Just Dunlin

No birding or ringing this morning, just a lazy lie in. After lunch Sue and I went up to Knott End for a Wallings Ice Cream followed by a walk. 

The usual birds along the beach and river, 2 Eider, 2 Pied Wagtail, 280 Oystercatcher, a couple of Curlew and then 18 raucous Sandwich Terns which flew off south as the tide shifted them off the beach. A flock of about 40 Dunlin on the beach flew up river where I managed to get a number of photographs. Almost every one of them was an adult, all in a various stages of moult which can be seen from the pictures below – all very interesting for students of wader moult out there. No more comment from me, just enjoy the Dunlin. 

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

 Dunlin

 Dunlin

Mainly Swallows

A nine metre tide at 11am meant a three hour birding stint at Pilling, a session which produced a few more waders together with a noticeable south-easterly movement of Swallows. 

Passerine numbers improved today, probably as result of the tide pushing the finches off the marsh where they often feed, 20+ Linnet, 30 Goldfinch and 4 Greenfinch. Still 2 Skylark, but a single Pied Wagtail and nil Meadow Pipits. Gangs of Canada Geese are quite unusual at Lane Ends but 50+ today, and also a separate flock of 21 Greylag Geese, the latter having bred hereabouts, with the only other wildfowl of note being 22 Shelduck. Others, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Cormorant and 3 Grey Heron. 

Grey Heron

Yesterday I had an email from someone local who told me of a couple of yet-to-fledge but wildly flapping Grey Heron chicks in a Knott End nest. It seems inordinately late in the year as around here Grey Heron chicks are normally long gone from nests by May. Reading up BWP it seems that Grey Herons are normally single brooded but may replace a clutch of eggs if they or subsequent young are lost. Maybe the weird weather of May, June and July is a factor. 

Waders on the wildfowler’s pools, 1 Green Sandpiper and 1 Common Sandpiper. Waders on the shore, 110 Curlew, 15 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher, 22 Dunlin and 4 Grey Plover. 

Dunlin

Grey Plover

A Peregrine put in a fleeting but star appearance when it chased a feral pigeon from off the marsh and almost over my head. It gave up the pursuit when spotting me just ahead of its trajectory, leaving me with the clatter of wings of the fleeing pigeon and sight of the peg heading back out to sit on the marsh. 

The movement of Swallows was more or less constant, birds feeding low over the marsh or heading east along the sea wall before flying more distantly into the stiff south-easterly wind, an estimated 160 in three hours. Just 2 Swift today flying high and directly south. 

More from Another Bird Blog tomorrow I hope.

Reach for The Umbrella

Yes, it was Pilling today, where although it proved fairly quiet I came away with a half decent list of birds which included the first autumnal Dunlin, thirty or so birds out on the incoming tide at 11am. The Redshank count at 50+ was slightly up today when extra Redshanks joined the local post-breeding birds which stayed on the marsh through May and June. Completing the wader count were 80 Curlew, 110 Lapwing, 22 Oystercatcher and 2 Common Sandpiper. 

Dunlin

Other birds out on the tideline - 220 Black-headed Gull, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Grey Heron, 44 Shelduck and 11 Cormorant. 

A Peregrine flashed over the shore early on heading towards Cockerham, and then 15 minutes later came back from that direction and briefly overhead. Although the sun was out briefly, the camera wasn’t set for an overhead Peg so it was point and hope for the best, or fiddle with the settings and lose the bird. 

Peregrine

Peregrine

Other birds: 20+ Skylark, 2 Corn Bunting, 6 Pied Wagtail, 14 Goldfinch, 3 Linnet, 5 Greenfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Blackcap, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1 Reed Warbler, 4 House Martin, 8 Swift. There still aren’t many Swallows about the normal places with many people reporting a lack of nests with slow plus low productivity. I did see a family party of 8 birds at Pilling Water which included newly fledged juveniles, posing in the usual location, 

Barn Swallow

Now it’s official, the wettest June since records began and more of the same promised for this week. Never mind, Another Bird Blog will be out somewhere, with an umbrella if necessary - stay tuned.

Knott Again?

I was at Knott End this morning, enjoying ten minutes of sunshine before the clouds rolled in from the west. By 1030 when the promised snow arrived as hail, sleet and then rain I had switched the camera to ISO800 for the overcast skies.

The bitterly cold easterly wind had kept many punters in bed, leaving the jetty and the Esplanade reasonably free from walkers and four-legged friends, resulting in a good selection of waders to be seen at close quarters and a few wildfowl on the more distant water: 2500+ Oystercatcher, 270 Knot, 145 Dunlin, 16 Ringed Plover, 24 Turnstone, 50 Redshank and a single Sanderling. On the estuary I noted just 4 Eider and 30+ Shelduck. Passerines came in at just 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Goldfinch and 60+ Starling. I saw the Black Redstart flying through the gloomy, unfinished rooms of the building site, but didn’t hang about to get more photographs, it was simply becoming too cold.

Sanderling
Turnstone
Ringed Plover
Dunlin

The redstart is getting quite attached to the confines of the incomplete building but if it finds a mate there may be complications as the builders have stated their intention to restart work on the site soon. I wonder if they know about the Black Redstart and are aware of the fact that the species is classified as a Schedule 1 and so afforded Special Protection? In other words, if the redstart finds a partner and begins a breeding attempt within the building site, legally that should stop any disturbance to the birds, including commencement of building work. We shall see.

Black Redstart

Although by now the sleety rain was closing in I drove up to Pilling where along Backsands Lane I found about 500 Pink-footed Geese, 7 White-fronted Geese and in the same field, 2 Snipe crouched in the grass. There was also a Lapwing, probably a male with that elongated crest, and also ringed on the left leg; perhaps one from recent or not so recent years, as Lapwings can live 20 years, almost as long as I have ringed Lapwings about here.

White-fronted Goose
Snipe
Lapwing
Lapwing

Short Session

36 hours (so far) of rain and wind in Lancashire has meant no posts on Another Bird Blog. This morning’s rubbish weather restricted birding to an hour with the incoming tide at Knott End before the rain rushed in from the south west to send me scurrying back home. In the circumstances this is but a brief report from which there are a few good counts from the sixty minutes, but not too many bright new pictures from the grey overcast morning.

At the jetty I could see 10 juvenile Eider and 4 Cormorant loafing at the point where the construction tails off into the estuary. As the tide ran in and the 9am ferry arrived from Fleetwood the birds all took to the water, Eiders upstream and Cormorants out to the deeper waters of the bay.

A number of terns and gulls arrived on the beach with the rising tide, 41 Sandwich Tern, 4 Common Tern and 130 Black-headed Gull, where they joined 270 Oystercatcher, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Knot and 7 more Cormorants. Coming from the direction of Preesall Sands I counted 1100 Dunlin, 9 Ringed Plover and 4 Golden Plover, all heading upriver to the Barnaby Sands roost.

Golden Plover
Dunlin and Golden Plover

Luckily, I got a half decent picture of a Sandwich Tern a week ago when an adult bird accompanying a fully-fledged youngster came to warn me off when I approached too close. The second picture which appears to be black-and-white was actually taken this morning in the grey, cloudy, overcast conditions. However, autumn is a great time to watch terns in the local area as they breed some distance away from the Fylde coast.

Sandwich Tern
Sandwich Tern and Common Tern

When the rain came with more force, I took to the car and sat out the rain for a while as the ever present gulls waited patiently for bread hand outs from parked vehicles. The gulls might have had a longer wait than normal today, a day for not venturing out.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Run Around

There are not many words or pictures today after I spent ages trying to take photographs of a juvenile Wheatear. I took even longer trying catch it when all the time the little devil just gave me the run around, standing right next to the spring trap a couple of times. Part of the problem is the meal worms which have enjoyed a life of luxury and contentment in a tub of bran since April, but now in August just don’t wriggle enough to attract the attention of a sharp eyed chat. At least I got four frames before the bird spotted me hiding in the boulders then shot off up the sea wall.

Wheatear

As usual I was on a Pilling run, Lane Ends to Pilling Water where the incoming tide brought a few Augusty things in. Waders clocked up were 60 Lapwing, 28 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 12 Redshank, 2 Golden Plover and 440 Curlew. Just 2 Grey Heron today with a nil count for Little Egret again but further signs of autumn with 3 Great-crested Grebe out near the tide line.

Dunlin
Redshank

A Peregrine put in the briefest of appearances then seemed to head off in the direction of Pressall Sands where surely there would be more wader food. There have been good numbers of Sandwich Terns lately, a sure sign that some will find their way into the bay as far as Pilling and Cockerham, so no surprise to see two today associating with circa 125 Black-headed Gulls. The Greylags increase again with 90 today.

Once again the passerine count proved abysmal, with 1 Pied Wagtail, 4 Linnet, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch and 4 Skylark. Meanwhile the build-up of Swallows continues with c 300 feeding over the marsh and tideline today.

Nothing else to report but hopefully there’s more tomorrow, especially if I get chance for a run over to to the reptile shop and a supply of fresh meal worms.

Alternative Agenda

It was just as well we didn’t arrange a ringing session on the strength of last night’s weather forecast because there was a stiff easterly breeze. I heard say that a television programme might keep people indoors today, and hoping that both the roads and the shore at Rossall Point might be quiet I set off over the normally grid-locked Amounderness Way (or The Poulton to Thornton Car Park as it’s known about here) towards Fleetwood and the 10am tide and a few hours watching the real world.

As soon as I got to the shore I noted more than 15 Gannets going east into the wind, with upwards of 12 Eiders and 8 Red-breasted Mergansers making their way out of the estuary.

Eider

There are a lot of Dunlin moving north at the moment, with smaller numbers of Ringed Plover and Sanderlings. A count along the shore came to 900 Dunlin, 60 Sanderling and 210 Ringed Plover, and as usual the flocks were almost constantly moved around the shore and stopped from either roosting or feeding by walkers on the beach.

Ringed Plover and Dunlin
mainly Dunlin
Dunlin
Sanderling and Dunlin
Sanderling
Ringed Plover

In between taking photographs I noted a number of Swallows heading low over the shore then east and north, mostly single birds but 30+ in total. Small groups of Linnets were also noticeable, with upwards of 20 flying off in the same direction as the Swallows. By concentrating on photographs I think I had probably missed many Arctic Terns flying far out, but close in to the shore at least 55 birds went north and east in just a few minutes of watching, then distantly an Arctic Skua and a couple more Gannets.

Sanderling


Sanderling
Gannet

The forecast shows more easterly winds tomorrow that prevent any ringing, so it’s a spot of birding in the morning. Later it’s packing for Menorca and The Med on Sunday where I might just find a few birds waiting to come here – Swifts, Whinchats and Spotted Flycatchers to name a few of this week’s non-arrivals.

What A Choice

A problem for me at 9am: 1) go shopping with Sue to M&S and her Christmas Vouchers, joining the other poor souls at the man-chairs feigning interest at their better half’s latest pair of shoes, or 2) go birding.

As I drove through Stalmine and Pilling, along Burned House Lane, Head Dyke and then Lambs Lane it was obvious that more than a few waders had found their way back to the post-thaw fields so unusually quiet in recent weeks. At Lambs Lane I had counted 160 Curlew, 45 Lapwing and countless gulls on the now wet fields. Blackbirds scattered from the roadside at Wheel Lane and Fluke Hall Lane, continuing the theme of recent days, and by the time I reached the wood my Blackbird count reached a rough and ready 25. I tried counting the masses of Jackdaws near the wood and the nearby fields but gave up at 600+.

The somewhat elusive Whooper Swans on the Fluke Hall stubble were indeed hard to fathom this morning as one lone bird hung around the flood, and during the morning I managed to count only 11 birds in total. At Damside and Backsands Lane I found 2 Pied Wagtails, 6 Meadow Pipits and a very good selection of waders on the flooded field: 64 Black-tailed Godwit, 90 Dunlin, 160 Lapwing, 24 Redshank and even a few Oystercatchers, now able to probe the wet rather than frozen fields. The light was poor again this morning, as the “noise” in the Pied Wagtail picture at ISO400 confirms.

Oystercatcher
Black-tailed Godwit
Pied Wagtail

I stopped in the car park at Lane Ends where I counted 17 Redwings and 12 Blackbirds feeding on the ground close to the doggy walking path, until of course a doggy walker disturbed then scattered them into the trees. 2 more Pied Wagtails here plus 15/20 Chaffinch finding bits of food amongst the giant flower pots where it looks like someone may have strewn nyjer seed.

Chaffinch

From the sea wall I watched a Peregrine beating up the shore birds, back and forth a few times, until it landed preyless on the log. There were a number of Skylarks flying about, flushed by the incoming tide, and between here and Pilling Water I counted more than 30 of them. Just 1 Little Egret in the ditch today, but I am sure they will be back in numbers if the weather stays kind.

At Pilling Water I found a Rock Pipit and 10 Linnets along the shore, with a tight flock of 1000+ Dunlin, more Redshank, and as the tide ran in a Brown Hare loped from the filling marsh.

Brown Hare
Dunlin

It was Number 2 but now I have to pay for my sins by making a Spaghetti Bolognese and opening a bottle of red, therefore excuse me, I must sign off.