This And That

There’s a bit of everything today – birding, a few pictures and news of a ringed Goldfinch. 

First stop this morning was the egret roost at Pilling where the egrets were pretty much on the move as soon as I arrived in the half-light. I may have missed some leaving but came up with a count of 44 Littles and zero Great White Egrets today. Many thousands of pink-feet were way out on the marsh, too distant to count in the half light. Whooper Swans proved much easier to see with 23 leaving the marsh and flying west towards Pilling village and the shore. 

Whooper Swans

I stopped at Gulf Lane where Linnets and others continue to use the set-aside plot and where three or four very mobile Linnet flocks numbered 160+ birds. Also here - 4 Tree Sparrow and 2 Reed Bunting. In just a week and after a couple of downpours the crop height has dropped substantially until it is now between 18 inches and 2 feet high meaning that our efforts to catch more Linnets may be compromised. If the weather holds I guess Andy and me will have a go as soon as possible. 

I spent an hour or two at Conder Green where a dashing Merlin provided the highlight as it flew low across the top of the marsh and down into a creek before dipping under the railway bridge to the outer marsh. Otherwise I had a reasonable count of the usual birds on the pool and in the creeks: 140 Teal, 22 Redshank, 17 Snipe, 9 Little Grebe, 4 Goosander, 3 Little Egret, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank. 

Redshank

There seemed to be very little on the move this morning except for high flying Skylarks, a small number of Chaffinches and a handful of Meadow Pipits, all seen from the railway bridge where a gang of House Sparrows played hide and seek in the hedgerow. 

House Sparrow

Back home I did a little garden ringing with 3 Goldfinch, 1 Robin and 1 Coal Tit until even the meagre breeze began to fill the nets with falling autumn leaves. 

 Robin

Goldfinch

That reminds me.

Details arrived of a ringed Goldinch Z690427 caught at Oakenclough, Garstang on 6th September 2016. What a coincidence. The Goldfinch was ringed in Lower Basildon, West Berkshire on 11th October 2015 by one Simon Lane. Simon is a former member of Fylde Ringing Group. He ringed with us from 1988 until 1998 during which time he played a full and active part in the group and also became a great pal. He left Garstang, Lancashire in order to further his career in the south of England but fortunately he maintained his enthusiasm for ringing and still keeps in touch with us Northern folk.

This is a fairly typical north to south autumn September/October movement for a Goldfinch. Goldfinches are partial migrants with a proportion of the UK breeding population migrating each autumn to more favourable wintering grounds, typically in France or Spain and where both Oakenclough and Basildon can be staging posts in such journeys. 

Lower Basildon, Berkshire - Oakenclough, Garstang, Lancashire

Guess I won’t be out birding tomorrow morning as it’s Andy’s birthday bash this evening. Sue and I are definitely going as Andy is threatening to do a David Brent dance for the assembled crowd. Now where did I leave my video camera?

Linking today to http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.co.uk/.