Unseasonal Sands

It’s been a busy old week of grandparent’s callings, finding time for birding and then in-between updating a tired old kitchen. And if anyone tries to tell you that the British Builder is dead and buried, superseded by its Polish counterpart, don’t believe them; the Union Jack flies high in Knott End and Stalmine. 

So birding and blogging had to take third place for a while but now that weekend’s here I’m up and running with a little news. 

A drive north included a Kestrel at Thurnham, quickly followed by a look over the pools and creeks of Conder Green which gave much the usual stuff: 2 Spotted Redshank, 10 Little Grebe, 150+ Teal, 30 Wigeon, 5 Goldeneye, 15 Lapwing 1 Little Egret, 12 Curlew, 12 Oystercatcher and 1 Common Sandpiper. The wintering sandpiper has eluded me for weeks, hiding away and silent in the tiny creeks rather than the main tidal channel but it finally showed today. 

Common Sandpiper

At Glasson: 15 Goldeneye comprising 13 males and 2 females, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 40 Tufted Duck and 9 Cormorants. 

Goldeneye

Goldeneye

Back at Pilling the sun came out and I set off along the usual route to find 8 Little Egrets, the Brent Goose on the marsh and the wintering Green Sandpiper on the shooter’s pools. 

It looks like the Green Sandpiper isn’t the only wintering sandpiper here as amongst the 60+ Lapwings, 125 Redshanks and 15 Curlew was a Curlew Sandpiper. I last saw a Curlew Sandpiper here on 15th November, the lack of visits during the intervening period of wind, rain and weekly shoots accounting for the lack of sightings of the bird since that date. 

Curlew

Curlew Sandpiper - Photo credit: jvverde / Foter / CC BY-NC

There were small birds around the pools and the maize field with 45+ Linnet, 2 Reed Bunting, 15 Skylark and a sudden arrival of 14+ alba wagtails arriving from the west and landing some distance away. On the pool, now less than a dozen Mallard and 2 Pintail survive the winter shoots, the original 2000+ released Red-legged Partridge now hard to come by after so many days of gunfire.

Near Fluke Hall I watched a Stock Dove in display flight and heard several species in song - Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Dunnock, Robin, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Coal Tit. 

Stock Dove

Spring must be just around the corner. Hooray for that. 

Linking today to Anni's Blog, Eileen's Saturday Blog and Camera Critters.

Saturday Sandpiper

This morning’s jaunt out Pilling way provided similar fare to recent days, the exceptions being a build of the Linnet flock and the reappearance of a Curlew Sandpiper. 

I stopped at the lane and took in the waders on the stubble, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 120+ Lapwings, 4 Curlew, 20 or so Redshanks and a single Snipe. I gave up on the tiny and distant peep which kept disappearing into the troughs of the flooded stubble, and while I thought it was the Curlew Sandpiper I’d last seen on 15th November, I couldn’t be certain. 

 

Black-tailed Godwit

It didn’t take long to find the Peregrine at Fluke Hall as it rocketed along the shore sending everything ahead of it into a panicked frenzy. One of these days I might be sat there with a ready primed camera and get a world beating picture of a Peregrine in full flight- more likely not, so I’ll have to make do with just seeing on an almost daily basis this awe inspiring raptor. 

The combination of my approach and the Peregrine put all the crows in the air again, 300+ Jackdaws, 40+ Carrion Crows, 2 Stock Doves and 6 Woodpigeons. I’ve been missing Wood Pigeons this autumn, counting tiny numbers in comparison to the avalanche of last winter when counts of 10,000 and 20,000 could be easily had on the mossland stubbles, the skies darkened by huge flocks.  Last winter the wide scale failure of acorns in Europe brought quite incredible numbers to the UK, now this year seemingly just the opposite. It will be interesting to see what happens when the usual January and February cold weather grips Europe. 

Woodpigeon

At the sea wall I was able to count the Linnets moving between the marsh and the stubble, eventually coming to an estimate of 140+. While the Linnets increase, my Skylark numbers now rarely reach double figures, and just 12 today. Two Reed Buntings about the spent maize, together with 4 Meadow Pipit and the usual 40 or so Shelduck coming and going via the wildfowlers pools, plus 30 Whooper Swans feeding on the stubble. 

Shelduck

There wasn’t much doing in Fluke Hall, a number of Chaffinch and Goldfinch obvious in the sunny tree tops and a noisy Jay hiding somewhere in the greenery. By 1130 the warm morning sun had sent Tree Sparrows into flurries of noise and activity around nest boxes while near the car a Dunnock was in full song. 

On the way back I stopped the car for another look on the flood and clinched the now closer and unimpeded Curlew Sandpiper. A reasonable end to a good morning’s birding. 

Curlew Sandpiper - Photo credit: jvverde / Foter.com / CC BY-NC 

More soon from Another Bird Blog - keep looking.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Camera Critters .

Wednesday's Waders

There was a Barn Owl hunting the fields next to Head Dyke Lane this morning - almost inevitable for an early morning in July. Just as predictable was the way it veered across the landscape and out of sight as the car drew level. Never mind, I was to enjoy a good few hours birding and a bit of photography quite soon. 

When I arrived at Conder Green there was the usual gaggle of Redshank and Greenshank in the creek and a smaller bird amongst them. When I studied the bird more closely it turned put to be a Curlew Sandpiper, an adult in partial summer plumage, the species an annual visitor in small numbers to these parts. 

Curlew Sandpiper - Photo credit: Mick Sway / Foter / CC BY-ND

The Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australasia. It is a vagrant to North America. These birds are slightly larger than the closely related Dunlin, but differ from Dunlin in having a longer down-curved bill, longer neck and legs and a white rump. The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts, the reds in the plumage giving rise to the Latin ferruginea. In winter, this bird is pale grey above and white below, and shows an obvious white supercilium. Juveniles have a greyer and brown back, a white belly and a peach-coloured breast. 

There were other waders sandpipers about too, the presumed same Green Sandpiper of recent days plus the more reliable and numerous Common Sandpipers, nine or ten today. Redshank totalled 40, Greenshanks 4, Lapwing 15, Curlew 6, Oystercatcher 8, Spotted Redshank 1, and Snipe 1. 

 Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Looks like Little Egrets have now arrived in autumnal numbers as I counted 8 on the pool this morning and 2 more in the creek, but only 1 Grey Heron. One or two of the Egrets were quite obliging if I kept out of sight and provided the large vehicles leaving Glasson Dock didn't noisily park up overlooking the pool. Glasson is two minutes down the road so why do these wagons stop so soon again after leaving the docks? Beats me. 

Little Egret

Wildfowl numbers remain the same – 2 Little Grebe, 2 Wigeon, 2 Tufted Duck,4 Canada Goose. A Kingfisher put in a brief appearance at the sluice gate, sitting there long enough for me to rattle off a few distant shots before it streaked off towards the canal. 

Kingfisher

Up at Glasson I counted 15 Swifts screaming overhead, 2 Common Terns paying a quick visit, 10 Tufted Duck on the yacht basin and a single Grey Heron in the accustomed spot. 

Grey Heron

Narrow Boats at Glasson

After neglecting Pilling Lane Ends for few weeks I decided to pay a visit on the way home today. There wasn't much doing apart from a Marsh Harrier half way to Heysham and had I stayed for the midday tide the bird would almost certainly have showed closer in. 

Otherwise 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Stock Dove, 3 Grey Heron and 1 Buzzard. 

More news from Another Bird Blog very soon.