Slowly Does It

The ringing squad aka The Old Crocks could not make it this time. Too much beer/wine, baby sitting and/or too many aches & pains left me alone to seek birds. Better luck Friday when we hope to tackle the Cockerham Sand Martin colony for the first time this year. 

A sunny morning beckoned as I set off north along the notorious A588 through Stalmine, Pilling and Cockerham, FY, PR and LA respectively, not as far apart as those differing post codes might imply. The tortuous road is less dangerous since at great cost and much protest from late-to-work boy racers a large number of average speed cameras made everyone slow down; we are told the bright yellow devices work in the dark, can detect drivers using mobile phones and record a driver’s eye colour. 

A little late but 1984 is definitely here with Tory Boy followed seamlessly on by Starmergeddon; more taxation and then The Magic Money Tree to stoke inflation. More surveillance, nanny statism and nationalised services about to make everything worse. Wait until 80,000 new windmills sit proudly across every rural constituency in the cause of Joke Zero. What a coalition that will create - anarchists, useful idiots and environmental swampies, as middle class retirees fight for their property value with lumps of newly laid concrete. Sit back with the popcorn and enjoy the show. Only five years to go. 

Mind you, the A road is still dicing with death as I found out when slowing to an almost stop at double white lines and then a sharp bend at the sight of Barn Owls, first at Pilling and then at Cockerham. Some fool almost took my door mirror off! Hanging around for more pics was definitely dodgy so luckily the blog archive of circa 90/100 Barn Owls pics saved the day. 

Barn Owl

After a slow start with flooded fields and dykes in early 2024 it’s clear that the local and ever adaptable Barn Owls are now feeding young in a number of scattered locations. 

Barn Owl

A flash, a putative pool, some 60/70 yards distant at Cockerham held three brown Shoveler ducks, the species now quite scarce, distinctly wary & unfriendly to those bearing a camera (or a gun). Some weeks ago I saw the male alone on a different flash of water from where he flew in the direction of this latest sighting, thus making a record of likely breeding for this overlooked species. 

Shovelers

Shoveler

Nearby were a couple of Golden Plover, a colourful adult and a spangled individual; a rather unusual time of year but a species which may still breed on high ground inland not  too many miles away in the Pennine Hills. 

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Lapwings are beginning their autumn gatherings with 40/60 on Conder Pool, the once peaceful area of water loved by birders, now transformed by experts and renamed Gull Hell in homage to the several hundred Black-headed Gulls that now call it home. 

To be fair the gulls give protection to a number of Common Terns that nest on rafts where no raptor worth its salt would want an onslaught of hundreds of Black-headed Gulls.  

Common Tern

We gained a cacophony of noise - gulls, terns and Avocets while losing breeding Lapwings, Redshank and Tufted Duck but left Oystercatchers hanging by a thread. Such is progress. 

Oystercatcher

 

I drove to a quiet spot and took a few pictures of common birds in the bright light of morning. 

Linnet

Woodpigeon

Reed Bunting

Pied Wagtail

The forecast looks good for Friday and Sand Martins. Take a look soon and see how The Old Crocks performed. It may not be pretty or at a fast pace but we try hard. 

Monday Monday

There was a good turnout for the Sand Martins on Monday. Bryan and Alice joined up with Phil and Andy in the hope of a decent catch that might include birds of the year - 3Js as we label them for data input. Where Sand Martins are concerned, four pairs of hands are better than two and infinitely better than one when the catch size is often unpredictable. Four pairs of hands make short work of setting nets too where speed is important so as to minimise disturbance to the colony. 

When we arrived our estimated count of Sand Martins milling around was of 200+. From those we had a decent enough catch of 30 Sand Martins, 25 new ones, 4 from our last visit and one from 2020. We expected a number of newly fledged young so were somewhat surprised when all thirty turned out to be adults. 

On Sunday when I checked the colony I saw twos and threes of young birds at a good number of entrance tunnels, birds that looked ready to go. There’s no doubt that the unusually cold months of April and May slowed down the breeding season to a virtual stop. 

Spot the Sand Martin

 

Sand Martin

 

Spot the Sand Martins

When we met up at 0700 hours a pair of noisy Oystercatchers greeted us and barely shut up all morning; we assumed they had youngsters close by. Not so, as eventually and after periods of watching and waiting we realised they had no young in tow and that their constant protests were designed to make us move from their territory. Oystercatchers can be pretty persistent about chasing off both bird and animal predators from their patch, so why might we be any different? 

As one bird settled down head tucked into its scapulars and the other close by in watching mode, we may have found their proposed egg laying depression in the ground a foot or so from the water’s edge. A consolation prize of a real nest could be in the offing next time we visit. 

Oystercatcher

 

The Sand Martin colony remained active through the morning as birds arrived and left on their searches for food. With about 60/70 active nests we pencilled in a return fairly soon so as to see how the breeding season has progressed. 

Other birds seen on Monday were just Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron and Common Tern. The tern would be a wanderer from the small colony at Conder Green less than a mile away.

Common tern

Back soon folks. There will be yet another bird book review of one that you cannot buy just yet except for placing an order. Another Bird Blog - always ahead of the game.

Stay Alert Birding

There’s good news. Ringers in England may go ringing again subject to following the constraints which apply to the public as a whole. It’s bad luck for ringers who live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, whose devolved governments have taken a tougher line on releasing folk from house arrest. 

Andy tells me that via cameras in each box, the Kestrels of 2019 have five eggs while the Barn Owls are in situ but yet to lay any eggs. Mid-June should see more progress with both species and a then a spot of ringing when the youngsters are big enough. 

Barn Owl 2019

 Kestrels 2019

I was due to meet Andy later for a foray to a private site that has ringing possibilities. But first came a trip to Conder Green with the heated seat switched firmly “on” and the cabin heater to “max” when the dash said “-3°C” and I saw the layer of ice on the windscreen. 

A quick check of Conder Green’s pool and creeks revealed a few changes but nothing extraordinary. Both Avocet pairs appeared to be on eggs, one of the females is shown in the picture below sitting in her depression in the ground while her mate feeds closely by. There were still two pairs of Common Tern finding food here on the pool or out on the near estuary and where the tiny fish soon become presents to sitting a mate. 

Avocet 

 Avocet

Common Tern

A pair of Great Crested Grebe put in a brief appearance before they flew off in the direction of Glasson Dock where the species breeds in most years dependent upon disturbance and suitable water levels. A pair of Canada Goose have success by way of 4 tiny goslings. 

In the creek Godwits continue to fluctuate with today 44 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Black-tailed Godwit. There was a single Greenshank and a lone Dunlin. Four Swift was my highest count of the year so far on this the fourteenth of May. 

That completed the lightning visit to Conder Green because I was due to meet Andy at a local farm. The farmer, let’s call him Tom, Dick or Harry, emailed last week to ask if I would spend time on his little piece of heaven and make an inventory of the birds seen so as to help with his green credentials. “No more than two people”, he stressed. 

 “OK Boss”, I replied. 

 “I will take a look once lockdown is ended.” 

Now by mid-May we hoped to find active Skylark nests on his land and better still, ring a few youngsters before the season ends. Initially, and somewhat rarer than finding Skylarks were 2 pairs of Corn Bunting. 

It was pretty hard work as the males were very mobile around a number of song posts both fence and bush. It’s likely that females were sat on eggs or even tiny young but Corn Bunting nests are notoriously difficult to locate. It’s probably 20 years ago that I last ringed nestling Corn Buntings so it would be nice to reacquaint with them when they have become so very scarce. 

Corn Bunting 

Corn Bunting 

Skylarks were fairly thin on the ground with at least 5 singing but little sign of activity at ground or fence post level. We’ll take another look soon when there may be more action if the larks are late or failed on first attempts. 

There’s a small copse and a few nice stands of phragmites reed where we found 6 singing Reed Warbler, 4 singing Reed Bunting and 2 Sedge Warbler. In the copse that surrounds a tiny pool we discovered Little Grebe, Grey Heron, 4 Tufted Duck, an overhead Buzzard and a patrolling Kestrel. 

Reed Warbler 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Bunting

We were surprised by a small flock of Linnets that numbered 12-15, a little late in spring for Linnets to be in company rather than paired up for breeding. In other areas we found 3 Pied Wagtail, 3 Little Egret, 4 Tufted Duck and 8 Stock Dove. While not spectacular, and local birding rarely is, we found a good variety of birds and I guess more visits are on the card for the coming weeks. 

Back home in the garden there are Greenfinches feeding chicks. Trouble is, the nest is high in a conifer where I would need a ladder and sky hooks to reach.  Probably better to stay safe at ground level?  

Back soon with more from Another Bird Blog where the messages remain much the same – Enjoy All Birds, Stay Alert, Stay Safe, and Control Your Urge to Watch the BBC, C4, ITV or Sky. 

You know it makes sense.

Linking this post to Viewing Nature with Eileen and Anni in Texas.

Owls Top And Bottom

The regular Barn Owl wasn't too obliging this morning. It spent the whole time dashing across and around several fields, hunting on the wing without taking a breather whereby I might picture it at rest. Barn Owls seem to do that at times - whizz around in an almost random and unpredictable fashion rather than a logical steady and measured search of the available ground.  And then on the very next occasion you go the same bird will spend ages just sat around, moving occasionally from pillar to post and using the “watch, wait and pounce” method. 

I've never quite worked out why the techniques are so different and how they relate to prevailing weather conditions, prey availability, the degree of urgency to find food, or the layout and the irregularity of the habitat which owls hunt. 

Barn Owl 

I had a few hours in which to check Conder Green. A surprise awaited in the form of a pair of Avocets with four brand new chicks. This was something of a shock because the family were on the marsh, running through the tidal creek, and not on the pool where everyone expects to see this year’s brood. 

Avocets 

So the Avocets have shown the resident Redshanks and Oystercatchers how to beat the system in what apart from a few pairs of terns and gulls has been a poor year for productivity. With mostly casual records rather than detailed study it’s hard to explain the poor year. The very low water levels with increased disturbance and interference from gulls, crows, ground predators and grazing sheep could be factors. 

Otherwise, counts of waders and wildfowl included another pair of Avocet at the far end of the pool,  45 Redshank, 22 Oystercatcher, 5 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 5 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Grebe and 2 Shelduck. At least two Shelduck have been present most of the season without any visible breeding success. Today gave a zero count of Tufted Duck, another species which so far, and  now so late, failed to breed this year. 

 Avocet

The season saw successful but limited breeding courtesy of both Black-headed Gull and Common Terns on the floating pontoon with both species now feeding good sized young. The fact that these successes came via a relatively safe construction that is surrounded by water was perhaps a deciding factor. The pontoon is now only partially floating due to the drop in water level and may soon become a muddy island. 

Common Tern 

Little Egret 

Small birds arrived in the form of 20 Sand Martin, 4 Reed Bunting 2 Whitethroat, 1 Reed Warbler and 1 Chiffchaff. 

Just the other day came news of a Tawny Owl we ringed in 2011. It was caught at 0710 hours during an early morning autumn ringing session of 28 October 2011 at Rawcliffe Moss. 

Tawny Owl GR26760 from 28/10/2011

Will and I aged it as an adult and fitted ring number GR26760. The morning was quite quite productive with 29 birds caught - 10 Chaffinch, 5 Reed Bunting, 4 Redwing, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Goldfinch and one each Dunnock, Great Tit and the Tawny Owl. 

On 29th June 2019, over seven and a half years later the owl was found “Sick, Wounded, Unhealthy” in the same location and taken into care by a raptor rescue team. 

The typical lifespan of a Tawny Owl is five years, but an age of over 18 years has been recorded for a wild Tawny Owl, and of over 27 years for a captive bird. 

I hope our Tawny survived its mishap and old age but so far I have not been able to check out the latest news. Stay tuned for an update.

UPDATE.

The owl had an eye infection, is now doing well and will be released in the next few days.

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

Bygone Times

We’re already planning the autumn Linnet ringing so with that in mind I set out to check Richard the farmer’s bird seed plot at Cockerham. Although we like to complain about the weather the year has been a good one for plant growth with a good mix of showery rain and now a spell of hot weather that should ripen the seeds.

Bird Seed Plot- Cockerham 

There was a Linnet singing from the stretch of bramble that lines the adjacent ditch. Hopefully it has found a mate. As a breeding species the Linnet is now pretty scarce around here so let’s hope this is an omen but I suspect not – more like a relic of times gone by. It’s not so many years ago that close to here were two loose breeding colonies of Linnets - one in gorse at Lane Ends 750 yards away and the other in a larger clump gorse at Braides farm half-a-mile away. Now we have none. 

Linnet 

As we have discovered through ringing here, the autumn and winter Linnets are not our own but originate much further away, some from the Northern Isles of Scotland.  They come here to bask in the relative winter warmth of the Lancashire coast.   

At the monoculture of Braides Farm I saw very little over or in the expanse of green except for a couple of distant Skylarks and a single Red-legged Partidge walking the farmer's track. 

I motored towards Conder Green and to compare notes now that early autumn is here. Already we have passed the longest day, the summer solstice.

There was evidence of early returning waders by way of 2 Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 24 Lapwing, 70+ Redshanks, and a handful of Curlews. Resident waders had changed little with 2 Avocet, 15 Oystercatcher and a single adult Little-ringed Plover. There have been a number of sighting of Little-ringed Plovers this year, sometimes one, often two, but it appears that no breeding occurred with zero young reported. 

Little Ringed Plover 

Little-ringed Plover Charadrius dubius is named via Charadrius a Latin word for a yellowish bird and dubius, Latin for “doubtful”, via Sonnerat a French naturalist, writer and explorer who in 1776 thought this bird might be a variant of the common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula. We now know of course that the two birds are related but totally different species. 

Wildfowl and herons have changed little in recent weeks and continue as 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Shelduck, 1 Teal, 3 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. There’s little change on the crowded nesting platform with what looks like two chicks each for both Common Tern and Black-headed Gull.  

Common Tern

It appears that any breeding success of both Oystercatcher and Redshank here has been poor; my own sightings consisted of a single young Oystercatcher some weeks ago. Small birds and “others” were limited to 12 Pied Wagtail, 3 Reed Bunting, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Blackcap and 2 Stock Dove. 

Swallows continue to be scarce other than an unexpected posse of 35 or more at Gardner’s Farm along Moss House Lane. First broods are on the wing now so let’s hope the fine weather continues and allows the Swallows another go. A feeding party of 30 Swifts over the hedgerows was rather fine to witness. 

Swallow 

 On the way home I chanced upon a single Corn Bunting, another rarity relic of times gone by.

 Corn Bunting

Back soon. Don't go away and have a super weekend.

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot.

Owl Time

When I spoke to Andy a day or two ago he told me of two nests in man-made nest boxes, a Barn Owl and a Kestrel. The Barn Owls had produced eight eggs and also a pair of Kestrel sitting on five eggs. Both boxes have remote cameras so as to monitor the timing and extent of any breeding attempts and to minimise visits. 

We can inspect the Kestrels under a general Ringing Licence, but for visits to Barn Owls we must have our Schedule One Licenses to hand, permits which also cover other species in our geographical area - Cetti’s Warbler, Little Ringed Plover, Kingfisher and Avocet. 

For the interest of readers I reproduce here just a few of the many conditions attached to having a permit to disturb nesting birds. 

• "While engaged in work permitted by this Permit the Permit holder shall carry a copy of the Permit and produce it to any Police Officer or any Country Agency officer on demand 

• Permit holders are expected to exercise the utmost care to avoid undue disturbance to wild birds, and in particular to avoid any action which might endanger breeding success. Failure to do so may result in revocation of the Permit. 

• Any wild bird taken under this Permit shall be liberated at the site of capture immediately after examination and/or ringing or marking 

• The Permit holder should contact the landowner prior to exercising this licence in order to avoid duplication and minimise disturbance to Schedule 1 birds. 

• Eggs or chicks may be handled (by ringers) or moved (by nest recorders) for brief nest examination purposes only. Any chicks or eggs must be returned to the nest immediately after examination unless the eggs are addled or from nests which are known to have been deserted." 

I was on the way to Cockerham this morning when I stopped on Stalmine Moss to watch another Barn Owl. This one clearly had young to feed as it was hunting at 0600 and still at it when I returned the same way.

Barn Owl 

At one point the owl dived into the grass and caught something very small, so tiny it was probably not even a mammal, and then flew immediately into a nearby building. Ten minutes later it was back and allowed some fair distance photography. Clearly, this is an owl on a mission to feed both youngsters and a partner. 

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

Spending time with the Barn Owl rather delayed my visit to Conder Green where the water levels are very low following three weeks with almost zero rain. 

Conder Green 

Tufted Ducks 

There was little to add to the visit of Friday last but some joy in discovering four singing Reed Buntings, a shy bird that is easily missed. And at last a number of Swifts fed over the hawthorn hedgerows, twenty or more in total. 

The small nesting platform is rather crowded with single pairs of Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher and Common Tern vying for space and where one or more may lose out come hatching time. 

Maybe the Common Tern I saw circling the basin at Glasson Dock is one of the returning pair that laid eggs here in 2018 but failed to progress. Worth keeping an eye open. 

Glasson,  Near Lancaster City

 Common Tern

 More news, views and photos soon.

Linking today to https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com.