Back On Duty

My notebook told me that I last did local birding on 16th January before the holiday to Lanzarote. It was time today to find some winter clothes, check out the local scene and forget the exotic birds and tropical sunshine of the Canary Islands. 

There was a full moon and as the sun rose I waited at the appointed spot for a Barn Owl to appear but none did so I hightailed it to Conder Green. 

Full Moon over Pilling

I thought the pool might be somewhat frozen following recent days of zero temperatures so I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of wildfowl scattered across the still open water. There was a good count of 1 Goldeneye, 6 Little Grebe, 29 Wigeon, 52 Tufted Duck, 42 Mute Swan, 4 Greylag and 1 Black Swan, and then dead centre of the circulating throng, a single Pochard. 

The Pochard is now so scarce in our area that to see even a solitary one is something of an occasion although I did think that it was here by way of tagging onto the unusually high count of Tufted Duck displaced from Glasson Dock half a mile away. Two Lapwing and 1 Oystercatcher on the island clearly have designs on the usual breeding spots. 

Pochard

In the roadside creeks - 100+ Teal, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Snipe and “several” of both Curlew and Redshank. Towards the car park and alongside the road I found 4 Goldfinch, 10 Chaffinch and a pair of Pied Wagtails, together with good numbers of Starlings and House Sparrows in the vicinity of the farm buildings. 

 Spotted Redshank

Chaffinch

Starling

While the shallow pool at Conder Green was unfrozen after driving the half a mile to Glasson Dock I was surprised to see partial ice-cover, thus explaining why so many Tufted Duck had chosen to leave here, their normally preferred location. The "tuftie" count here was down to 12 with a similar count of 11 Goldeneye and a normal total of 45+ Coot. 

Goldeneye

Goldeneye

Glasson Dock

I drove back to Pilling, passing several thousand Pink-footed Geese two fields back from the road and at a dangerous spot to park on the infamous A588 so I carried on to Fluke Hall. Lots of Snowdrops littered the woodland but I didn’t see too many birds, just a couple of Redwings, 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers, a single Jay and several Goldfinch. I’m fairly certain I heard a couple of Siskin calls but a tractor went by and the chance was gone. 

Snowdrops

The incoming tide began to drop a few birds into the thawing fields, in particular a nice count of 700 Lapwing, 260 Black-tailed Godwit, 70 Golden Plover, 70 Redshank and 45 Oystercatcher. The godwits tried to feed quite close to the road where they quickly found themselves disturbed by passing traffic. A flock of Black-tailed Godwits against a blue sky makes for a spectacular sight, the striking black & white configuration of their plumage when they fly being quite unique and unmistakeable in the world of wading birds. 

Black-tailed Godwits

Black-tailed Godwits

In the distance I could see the geese had been disturbed from their field inland of the sea wall and were now flying out to the safety of the salt marsh. From Lane Ends car park and in the foreground of the picture below, a minimum of 7000 Pink-footed Geese plus 2 Barnacle Goose and a single White-fronted Goose. In the background, Heysham Power Station. 

Pink-footed Geese, Pilling Marsh

A good morning of birding, and as is often the case, there’s nothing quite like birding one’s local patch. Who needs Lanzarote?

Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Picture A Year

The New Year, and as is customary here’s a selection of favourite pictures which best depict the four seasons of birds and birding on Another Bird Blog during 2014. This is my entry to Jim M Goldstein's Best Photos 2014, a project with over 300 participants from all over the world in 2013.

It was quite difficult to choose a single representative picture taken in the actual month concerned, the problem being that some of those 30 day periods lacked much photography action. Often the birds chose not to join in with my camera quest and I went without pictures for weeks at a time. Here goes with the photographs and I hope that the few words accompanying each picture might help others who wish to photograph birds, that most difficult of subjects. Don't forget to "click the pics" for a light box show.

January. A picture of a Little Egret from my Lanzarote sunshine holiday, away from the cold, grey days of a Lancashire winter. Photographing white birds is to me quite perplexing. Often the bird’s image ends up looking either washed out with no detail in the white feathers or drastically under-exposed, making the bird appear grey instead of white. While not perfect this picture is about as good as I can get until I resolve the mysteries of my Canon camera’s exposure values. 

Little Egret

 

February provided opportunities for taking pictures of Goldeneye, a shy diving duck which visits the UK in the winter months only. The golden eye and the two-tone bill of this female remain in focus as the camera captured the water droplets on her plumage as she emerged from a lengthy dive in the depths below. The picture was taken from a car window following a careful approach as a truly wild Goldeneye is highly unlikely to stay around if approached directly. 

Goldeneye

March hints at Spring but more often than not it feels like the depths of Winter. The arrival of Wheatears from Africa tells us not to worry, Summer isn’t too far away. Finding the first Wheatear of the season is something of a ritual for most birders. The yearly custom is often subject to mockery from others who claim to be above such trivial pursuits. But there’s nothing quite like close contact with a Wheatear newly arrived from Africa to make one appreciate the phenomenon of bird migration. Below, a fine looking male, the first of a number caught during the year. 

Wheatear

April and there was a stroke of luck with a Black-tailed Godwit intent on feeding, so not noticing my presence. Like most waders Black-tailed Godwits are normally shy, so I rattled off dozens of similar pictures to clog up the hard drive and then chose just one that captures the bird with its bill open.

Black-tailed Godwit

May’s photo is easy to pick from the many sunshine shots of Menorca, a Mediterranean island which beckons each year. A colony of Bee Eaters is hard to resist. The birds live in an unlikely looking spot where they burrow into the sandy soil to lay their eggs and raise a family. Staying in the car and waiting for a Bee Eater to perch close by is far more successful than trying to approach this shy bird on foot. 

Bee Eater

June is a good month for early morning starts where even the shy Grey Heron might feel unthreatened by a single person in a slowly approaching car. This heron used a boat from which to watch the shallow water below but quickly flew off at the first person approaching on foot. 

Grey Heron

July rarely goes by without a chance of photographing Swallows. An adult’s summer plumage makes for the most photogenic but juveniles are much more willing to stay around for a picture. 

Barn Swallow

August.  A young Tufted Duck has yet to learn the ways of man. The expression in the bird’s eye combined with its body language said that while it was happy with the initial approach, if I moved closer it would depart the scene, taking the accompanying Tufted Ducks with it.

Tufted Duck

September in Skiathos where a Red-backed Shrike resident in the hotel gardens was somewhat unapproachable but had a regular beat, as many species do. After a week or more of relaxing in the garden while at the same time noting the bird’s habits, I used the cover provided by a chain link fence to obtain a number of reasonable shots without scaring the bird away. 

Red-backed Shrike

October is the month that Whooper Swans fresh in from a non-stop flight from Iceland settle on a traditional part of our coastal marsh. It’s best to try for pictures before the swans get uneasy from the regular wildfowl shoots which start in October, activities which increase their wariness. Take a close look at the picture and how each swan is looking in a different direction in case of predators, a 360° early warning system. It’s part of the reason that birds form flocks - many pairs of eyes and ears are better than one and at the first sign of trouble the herd will have the earliest possible warning. 

Whooper Swans

November seemed to involve a good number of sightings of Buzzards, a hopeful sign perhaps? The trials and tribulations of our UK Buzzards at the hands of the less responsible devotees of shooting became a regular feature throughout the year on Another Bird Blog. It culminated in November with the conviction of a gamekeeper for the intentional killing of nine Buzzards; the court issued a suspended sentence but no financial penalty other than to pay court costs of £930 plus a “victim surcharge” of £80. In the eyes of our UK justice system the value of a single Buzzard is less than £10.

As if Buzzards hadn’t enough to contend with in being constantly harassed by the ever expanding corvid population?

Buzzard and Carrion Crows

December. A far from perfect picture of a Kestrel displaying “fuzzy” focus, into the light of a watery morning, parts of the bird hidden by the fence line on which it sat. I like this picture because there is something of a detached look about this bird’s expression as it ignores the camera and concentrates on finding that essential early breakfast. 

Kestrel

It just remains for me to thank everyone who visited the blog in 2014. Happy New Year to all.

I hope to meet up with everyone again in 2015.

Linking today to id-rather-b-birdin.,  Dawn's Critters and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Bombed Out Birding

Yes, I’ve been quiet of late, a victim of the ‘Weather Bomb’ which hit North West England this week. I thought this terminology was invented by the TV forecasters but ‘weather bomb’ was imported from the US and New Zealand. Whatever you like to call it we were certainly bombarded by lots of unpleasant weather for most of the week. 

Friday morning was a little better, the wind eased and there was even a little sun at times, with just the odd grenade of hail stones or blast of heavy rain showers. 

I stopped at Damside hoping to see geese but there were none, just half a dozen Redshanks, a number of Black-headed Gulls on the flood and he resident Kestrel pair in the area of their nest box. 

Kestrels are fairly monogamous so both a male and female may often be seen together throughout the year, not just in the breeding season. Over the years our UK Kestrel has collected a number of common names including Hoverhawk, Windhover, Windfanner, Vanner Hawk, Wind Cuffer, Mouse Falcon and Mouse Hawk, the names giving a clue to how the species hunts and what it likes to eat. 

Kestrel

The gales during the week sent many gulls scurrying from the shore to the comparative shelter of inland fields so it was no surprise to see upwards of 1500 mainly Black-headed Gulls on the fields at Gulf Lane, Cockerham. 

There were Curlews too but I decided not to spend a couple of hours grilling the gulls and instead continued north to Conder and Glasson. A brief stop at Braides Farm found a pair of Pied Wagtails, 2 Linnet, 4 Mute Swan, 2 Canada Goose, several Curlews and yet another Kestrel, this one hunting alone. The week’s weather will have stopped many birds from feeding with this comparatively better day a chance to catch up on their meals. 

The regular Spotted Redshank and Common Sandpiper seem set to winter at Conder Green where I found both feeding in the creeks along with 90+ Teal, 10 Wigeon, 5 Curlew, 1 Little Egret and 1 Little Grebe. 

 Spotted Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Another 10 Little Grebes were on the pool together with 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Grey Heron and a Kingfisher. The latter showing briefly at its usual lookout spot on the water outflow and I rather carelessly let the bird see me and sent it flying off. I'm out of birding practice this week.   

The godwit didn’t appear too healthy, lethargic and looking to rest rather than feed - perhaps a casualty of the high winds and constant rain of the week past. 

Black-tailed Godwit

At Glasson, 51 Tufted Duck and 8 Cormorants.

The forecast for Saturday isn't too bad and then it's back to same old rubbish. Fingers crossed for better days soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog  and Eileen's Saturday.

Birding Friday Fun

Following a spot of bird ringing inland on Wednesday it was good to go birding along the familiar coast today. However the weather wasn’t too friendly with wind and intermittent showers so there’s not a lot to report. 

I started off at Knott End for the incoming tide where the stiff north westerly made for cold hands and shaky optics. A far from complete count gave minima of 18 Eider and a single great Crested Grebe on the incoming tide. On the shore and near the jetty a mix of 1700 Oystercatcher, 700 Dunlin, 290 Redshank, 180 Knot, 145 Bar-tailed Godwit and 42 Turnstone. The jetty hugging Turnstones can be relied upon to provide a few pictures, the other species out on the shore proving much harder to approach. 

Turnstones

Knot

There was a flock of approximately 45 very flighty Twite. The birds were disturbed by a walker and then settled back down in the grassy marsh and out of sight. Two Pied Wagtails, 10 Goldfinch and 1 Rock Pipit also. 

At Damside, Pilling approximately 1800 Pink-footed Geese occupied the same fields they recently adopted. I searched through the scattered flock for the oddities that occur, the best I could find today a rather obvious partly leucistic bird. Leucism which differs from albinism is caused by a reduction in pigment of a bird’s feathers. This particular pinkie seemed to be leucistic on one side of the body only and so much more obvious when facing one way rather than the other. 

Pink-footed Goose

In the same field were approximately 120 Curlew, a couple of Oystercatchers and a single Black-tailed Godwit. 

Black-tailed Godwit

I parked up at Fluke Hall and walked the wood and shore circuit. Through the wood a Nuthatch called and a Jay shrieked off as I interrupted its feeding time. Along the shore, 12+ Little Egrets, 6 Whooper Swan, more Curlews, 140+ Shelduck, a Rock Pipit and a Stoat, Mustela ermine.

The Stoat was in an area where lots of Red-legged Partridge hang around. There’s no doubt a wily Stoat will help itself to more than a few of the shooters’ partridges in the course of the winter months. 

Stoat

The human race often interferes with the natural world without fully studying the possible or likely consequences. In the 19th century, Stoats were introduced into New Zealand to control rabbits but the Stoats had a devastating effect on native bird populations. New Zealand has a high proportion of ground-nesting and flightless birds, due to the long geographical isolation and the lack of natural mammal predators. The introduced Stoats took full advantage of the bounty. 

That’s all for today. Look in soon for more birds, birding and other tales from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

Friday and Saturday Birding

Friday dawned grey and breezy with the threat of rain. So I took a leisurely tea and toast as an hour or more elapsed before the sky brightened and motivation kicked in. I set out for a walk at Pilling - Fluke Hall to Pilling Water along the sea wall and shore, then back via the woodland. 

Two Ravens croaked across the marsh and headed in the general direction of Lane Ends, and as I scanned east I noted 14+ Little Egrets and a single Grey Heron scattered at suitable intervals both on the marsh and just inland. Although the species roosts communally, a single Little Egret will vigorously defend a quite small feeding territory. I was late as most of the Whooper Swans had set off inland where up to 200 have been feeding on flooded fields near Eagland Hill, the inland hamlet all of 33ft above sea level. I was left with just 8 Whoopers to consider. 

Whooper Swans

The 11am tide was running in and producing some good flights of birds. Many were too distant to bother with in the grey light and stiff breeze but I had good counts of 29 Snipe, 23 Black-tailed Godwit, 60+ Shelduck, many hundreds of Wigeon and dozens of Pintail. 

Black-tailed Godwits

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a bird fly low along a flooded ditch, thought it might be a Green Sandpiper but as it turned and flew along the main channel and lost to view I could see it was the local Kingfisher. 

The tide was moving passerines, mostly Skylarks but also 50+ Linnets and several Reed Buntings, the Reed Buntings flying into the cover given by wildfowlers’ maize. Adding the Skylarks shifted by the tide to those already feeding on the wet stubble field I reached a total of 60+ individuals. 

Reed Bunting

The wind increased, the grey persisted so I headed for the relative calm of Fluke Hall, pausing to watch Redshanks, Snipe and Lapwings rise from the flooded field. 

Lapwings

At Fluke was the resident Kestrel pair, a single Buzzard, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Jays, and several newly arrived Blackbirds, the thrushes feeding quietly in the hawthorn hedgerow alongside a few Tree Sparrows 

Saturday, and after a rather dismal week apart from Wednesday morning which provided a ringing session in the hills at Oakenclough I went back there this morning. It was time to top-up the feeders and weigh up what’s about in readiness for mid-week ringing if the weather improves. 

Driving across the moss roads of Stalmine, Pilling and Winmarleigh I clocked up an early Barn Owl, 4 Whooper Swans, 3 Buzzards and 2 Kestrels, and then beyond Garstang another Buzzard feeding in a stubble field. 

The feeding station seemed a little quiet with seemingly not as many birds around as in the week but a good mix of titmice, a few Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Bullfinches plus a Mistle Thrush. Otherwise - 90 Lapwings, Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel. 

 Feeding station

Mistle Thrush

Looking to the south-west I could see Saturday’s rain arriving so headed home to greet the deluge.  

Stay tuned. There’s more soon from Another Bird Blog. 

In the meantime I'm linking to Anni's blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Bush Bashing

There was a fair amount of bush-bashing from me today without too much success in the way of rarities, just the common warblers. Oh well, shouldn’t complain, it was a lovely morning and I saw loads of birds. 

For readers unfamiliar with the term “bush-bashing” it refers to migration time when bird watchers look in suitable areas of habitat in the hopes of finding fresh-in migrant birds, the rarer the bird the better. Despite the frightening terminology there is no actual demolition of trees and hedgerows it’s more like a slow, thorough and meticulous search with ears pricked in the hope of seeing or hearing something out of the ordinary. 

That’s not to say the occasional over enthusiastic birder keen to impress or make their mark won’t occasionally tap a bush with a stick or chuck the odd rock into a hawthorn hedge to encourage an as yet unseen bird to show. Thank goodness for Birder’s Law Number One, “The welfare of the bird is paramount”. 

Glasson first stop and stopped in my tracks to watch a Grey Heron grabbing the early morning rays with help from a built in solar panel. I don’t think it was drying off as Cormorants do, just enjoying the morning sun like me. 

Grey Heron

Sunrise - The River Lune- Skywatch Friday

From the entrance to the car park I spotted the outline of a Kingfisher sat on the ropes of the sunken boat but as the car scrunched over the gravel towards the towpath the bird flew off. Not to worry, there would probably be a Kingfisher at Conder Green. And there was. 

Once again a good number of Swallows around the boats and something like 500/600 but no sign of the Hobby of wishful thinking, just a Common Tern hunting for fish. Along the towpath - 40+ Alba wagtails, 1 Grey Wagtail and further along 2 Chiffchaff. 

Pied Wagtail

The warblers were mostly at Conder Green, skulking along the old railway line or flitting through the trees of the long neglected orchard, with a Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Whitethroat and 2 Blackcap. There was evidence of Chaffinches on the move by way of their autumnal “pink-pink” calls and extra birds around than of late. 

Chaffinch

Meanwhile, and over at the pool a Kingfisher turned its back on me and the 7 Little Grebes left their usual safety margin of many yards. Here at Conder Green it’s easier to get pictures of a Kingfisher than it is to snap a Little Grebe. 

Kingfisher

Little Grebe

Waders today - 6 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank, 3 Snipe, 2 Common Sandpiper, 60+ Lapwing, 30 Redshank and a couple of Curlew. 

Black-tailed Godwit

Odds and Sods - 20 Teal, 4 Cormorant, 4 Common Tern, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Wigeon. 

 Grey Heron

The next picture of a juvenile Starling is for students of moult and those who like to age and sex birds in the field. During the summer and autumn young Starlings have a complete moult of all their juvenile feathers, gradually replacing them with adult type ones. Their moult can last from May/June right through to late September but can vary geographically or according to the individual bird. It’s certainly a weird looking specimen. The poor thing looks like it was dragged through a bush backwards. 

Starling 

Please join Another Bird Blog soon for another bash at birding.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileeen's Saturday Blog.

Back To A Patch

Two weeks in sunny Menorca meant Saturday was employed in catching up with family, a mountain of post, a long list of emails and then downloading and sorting hundreds of photos from the holiday. But this morning the local patch beckoned so a full Menorca post was postponed for now. Log in to Another Bird Blog soon for this year’s pictures from The Idyllic Isle. 

Remembering to drive on the “correct” side of the road I set off north in the direction of Pilling and Cockerham, first stop Conder Green where a goodish list ensued, waders, wildfowl plus “bits and bobs” of passerines. 

The huge passage of Black-tailed Godwits of April has left lingering individuals, 16 or so birds still having feeding success in the tidal creeks, their long bills buried deep in the mud to then pull out long worms. I am guessing that their prey was the lugworms and ragworms that anglers dig for here and then use for bait. 

Black-tailed Godwits

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Other waders are now limited to species which breed here but not necessarily all of those counted, although I did see an Oystercatcher sat tight on a nest. In addition, 9 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher and 4 Curlew, the latter flying overhead. 

Wildfowl are scarce now with the counts of 2 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Canada Goose, 16 Shelduck and 2 Grey Heron a reflection of Spring becoming the doldrums of Summer. For the small area surveyed I found a reasonable number of passerines in song, so numbers which represent the males alone and discount the quieter partners: 4 Whitethroat, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Greenfinch and 2 Goldfinch. 

There were reasonable numbers of Swallows, Sand Martins and House Martins about but sadly no Swifts in evidence. A Swallow gave brief chase to a passing male Sparrowhawk, the hawk no doubt with a nest bound female not too far away. 

Last week on the Menorca patch I watched swallows, martins, Pallid Swift, Alpine Swift, Common Swift, Booted Eagle, Red-footed Falcon and Egyptian Vulture! Oh the joys of a local patch. 

Egyptian Vulture

I headed back to Pilling via Braides where a Sedge Warbler sang from the Cocker Channel and 18 Stock Doves scrutinised a recently sown field. Maybe the doves were finding undrilled seed? 

Stock Dove

Fluke Hall seemed almost silent, the warbler reduction since April very marked with now just single Chiffchaff and Blackcap in song and no Willow Warblers. Luckily the Whitethroats were in good voice my ear still tuned to their scratchy song rather than the machine-gun rattle of Sardinian Warblers. Whitethroats are passage migrants in Menorca, Sardinian Warblers ten-a-penny. 

Whitethroat

Sardinian Warbler

A male Kestrel hunted the freshly sown fields where I found no evidence of breeding Lapwings, the plough of April having done its job with great success. At least 4 Skylarks remain on territory and a pair of Tufted Ducks prospected for a breeding niche in the sea wall channel. 

A good morning’s work. There’s no beating a local patch, wherever it might be.