Almost Smartie Time

A week after our return from holiday and the necessary catch-ups completed it was time to check out a few local places. 

I started at Cockerham Quarry where the Sand Martin colony should be well underway. It was - many dozens of holes and a hive of activity as 140 or more Sand Martins flew back and forth to their excavations. The martins were still collecting dried grasses from the quarry floor for lining their chambers situated mostly at the very top of the quarry face. I saw no early fledglings, just adults. 

Sand Martin 

The quarry face is unstable and the entrance holes very high which puts it into the realms of a mountaineering expedition rather than a modest mist netting session. We plan another visit in early/mid June and when there are youngsters about and when the increase in overall numbers may present catching opportunities at lower levels. 

There were a few Sand Martins over the water at Conder Green, just a flap and a glide from the quarry. A few Swallows too, but sadly, no sign of Swifts. Each year sees a decline in Swallows and Swifts all around us but the success of the nearby Sand Martin colony has increased their numbers in the local area. 

Waders and wildfowl now consist of those either likely too or in the actual process of breeding, and counts of 10 Oystercatcher, 6 Redshank, 4 Avocet, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 10 Tufted Duck and 6 Shelduck. The 4 Little Egrets are not nesting but a pair or two of Common Tern seemed to be among the six individuals that I saw argue and display over the islands and nesting platforms. 

Shelduck - male 

 Shelduck - female

Avocets have at least two feeding methods. In clear water, they feed by sight by picking prey from the surface of water or mud. In poor visibility and when locating prey from within the sediments, they forage by touch, sweeping the long, up-curved bill from side to side through water or loose sediment to locate hidden prey. In deeper water they swim readily and buoyantly, up-ending like a duck to reach food below the surface. 

Avocet 

 Avocet

 Avocet

Passerines along the hedgerow were not many - 3 Goldfinch, plus singing singles of Common Whitethroat, Reed Bunting and Blackcap. Just today saw the first juvenile Goldfinches appear in my back garden, fluttering their wings and begging to be fed by accompanying adults. 

Along Jeremy Lane I found the only Reed Warbler of the morning, singing from the roadside ditch but with none in the usual spots in the dense reeds of Conder Green. As ever, it is not necessarily the species and/or numbers seen. It is those birds that are absent which provide clues about the ups but mostly downs of bird populations. 

Further exploration of the lanes produced good numbers of Sedge Warbler, twelve or more singing along the ditches of Moss Lane, Jeremy Lane and Cockersands. In contrast, Common Whitethroats were few and far between with just three songsters along the same circuit, although I did happen upon a Lesser Whitethroat. 

As the name suggests, this warbler is smaller than its cousin the Common Whitethroat. It has dark cheek feathers which contrast with the pale throat and can give it a 'masked' look. Lesser Whitethroats can be skulking and hard to see, often only noticed when they give their very distinctive harsh, rattling song. In contrast, the song of a Common Whitethroat is fast, scratchy and scolding, often delivered from a conspicuous song post for all to see and hear. Today it was a blossoming hawthorn bush.

Lesser Whitethroat 

Common Whitethroat 

Common Whitethroat 

I saw good numbers of Lapwings, Brown Hares and Stock Doves in the cut meadows near Cockersands where I chanced upon a young Lapwing. Just the right size for a "D" ring - the first and probably last of the year. 

 Brown Hare

Lapwing

Lapwing chick

Back soon with more news and views.

In the meantime, linking with Wild Bird Wednesday, Anni's Birding  and Eileen's Saturday Post.

Back On Patch

There was a stiff north-easterly wind as I set off over the moss roads. It had been three weeks without birding the local patch so I was keen to see what had taken place in this “silent spring”. Via the Internet I’d read local blogs and bird club pages where all agreed that a number of species were down or even missing – Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers, Swallows, Swifts, House Martins and Reed Warblers; the same names kept cropping up on the list of absentees. 

Until this morning I’d not seen a Swift in the UK, just several thousand in Menorca over a week ago. It was almost 1030 this morning before I saw my first 2 UK Swifts of the year, both heading purposefully into the wind and out over Morecambe Bay. 

The early start gave a number of Whitethroats, both singing but also skulking as they do. Maybe they are just trying to catch up with the days they lost on the way here? But less than a dozen Whitethroats for almost four hours of birding in suitable habitat represents a poor show. 

Whitethroat 

At least the recent dry days gave farmers a chance to catch up and for now the flash floods are gone.  Many a field is ploughed & seeded or stripped bare by the first cut of silage. 

Rawcliffe Moss, Lancashire 

The moss roads produced an interesting mix. I checked out the Buzzard nest of some weeks ago where the foliage now almost completely hides the nest. The two adults were very close by but silent and I’m pretty sure there are small young up there in the tree tops. 

Buzzard Nest 

Buzzard 

Close by was a singing Lesser Whitethroat, a Kestrel and on nearby fields, 6 Stock Dove. There was a Curlew displaying too, an upland breeding species that nests in very low numbers here on the coast.  

An hour or two around the Cockerham, Conder Green and Cockersands area proved to be inconclusive. I saw lots of Sand Martins at Cockerham but Swallows and House Martins were noticeable by their low numbers, even absent from regular spots along Moss Lane. 

In this part of Lancashire our Swallows have suffered a series of poor, short summers of rain, cool temperatures and the loss of many traditional nesting sites. The cumulative effect of these changes is that two or three broods have not been possible in a season and there are less young available to fly to Africa in the autumn. The additional pressures of the Swallows’ long and hazardous migration mean that the numbers of Swallows returning to breed in our Northern summer declines each year. Swallows are stuck in a vicious circle from which they struggle to escape. 

I managed to see and hear about six Sedge Warblers, plus a handful of Whitethroat but not a single Reed Warbler in the phragmites ditches alongside the lanes. I'm hoping the lack of visuals of both Reed and Sedge Warblers is down to a late start and the females laying low while on eggs. 

Sedge Warbler  

Brown Hares have done well this year where perhaps the farmers’ reluctance to enter their fields in the wet spring helped hares progress. Skylarks may have benefited in a similar way and it was a very visible but not necessarily vocal species this morning with a good number seen along Jeremy and Moss lanes. Skylarks too are mostly at egg stage in late May and I didn't see any carrying food today.

  

Brown Hare

Skylark 

Along Moss Lane I saw two broods of young Lapwings, adults with three good sized chicks and then adults with but a single youngster. Sadly I also saw the beginnings of a post-breeding season gathering of 15-18 adults whereby both failed or non-breeders join together in a loose flock to compare notes and discuss what they might do different next time. 

Lapwing 

There’s good news from Conder Green where a second pair of Common Terns have claimed the island spot vacated by the Avocets of early May that upped sticks and went elsewhere. The other pair  of terns still claim the man-made pontoon.

Common Tern 

Also here – 5 pairs of Oystercatcher, 3 pairs of Tufted Duck and 2 pairs of Redshank.

This And That

Last summer, autumn and now the current winter will be memorable for all the wrong reasons. A series of storms and hurricane remnants battered the west coast of Britain. Our garden developed a sponge like consistency that became a no-go area; not that there were any birds to see or catch. Even the normally resilient band of Goldfinches seemed to depart, and birds which might otherwise winter with us were displaced elsewhere. 

Only now with the lengthening days and the first signs of are some birds beginning to return. I had net up for a few hours and caught 5 new Goldfinch, a Chaffinch and a Collared Dove to kick off the garden ringing for 2018. 

Goldfinch

Collared Dove

Chaffinch

Today I took a run out to some local spots and to drop seed at two ringing spots. Gulf Lane held about 90 Linnet, 6 Skylark, 5 Stock Dove, 1 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. 

There’d been an overnight frost and the heron was waiting for the ditch to clear of ice. 

Grey Heron

The flood at Rawcliffe Moss had muddy if slightly frozen margins edges to accommodate 16 Pied Wagtails, 6 Meadow Pipits, 2 Shelduck and 15 Lapwing. Later I would see Lapwings in display; a sure sign that spring is here at last. 

Alongside the road a Chaffinch was in full song. I didn’t realise until I looked at the picture but the Chaffinch has diseased legs and feet, a condition known as Chaffinch Viral Papilloma (CVP). 

Chaffinch

CVP is thought to affect around 1% of the Chaffinch population at any given time and can affect both sexes. Cases usually occur in clusters and quite high proportions of local populations may be affected in outbreaks. In my experience the disease is associated with Chaffinches that feed in farmyard, and smallholdings and where chickens roam freely. 

The disease causes wart-like growths on the foot or tarsometatarsus, the bare part of the leg. The growths vary from small nodules to large irregular shaped and deeply-fissured masses which almost engulf the entire lower leg and foot. Affected birds usually seem in otherwise good health but some may show signs of lameness and hop mainly on the unaffected foot and digits may be lost. The disease can spread to other ground feeding birds like Dunnock. 

At Conder Green I counted 80 Teal, 42 Wigeon, 24 Tufted Duck, 4 Shelduck, 28 Oystercatchers (inc 4 pairs), 26 Curlew, 18 Black-tailed Godwit and 14 Redshank. A visit to our second Linnet site found 90+ Linnets still around together with 3 Meadow Pipit and 2 Reed Bunting. A Raven croaked overhead heading down to the Lune marshes – the species is now a common sight and sound in this area. 

I saw a number of Brown Hares sitting out in the early sun and they don’t yet appear ready to start their boxing courtships. The hare is a beautiful and intriguing creature that against the odds of agricultural changes has managed to maintain a strong presence in this part of Lancashire. Unlike rabbits, hares do not make an underground warren but nest in a depression in the ground where their young are active as soon as they are born. I know a local farmer who swears that come summertime the local Buzzard population takes a heavy toll on the young hares (leverets). 

Brown Hares

Brown Hares

The wintering Whooper Swans are now well spread across a couple of miles of fields, unlike early winter where for a few weeks after their arrival they stuck together like glue. There are probably still a couple of hundred Whooper Swans, up to 10 Bewick’s Swans and many Mute Swans but today I spotted an unusual interloper that seems to have escaped attention, a Black Swan. 

Black Swan

Whooper Swan

We’ve had some pretty strange weather but I’m certain the Black Swan is not a wind blown vagrant from down-under Australia.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday, Anni's Birding and Eileen's blog

A Photo Or Two

I didn’t get many photos this morning. As each week passes the adult birds and those born last year get older and wiser about birders and keep out of the way of cameras and bins. 

An early morning Barn Owl is pretty much guaranteed at the moment when food is scarce and the owls spend longer on the hunt. So it was this morning as the owl stayed alongside the moss road but hidden by distance and the straggly hedge at eye level. I made do with a Kestrel and then a Buzzard just sat in the opposite field but keeping a wary eye on passing cars. It looked like last year’s bird. 

Buzzard

Along Lancaster Road a farmer was out early taking the tops off and shaping the hedgerow. It rather stopped my looking for finches and much else but the flood at Rawcliffe/Pilling held 4 Fieldfare, 1 Kestrel, 180 Lapwing, 10 Pied Wagtail and 8 Meadow Pipit. At Gulf Lane the Linnet flock is down to about 40 birds, the lowest count of the winter but not surprising given the battering of rain, wind, snow and ice that both birds and vegetation have taken since August. 

Around the moss road produced a couple of calling Buzzards on territory as 5/6 Meadow Pipits scattered ahead of the car. 

Buzzard

 

I called at Conder Green out of habit more than optimism and the chance the Avocets may appear any day. They are already in Lancashire after their winter away. No up-turned bills just the usual 3 pairs of Oystercatcher, 15 Curlew, 12 Redshank and a gang of 10 noisy Shelduck. Spring is definitely in the air with Robins and Skylarks in song although next week we’re back to cold and frosty air. 

Robin

A trip around Jeremy Lane and up to Cockersands produced a healthy if unspectacular mix of species. Best was a mixed flock of Starlings, Fieldfares and Redwings numbering 200/200/6. Redwings are much scarcer than Fieldfares in early spring as if the Fieldfares make a leisurely journey north while the Redwings dash through mostly unseen. 

Near Cockersands was the usual Kestrel, a female Stonechat and some pretty huge flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers which numbered in the few thousands of each. Also, 30+ Skylarks, 30+ Redshank, 18 Twite, 13 Pied Wagtail, 8 Meadow Pipit and 6 Tree Sparrow. 

Kestrel

 

Golden Plovers

I saw a three or four Brown Hares this morning. One stopped in a gateway to clean its feet after it ran through a muddy patch of ground. I’ve seen them do that before. 

Brown Hare

 

There’s ringing tomorrow, something of a novelty this winter. But the forecast is half-decent with just a 10mph wind at a partly sheltered site. I’m meeting Andy at 0700. Log in later to see how we did.  

A Saturday link toWild Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Blog and Eileen's blog.

Updated.

Sorry I’m late. Windows decided to bring me up-to-date me with the latest enhancements that I can’t live without.

Mr Gates, you need to know, my Sue has been trying to modernise me for years and failed miserably.  Yet it appears that Windows 10 does automatic updates whether the user wants them or not and by clicking constantly pressing “no”, all I did was delay the inevitable.  Like a fool and worn down by the constant messages on the screen I clicked “go”. Three hours later here we are trying to update the blog. 

February and every birder I know has been looking for signs of spring in the extra daylight hours despite the constant Arctic winds headed our way. There’s been a few pointers at home with Blue Tit and Great Tit popping into nest boxes, Blackbirds hanging around the ivy covered hawthorns, and the annual Nuthatch visit following a burst or two of song. I’m still hoping that one of these years the Nuthatches might go further than simply practice their nesting skills in that mostly neglected box. 

Nuthatch

I’ve watched a Treecreeper search the apple tree on a couple of occasions and noticed an increase in Goldfinches after a distinct lack during December and January, but I think those latter two are more related to food. 

This morning I set off in the usual direction and soon hit upon a Barn Owl in the half-light. As I watched the owl a handful of calling Fieldfares rattled over having just left their overnight roost. 

There was nothing doing until I got to Gulf Lane where I waited a while for Linnets to arrive for the seed I dropped. Just 100 or so today their numbers and persistence tested to the full in recent weeks by the constant battering of rain and wind. There was a Snipe, the inevitable Little Egret, a Kestrel from the nearby farm buildings, and just over the fence a gang of Lapwings with muddy bills. 

Lapwing

Around Moss Edge I found the male Stonechat that’s hung around for weeks along a line of fence bordering a few straggly reeds. There were Fieldfares here, about 80 or 90 but looking into the light and very flighty. Brown Hares were about this morning. I saw a couple on a circuit of Jeremy Lane tucked in close to the ground, motionless and with their ears pressed flat along their backs, trying for all the world to look like a large clod of earth. 

Brown Hare

“Bits and pieces” between Jeremy Lane, Moss Lane, Slack Lane and Cockersands included 150+Starling, 90 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Merlin, 8+ Skylark, 7 Greenfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Stonechat (female). The Stonechat appears to have parted company with the male Stonechat that was along the same stretch of foreshore for several weeks. The two of them could always be found with a few yards of each other until now, but now just the one. 

Stonechat

Starling

 At Glasson I noted just 11 Goldeneye and 1 Goosander although of note, a single drake Pochard was still in residence. 

Conder Green was relatively quiet but still approximately 200 Teal, 22 Redshank, 18 Lapwing, 10 Curlew, 5 Snipe and 1 Greenshank. Of note here was a pair of Oystercatchers on territory close to last year’s nesting site that failed at the busy roadside. 

Curlew

Don’t forget. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog to see the new updates.

Linking today with World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Into June

Yes, regular reader, I know Wednesday was perfect for birding and photography but I was busy with half-term duties. Today was the first opportunity to get out and about and although weather-wise this morning wasn’t the best, it was dry and warm for the first birding of June. 

The set-aside at Cockerham is coming on a treat with lots of oil-seed rape in the mix giving the field a bright yellow glow. I stopped off to check out the couple of pairs of Skylarks close by. 

Set-aside field - June 2017

Skylark

Skylark

As before, Gulf Lane is still off limits for ringing due to the latest ringing ban caused following the latest avian flu. But that doesn’t stop us getting details of a recovery from our ringing of over 200 Linnets during the winter. 

This time it wasn’t a Linnet but a Reed Bunting that popped into the in-tray. Andy and I ringed Z860844 a first autumn female Reed Bunting on 12 October 2016, one of only two Reed Buntings caught from September 2016 to March 2017 at Gulf Lane where Linnets were the main target. There is a wet ditch running alongside the plot of set-aside and to see and/or hear a Reed Bunting or two is pretty regular. 

Reed Bunting

 

The BTO details tell us that Z860844 was recaptured by another ringer on 10 May 2017 at Little Crosthwaite, near Keswick, Cumbria, UK, 81 km NNW of Gulf Lane. Unfortunately the recapture information didn’t tell us if the female was in breeding condition or in a potential breeding locality on 10 May even though the date would suggest it should be. 

Reed Bunting - Cockerham to Keswick, Cumbria

At Conder Green the roadside Oystercatchers have gone from the now empty nest. We will never know for sure what happened but maybe the pair will learn from their mistake in laying eggs so close to a very busy spot. It’s not just eggs that disappear as the pair of Avocets that a day or two had two youngsters now gone missing to ground or avian predators. 

I saw eight Avocets this morning of which two pair appears to be nesting and the other four birds being only possibilities as it is now into June. Also, they spent a lot of time flying between the pool and the creeks rather than sorting out any domestic arrangements.

The remaining Oystercatchers are doing okay with 7 or 8 pairs in attendance and one of those pairs still with two growing youngsters. Otherwise – 65 Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Shelduck, 8 Tufted Duck, 2 Common tern, 4 Little Egret, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Kestrel. 

A circuit of Jeremy Lane and Moss Lane was a little quiet perhaps due to the cooler, cloudier morning; but I did count 10 Skylark, 7 Sedge Warbler, 6 Whitethroat, 6 Tree Sparrow, 4 Reed Bunting 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Reed Warbler at least two broods of recently fledged Pied Wagtails. 

Pied Wagtail

If anyone saw the Autumn Watch programme on TV the other evening they may have wondered why the BBC found it so hard to show us Brown Hares? They are all at Cockerham BBC! 

Brown Hare

Brown Hares

Nothing doing tomorrow as my car is due a main service, but back to normal Saturday on Another Bird Blog. 

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