Comings And Goings

It's usual for me to spend a short time only at Braides Farm where the parking gateway allows views over a wide expanse of open fields devoted to growing grass. And more grass.  And not many birds.

After the autumn and winter of 2020/2021 there are still large areas of floods that have held a few Whooper Swans for weeks now. Imagine my surprise this morning to see those few swans suddenly transformed into an enormous herd of Whoopers that counted in the region of 450-470 individuals. The herd extended from the roadside, north to the River Cocker and then all the way across to the sea wall some 300 yards away. The count may prove to be bigger as when I later drove up to Conder Green, more Whoopers were in the roadside fields there but mostly hidden from view by hedgerows. 

Click the pics. Here's a not very good video shot with a Sony and 135mm lens. 

 

And then a couple of closer pictures with a 600mm. All of a sudden the herd erupted into a clamour of frantic calling and whooping, I suspect they will be heading off back to Iceland very soon. 

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swans

At Hillam, and where 2 Sand Martins flew across the lake, I checked the water level to see if Avocets might return. Last year's nesting island is now buried by autumn and winter downpours. A word with farmer Chris and he said he would look into making the island visible again for the spring and summer. 

I drove up to Conder Green where I soon picked out a single Avocet amongst the 10 Shelduck and 40 Black-headed Gulls. 

Conder Green

The Avocet won't be alone for long - soon joined by several more I expect.  

Avocet

The Oystercatchers here are becoming flighty. I saw a group of four in the throes of their springtime “piping” display. The piping displays in this the early breeding season allows the birds to establish a territory. They bow their heads and point their beaks at the ground, then pipe loudly while walking and flying around the area. The display often attracts other Oystercatchers so that half a dozen birds may eventually run along side by side in a line or fly around in a tight flock while calling loudly - "kleep kleep, kleep kleep." 

"Piping" Oystercatchers

Other sightings. 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 4 Pied Wagtail, 36 Wigeon, 65 Teal, 8 Redshank, 2 Curlew. 

I was out in the new car this morning, giving it a run because due to lockdown it has been hardly anywhere for weeks. 

Ssangyong

“What is it?” you say, just as many others have done. It's a Ssangyong Tivoli 1.2 Ventura, of much the same size and with similar performance to my old 1.6 Suzuki Vitara. The difference is an equivalent Vitara today is about four grand more than this Ssangyong. This comes with half leather heated seats and heated steering wheel for the winter days together with a few more bells & whistles like keyless entry and cruise control.  A 7 years warranty! - well recommended. 

And here's a heads up for the suppliers, Barker's of Preston . Thanks guys. 

Another heads up for my pals Wally and Gini over in Florida. They sent me a virtual coffee. Take a look at Wally's blog – blue sky, birds, bugs and alligators at Our Natural Places Florida   

Cheers guys. Enjoy all that sunshine but look out for those harmless alligators and friendly snakes. No such problems here in occasionally sunny Lancashire.

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

The weather for this weekend looks very poor. Unless something should change it seems like it will be next Tuesday or Wednesday before I can post more news on Another Bird Blog.  

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Early Autumn

No Barn Owl pics for the umpteenth time. Yet again this morning there was a Barn Owl hunting not far from the roadside but I was on double white lines along a twisty road where stopping is not recommended. I motored on and then notched up two Kestrels along Head Dyke Lane in the usual spot. 

At Lane Ends I stopped to count a field of exclusively Lapwings, a post-breeding gathering of 160+ birds. Scanning through the flock there didn’t seem to be too many youngsters although the nearest one to the car was a well-fringed juvenile with a spiky hair cut. 

Lapwing

At Braides a distant Buzzard sat atop a plastic wrapped bale of silage from which to watch and wait. At this time of year both Buzzards and Kestrels use these ready-made 360⁰ vantage points to launch attacks on unsuspecting mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and worms. 

Buzzard

Following an earlier post this week I alluded to the trials and tribulations of our UK Common Buzzard. In a comment on the post my friend and fellow blogger David Gascoigne drew my attention to a passage by the nineteenth century naturalist David Henry Thoreau. 

Thoreau writes about the demise of a Red-tailed Hawk from a farmer’s gun. “But alas for the youthful hawk, the proud bird of prey, the tenant of the skies. We shall no more see his wave-like outline against a cloud, nor hear his scream from behind one. He saw but a pheasant in a field, the food which nature has provided for him, and stooped to seize it. This was his offense. He, the native of these skies, must make way for these bog-trotters from another land, which never soar. The eye that was conversant with sublimity, that looked down on earth from under its sharp projecting brow, is closed; the head that was never made dizzy by any height is brought low; the feet that were not made to walk on earth now lie useless along it. With those trailing claws for grapnels it dragged the lower skies. These wings which swept the sky must now dust the chimney-corner, perchance. So weaponed, with strong beak and talons, and wings, like a war steamer, to carry them about. In vain were the brown spotted eggs laid, in vain were ye cradled in the loftiest pine of the swamp. Where are your father and mother? Will they hear of your early death before ye had acquired your full plumage, they who nursed you and defended ye so faithfully?” 

Alas David, these words are all too relevant in this the 21st Century. 

The farmer missed the foxes though, the family I found searching through a recently cut field at Cockerham. They too were after unsuspecting mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and worms. There were three foxes at first before one sloped back into the trees leaving me to get a picture of just two of them. I have mixed feelings about seeing Red Foxes in hearing and reading what damage and destruction they can wreak upon other wildlife, but at the same time rather admiring their looks and apparent charm. Am I alone? 

Red Foxes

Red Fox

Stopping for the Buzzard and then watching the foxes made me late for Conder Green where the incoming tide had partly filled the creeks. 

Conder Green

Common Sandpipers reach an early peak here, often in July, so a count of 13 flicking around the margins was not totally unexpected but still good to see. Apart from extra sandpipers the species and counts of the waterside were as normal by way of 70+ Redshank, 40+ Lapwing, 20+ Oystercatcher, 1 Greenshank, 2 Common Tern feeding young, 15+ Swift, 10+ Sand Martin, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret and 2 Pied Wagtail. 

Pied Wagtail

“Brown jobs” amounted to 3 Reed Bunting, 1 Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Reed Warbler and 2 Greenfinch. 

I drove back to Fluke Hall for a walk along the hedgerows and the sea wall. There are still 2 Blackcap in song while 2 pairs of Whitethroats with their obvious alarm calls advertised the fact that youngsters are nearby. Along the sea wall another pair of Whitethroats fed young while 2 Reed Buntings were still in good voice. 

Feeding amongst the farmer’s midden was a single Wheatear, a fairly obviously plumaged juvenile. Occasionally they arrive on the coast from the uplands in June but early July is the norm - autumn’s not far away! 

Wheatear

 

Look in soon for more autumn birds with Another Bird Blog.

In the meantime linking to Anni's blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

In The Bag

Not a bad morning. A spot of birding, another Wheatear in the bag and I even nailed the reluctant Kingfisher.

The forecast was for a sunny day so I headed for Conder and Glasson but as the windscreen wipers drew back and forth I wondered if I’d made the right decision. The rain was quite steady at Conder Green where an initial look into the creek revealed the usual wader suspects and their by now consistent numbers - 2 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 5 Common Sandpiper, 4 Snipe, 28 Redshank, 4 Curlew. 

The Lapwings seemed flighty this morning, not just those around the pool but the ones hidden from view near the canal. Their regular eruptions into the air before settling back down allowed a count of more than 150. Herons and wildfowl remain the same with 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 5 Little Grebe, 2 Great Crested Grebe and 2 Wigeon. 

A Cormorant dropped in to feed, those are raindrops in the photo, the ISO at 800, and both I and the camera were getting wet. Time to head off to Glasson and bird via the car until the rain stopped. 

Cormorant

Seven Pied Wagtails and 2 Grey Wagtails near the Glasson car park with a Grey Heron on the far jetty and about 60 Swallows feeding over the water. 

I took a few rain spotted pictures of the resident but far from tame Tufted Ducks, their wary eyes watching my every move. I rather admire our commonplace and largely ignored UK Tufted Duck, a duck of town and city parks with ornamental lakes and ponds. But the Tufty is also a highly migratory beast whereby their numbers increase in the UK in winter as birds move here to escape the cold winters of Iceland and northern Europe. The numbers at Glasson Dock will swell from the present 15/20 to nearer 80/90 during the winter months. 

Tufted Duck

The sky was brightening a little so I made my way back to Conder Green. 

Looking North from Conder Green

At the pool a Kingfisher was surveying the scenery and fishing the waters. Don't forget to "click the pics" for close-up views of the Kingfisher.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

There's nothing much to add to the earlier numbers of birds except that both Common Terns took their share of the tiny fish on offer and then returned to their nest on the island where they fed the hidden from view youngsters.

There was time for Pilling Marsh where I found Buzzard, Kestrel, Greenshank, 7 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron and 5 Wheatears. One Wheatear, a juvenile of 96mm and 25.1 grams, succumbed to the temptation of a meal worm. 

Pilling Marsh

 Wheatear

Wheatear - juvenile

  Log in soon fior more news, views and pictures with Another Bird Blog.

Linking this post to Anni's Blog, Eileen's Saturday and Weekend Reflections.

Forget The Weekend

If the rain of both Friday and Saturday was bad, Sunday’s was far worse, so no bird watching until Monday. At last today there was a half decent list of birds and so a little news to relate. 

On the way to Glasson Dock there’s a tiny, reed-fringed pool where a Grey Heron often stands. Not today, there was a Red Fox instead, so I whizzed the car round the mini-roundabout hoping to park up for a photo. Just as the car slowed almost to a halt the fox melted into the hedgerow. 

At the dock a Kingfisher flew to the favoured Noggers Ark ropes and then just as quickly disappeared towards the estuary without taking the plunge. 

Kingfisher

A Common Tern was fishing the dock waters but I didn’t see it fly off towards Conder Green with the catch as he usually does. When I looked at Conder Green later there was no sign of the female so I reasoned that the sometimes torrential rain of the weekend caused the nest to fail at almost hatching point. 

Maybe the poor weekend weather cleared out some of the recent Swallows too because I counted less than a hundred today feeding across the water, some of them resting on various parts of various boats. When the Swallows leave the local deck hands will have to get cracking with the old spit 'n' polish to clean up their shiny boat fittings. 

Swallow

Swallow

 

Swallows

 Swallows

There were 2 Grey Wagtails flying around the moored boats looking for insects, so restless that they hardly settled at all and I don’t know where they ended up. On and near the water, 55 Mallards, 15 Tufted Ducks, 22 Coot and 1 Cormorant.

Glasson Dock

At first glance Conder Green at high tide appeared very quiet whereby a certain amount of perseverance and waiting for the tide to drop was required in order to find any birds. I thought there might be 2 Spotted Redshanks but then decided it was just a single bird doing a full circuit of the creeks. It helped that it was an adult bird now in almost complete winter dress with just a hint of the black plumage of the summer months. Below is the best picture I could get of the distant and wary “shank”, however it does show the remnants of black adult plumage. 

Spotted Redshank

There were definitely 3 Greenshanks, all three feeding virtually together, almost running through the shallow water with the distinctive side-to-side sweep-feed action that Greenshanks employ. 

Greenshank

There were 6 Pied Wagtails and single Grey Wagtail here too; at one point the Grey Wagtail walked along the mid-creek bare tree that I’ve seen a Kingfisher use recently. Good numbers of Redshank scattered through the creeks and beyond the bridge with a conservative count of 190 individuals. Just 3 Common Sandpipers, 5 Curlew, 3 Dunlin, 12 Oystercatchers and 40 Lapwing with herons represented by 2 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. 

 Grey Heron

Wildfowl - just 15 Shelduck, 2 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe. 

It was certainly a weekend to forget and a relief to get outdoors today. New news and more birds quite soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday in Australia.

A Green Day

Destination Conder Green again this morning. Just a couple of hours later there was a decent list of birds in my notebook plus new pictures to share with blog followers. And remember to "click the pics" for the birding tour.

There must have been a recent hatch or awakening of insects at the line of hawthorns because lots of hirundines and Swifts fed there, all dashing alongside, through and above the hedge. In all I estimated 25+ Swift, 20+ Sand Martin, 14 House Martin and 10 Swallows taking part in the feeding frenzy for an hour or more before most moved on to the next feast. 

It was less frenetic on the pool and the river where apart from the noisy Oystercatchers, the wildfowl go about their business in a quiet sort of way. Similar numbers to recent days with 16 Tufted Duck, 1 Teal, 3 Wigeon and then 2 Canada Goose with 2 youngsters. There are 3 broods of Mallards numbering about 15 chicks + 3 adult females, the males seeming to be absent on this Father's Day. 

Eurasian Wigeon

Mallard

Waders as normal with 1 Curlew, 15 Redshank and 10 Oystercatcher but a few passerines in evidence with 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Whitethroat, 5 Greenfinch, 2 Linnet, 5 Tree Sparrow, 6 Goldfinch and then 1 Lesser Whitethroat singing from the car park area. 

Tree Sparrow

Two Ravens flew over honking loudly and heading in the direction of Cockersands/Pilling. My cue to take a look at Glasson Dock where I didn't find much save for more Tufted Duck in the dock, Swallows nesting in the toilet block, a Blackbird feeding young and a Grey Heron looking for a fishy breakfast down in the muddy waters of the dock. 

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Blackbird

Mostly From Wiki. The settlement of Glasson village built up slowly in the 19th century with the main buildings being Christ Church in 1830, a shipyard and Customs House constructed in 1834, a Watch House in 1836, and a Dry Dock in 1841. The shipyards were largely concerned with ship repair rather than shipbuilding, eventually closing in 1968, with the dry dock filled in a year later. 

Glasson Dock

The quay was connected to the UK railway network in 1883, operating until the closure of passenger services on 5th July 1930. Goods traffic continued until 7 September 1964. The trackbed of the disused branch-line is now a linear park and cycleway (popular with birders). A limited amount of commercial traffic still uses the dock, with outbound shipments including coal for the Isle of Man and the Western Islands of Scotland, and incoming cargoes including animal foodstuffs and fertilizer, which are stored in sheds located on the dock side. 

River Lune - Glasson looking to Conder Green

The River Conder meets the River Lune at Conder Green, the latter a tiny settlement of a few dozen homes (and The Stork pub) formerly served by the London and North Western Railway's Glasson Dock railway line which had three stations in the parish: one at Conder Green, the terminus at Glasson Dock and a private stop at the local gentry's home of Ashton Hall further north towards Lancaster. 

Conder Green

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This post is linking to Stewart's gallery in Australia  .

Less Work, More Play

After Friday’s ringing, I decided this morning would be less like a job of work so decided to go birding with the aim of getting a few photographs, of anything.

First stop was deserted Conder Green, where the absence of large wagons overlooking the pool allowed me to be probably the first person there. I looked in vain for the Spotted Redshank now almost completely black that is always there but I drew a blank on the species for the first time in many, many months. I settled for a Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 7 Redshank, a Curlew and an overhead Whimbrel that flew out over the railway bridge to the marsh. The owning Oystercatcher chivvied a single Black-tailed Godwit to the furthest side of the island before I could get a decent look at it in what seemed to be almost full summer plumage. The Oystercatchers and Redshank still spend a lot of time displaying and squabbling, but not so the Lapwing as there seems to be one pair only. Likewise the Little Ringed Plover with a displaying bird over the back of the pool today.

Greenshank
Little Ringed Plover
The morning duck count was 3 Goldeneye, 2 Tufted Duck and 4 Shelduck.

It was fairly early in the morning and with a tide due I thought that Cockersands Abbey might be worth a visit. The first obvious birds were 8 “Greenland” Wheatears flitting around the shore, and as in the last week elsewhere they proved immediately mobile, reluctant to pose for photographs, and I judged, too urgently dynamic a group to try and catch any of them. In fact it took a while to take pictures just from my car without even trying to approach them they were so energetic. In addition to the Wheatears, a party of 12 Meadow Pipits looked new in, a theme to be repeated later at Pilling. Two Sandwich Terns flew up and down the river calling constantly.

”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear
Waders were thin on the ground with the normal suspects Oystercatcher, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Dunlin but I took time out to photograph 2 Grey Plover that stood obligingly on a rock.

Grey Plover
Grey Plover
Grey Plover
At Lane Ends a Sparrowhawk left towards the village as I arrived but a Blackbird carrying food dived into the plantation despite the Jays that have been seen again doing their evil best. Singing birds included a loud Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.

As ever I walked up to Pilling Water where I found yet more Wheatears. Another 8 here that like all the others this week continued with rapid migration, this time east towards Lane Ends, but not before a female tripped my spring trap closed without getting caught but I watched it go back for a look at the meal worm inside. Along the tide line was another party of Meadow Pipits that this time numbered about twenty.

Meadow Pipit
”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear
The wildfowlers pools held less Redshank today with perhaps only 40, but the ever present Little Egret was in the ditch out towards the shore, and over the ex-stubble at Fluke Hall where the Lapwings recently laid their eggs, a Buzzard circled over the newly ploughed earth.