Fishy Tales

I returned to Conder Green today where I found much the same species but with a little variation to recent counts. 

For a week or more I suspected there might be more than one Spotted Redshank, confirming it today with one in the main channel and a second one in the channel nearest to the Stork. More Snipe today, with a count of 18 a possible underestimate, plus 5 Greenshank when a flight of three arrived from the west calling loudly to join the two already counted. Still 2 Common Sandpiper around plus the regular 50+ Redshank and 300+ Lapwings roosting in the creeks and on the secluded margins and islands of the pool. 

Wildfowl numbers remain similar with 10 Teal, 6 Wigeon and 3 Little Grebe. Three Pied Wagtail around the water margins, a couple of “tacking” Whitethroats, a “ticking” Robin and handfuls of both Goldfinches and Linnets proved to be the only passerines. A single Raven was an early fly over. 

Little Grebe

Pied Wagtail

Recent high tides and the resulting water inflow seem to have increased aquatic life/tiny fish stocks in the pool, as suggested by the appearance of more Cormorants, the grebes hanging around the inflow and the regularity of the Kingfisher. There were two Kingfishers this morning, the birds travelling together across the pool and then back towards the creek and the road bridge, their regular spot. 

Kingfisher

This morning I watched as a flight of 9 Cormorants came from the direction of the Lune, twisting and turning, whiffling down to the pool, looking for all the world like a gaggle of geese landing on a winter’s day. They then proceeded to fish the water as a pack, their black bodies disappearing below the surface before one by one they resurfaced briefly before dropping below again. After a while the Cormorants flew back out to the Lune, singly or in twos or threes. 

Cormorants

Cormorant

The Cormorant is another bird which is very good at catching fish but which is not as popular as the Kingfisher or the supreme angler the Osprey. Unfortunately, unlike that of the Kingfisher and Osprey, the fishing prowess of the Cormorant is not universally admired, anglers in particular being jealous of the Cormorant's expertise. 

Most people are familiar with Cormorant fishing, an age-old art practiced in China, Japan, and a few other countries, which today exists largely due to the tourism industry. It is not so generally known that a similar method was once practiced in England. 

The ornithologist Francis Willughby (1635-1672), quoting Faber’s Annotations of Rechuss says ‘It is the custom in England to train Cormorants to catch fish. While conveying the birds to the fishing grounds the fishermen keep the heads and eyes of the birds covered to prevent them from being alarmed. When they have reached the rivers, they take off the hoods and having first tied a leather strap loosely around the lower part of the neck that the bird will be unable to swallow down what fishes they catch, throw them into the water. They immediately set to work and pursue the fish beneath them with marvellous rapidity. When they have caught one they rise to the surface, and having first pinched it with their beaks, swallow it as far as the strap permits, and renew the chase until they have caught from five to six each. On being called to their master’s fist, they obey with alacrity and bring up one by one the fish they have swallowed, injured no farther than that they are slightly crushed. The fishing brought to an end, the birds are removed from the neighbourhood of the water, the strap is untied and a few of the captured fish thrown to them as their share of the booty are dextrously caught before they touch the ground.” 

Cormorant

More unlikely tales soon from Another Bird Blog.

Tuesday’s Trip

Today there is detail of a Brambling recovery plus a little birding news. 

On March 2nd 2013 at Out Rawcliffe I caught an adult male Brambling bearing a Norwegian ring - Stavanger ED78766. The photograph below is of the actual bird after I managed to locate the pic on my PC. 

Brambling

The details have just arrived from the BTO via Norwegian ringers who inform us that the Brambling was originally ringed at Randaberg, Rogaland, Norway on 11th October 2011. Randaberg is close to the Norwegian coast and just north of Stavanger, an area where many, many thousands of Bramblings pass through each autumn on their way to winter in Europe. We don’t know where ED 78766 spent the winter of 2011/12 but we do know that 2012/13 was a good winter to find Bramblings in the UK, this being the second such recovery from the ringing at Rawcliffe in 2012/13. 

Brambling - Norway to Out Rawcliffe

This morning I headed to Conder Green for a spot of birding. Just through Cockerham village I noticed many hundreds of Swallows along roadside wires and in the air. Looking right I remembered the large field of maize crop I pass often and from where the Swallows had obviously just woken up after their overnight roost.

Swallow

Conder was pretty quiet, just as it has been in recent days. The now single Little Ringed Plover was still there, as was the Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 60+ Redshanks and 300+ Lapwings. The rest of the birds came in two by twos - 2 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Cormorant and 2 Little Egret. 

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Little Ringed Plover

 

Mute Swan and Cormorant

With nothing much happening at sleepy Glasson I decided to try my luck at Pilling and the incoming tide. 

Canal Boats at Glasson

This wasn’t much better, a walk to Fluke and back giving a good show of herons - 5 Little Egret and 4 Grey Heron, but the tide a little too distant for decent wader numbers. There was a Buzzard circling over Lane Ends and when I approached Pilling Water, 2 juvenile Kestrels from the nearby nest box. 

Kestrel

There are released Mallards at the wildfowlers pools and in the ditches, easy to identify as they just stick together in a tight bunch on the water as if still in penned captivity. Teal are beginning to arrive in numbers with 140+ today, some already finding the wheat put out for them about the pools. A Green Sandpiper today but no sign of the usual Greenshank. 

Any day now the 2000+ Red-legged Partridge will be released - that should bring in a few harriers and Buzzards, keep the Peregrine happy and also provide some entertainment for Another Bird Blog. 

Linking today to Stewart's Gallery.

Here, There And Everywhere

That’s what it felt like this morning, doing the rounds as the heavy showers dictated the time spent at a particular spot and in which direction the car travelled. 

The day started cloudy but dry at Fluke Hall, with plenty of Blackbirds around, and more than the usual number of finches in evidence. The busily feeding and mobile Chaffinch looked like recent arrivals with 25+, and with them at least 2 Brambling, the latter giving away their presence in the usual manner by the unmistakeable and obvious wheezing calls. Siskins did the same, feeding quietly and undetected in the high branches until a few tell-tale calls made me look up to find more than 10 of them moving through the tree tops. Near Ridge Farm I found the flock of Greenfinches numbering 25 today, and still 6+ Goldfinch. 

Brambling

Siskin

Not much on the flood at Damside, just 40+ Lapwing and a Great-spotted Woodpecker calling incongruously from the top of a telegraph pole. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Lane Ends next where a walk to Pilling Water was curtailed by an approaching black cloud. Hurrying back and then waiting for the burst to subside gave counts of 9 Little Egret, 3 Raven, 8 Snipe, 2 Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Siskin and 2 Buzzard. One Buzzard was perched on a post out on the marsh towards Cockerham, the other flying off the marsh and towards Pilling village. 

I headed north, trying to keep ahead of the rain coming following behind from the south-west, and stopped for a minute or two at Braides where 22 Redshank and 15 Curlew fed on the muddy pools. 

At Conder I found time to count 8 Little Grebe,1 Goosander and 2 Spotted Redshanks before the running tide cleared the waders from the creek and cleared me off to Glasson. I couldn’t find more than 1 Scaup with the 35 Tufted Duck, one or two of which with a hint of white at the base of the bill, have pretensions of being a real sea duck instead of a “bread” duck. A Cormorant proved fairly tolerant today, posing for a prehistoric portrait before sliding off into the water. 

Tufted Duck

Cormorant

It rained during the Jeremy Lane circuit where lots of Mute Swan were scattered across the fields, but I found a flock of 60+ Fieldfare along Moss Lane. When I stopped to take a look through the thrushes a female Sparrowhawk appeared from my left and then flew across the road to scatter the Fieldfares along a hedgerow. Towards Cockersands were 275 Curlew, 40 Golden Plover, 140 Lapwing, 6 Skylark, 3 Reed Bunting and 21 Tree Sparrow, the sparrows feeding alongside a single hedgerow. 

Tree Sparrow

Can’t believe it’s almost Friday, but time flies when you’re having fun and birding, so log in again soon to find out if Another Bird Blog has been having fun down your way.

New Header Required

There have been a few days without new postings on Another Bird Blog because whilst I’ve been out birding there has been little to report. This morning proved a little better when I found a few fresh-in migrants, one of them the bird in the recently changed blog header. 

I kicked off at Damside, Pilling where the puddled field is beginning to hold a few birds to study, providing birders can beat pedestrians and cyclists to the lay-by. No gulls there today, just 80 Lapwings and a Stock Dove. At Lane Ends a check of the pools and surrounding trees saw 2 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Cormorant and 2 Sparrowhawk, with a Lesser Whitethroat giving itself away by its constant warning calls. 

Little Grebe 

Cormorant

The Cormorant is considered a pest by hobby anglers and commercial fisheries. It might be said that fisheries managers are mostly to blame for failing to protect their stock, and that for a Cormorant a well-stocked water is "like putting out nuts for a Blue Tit". My own experience of Cormorants is that they are difficult to photograph and very unapproachable, mainly because of the persecution suffered at the hands of the human race. 

The walk to Pilling Water proved uneventful save a for single Skylark, a landside Wheatear, and a good flock of 90+ Goldfinch and 4 Linnet feeding on this year’s abundant thistles. 

Hi-Fly man arrived to the wildfowlers pools and proceeded to flush from the pools 2 Pintail, 2 Teal and a single Snipe. There have been 150+ Teal in recent days but if disturbed too much they head off to the marsh where they hide in the gulleys. I was watching the hirundines, 30+ Swallow and 4 House Martin, hawking over Broadfleet when I spotted a Spotted Flycatcher moving between the fence of the sluice gate and the sheep pen which by default also holds lots of insects. Now so scarce in the Fylde, this was my first sighting this year of a bird that locally is now just a spring and autumn passage migrant and consequently something of a prize to listers. Sitting to watch the flycatcher feed I made a mental to change the blog header more often, perhaps back to Bee Eater soon? 

Spotted Flycatcher

After Hi-Fly man hastened back to Fluke a couple of raptors appeared from the direction he headed, first a Buzzard and then soon after a very streaky juvenile Peregrine. The Buzzard hung around long enough to get a few distant shots and discover it as a moulting adult. 

Buzzard

Next came a couple more Grey Herons, a single Little Egret and finally the unmistakeable calls of a Northern Raven louding it south.  

Stay tuned, more soon from Another Bird Blog.

Wheatears Return And Skylark Sussed.

The morning started at Knott End with the early tide and decent numbers of waders: 210 Oystercatcher, 95 Curlew, 70 Redshank and 12 Dunlin. At the jetty were just a single Eider and a Cormorant with 2 Pied Wagtail, and then it was up to Pilling before Gala festivities trapped me in the village. 

Cormorant

For a week or more I’ve carried a couple of spring traps at Pilling way because the first autumn Wheatears always arrive back in early July. There was a smart, spotty looking juvenile at Pilling Water this morning and within a couple of minutes I’d ringed, measured and released it. With a wing length of 97 mm it was almost certainly a male, possibly from the Pennine uplands not too far away or even from across the bay where odd pairs still breed on Carnforth Marsh. 

Wheatear juvenile

Wheatear juvenile

A day or two ago I noticed Skylarks carrying food to a nest which from the adults flight lines seemed not to be in a silage field this time. Birding was fairly quiet this morning which allowed more time to track the adults, and when found the nest was buried deep in a tuft of grass alongside a drainage ditch. The very downy young were just too small for a ring, despite the legs being almost fully developed. Better to ring the youngsters in a day or two provided the nest can be located again. 

Skylark nest

Skylark

Other birds Lane Ends to Pilling Water: 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk,1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 60 Curlew, 140 Lapwing, 22 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Sandpiper. Both hirundines and passerines proved hard to come by today, with just 15 Swallow, 8 House Martin and 5 Swift to report. Otherwise, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail, 15 Goldfinch, 8 Linnet, 6 Greenfinch, 3 Corn Bunting, 1 Reed Bunting and the single Wheatear. Still 2 Blackcap in loud song at Lane Ends, joined today by a Chiffchaff. On the water there, 2 Little Grebe and 9 Tufted Duck, the tufties including a female with 5 youngsters. 

Tufted  Duck

There’s more news and pictures from Another Bird Blog very soon.

The Whole Shebang

There was a bit of everything today, as might be expected after the wind and rain of recent days. Even well into Morecambe Bay at Lane Ends there were a few wind-blown seabirds, together with a good selection of waders and wildfowl, an unexpected owl and good views of an elusive mammal.

The morning started quiet enough at Lane Ends where a look on the pools didn’t produce stranded phalaropes or gulls, just 2 Little Grebe and a gang of Swallows feeding low over the pools and in the lee of the windswept trees. Many of the Swallows were also headed west, into the still strong westerly: during the next couple of hours I counted 80/100 flying steadily west. Just here I also found 6 Wheatears on the marsh, another migrant blown in from the west by the constant winds of the past week.

The tide wasn’t due for an hour or more so I walked to Fluke and Worm Pool then back to Pilling Water where I sat for a while. The Green Sandpiper of recent weeks was tucked into the edge of the pool again, with another 4 Wheatears along the wall in their usual spot, and 40 Goldfinch, 12 Linnet and a patrolling Kestrel. I’d seen a Stoat amongst the rocks too, and as I watched to see where the Stoat might pop up, a Wheatear landed on the rock furthest away. So I took pictures of both, although the Stoat wasn’t for allowing a full frame, and the Wheatear didn’t hang around just to finish up a as Stoat’s breakfast.

Stoat
Stoat
Wheatear

By now the tide was just about beginning to run, allowing a count of 6 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron, with many Shelduck and Curlew arriving from the west. The Shelduck count came to 280 birds, a much higher count than recent ones, with the 170 Curlews about par.

Redshanks have been scarce in recent weeks and it is somewhat strange to report today’s 5 as a high count, but there was a single overflying Spotted Redshank that I tried to capture. More waders arrived with the tide, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Grey Plover, 1400 Knot, 35 Golden Plover, but only 18 Lapwing.

Spotted Redshank
Golden Plover

Perhaps the strangest sighting of the morning came at midday when calling Starlings alerted me to a Barn Owl flying over the rough pasture adjacent to the wildfowler’s pools. Maybe the rough weather of the past week stopped the owl from feeding as much as it should and it was simply taking advantage of a spot of sunshine? I walked back to Lane Ends, stopping here and there to count the wildfowl, 70 Pintail, 190 Teal, 40 Wigeon, 18 Cormorant and 2 Great-crested Grebe.

Cormorant

The well up tide revealed a few sea birds, 4 Gannet, 1 Sandwich Tern and a distant "Bonxie", a Great Skua chasing down a few gulls towards distant Cockerham.

Great Skua
So ended an eventful and bird filled morning.

Made It

Two days of rain and gales aren't the best motivation for birding, photography or ringing, so the bins haven’t had an outing for 2 days. I couldn’t even have a swim yesterday when the pool was closed because a risk assessment said the glass roof over the water was a hazard in the gales that battered the promenade building. So I crossed the road to Roger's for a haircut, and for anyone that's been there and done that, they will know it's infinitely more dangerous than a bit of flying glass.

Sat at home without blog material I waited until today when the wind lessened and I decided to go out birding with the camera for a few hours.

Knott End is something of a joke to folk around the Fylde, a bit of a one horse village where time stands still, a place where old codgers retire to their semi-detached bungalows and wait for the Grim Reaper to call by. But here’s where you can still buy nails by weight, bread from a baker, meat from a butcher, or if you like, just sit on a bench and watch the world go by. And as I’ve said before, KE can cut the mustard for a bit of leisurely, undemanding birding. It wasn’t the brightest of mornings as I watched the Oystercatchers walking the beach and a couple of Little Egrets feeding in the shallows amongst the Redshanks and Black-headed Gulls. Strangely I could find only a single Twite today, one that sported both metal and coloured rings, and now I understand why photographers aren’t fans of birds wearing rings.

Oystercatcher
Little Egret

Redshank
Twite

Wheel Lane beckoned where I negotiated the flooded road, parked up in the gateway and looked across the flooded stubble. There was a terrific selection of somewhat distant but also numerous birds this morning: 220 Golden Plover, 520 Lapwing, 80 Redshank, 30 Dunlin,6 Snipe, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Curlew, a single Ruff and 15 Skylark. Most of the Whooper Swans were out on the marsh with a small gang of 33 on the stubble as yet others flew over heading inland.

Black-tailed Godwit
Whooper Swan, Golden Plover, Lapwing

There were waders on the wet fields at Damside too, more Lapwing, Golden Plover and Redshank, but because they were just the other side of Broadfleet where I had just counted, I didn’t add more to the totals. Chaffinch and Blackbird alarm calls from the nearby trees alerted me to the presence of a Kestrel at the top of a telegraph pole, but as the Kestrel flew off the alarms continued. Almost out of my view a Little Owl sat motionless on a branch and rather than disturb it, I let it be and drove off towards Lane Ends as the Chaffinch continued to scold the owl.

Lane Ends produced a few bits and pieces, 18 to 20 Chaffinch attracted in by the abundance of seed left by local animal lovers, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Goldcrest, 6 Blackbird and at least 10 Long-tailed Tits.

Long-tailed Tit

Not much on the pools either, 1 Cormorant on the big pool and 1 Goldeneye on the hidden pool, with 3 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron out on the marsh.

Cormorant

Year Ticking

I got out early to try and catch up with Leach’s Petrels at Knott End where the early morning dropping tide might harbour a few stragglers coming out of the bay after the overnight storm.

The light was poor and the rain threatened but I got a Leach’s for my non-existent year list as one followed the tideline towards the jetty then crossed the river to Fleetwood. I got a second year tick in the form of a Bonxie, a Great Skua, that steamed across the water much faster than the petrel did, but luckily the petrel journeyed a few minutes before the Bonxie, otherwise there may have been a meal in the offing for the bigger bird. It seems that the word Bonxie comes from the Norse Bunksi, meaning an untidy old woman. I found this great web site for fans of this super aggressive animal.

Great Skua - Bonxie

With the atrocious forecast of more wind and rain that looked every bit like coming to a wild and wet fruition, I decided that it is possible to have too much of a good thing but also that discretion was the better part of valour, so headed north to spend some time at Leighton before my appointment in Kendal. What’s more there was a chance for my incredible third year tick in the shape of Black Tern as three juvenile birds had been there yesterday. Leighton Moss looked bleak as the rain, the wind and dark clouds hurled in from the west without any respite. I set my camera to ISO800 and it stayed there until I left about 2pm.

Black Tern

I had time to walk the public footpath of the causeway where 3 Black Terns moved between the areas of open water but they didn’t come close and often disappeared from view at the far end of the reserve or melted into the grey of continuous heavy showers. As the showers came and went the hirundines did the same with at one point hundreds of House Martins, hundreds of Sand Martins and dozens of Swallows feeding over the open water. Roosting on the reserve were hundreds of Redshank, dozens of Black-tailed Godwit and at least 10 Greenshank, but impossible to count with much certainty as they were distant, bunched tight and huddled down against the wind and driving rain.

I also got a few photographs of common or garden stuff but it wasn’t the best morning for a camera.

Shoveler
Cormorant
Snipe
Snipe
Red Deer

That’s enough year ticks for a year, next I need to do some serious birding and ringing.