Friday Flights

Friday began with a Barn Owl flying across Head Dyke Lane a hundred yards or more in front of the car. By the time I reached the spot the owl was nowhere to be seen so I didn’t hang about. There should be plenty of Barn Owl sightings soon. 

At Wrampool there was a Kestrel hanging about the set aside field together with a handful of Linnets and Tree Sparrows. Maybe the Kestrel was hoping to grab an unwary bird when it sped low across the crop a couple of times before returning to its base of the roadside trees. The Kestrel was an adult female but as mentioned recently, Kestrels seem scarce this year and this autumn I have yet to see a juvenile. 

At Conder Pool I found both Avocets on the pool, the adult and a still unfledged juvenile. A number of times the adult flew off to the creeks to feed and left the youngster on the pool margins where it continued to feed alone. Soon it will be ready for lift-off into adulthood. 

Avocet

Otherwise there was little change of both species and counts from recent visits with 140+ Lapwing, 35 Redshank, 5 Common Sandpiper, 4 Oystercatcher, 20+ Curlew, 6 Little Grebe, 2 Wigeon, 2 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Goosander, 6 Pied Wagtail, 12 Linnet and 2 Stock Dove. 

Little Egret

A notable absentee today was Greenshank, with not a one found, whereas a single juvenile Shelduck was the first I had seen for many a long week. 

Shelduck

 

The Shelduck, a bird of sheltered estuaries or tidal mudflats breeds in Great Britain & Ireland and has a well-defined moult migration. Most Shelduck fly east between late July and early September and head for the Helgoland Bight in the Waddensea, where they join birds from Scandinavia and the Baltic. Others remain and moult on North Sea estuaries, such as the Firth of Forth and the Wash. As a result of this migration there are very few of them around this part of Lancashire during August. In stark contrast to this situation, come mid-winter there are many hundreds along our local shores and estuaries. 

Over Glasson village there was a concentration of 30+ noisy and excitable Swifts but otherwise a handful of Swallows over the marina/yacht basin.

View across The Lune from Bodie Hiill, Glasson

Things were pretty quiet so I made my way to Knott End again. I’ve been there a couple of times this week to watch the tide in and look out for terns. 

It’s a good time of year to see Sandwich Terns and Common/Arctic Terns when they roost on the flat sands at times of high tides, taking a rest from feeding in the near Irish Sea. The Sarnies  originate from a mix of locations in Scotland, Wales and Cumbria with their normal peak migration in mid-August when in some years up to a couple of hundred may be seen at Knott End, a favoured site. 

Before the terns began to appear I walked up river and counted 2 Grey Heron, 2 Little Egret, 300+ Oystercatchers , 1 Redshank, 140 Dunlin and 5 Pied Wagtails. The Sandwich Terns obviously peaked earlier in the week because I counted less than a dozen today compared to 150+ at the beginning of the week and then 49 on Wednesday. On each occasion I noted approximately 25% of juveniles, black& brown mottled birds of the year. 

Sandwich Terns

In the UK as a whole Sandwich Terns have shown a decline in productivity since 2000 when they fledged a record number of chicks. In the 14 years prior to 2000 it could be argued that productivity showed no clear trend, although in 1991 and between 1997 and 1999 it was particularly low. Few chicks fledged in these years due to bad weather, predation and disturbance by a variety of mammals and gulls, with food shortage implicated at only one colony. Predation on eggs and chicks by foxes Vulpes vulpes is probably the most prevalent factor determining productivity, and abandonment of a colony is often the result of predation. Nature reserve managers use electric fences to exclude foxes, which are not always successful. As Sandwich Terns nest on low-lying ground close to the tide edge, their nests are vulnerable to tidal inundation.  

"With about 12,500 Apparently Occupied Nests in 2009 the Sandwich Tern is currently identified as Amber listed in Birds of Conservation Concern" - jncc.defra.gov.uk.

Sandwich Tern productivity 1986-2014 - jncc.defra.gov.uk

Further to Monday’s post on Another Bird Blog, a review of "Britain's Birds", I hear that demand for the book has already outstripped supply and that delivery times may have to be lengthened. Just as well those blog readers were amongst the first to read my recommendation to buy and hopefully they won’t have to wait too long for their own copy of this fine field guide.

Linking today to I'd Rather Be Birding and Eileen's Saturday Blog.