-tailed Godwits, plus 15 Redshank, 200+ Lapwing, 60+ Skylark, 1 Golden Plover, 6 Snipe, 2 Linnets, 3 Greenfinch and 8 Meadow Pipits. 

Meadow Pipit

Mute Swan

Out on the marsh, 35 Whooper Swan, 6 Mute Swan, 6 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Raven. Raptors seen: a pair of Kestrels together and a Sparrowhawk mobbed by the usual crows. 

That’s all for now but don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter the free draw for a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland here on Another Bird Blog via Wednesday's posting.

Linking today to Stewart's Bird Gallery .