Testing Times

The thunderstorm of Saturday moved north and east from here in coastal Lancashire and headed across the Pennines to disrupt the Headingley Test Match. There was less cricket to watch on TV but the Sunday forecast was unimpaired; a dry, bright morning with 2-5 mph and the prospect of a ringing session following weeks of inactivity. 

The rain was gone when I met up with Will for a brutal 0600 start but high hopes of catching a few warblers. Viewing visits in recent days saw seven or eight singing Reed Warblers and pairs of both Reed Bunting and Sedge Warbler with plenty of feeding activity around their reed bed of choice. Surely by now, early July there would be fresh juveniles aplenty? 

Our own scoreboard saw an improvement with 16 birds caught – 2 recaptures (Wren and a Reed Warbler from 2021) and 14 new birds. 6 Reed Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 3 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin and 1 Whitethroat. 

Score sheet

 

Of the seven Reed Warblers just two were juveniles, the other five adults, numbers that meant we had scratched the surface, with more juveniles yet to fledge following the very slow start to breeding during the cold weeks of May. Reed Warblers need dense and tall reeds in which to hide their nests suspended between solid reed stems, growth that was sluggish and not to anyone’s liking. 

 

Great Tit

Wren

Blue Tit

Reed Warbler

A single Whitethroat was the other representative of the warbler family with no sight or sound of hoped for Blackcaps, Willow Warblers or Chiffchaffs, never mind more exotica like Lesser Whitethroats or Garden Warblers. The singing Reed Bunting stayed out of range and we never got to see the female buried somewhere in the edge of the reeds on her precious eggs,  

Reed Bunting

Whitethroat

It looks as though we will have to wait a week or two more for post juvenile wanderings to begin in earnest. 

Bird watching in between the ringing provided scant rewards with handfuls only of Goldfinches, Linnets and Swallows plus flybys of Grey Heron and Little Egret. 

Later,  I caught up with the cricket. England beat the Aussies in the Third Test. Now it’s all to play for in the following two games, Old Trafford next and then The Oval for the decider. 

It’s a little like ringing. Playing to win and not giving up. You can’t keep a good team down. 

 

As Cold As Ice

Everyone is talking about the UK's cold weather. I am no exception. I have been marooned indoors  in minus temperatures and icy roads for a week, a now unusual but not unknown sequence of the natural cycles of weather. This is a real old fashioned British winter; when postmen trudged through six feet of snow, milk bottles froze solid to the doorstep and trains came to a halt in snowdrifts, not because of rail strikers.

I have been trapped in our north facing away from major roads cul-de-sac where the sun don't shine and gritters never venture.

Gritter

With plans for ringing and birding literally "on ice" and when standing around invited hypothermia I managed a couple of trips out Pilling way and then Knott End on Sea Ice.

At Pilling where I went to top up the supplementary seed - quick and rough counts of 30 Shelduck, 40 Teal, 50 Mallard, 180 Wigeon, 45 Lapwing, 40 Curlew and 15 or so Redshank. 

Of the small birds I found 10 or more Skylarks and 5 Meadow Pipits braving the elements but nothing else save for Blackbirds, Robins, Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, Dunnocks and a few Blue Tits. All were busy inspecting and devouring our offerings of millet, rape seed, niger and Luxury Picnic Mix. Moorhens, forced off the frozen water, joined in the feast.

Dunnock

Blue Tit

 

On a good bright morning I reckoned to have better luck with the tide and waders at Knott End where the ice and semblance of snow covered the beach, foreshore, walkways and the jetty. It didn’t take long to find a good but not especially numerous selection of waders either roosting or feeding, but I was careful not to disturb them nor venture too far onto the treacherous icy surfaces.

Ringed Plover
Knot, Turnstone
Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone, Knot
Redshank
Turnstone
Knot
Redshank

For the record my counts were 30 Turnstone, 1 Grey Plover, 48 Redshank, 22 Knot, 14 Ringed Plover and 3 Oystercatcher.

A few Shelduck in amongst the ice floes sailed past the end of the jetty, as they looked for food at the tide edges.

Shelduck

Also along the foreshore were the now annual visitors, approximately 45 Twite and a single Rock Pipit.

Twite
I’d spent an hour or more taking pictures and I was pretty much frozen to the core so headed home for a hot drink and a sit down next to a radiator.
It looks like the two week cold snap will end today with a return to the more normal wet and windy for Christmas.
Here's  wishing a Happy Christmas and a Successful 2023 to the many readers of Another Bird Blog.
Linking today to Anni in Texas and Eileen's Saturday.

Those Linnets Again

It was Wednesday of last week the 29th of September when we arrived back in England following two weeks in sunny Greece. Since then it’s rained every day, sometimes very heavy and unpleasant, so there’s been no opportunity for birding or ringing, until today. 

The forecast for this morning looked OK and suggested a slightly blowy start at 10-15 mph but quickly dropping to 5 mph by 10am. For once the prediction was spot on and I had a really interesting ringing session. 

Once again the main target was Linnets with the intention of adding to knowledge about the movements of Linnets between here (Pilling Marsh the location for DemOn database) and the Northern Isles, a recently discovered phenomenon between us and the Scottish Ringers. The recently published Scottish Ringers Roundup featured several movements between the North West England and the far north of Scotland. 

Scottish Ringers Roundup

 

I added another 13 Linnets to make the total caught here this autumn into a nice round 111, with zero recaptures, hence birds on the move. As well as the Linnets I caught 2 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Blue Tits and a single Robin. 

Long-tailed Tit

 

Blue Tit

 

Linnet

Robin

 

Flocks of Linnets came and went during my four hour watch. My best estimate was 200/240 individuals but with mobile Linnets always difficult to be precise. 

Such a lot of Linnets in the air attracted in a number of predators with a Merlin, two Sparrowhawk and a male Peregrine all having a dash at a meal. It was as I sat unseen in the lee of the car that overhead I heard the rush of Peregrine wings in pursuit of a Linnet. The Peregrine was incredibly close and gave tremendous views for several seconds before it flew out towards the marsh.    

Peregrine

 

As the morning sun warmed up a good number of flies found the metal of my car a good place to warm their bodies. 

Sunbathing flies

There’s more ringing planned for Thursday. Let’s hope the weather holds. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

Nature Calls

Three a.m. and nature called. Later life has so many advantages but one or two drawbacks. With the alarm set for 0520 thoughts turned to the ringing session ahead and I knew that sleep would not return. At 0500 I switched the alarm off but took great care not to wake Sleeping Beauty. 

Closer to destination Oakenclough interminable Long Lane rose to 700 above sea level as the black morning turned suddenly to gloomy hill mist and low cloud. Not exactly what the ringer ordered; Andy and I had missed another two and a half weeks of ringing due to unremitting wind and rain sweeping in from The Atlantic. 

Our last visit had been on  6 November 2020.  Nevertheless it felt good to be out again and where if the ringing was quiet, we could for sure put the world to rights via a cup of coffee, a natter and a few choice words. 

The mist cleared, reappeared and then cleared again with barely a hint of the promised sun. What a strange sort of morning with few birds on the move save for a couple of flocks of Redwings, separate groups of fifteen and a forty, plus a few stragglers. Otherwise, 15-20 Chaffinch, a Kestrel gliding through the mist and the usual suspects at George’s bird feeders 30 yards away. 

Just 10 birds caught - 3 Goldfinch, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Coal Tit and 2 Redwing. You can bet things are pretty quiet when a ringer posts a Blue Tit. 

Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis

 

Redwing - Turdus iliacus

 

Blue Tit - Cyanistes caeruleus

Unlike recent weeks the weather looks fairly settled for a day or two so there may be chance to get some ringing and/or birding in. For tomorrow we have planned a visit to the Linnet catching site of recent years at Gulf Lane, Cockerham. We hope to clear an area of the now defunct crop to instead establish a whoosh netting area and bait it with a rape seed, niger and millet mix. 

So far this autumn and winter there is no sign of a Linnet flock and despite a number of drop-in visits, the site has very few birds. Regular readers of this blog will know of our successes in previous years by  establishing that many of the wintering Linnets in our local area originate from Scotland. Our total is 741 Linnet captures from 2016 to 2020. 

Linnets - Carduelis cannabina

Colder temperatures in January, February and March 2021 may see an influx of such individuals again and open up the possibility of catching other species like Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Skylark and Stonechat. 

We don’t succumb so easily to quiet days; they are part and parcel of a day in the great outdoors. What would we do otherwise? Watch daytime TV for a daily dose of brainwashing? 

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni's Birding.

 

Garden Top Ten

Thanks to the Wuhan Flu and house arrest it seems we are all to become garden birdwatchers until further notice. 

Just in time then to read of the latest results from the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, an event held over the weekend of 25-27 January 2020 when nearly half a million people counted almost eight million birds. It made this year’s Birdwatch one of the biggest ever. 

The RSPB even produced a Top Ten, a list that depending upon a particular location may not equate to all gardens but represents a combined average result from the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. 

Here they are in one to ten order; a list to bring tears to eyes of WhatsApp “bird news” groups. Not a single “scarce or rare” among them. In the archives of Another Bird Blog I found a picture for each of the species, useful ID pointers for those who have little or no time for common birds. 

The figure in brackets is a guesstimate of the top ten in my own garden for an average January day. In our garden, Magpie is replaced by Dunnock, a much nicer prospect. Magpies aren’t around because I chase them off as soon as they appear:

1. House Sparrow (10)
2. Starling (8)
3. Blue Tit (5)
4. Woodpigeon (2)
5. Blackbird (3)
6. Goldfinch (1)
7. Great Tit (4)
8. Robin (6)
9. Long-tailed Tit (9)
10. Magpie (0)
10. Dunnock

House Sparrow 

Starling 

Blue Tit 

Woodpigeon

Blackbird

Goldfinch 

Great Tit 

Robin

Long-tailed Tit

Dunnock

The RSPB Top Ten of the changes little from 2019, with the top three birds the same as last year. Again, the Number One spot is taken by the House Sparrow, making it first for seventeen years running. Meanwhile the House Sparrow is nowadays an uncommon visitor to our ample sized semi-rural garden. Here the House Sparrow struggles to even hit the charts, despite the RSPB report suggesting that their numbers appear to have increased by 10% in the last ten years. 

The RSPB detect movement at fourth and fifth, with the Woodpigeon moving up to four and, last year’s number four the Blackbird falling to five. This is not surprising given the highly adaptive pigeon’s abundance here in Stalmine that gives the species an easy runner-up place in our garden list. This commonality is explained by a nearby mix of farmland, many trees, thick hedgerows, tolerant residents and few shooters. 

Small birds like Long-tailed Tits (up by 14% on 2019), Wrens (up 13%) and Coal Tits (up 10%) counted well during a mild, wet winter that came with very few frosts and little snow. The 14% for Long-tailed Tits also accounts for it remaining high on our local list as a past breeding species in the berberis bush; and a regular visitor likely to nest again. 

The report showed that Chaffinch dropped from the top ten down to number 11. This placing reflects very recent news that this once abundant farmland bird is the latest species in trouble through agricultural changes and over-building on green land and woodland edge. Sadly the Chaffinch is no longer a regular in our own garden. 

Losers out this time included Song Thrush way down at 20th in 2020, seen in just 9% of all gardens. Compare this to earlier Big Garden Birdwatches of 1979 -2009 when the Song Thrush made a top ten appearance in every year. In our garden, the once common Song Thrush is both "scarce and rare".  

It's a surprise the Goldfinch doesn’t even make the RSPB top five when here in Stalmine it is far and away the most common garden bird at any time of year. Perhaps the Goldfinch is not yet a city bird where many of the Big Garden Birdwatchers reside? 

Greenfinch is another big loser over the span of the Big Garden Birdwatch, a reflection of a major nationwide decline in its population. It came in at 18th and was seen in just 14% of gardens, this itself a worrying drop of 8% on 2019. We have a pair of Greenfinches in the garden so we count ourselves rather lucky in many ways. 

And the cherry blossom smells just wonderful. 

 Cherry Blossom

Stalmine

At least the good weather means we don’t sit in in the house and watch TV.  I’m told there are still people who pay a TV Licence fee for the privilege of having their intelligence insulted!   

Meanwhile, the Government is in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation.  A relaxation of the lockdown advice will be pounced on by TV and newspaper media and used to whip up even more public hysteria.  The effect this media-generated madness is having on an already browbeaten population has been leapt upon as an excuse for a monumental power grab by the illiberal left, forever eager to bring down an elected Government.  

Back soon with Another Bird Blog and tales of The Great Escape.

Bits And Bobs

The Wednesday trip to Oakenclough wasn't very productive despite our enthusiasm for an early start. I’d met Andy at 0700 to a cold but bright morning of 5°C. 

Although there was an early movement of small finches overhead, and from their quiet “jizz”, Siskins and not Redpolls, we succeeded in catching just two. The first two Siskins of spring 2019 proved to be a first winter/second calendar year male and a fine adult female, both caught at the same time. It’s notable that where two Siskins are caught together they are often of the opposite sex, as if pairs are established and maintained before they reach us 

The Eurasian Siskin, Carduelis spinus, is a member of Fringillidae, the true finches. Although what is a fringillid and how these birds are related to each other has been the source of debate, most true finches are seed-eating passerines that are found in the Northern hemisphere. The Eurasian Siskin is small – smaller, and in the male at least, brighter and more delicate than the similarly green but more bulky European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris. 

Siskin 

Siskin 

Siskins breed in coniferous woodlands and winter in riverside birches and alders as well as gardens. They are seed-eating birds, especially consuming seeds from conifers, alders and birch, as well as some insects. Siskins will also eat berries and other fruits, especially in winter. It is fairly recent years that Siskins found a liking for peanuts and the seed of Niger. The latter is the seed that we use to attract Siskins to our feeding station here at Oakenclough. 

Otherwise our meagre catch revolved around discussing how to set the world to rights and watching out for signs of spring. A local couple stopped and related their recent sighting of a pair of Osprey over the nearby reservoir and their surprise that an orange-eyed owl with “sticky-up ears” never flinched when they walked within yards of its hawthorn hideaway. 

As the clock ticked slowly by our ringing failed to reach such levels of excitement with just a few Goldcrests and Coal Tits to add to the two Siskins. 

Goldcrest 

We discovered that as predicted, Blue Tit AKC5385 caught here on 14th February here had been ringed not far away at Middleton, Morecambe Bay on October 18th 2018. It’s but a hop, skip and jump of 10 miles up here to the edge of the Pennines, but interesting that the Blue Tit was ringed during what is a busy migration period for many species. 

Back to the day where a flap-glide Sparrowhaw, 2 mid-morning Buzzards and a procession of Oystercatchers, Curlews and Lapwings heading for the hills gave a degree of satisfaction that spring had indeed sprung. 

Back home we recently learned that our near neighbours with their loathsome bird-hunting cat are soon to leave for killing fields anew. Good riddance. With a watchful eye I set an afternoon net in our garden where Goldfinches rule when left alone. 

Goldfinch 

During 2018 the BTO Garden Birdwatch reported twice as many Goldfinches in gardens as normal, with some gardens having had flocks of up to 20 birds at any one time. During September 2018, Goldfinches were reported in 61 per cent of the weekly submissions sent in by 15,000 Garden Birdwatch volunteers who monitor their gardens, compared with a 20-year average of 30 per cent. 

Our own garden has daily numbers of between 2 and 20 Goldfinches and where the number of Goldfinches is often in direct proportion to the number of Niger feeders scattered around suitable cat-proof points from which to hang feeders. 

Goldfinch 

Wintering Goldfinches move around in search of food. Goldfinches are a partial migrant and while many stay in the UK some migrate to France and Spain, hence the chance of one of “my” Goldfinches being found many miles south of here or vice-versa and the reason to continue this legitimate pursuit. 

Goldfinch 

A reader enquired about the header photo of the bunting with no name.  It's a Little Bunting caught at Rawcliffe Moss almost 6 years ago on 13th March 2013. It stayed around until at least 30th April when it was recaptured for the fourth time.

Linking this post to World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blogspot.

  

Now’s The Time

A Tawny Owl hooted from the trees in the next door neighbour’s garden: it was very dark with little time to look, but the owl was very close. The owls breed in a nearby copse, our garden on the edge of their territory. 

This morning was my first ringing trip to Oakenclough for 2019; ahead lay a forty minute drive. Near Out Rawcliffe there was a roadside Little Owl and then 500 yards further on, a Tawny Owl on overhead wires, but there was no point in stopping in the half-light of 0700. 

I met Andy at 0725 and noted how the mornings are getting lighter but not necessarily any warmer at a finger tingling 3°C. Some folk might consider mid-Feb to be still winter but birds don’t have a calendar taped  to the kitchen cupboard, only instinct to tell them when the time is right, just as those early morning owls announced. 

Little Owl 

Visits here at Oakenclough in 2018 provided 870 captures, 767 new birds and 103 recaptures. Once autumn migration was over we packed up in early November when the weather took a turn towards winter. The site at some 550ft/168 metres above sea level doesn't hold many midwinter birds. The decent catches are in spring and autumn as our results show e.g. 151 Goldfinch, 98 Chaffinch , 88 Redwing, 58 Meadow Pipit, 14 Tree Pipit, 52 Lesser Redpoll, 19 Blackcap and 39 Goldcrest. 

We try to filter out the tit family, mainly because in general they provide little information or data over and above that already known; but as a bi-catch we still managed 60 Blue Tit, 48 Great Tit and 18 Coal Tit. 

Andy’s dozen or so birds on Monday spurred our decision to have another go this morning but the catching proved slow and unproductive apart from ever-dependable Goldfinches. We caught just 10 birds - 6 Goldfinch, 3 Blue Tit and 1 Chaffinch. Many of the Goldfinches are in fine fettle, the silvery bills of the older males elongated enough to sex the bird without additional features. 

Goldfinch 

The most unusual occurrence came with the realisation that a Blue Tit AKC5385 had not been ringed by ourselves but by another ringer – “probably just down the road in Garstang” we remarked ungraciously, knowing that Blue Tits are not renowned itinerants. 

Blue Tit 

As the morning warmed signs of spring came by way of singing Mistle Thrush (2), Song Thrush, Great Tit and Coal Tit with a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker providing the backing track. 

Mistle Thrush  

We saw fly-overs of Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Raven. It was a Sparrowhawk over the nearby reservoir that sent 150+ Lapwings into the air, a number of which carried on into the nearby hills where some, but sadly not enough, will stay to breed. Likewise, flights of piping Oystercatcher flew across the water to nearby fields for their own early spring rehearsals.

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