Whuppity Scoorie

Just in case you folks didn’t know. Today March 1st is known in parts of Scotland as “Whuppity Scoorie”- supposedly it reflects changes when lighter spring evenings replaced the dark winter nights and a time to celebrate; perhaps with a wee dram? 

For me the marginally lighter mornings mean a chance to go birding 30 minutes sooner and to catch up with a glass of wine once the day is over. The Barn Owl just didn’t want to co-operate this morning. The roads are still pretty busy until even lighter mornings arrive and this owl is sensible enough to avoid the passing vehicles. So I made do with a distant photo and then went on my way. 

Barn Owl

I made it to Gulf Lane where the Linnets have made something of a comeback with 100+ in attendance and still preferring what’s left of the natural food rather than our millet/rapeseed mix. It looks like the Avian Flu restrictions are to apply for some time yet to further frustrate or efforts to catch birds here. As well as a couple of Stock Doves, I counted five or more Skylarks in the immediate area with a couple flying off from the net ride where we deposit the seed mix. A single Little Egret hunted the dyke with several tree Sparrows around the farm as well as a Kestrel hovering over the roadside. 

Little Egret

Kestrel

The morning was very changeable with constantly shifting light. There was sun one minute, and then dark clouds followed by a hard shower, after which came more sun and more showers. Below is a picture from Cockersands with the ancient abbey (pre-1184) in the background right. In the second picture in the foreground of the abbey are the many thousands of Golden Plover, Lapwing, Redshank and Dunlin that have fed intermittently on the flood for a number of weeks now. So wary is the mixed assembly that it is impossible to get close and very difficult to count as the birds constantly fly around at the slightest disturbance and then land in different places. 

Towards Cockersands

Cockersands

Dunlin

I counted 3 Brown Hares in the same fields, together with several Skylarks and a handful of Meadow Pipits. March is the traditional time to see Brown Hares “boxing”, but ours aren’t ready just yet. As the females come into season, male hares take more and more interest, following them closely until ready to mate. This is known as ‘mate guarding’ - the male making sure a rival doesn’t steal his girl away. But if he gets too close, fur will fly as she gives him a left hook until she’s ready. 

Meadow Pipit

Brown Hare

Five hundred yards away at the shore were 10 + Tree Sparrow, 6 Woodpigeon, 4 Collared Dove, 4 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Linnet, 1 Little Egret. Some or maybe all of the Tree Sparrows here use buildings in which to nest as suitable trees and hedgerows are hard to come by. I watched a pair entering and leaving a gap between the roof and the walls where a Starling watched on. But I think the Starling was just a little too big to claim the site. 

Tree Sparrow

Starling

There’s nothing much doing at Conder Green but where the Avocets are due any day. Wader wise I did see 40+ Black-tailed Godwit circling behind the pool to then the land in some distant field. Also, 120 Teal, 15 Redshank, 15 Oystercatcher, 8 Curlew, 4 Goosander, 3 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret and 1 Spotted Redshank. 

Stay tuned for more from Another Bird Blog. Meanwhile, keep in mind that other piece of March folklore - “As the days grow longer the storms grow stronger.”

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

Wood You Believe It?

After Wednesday’s Wood Sandpiper today provided another one this time at Conder Green.

By 0600 I was  headed for Conder, Glasson and Cockersands, a trio of pretty good birding sites that are close together and share many species, but I started at Conder Green. A Wood Sandpiper was feeding on one of the islands, perhaps easy to miss at long distance or when it decided to feed around the side of the island hidden from view and where it could remain for many minutes at a time. 

There were the usual and consistent wader counts of 120 Redshank, 35 Lapwing, 2 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 14 Oystercatcher, 4 Snipe and 6 Curlew. And of course, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Teal and 1 Cormorant. 

Common Sandpiper

A Kingfisher showed briefly and didn’t hang around for a decent view or a picture so I made do with a more obliging and dependable Pied Wagtail, one of three around. 

Pied Wagtail

I made for Glasson where the Swallow numbers were much reduced from recent days with just 30+ feeding over the waters today but overhead 9 Swifts. As the Canal Trust workers readied the lock gates a service boat for the rigs waited to exit the basin on its way to the river and then the open sea. Two Grey Wagtails on the far side of the yacht basin again.

Glasson Dock

Glasson Dock

The Tufted Ducks were fairly obliging this morning unlike some days when they just head for the deeps as soon as anyone looks at them. A standard count of 16 containing no males, just females and juveniles. Ducks manage to preen themselves without leaving the water by turning partly over and doing the necessary then repeating the process on the other side. This seems especially true for Tufted Ducks, a species loathe to leave the safety of water. 

Tufted Duck

 Tufted Duck

It was a beautifully quiet morning for a saunter along the canal, an undisturbed walk where I picked up on another 30+ Swallows, 1 Grey Heron, 8 Tree Sparrow, 5 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. I couldn’t help but feel that I missed many more birds skulking silently in the still dense reeds and impenetrable hedgerows. 

Reed Warbler

Speckled Wood

Cockersands was serene in the morning sun, no cars, no dog walkers, no birders, just birds. Along the shore and in the close fields I found 18 Linnet and made a magnificent count of 110 Tree Sparrows and 400+ Starlings. 

Tree Sparrow

Starling

Along the shore and in the shallows I counted 26 Eider, 7 Whimbrel, 300+ Oystercatcher, 22 Redshank, 2 Grey Heron and 1 Little Egret. 

The ancient abbey above Cockersands shore was founded about 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to Leicester Abbey. It later became a Premonstratensian priory and was eventually elevated to abbey status in 1192. 

In the background to the picture below distant Heysham Power Station dates from the mid 1980s.

Cockersands Abbey and Heysham

The tumbledown walls of the abbey provided good feeding and vantage points for 3 Pied Wagtails and 2 Wheatears, sitting stones where I took a rest and tried to imagine how many Wheatears had passed through here in more than 800 Springs and 800 Autumns. 

Wheatear

 

What a splendid morning of being out in the big wide world and enjoying it to the full. Better still, there’s more bird news and views on Another Bird Blog UK very soon.

Linking to Eileens's Saturday Blog and   Weekend Reflections.

A Full Page

I ended up with an almost full page in my notebook today. Nothing extraordinary as I might expect by visiting the usual spots, but it was just a good variety of birds, some nice totals, whilst enjoying a very pleasant morning in reasonable weather. Anyway it’s no good just sitting in reading the blogs and web pages, it’s much better to go out and actually do it?

First port of call Conder Green. Maybe it’s about due to turn up something a bit out of the ordinary again. Very occasionally I just stumble across rarities, and at Conder Green only in the month of July every 20 years – White–rumped Sandpiper in July 1984 and Pectoral Sandpiper in July 2004. The “pec” was really strange because the morning I tripped over the Pectoral Sandpiper was the day after I finished “work” as a civil servant and the beginning of my new career as a full time birder/layabout. Roll on July 2024. In the meantime I did find something of a rarity today, more of that later.

The pool and creek were as deceptively quiet as ever but with a little looking, a tiny bit of patience I found: 2 Little Grebe, 2 Greenshank, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant and 11 Teal. Passerine wise I saw PW’s flock of Goldfinch in the centre of the marsh, but they later split off to leave about 40 here and the remaining 300 or so flying over the working areas of Glasson Dock then out towards the marsh. I walked over the footbridge where I saw and heard a fruity Chiffchaff in the immediate bushes, then some distance out on the marsh, a Merlin sat upright on a piece of debris. A single Grey Wagtail flew calling overhead in the direction of the pool I had just left. In the creek below an additional 5 Greenshank stayed together as the tide ran in slowly around them. I did manage to get a photo of a Redshank, just the most easily spooked species ever.



A quick count at Glasson gave me 14 Tufted Duck 14, 52 Coot and 8 Great Crested Grebe, together with the aforesaid Goldfinch.

“Good” I said, as looking from the road up to Cockersands, the track over the beach appeared deserted; it was only as I turned the corner below the cottage that I saw it wasn’t. A lunatic with a household axe was very slowly, but systematically destroying and loading into his car and trailer the remains of a large tree that had lain on the beach for months. When he nodded “good morning” to me I pretended not to notice but kept a safe distance away. Me, I think I would spend a few quid to buy some firewood then go birding.



Whilst the noise echoed around the estuary I made my way to Plover Scar where I took a shot of what appeared to be a slightly sick Ringed Plover then counted the following: Oystercatcher 1100, Ringed Plover 7, Redshank 195, Wheatear 2, Meadow Pipit 6, Linnet 11.



The Mad Axeman was still there when I retraced my steps so I made my way to Jeremy Lane.

It was here that I found that local rarity Grey Partridge, a “covey” of 4, if four still constitutes a covey. They stood nervously waiting to enter a field full of Black-headed Gulls who were probably more preoccupied in robbing about 700 Lapwing and 120 or so Golden Plover of their food items to notice a few Grey Partridge. They did go in the field eventually but quickly disappeared out of sight below the hedgerow.



Nearly the end then, just time for a stop at Lane Ends to see a couple of Little Egret, 2 Wheatear and a Grey Wagtail.

Pilling Water wasn’t on the cards today as this was the first shoot of the season in the adjacent fields and outer marsh. But from Lane Ends car park I could see many of the released duck meet an untimely end as the sportsmen forced them to fly up from their nursery and over the guns.