Another Plan B

Plan A was a drive to Oakenclough where it was my turn to top up the feeding station. There had been another overnight deluge but all was well until close to Garstang where at Moss Lane I came upon the road flooded ahead, abandoned cars and folk looking for a way through. A couple of phone calls quickly established that alternative routes via Churchtown village or Gubberford Lane were both similarly impassable. The birds would have to wait for a top-up. 

 Moss Lane, Garstang

On the way over Pilling Moss I’d seen a huge number of birds concentrated on a couple of flooded stubble fields and vowed to look in on the way back from Oakenclough. For Plan B the fields seemed a good place to start a spot of birding and in fact I spent an hour or more just watching from the car and ended up with a great selection of birds and fairly impressive counts. 

In the raptor line 3 Buzzards and 2 Kestrels entertained while being kept on their toes by dozens of corvids, mainly Carrion Crow and Jackdaw. 

Kestrel

Readers will note that the following counts are approximated as all the species were highly mobile due to disturbance factors of passing traffic, Kestrels, crows and sheep, but also a steady wind blowing across the open fields:

500+ Starling, 200+ Linnet, 120+ Chaffinch, 30 Goldfinch. 140+ Fieldfare, 40 Wood Pigeon, 2 Redwing, 15 Meadow Pipit, 14 Pied Wagtail, 5 Skylark, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Yellowhammer, 3 Reed Bunting, 3 Whooper Swan. 

Skylark

Fieldfare

Pied Wagtail

Plan B turned out pretty well after all. With luck I should get to implement Plan A when the water subsides and maybe even fit in a spot of ringing before Christmas. If so read all about it here with Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.