There wasn’t much light when on Saturday morning I set off in the direction of Pilling. When I reeled off a bundle of shots at a hunting Barn Owl, the resulting pictures were badly under. I checked the settings were correct, and they were, so I think the camera and lens had been out of action for so long in our dreary winter the two had forgotten how to interact together. I rescued a couple of frames that are still pretty poor.
Barn Owl
Barn Owl
The light was slightly better when the Roe Deer appeared and where speed on the button was essential before the animals ran into the distance. Our local deer are very shy and wild so don’t hang around for portraits.
Roe Deer
It had been ages since my last visit to Conder Green and where today the usual species were on display. Winter work by RSPB to build up the islands has led to a massive increase in the number of Black-headed Gulls looking to begin their breeding cycle any day. Summery Black-headed Gulls are handsome creatures but their large colonies are both noisy and messy.
Black-headed Gull
Group names for a collection of Black-headed Gulls include a flotilla, a screech, and a squabble. It will be interesting to watch the interplay between so many gulls and the annually returning Common Terns in a month or so. Although both species can and do nest in close proximity the terns may have a shock to see so many gulls on their islands.
Black-headed Gulls
The Black-headed Gull is the most widely distributed seabird breeding in the UK, with similar numbers breeding inland as on the coast. The majority of the breeding population are resident throughout the year, with numbers being greatly bolstered during the winter months by birds from Northern and Eastern Europe, especially in the east and southeast of England. Black-headed Gulls breed throughout the middle latitudes of the Palaearctic and have recently formed a breeding outpost in North Eastern North America.
Just recently I heard of nest robbers who are looking forward to the Black-headed Gull nesting season. Read the link below to see why a Black-headed Gull egg is a sought after delicacy that can cost £8 for just one - maybe even in normally law abiding Conder Green?
On show today with 350 Black-headed Gull - 380 Black-tailed Godwit, 44 Oystercatcher, 41 Redshank, 32 Teal, 22 Tufted Duck, 1 Snipe, 1 Curlew, 1 Little Egret, 1 Barn Owl, 1 Chiffchaff.
The Barn Owl here at Conder Green hunted towards the back of the pools and islands and didn’t venture close to the road.
There was no sign of the recent Short-eared Owl, despite a sans-bins togger kindly informing me that the far off white owl was a “shortie”.
Venturing towards Cockersands I saw a number of migrant passerines that included several each of Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Skylark, together with a single Wheatear (Cockersands). At Cockersands too, a Merlin drifted along the shore line, no doubt hoping to surprise a pipit or two.
Reed Bunting
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
On the usual fields Behind Cockersand Abbey the Lapwings were in the early stages of nesting, busily chasing off their ever present foes, the Carrion Crows, another set of villains on their nest robbing adventures.
Cockersands Abbey
Lapwing
At last and after a brutally wet and windy winter Spring may be around the corner. Next week is forecast for a dry and warming week.
Log in soon for more news, views and better photos.
9 comments:
Hello,
Another great outing and report on your sightings. I love the Barn Owl, I have seen one Short-eared owl in 20 some years. I guess I need to get out there and look for more. I like the name flotilla for a group of Black-headed Gulls. 380 Black-tailed Godwits, that sounds like a lot to more. Is that normal, are they migrating? We had a Lapwing sighting a few hours away from me, I did not make the time to go and search for it. The Lapwing is one of my must see birds. Great photos. Have a happy weekend.
I'd love to see a barn owl!
Hopefully, you will be able to achieve a photograph of a Barn Owl which will rise to the "award winning" status. In the meantime, I am insanely jealous you even saw one, let alone managed to make images in which the identity of the subject is not in question. These critters have been very elusive for me around here.
It seems your overall outing was very nice! All the gulls and godwits one could hope for. A few other jewels you saw would make most birders quite happy indeed.
For me, the link you provided did not work. A shame, as I was hoping to find a source for the eggs and some yummy recipes.
I was curious so I did a search and was able to not only find the article you linked to, but a lot of other interesting information about this business of harvesting eggs of the Black-headed Gull.
Between 2009 and 2016, over 500,000 eggs of this handsome gull are estimated to have harvested by legally licensed "eggers". The eggs are sold to markets and restaurants who also have paid for legal licenses.
The estimate on "illegal" egg gathering was not available so we must either assume (!) no one would dare illegally harvest and sell eggs to anyone willing to shell out a lot of money - OR - we might suspect the illegal trade is even more lucrative than that which is appropriately licensed. Not to mention, no one would even consider harvesting or purchasing eggs of other seabird species .....
I'm sure the effect of stealing 30,000-50,000 (known) eggs from the nests of the Black-headed Gull each year couldn't possibly have any adverse impact on the species.
Great. Now I'm off any eggs at all. Porridge for breakfast in the foreseeable future.
Sounds to me like a pretty good outing to me, I wish I could see birds in those sorts of numbers around here. Enjoy while you can. Keep safe Diane
Charlie and I enjoyed seeing the photos of the Birds and the Building. I think we should get out this week and try and capture photos of Birds in our area.
I love in flight photos and yours today are wonderful
Roe deer look so different from the ones we have here!
Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2022/03/cat-traps-variety.html
Lovely set of photo's Phil. I'm lucky to see a sparrow where I live and its been like that for something like 3 years now. So to see others wildlife pictures proves things can't be that bad.
Mike.
Phil - I like the group photo of the Gulls. Thanks for mentioning the birdwatcher without the "bins" - I have made a note to remember to bring mine when I come to the UK! We spoke with my in-laws this morning, and they mentioned the improving weather. Of course, that could change by the time we get there!
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