A Good Mix

I missed a few visits in May due to a holiday in Greece but prior to that, early April had been my last visit to Oakenclough when we caught 15 birds – 6 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Great Tit, 1 Siskin. 

Andy and Will filled in the gaps of May and now it was my turn to see how the breeding season was shaping, more so following the exceptionally dry and hot month of June. Would there be juveniles of the year, adults in moult or even the beginning of post-juvenile dispersal to bring new birds on the block? Time would tell. 

And talking of time, a five o’clock alarm followed by a meet with Andy at six hours past midnight seemed an ungodly hour for those of us accustomed to leisurely days on a Greek beach or breakfast in a sunny Stalmine garden. 

A slow start didn’t really pick up speed. We finished at 1100 with 20 new birds of 11 species and an interesting mix of 3 Robin, 2 Garden Warbler, 2 Siskin, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Oystercatcher. 

The Robins caught were all fresh, rusty speckled juveniles. Even at this young age Robins display the hostility so typical of adult birds that puff out their red chests when presented with a rival. In this case it is the reflection of another Robin that the young ones see in the camera lens, or pointed aggression  directed at the person taking the photograph. 

 

Robin

Four or five Garden Warblers could be heard in song this morning. And then later in the morning we caught two female Garden Warblers, both with well developed brood patches. We caught no males or recently fledged young suggesting that we need to revisit the site soon. 

Garden Warbler

 

Two Siskins were caught at the same time, an adult male together with a recently fledged juvenile. We released the two jointly and they flew off in the same direction. 

Siskin

Siskin

Just one Willow Warbler was something of a disappointment when three or four were in song throughout the area and that by late June there should be good numbers of juveniles around. We didn’t know of a Chiffchaff on site until we caught it. 

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff

A juvenile Song Thrush was a welcome addition to the mix when we catch so few nowadays. 

Song Thrush

After his success in landing three Avocets this week, Andy was at it again in the shape of a young Oystercatcher along the bank of the close by reservoir. While one chick legged it into the distance its sibling ran the “wrong” way and ended up in Andy’s net. Wader ringing totals this year – Avocet 3, Oystercatcher 1, Lapwing 0. There’s something seriously amiss in those figures for North West England when Lapwings should be winning by country miles.

Oystercatcher

 

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Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot.

Out Of Hibernation

It's like I was in hibernation mode. Weeks of doing very little because of the awful weather but rather enjoying the lie ins, the restful days and catching up with garden, household jobs and days out with Sue. And we can confirm, the chippie at Knott End is better than one we found in Garstang while the Shovels pub at Hambleton does a pretty good meal at reasonable cost in these inflationary times. 

A rather bright Sunday tempted me out again and where along Head Dyke Lane was a Barn Owl hunting the roadside. The owl disappearing over farm buildings as mine and another car approached with headlights still burning in the half light of dawn.

Barn Owl

The morning turned out not bad for birding although the bright sky and slightly cool northerly airflow with a lack of cloud kept migrant birds high in the sky. 

Highlight of my 3+ hours slot was a small but steady stream of Meadow Pipits heading across Morecambe Bay and a probable influx of Wheatears. 

A pair of Stonechats have frequented the fence posts at Gulf Lane for a week or two now and as ever it appeared they might stay around to breed but they rarely do. Quite where they disappear to every time and why this spot is not 100% for them is anyone's guess. 

The shore wasn’t especially wind swept, just enough to keep half a dozen ex-roost Little Egrets sitting about in weak sun around the edge of ditches and a chance of a bite to eat. I glimpsed a pair of Little Grebes, heard their trills then through the reeds saw a drake Shoveler and a couple of Teal. 

Two Chiffchaffs were in song this morning, their repetitive “chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff” surprisingly far-carrying when little else was in voice. The Chiffchaff is almost the ultimate “little brown job” of bird ID, lucky then that its onomatopoeic song helps even a novice birder to identify the species; in this 

springtime easier still when Willow Warblers are yet to arrive.

Chiffchaff

 Chiffchaff

Meadow Pipits were on the move here, fives, sixes and more, on the edge of woodland habitat but making off North and over the marsh, a sure sign of decent numbers about. Three hours later my notebook scribbles amounted to 110+ Meadow Pipits, 2 Siskins and 2 Reed Buntings heading into the wind and across the bay towards Heysham. 

Good numbers of Shelduck were out on the marsh, scattered widely and left to right from Pilling to Cockerham with a minimum of 125 birds now looking to pair up for the summer we all desperately need.

There was a Green Sandpiper on the edge of the pool, more Teal, 8 Shoveler, 2 Little Egrets and a Great Egret. The warning calls of Chaffinches alerted me to a Kestrel in the top of the willows, the raptor doing a few circuits and a hover or two before flying back towards Pilling where at least a couple of pairs are in residence. 

 Chaffinch

Kestrel

I found 3 Wheatears moving along the base of the sea wall and  tried to encourage them to fly to the regular catching spot. They were reluctant to leave the sun and shelter of the southern aspect. I didn’t blame them, the wind was getting up and it was so cold that my gloves went on and I ended up with a very dull shot of a bright male Wheatear. 

Northern Wheatear

The week ahead looks less than perfect with more breezy, windswept days and lots of April showers. 

Andy has been out of action for a week and more while Will and I kicked our heels when the weather forecasts let us down for pencilled in ringing last weekend.  There goes that song again - "Things Can Only Get Better" when March goes out like a lamb.

Look in soon for more news and views soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today with Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

Oh Dear, How Sad. Never Mind.

I made it to Pilling on Friday morning and met up with Will for a spot of ringing. Another quiet session saw a catch of just 9 birds - 6 Linnet, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Robin. 

The ringing was quiet but birding while sat in the warming sunshine proved immensely entertaining.  We saw two but possibly three separate Marsh Harriers, one in clear north to south migration, the other two patrolling the landscape. 

A Peregrine tried twice to catch Stock Doves and while the Peregrine failed to connect a Buzzard hung around just in case there were spoils to be had. 

A Sparrowhawk, 3 Little Egrets and 2 Grey Herons added to our sightings with small flights of both Wigeon and Teal in the mix. Linnet numbers are down with a low count of 50/60 made up of small parties between 3 and 8. 

The numbers are down in all respects from those of two and three weeks ago. We suspect that we have witnessed a juvenile dispersal of some magnitude and that there will now be a lull until the arrival of more Linnets when colder weather arrives.   

 

Chiffchaff

 

Sedge Warbler

Robin

Marsh Harrier

There are more birds, birding and photos to come.  Log in soon to Another Bird Blog.

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Meanwhile, there’s interesting and up to date news from Another Bird Blog’s Game and Sporting Correspondent. 

As a reminder and estimates vary, approximately 32 million Pheasants, 9 million Red-legged Partridges and 2.6 million Mallards are released into the countryside annually in the UK. The birds are released to provide ‘sport’ for people who live in or travel to the countryside. The released birds are subsequently killed during highly organised shooting occasions throughout the late autumn and winter months. 

This is known as Driven Game Shooting, a form of shooting more formal than simply walking with a dog alongside the hedgerows, and is usually confined to pheasant, partridge and grouse shooting.

On the shoot day, a team of shooters, or Guns, line out at numbered pegs. Meanwhile, under the gamekeeper’s instructions, a group of beaters and their dogs move through areas of woodland or covert, flushing the game ahead of them.

The aim is to get the birds to break cover and fly high over the line of Guns to provide sporting shots. Shot game is retrieved quickly by a picker-up who sends his/her trained gundog to where the shot game falls. Because of the organisation and number of people involved in a shoot of this sort, the financial cost to the Guns is considerably higher than in the other types of shooting.

Pheasant rearing

“Pippa, her posh pals, piles of dead pheasants and partridges... and some very pukka wellies” 

Daily Mail UK

The huge demand for the millions of young gamebirds (poults) reared for shooting in the countryside needs both home grown birds and imports from Europe. The largest exporters of gamebirds to the UK are France, Poland and Spain. France is by far the largest supplier of factory-farmed pheasants to the UK shooting industry with the Eurotunnel the main supply route for these birds. 

It seems that the price of Pheasant poults in particular is suffering from the same if not higher levels of inflation than the price of Waitrose avocados. Rearing birds requires labour, food, water, transport, husbandry, heating and energy, all of it getting more expensive by the day. 

In the early part of 2022 the industry worried that the price for a single poult might reach the dizzy heights of £5. 

During 2021/2022, France saw a high level of H5N1 Avian Flu outbreaks concentrated in the Vendee and Loire Atlantique regions - some of the main suppliers of game birds and eggs to the British game keeping market – as well as in French game birds themselves. 

The wave of cases in the southwest of France led to the culling of about 4 million birds, according to Reuters. There were 975 outbreaks of avian flu in the country between late November and March 2022. During this time France also experienced restrictions of movement and lockdowns of people and services due to Covid. 

This perfect storm of circumstances has seen the price of Pheasant poults imported to the UK rocket to near £10 a bird, a price that threatens the financial viability of UK shoots where attendance at even the smallest gathering may require a payment of £1,000 or more per person per day. 

It appears that some French producers who earlier in 2022 took orders from the UK have now reneged on deals or stated that they are unable meet new orders. The result is that as the shooting season of 1st September draws near, the price of a single UK grown poult for immediate supply was very recently quoted at £12.50 by a Lancashire supplier keen to fill the gaps in supply. 

A Gun

Organiser of shoots and their Guns worry they may have to cut down on the number of shooting days this winter.

Whatever happens from here on it seems likely that at the very least there will be less shooting this winter, with a corresponding lessening impact on the environment & countryside caused by the release of many thousands of factory farmed birds. 

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

 

Too Many Questions Not Enough Answers

“Six-fifteen?” We agreed. It seemed like a good idea at the time until the alarm buzzed at five-fifteen when I went through the well-practiced routine of ablutions, clothes, breakfast and a flask of coffee for the day ahead. Minutes later I hit the road to Oakenclough and met Andy on the dot to a cloudy start and a light south-easterly. 

We heard the soft piping calls of a Bullfinch near to the first mist net and thought it highly likely we would catch a Bullfinch or two now that the species has returned to the site. Better still, a few recently fledged youngsters.

Within minutes of our arrival there was shower that lasted three or four minutes after which it remained dry until we left at 1115. It had been a while since our last visit here of 17 June Another Bird Blog when we had questioned the lack of newly fledged birds.    

Throughout the rest of June and through July we thought that with the exception of Sand Martins and probably Linnets, the breeding success of all species had been both late and/or poor. 

The next few hours might give more clues and develop a few theories. We finished with a better catch of 25 birds, 24 new and one recapture, an adult Bullfinch first ringed on 17 June. The only other adult caught was a male Goldcrest. 

The remaining 23 captures were all shown to be juvenile/first summer individuals, and thirteen of those Willow Warblers. We were seeing juveniles in larger numbers and in more species for the very first time this year, all to confirm our suspicions of a late breeding season here in the cool of North West England. 

In total - 13 Willow Warbler, 6 Blue Tit, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Bullfinch. 

The single juvenile Lesser Redpoll was a very young bird yet to begin any post juvenile moult or develop reddish tinges. We were sure it was part of a brood born quite close to the site. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

 

Willow Warbler

Chiffchaff

 

A gentle blow of the crown feathers of the partly moulting “female” Goldcrest showed remnants of a male’s orange feathers.  A male quite quickly loses those orange centres used to attract a female at the start of the breeding season.

Goldcrest

 

The male Bullfinch remains in good breeding condition. It displayed an obvious incubation patch and a cloacal protuberance, plus that we did not catch the female suggest the pair may have a second clutch of eggs somewhere in the dense woodland. Like many species, the male Bullfinch does his share of incubating eggs, hence the need for a bare, warm belly. 

Bullfinch

 

Birding between bouts of ringing/processing produced the surprise sighting of a fly-by Kingfisher, only the second one ever seen here.  Also, 4 Pied Wagtails, a handful of Swallows, a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a couple of Chaffinches. 

As is often the case it’s the species not seen, caught or even heard caught that provoke the questions. Today it was “Where are the Blackcaps, the Whitethroats and the Garden Warblers”. Or, “Why only four or five Swallows and no Swifts?” 

And there’s always the perpetual one, “Why no Buzzards, on this fine morning for a circling raptor?” Well I think we all know the answer to that last one, especially when we noted young pheasants on the loose. 

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

 

Minor Movement

Monday at Pilling proved fairly unproductive with yet another catch that barely reached double figures. There was a lack of warblers but a noticeable increase in the flocking behaviour of Linnets. It appears that Linnets have done OK, but for warblers the season has been less productive with post breeding dispersal＊yet to kick-off. 

Eleven birds caught - 4 Linnet, 2 Robin, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 1 Sedge Warbler. 

Adult male Linnets quickly lose their bright red colours and in a few weeks will look completely different after their post-breeding moult. 

Linnet

The two Reed Warblers were recaptures from 19 May 2022 and from August 2021; quite remarkably for mid-July of any years past it meant we had yet to catch a juvenile of the year. 

Reed Warbler

 

＊Post breeding dispersal. When juvenile birds from the last brood have successfully fledged they are no longer dependent upon their parents for feeding and training and it is common for both adults and juveniles to disperse. They are no longer tied down to the nest site when the rearing of young is over. Adults don’t need to defend their territory anymore and begin to wander further afield in search of food while youngsters head off to discover the big wide world away from their birth place. 

The week continued warm but windy from the north and it was Saturday before any morning looked suitable for another go so I met Will at 0615. The forecast of 5mph proved partly accurate as the wind increased to 10 and then 15 mph with full cloud cover by 10 o’clock and no sign of the overhyped "heatwave". 

We hit a morning of minor dispersal with a handful of warblers newly arrived from elsewhere and definitely not from our site. 

Ten birds caught - 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Linnet and 1 Great Tit. Once again, no new Reed Warblers in our catch report although a few adults still sing away. It could be that all the nests of June and July have failed. 

The Lesser Whitethroat was an adult in partial moult, the rest of the warblers being birds of the year. 

Lesser Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler

Goldfinch

 

Chiffchaff

 

Willow Warbler

 

Blackcap

The ever increasing breeze put paid to plans of catching Linnets when the net became visible to the ever wary finches. Throughout the morning we estimated 50/70 Linnets visiting the area but only one caught. 

Other birding entertainment was provided by a pair of juvenile Peregrines twice hunting a pack of Starlings. It was the rush of sound from the wings of tightly packed Starlings that alerted us to the pursuing raptors presence. 

Others - 1 Kestrel, 1 Raven, 4 Swallow, 2 Swift, 2 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron. 

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

No Page Threes

The last ten days proved very frustrating. Since returning from Greece in the early hours of 18 May, I’ve not been able to get out ringing or do any meaningful birding. 

Skiathos, Greece - May Days 

My return to a typically British summer of wind and rain meant that gardening and other chores took priority. There’s one thing to say in favour of the good old British climate - it certainly makes things grow, as testified by our green waste bin now bursting to overspill with clippings of grass, trees and hedgerow. 

At last, I’m free so on Saturday I met up with Andy at Oakenclough at 0600 and a promised sunny morning with less than 10mph wind and the customary cold northerlies. 

As I drove on site a buck Roe Deer leapt over the wire fence ahead and disappeared into woodland. I searched in the boot for hat and warm jacket in readiness for the display of 6°, unlike the 27° of recent Skiathos. 

There were Willow Warblers and Garden Warblers in song, a foretaste of that to follow as we caught with good variety, unspectacular numbers but thankfully not a single one of the customary titmice. In fact throughout the morning, a single Coal Tit was the only representative of the tribe. 

14 birds caught – 5 Willow Warber, 2 Chiffchaff and one each of Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Bullfinch, Goldcrest, Pied Wagtail, Robin and Dunnock. 

The adult male Bullfinch was a stunner.  

Bullfinch

Both the Blackcap and the Garden Warbler proved to be adult female with full brood patch, the Pied Wagtail a second year male. 

Pied Wagtail

Garden Warbler

Blackcap

The young Dunnock an example of how soon young birds are able to leave the nest and become at least partly self-sufficient when upon release it flew strongly into the trees from whence it came. 

Dunnock

We caught adult Willow Warblers only with no examples of recently fledged ones. The cold weather of May has slowed the species’ breeding season with the emergence of young a week or more away. 

Chiffchaff

 

Willow Warbler

Birding was quiet because migration is more or less over apart from late stragglers that often surprise. Several families of Greylag, 6 Oystercatcher, 2 Lapwing, 4 Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4 Swallows, 4 Garden Warblers, 12+ Willow Warblers. 

Greylags

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

An Improving Picture

The temperature readout showed -1°C and warned of “possible icy roads”. It was 0530 as the wipers scraped across the icy windscreen. I pressed the heated seat buttons, one for me and one for the jacket draped over the seat. I was driving to meet up with Andy and into the hills of Oakenclough where it’s always two or three degrees colder than the Fylde coast. 

Over Rawcliffe Moss the car lit up two Roe Deer frozen in the approaching main beam so I slowed and turned off the lights so as to let them walk across the fields towards the rising sun. It’s best not to panic wild deer into a mad dash, especially if there are fences nearby. 

 

Roe Deer

As ever, and after a couple of poor catches out Pilling way we hoped that things could only get better, despite talk of continued cold weather in Spain, Portugal, and France, countries through which our migrant birds must pass before reaching the UK. 

We caught migrant and newly arrived Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler in the first hour but then faltered through until 1030 without catching anything too exciting in the way of species or numbers. 

Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and Coal Tit were caught at feeding points while Coal Tits are something of a local speciality because of the proximity of a stretch of conifers. 

15 birds of 9 species caught - 3 Great Tit, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Robin, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Wren, 1 Dunnock, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff. 

 

Goldfinch

Lesser Redpoll

 

Dunnock

 

Willow Warbler

Lesser Redpoll

Coal Tit

Other species seen – 2 Blackbird, 2 Buzzard, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Brown Hare. 

Brown Hare

Pied Wagtail

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

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