Good Game, Good Game

On Sunday I set off for Cockersands and Conder Green where an early tide might do the trick in bringing a few birds closer. 

Like lots of birding sites in June the area of Conder Green is proving remarkably consistent in species and counts. Regular readers or those looking for something to catch up on might notice a few “goodies” in amongst the regular “dross” of 15+ Swift, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Reed Bunting, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Tree Sparrow, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 8 Lapwing, 1 Greenshank, 1 Grey Partridge, 2 Curlew and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

Yes, the Curlew are possibly fresh-in with the Greenshank definitely new and either “late going” or “early coming back”, depending upon someone’s understanding of the breeding cycle of northern waders. I favour the early returning scenario, especially since a number of Lapwings appeared hereabouts today. 

Whether the Grey Partridge is “real” rather than a from £13.80" sub-species is anyone’s guess.  And yes, in case anyone is wondering, even an expensive and reintroduced Grey Partridge is literally "fair game" to a shoot.

Grey Partridge

There seemed to be lots of Lapwings in the Cockersands area too, with a total count of 80+ and a single count of 35 in one field. The Lapwings easily outnumbered the 15+ Brown Hares, several Oystercatchers and 2 Red-legged Partridge with which they shared the fields. On the circuit also, 4 Sedge Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 2 Reed Bunting and 5 Tree Sparrow. 

 Lapwing

Lapwing

Eiders have bred close to Cockersands again. From the path I could see a single pair with 5 young on the edge of the tide with other adults in attendance and ten birds in total; more youngsters could well emerge in the next days and weeks.

Breeding hereabouts is a regular occurrence now as an offshoot of the colony of 700+ pairs just across Morecambe Bay at Walney Island, until recent years the most southerly breeding colony in England. Quite where the females nest around here is anyone’s guess as not only do they possess incredibly cryptic plumage, they are renowned for sitting amazingly tight, not vacating their nest until stood upon. I recall gull ringing expeditions to the Walney Island dunes, grabbing hold of reluctant Lesser Black-back and Herring Gulls while at the same time treading carefully to avoid standing on invisible Eider ducks.

Eider

Along the shore some newly arrived Black-headed Gulls, 2 Little Egret and a small number of Ringed Plover and Dunlin mixing freely on the shore and pebble beach. These latter species have been around for a week or two, part of their strong passage north, and unlike species like Greenshank and Spotted Redshank which return early, if these loiterers don’t get a move on soon they will meet themselves coming back. 

 

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

It was 10am, the Sunny Sunday crowd out and about, so time to head home after a good morning’s birding. 

Join Another Bird Blog soon for more of the same game.  

The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland - Looking North West

This is it folks, and if you reached here today via Princeton University Press Blog or Birding Frontiers you will know what this is all about. For regular readers of Another Bird Blog today’s post is a little different in the form of a whistle-stop on a tour of UK birding blogs which features Richard Crossley’s new book The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland. Also today, blog readers can enter a free draw at the bottom of this page to win a signed copy of the book.

 The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

Following on from a sneak peek from Another Bird Blog in October, it’s time for another look at The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland, this time featuring waders and wildfowl, the staple diet of North West birders. 

For readers who don’t know, Another Bird Blog is based geographically just a mile or two from arguably the two most important wetland sites of the whole of the UK & Ireland, Morecambe Bay and the Ribble/Alt estuary complex. Both are Special Protection Areas, Special Area of Conservation, and Ramsar sites which support high densities of waterbirds including swans, ducks, geese and waders. In this region of England waders and wildfowl form a backdrop to daily lives, where a simple road journey or an unassuming walk inevitably leads to encounters with wild and wonderful birds. 

However, not everyone who lives in these parts knows their birds, and in recent years it has become something of a mission of my life that more people should appreciate the wildlife that surrounds them. Hence my interest in discovering if this latest Crossley can appeal to not only those already hooked on birding, but to anyone with barely a casual or passing curiosity about birds.

I am reminded of a morning at Knott End-On Sea when I overheard two people discussing the black and white "penguins" walking ahead of the fastly approaching tide. Should I stop and explain about Morecambe Bay and its importance to Oystercatchers, then show them a picture of an Oystercatcher in my traditional field guide with drawings of 600 species, in the hope it might inspire them to learn about the birds literally on their doorstep? More likely the complexity of the book with its numbers of birds in seemingly identical pages would simply overwhelm them, so to my shame I did nothing. 

The new Crossley claims to be directed at novice and intermediate birders. Perhaps if at the time I had carried a copy of this book I could have used it to good advantage in winning over converts? Here are those Oystercatchers at Knott End-On-Sea again, this time in a scene from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland. Well it’s not really Knott End but a near perfect match for it with the Wyre Estuary in the background, the sand-lined shingle and mussel beds, the tidal pools, and on the shore the ever present Oystercatchers. 

Oystercatcher from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

Now wouldn’t sharing that page be a near perfect way to explain about Oystercatchers and encourage Jill and Joe Public to think about the birds they had just seen? 

To continue this theme, I selected more plates from the latest Crossley with a view to seeing how they stack up as an ID guide and/or as a way to help people learn about British and Irish birds and how to identify them.

This new book covers more than 300 species by way of a user friendly approach based upon habitat and physical similarities rather than the more usual taxonomic approach of a traditional field guide. For instance a couple of plates which face each other in the book are Sanderling and Dunlin, placed side by side as the two most common and widespread small shore birds of the UK and Ireland, two species which novices may struggle to separate. Look closely and not only are the birds true to life but the backdrops to both images are entirely realistic. This look and learn technique helps to reinforce the similarities and differences in the reader’s mind of the two species behaviour and environment. 

 Dunlin from  The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

Sanderling from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

At Page 114 are a number of Grey Plovers in various stages of black, white and grey, feeding in the shallow water of an estuary situation, the ones in flight showing their diagnostic white rumps and black armpits. It’s a highly accurate scene and one which is repeated on a daily basis here in Lancashire and also in the many estuaries of the UK and Ireland. 

Facing the Grey Plovers at Page 115 are some first-rate Golden Plovers. The picture shows the species at different stages of their sparkly gold and brown plumage, some birds with a hint or two of black, others much blacker, just as they occur in springtime. The distant ones are still recognisable as Golden Plovers, as are the ones just taking off. There’s a Lapwing or two in the field with the goldies as well as a couple of Starlings and cattle. Spot on Mr Crossley. 

For a novice birder faced with IDing a dumpy plover, and apart from the obvious colour differences, studying the side-by-side pages gives an immediate pictorial distinction by way of the different habitats the two species use. Here lies the strength of the Crossley guides, the look and learn, the visual experience whereby the mental image stays in the mind to be retrieved later and where habitat is often the key to clinching the final ID. 

 

 

Grey Plover from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

Golden Plover from  The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

The wader pages of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland are admirable, space limitations meaning it’s not possible to show here many of the other excellent and full page spreads given to the likes of godwits, sandpipers, shanks and stints. Uncommon birds like Pectoral Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and White-rumped Sandpiper make it into the 300 species, even though limited to one third of a page each. 

Major rarities of the wader family do not qualify for an appearance in the book, but then after all this is a volume aimed at beginner and intermediate birders, not those likely to hop on a plane to Ireland or the Northern Isles to see a one-off disorientated stray. 

I know that novice birders struggle with wildfowl, “brown” ducks in particular which for many people are a bit of a turn off. Along their migration routes and in the winter months ducks are so subject to the constant attention of human beings with guns that their sheer wildness makes them a difficult subject to study at close quarters. So I explored the ducks in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland so as to find a couple of common species to examine, species which upon closer inspection might also reward a yet to be convinced novice birder of the value of learning our beautiful wildfowl. 

I found the Wigeon at Page 51 to be the sort of true representation I was looking for. A mass of Wigeon on the far bank of the water, a multi-coloured mowing machine moving across the sward, and in the middle distance the orange foreheads of the males with their entourage of “nondescript” females. It’s the classic advice for an experienced, intermediate or novice birder in how to identify a brown duck - take note of the male it accompanies. One thing missing from this scene are the pure and haunting whistles of Wigeon, unmistakeable sounds which alert birders to the presence of the species. Now there would be a truly interactive innovation for a future Crossley or any other guide - press a button on the page to hear the species call or sing. 

 Wigeon from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

I next studied Teal at page 53, to the uninitiated another “brown job.” There they are at my local patch of Rawcliffe Moss, the farm buildings behind, the flooded field, the tight flock of tiny, wader-like duck already twisting and turning off at my approach. Equally, the scene is almost any winter wetland or flooded salt marsh anywhere in the UK or Ireland not just here in the North West. It’s another truthful and winning scene and one guaranteed to make someone study and absorb the finer detail.

Teal from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

 

The multi-image scenes of wildfowl in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland are especially praiseworthy and I would pick out the pages for Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Scaup, Eider, Long-tailed Duck and Goldeneye for special mention. 

There really are very many exceptional pages in this whole book, especially so in the pages of wildfowl and waders discussed here. While it would be easy to nit-pick through a few pages of the passerines I have nothing but overall praise for the book and its authors Richard Crossley & Dominic Couzens and the way that their product does exactly what it says on the packaging. I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for an introductory guide and learning tool to British and Irish birds, and at £16.95 or less, it’s a steal.

 The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

Read about the rest of the UK and Ireland blog tour  at Princeton's blog tour schedule, but next on the tour is Friday's visit to The Biggest Twitch in North Wales and a look at some of that region's speciality birds as portrayed in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland. 

Finally, I saved the best for last. Publishers Princeton University Press are offering five signed copies of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland in a free to enter draw at the bottom of this page. There's  also a live Internet video chat presentation at Shindig on Thursday 21st November at 19.00-20.00 hours  GMT where all are invited as Richard & Dominic discuss the book and take questions from the audience.

I also have a spare copy of this splendid book for a blog reader to win in a draw in the next week or so, actual day yet to be decided. Keep logging in to Another Bird Blog for details. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

First Frost

Our first local frost of autumn gave a wonderful sunny start to the day. It was a welcome change from the rain and wind of late and I set off for a look around Pilling way. I didn’t get too far because there was plenty of action with lots of birds to see. But it’s a short post only as I had three hours only before baby minding and school collection duties. 

The stubble fields at Fluke Hall Lane are both well rutted and now very flooded, the land a seemingly irresistible location for a good variety of waders, wildfowl, crows and larks. It’s mainly Lapwings, over 340+ this morning and then a mix of c40 Black-tailed Godwits, 65 Redshank, 40+ Dunlin, 35+ Snipe, 18 Golden Plover, 45+ Skylarks and 180+ Jackdaws. The Snipe are impossible to see until something disturbs the Lapwings, the species which starts every panicked eruption of almost everything on the fields. The Snipe join in, circle around and then split off into small groups or singles which fly to the outer marsh or drop into the furrows again with little chance of seeing one on the deck. 

Snipe

 Lapwing

Dunlin

A Peregrine instigated one of the dreads this morning as it flew at a good height parallel to the sea wall heading towards Pilling Water. Other alarms to scatter the birds came simply from people walking along the road but a good 100 yards from where the birds feed in the centre of the stubble. 

There seemed to be Meadow Pipits around this morning, a count of 25 being the highest for weeks, likewise the flock on the marsh of 30+ Linnets and at least 2 Greenfinch. Here come those Whooper Swans again and always good for a photo or two, 32 of them this morning, coming and going between the marsh and the bird magnet buried in the stubble. 

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swan

That’s all for now but don’t forget to look in later, especially on Thursday for a chance to win a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland.

Linking today with Stewart's World Bird Wednesday .

Three Hours To Kill?

Following 180 minutes at Pilling this morning my notebook was pretty full but the camera devoid of new pictures. That’s the way it goes sometimes, the birds just don’t cooperate. So sorry folks, it’s my archive pics today to illustrate the morning’s effort. 

Jays are so noisy that one can’t but help knowing they are around although getting a clear view of this shy species can be a lot harder. From the series of raucous calls I could tell that more than one was somewhere in the Lane Ends plantation, a glimpse of a white rump the best I could manage on this occasion. 

Eurasian Jay

After complaining recently about the shortage of both Kestrels and Sparrowhawks, today I saw both species, a male Sparrowhawk cruising the marsh before circling above the trees, then within minutes, a juvenile Kestrel hunting from the fence posts. There was also a Buzzard hiding somewhere in the trees and calling to be fed by nowhere-to-be-seen parents. 

Common Kestrel

The plantation and pools are now very overgrown, desperate for sympathetic management to improve the area for visitors who might want to watch birds, study insects or botanise rather than walk a dog or join in the after-hours activities. Trying to speak to or make contact with anyone in the Environment Agency is like Waiting for Godot, and I’m not expecting a reply to emails of several months ago or for anyone to actually lift a ringing telephone. 

I walked to Fluke and back via Pilling Water. There was a Corn Bunting in song from the roadside wires next to HiFly wheat fields, the second time in a week at the same spot so I guess there’s some sort of late breeding taking place. It’s a pretty good record for the species, especially in the light of my numerous sightings from the same area during May and June.  The Corn Bunting's bright pink legs are a noteworthy characteristic, trailing as they do like the wires of a parachute before the bird lands on fluttering wings at its singing perch or feeding site.

 

Corn Bunting

There were also 3 Skylark here, a single and a pair busily flying to and from the thick maize crop and carrying small items of food, another late breeding success. A seven-whistling Whimbrel flew over, disturbed off the sands beyond by a biker touring the incoming tide. Two Grey Herons came off the marsh and flew inland as I settled down at Pilling Water to watch the tide approach. 

Masses of Curlew formed the bulk of the distant birds with over 650 birds my count. Also, 380 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 6 Snipe, 11 Ringed Plover, 14 Dunlin, 4 Little Egret, 11 Shelduck and 19 Teal. 

A number of the Dunlin and Ringed Plover flew straight over my head, high and heading south, not for hanging about here at Pilling. 

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

There are lots of thistles along the sea wall but a dire shortage of Goldfinches and Linnets to take advantage, my count of three hours being 2 Linnet and 6 Goldfinch, a pitiful number for August when there should be swarms of both. Maybe they are all taking advantage of the continued warm weather to raise another family - let’s hope so. 

Log in soon for more birding adventures with Another Bird Blog.

Sunny Saturday

Now that August is here both waders and terns are migrating through with increasing momentum so with a tide due 10am I decided to give sunny and scenic Knott End a bash this morning. This west coast isn't the best for sunrises, but sunsets can be spectacular and the photographic light often inviting. 

Tide at Knott End

Sunset - Knott End looking to Fleetwood

Long before the tide turns to head upstream and fill the channel between Knott End and Fleetwood there are thousands of birds picking through the distant mussel beds. Large gulls and Oystercatchers form the myriad bulk with a mix of smaller waders and Black-headed Gulls making up the remainder. As the incoming water buries the muddy, rocky and sand strewn islands the birds fly off in various directions to look for food elsewhere or perhaps to roost. 

Natural England - “Mussel beds have a particularly important role where they occur on soft seabeds, as they provide a hard surface in otherwise muddy or sandy areas. This attracts and supports a greater range of marine life than would otherwise be found there. 133 different animals and plants have been recorded in blue mussel beds, including seaweeds, anemones, barnacles, sea snails, crabs, starfish and worms.” 

Post-breeding time means there are huge numbers of our common and largely ignored Herring Gulls together with much smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Lumped as one this morning gave a count in excess of 1000, how's that for a non committal estimate? 

Herring Gull

The Oystercatcher count reached 400+, most heading upstream and 180 or more staying on the shore. At least 140 Dunlin also travelled upstream towards the Barnaby's Sands roost, as did 25+ Redshank, 45 Curlew, 7 Ringed Plover,1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 1 Whimbrel. The Whimbrel had hung around for a while searching through the near shore before a procession of early morning Knott End sun-seekers sent it too scurrying upstream. The Turnstones are back, the most approachable of our wader set, and I almost missed the four of them as they fed quietly at the busy jetty when most everything else was gone. 

Whimbrel

Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Turnstone

A small roost of terns pre-tide with 15 Sandwich Terns and 3 Common Tern. Other bits and pieces – 1 Eider, 2 Pied Wagtail, 8 Linnet, 1 Swift, 14 Swallow 

Talking of sun here's a picture of the grand-kids' giant Sunflower in the back garden and grown from the debris of a cleaned out bird feeder. The flower now measures some 8½ inches diameter. 

Giant Sunflower

Linking today to Camera Critters and  Anni's Blog.

Thursday's Tour

Conder Green enjoyed a purple patch of late with a superb selection of species which has kept birders entertained and then coming back for more. But a run of high tides and nights of rain has dramatically filled the pool to such a degree that this morning I struggled to see much bird life on or around its breezy and choppy waters; after all, “waders” pass their days picking through muddy margins or sandy shores, herons and egrets prefer to fish the unmoving shallows, and dabbling ducks favour a dip not a dive. 

The regulars were there, 4 Common Sandpipers, 1 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank and 4 Dunlin in the creek with tiny numbers of Oystercatcher and Lapwing on the pool, plus an overflying Black-tailed Godwit which landed in the field beyond where Curlews and Lapwings fed. Two Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron stayed mostly out of sight, not so the 2 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe and single Goldeneye which although present, kept a distance away. 

Many Swifts appear to have left these shores in recent days, numbers this morning counted on one hand. As I watched Swallows and House Martins feeding across the marsh I saw some break off to pursue a Sparrowhawk that was cruising the hedgerow alongside the railway bridge; the hawk eventually disappeared out of sight into the trees above the car park. It's many weeks since spotting a Sparrowhawk and while they do go more than a little secretive in June and July, I get the feeling that Sparrowhawk numbers are low at present as they are absent from regular spots I know of. 

Sparrowhawk

Three noisy Ravens flew over, the trio heading together towards Glasson and beyond. Passerines consisted of 3 Tree Sparrow, 3 Pied Wagtail, 6 Greenfinch, 2 Linnet, 2 Whitethroat and a still singing Reed Bunting. 

A look at calmer Glasson revealed 1 Great Crested Grebe, 12 Tufted Duck, 15+ Swallows and 2 Swift. 

Tufted Duck

Barn Swallow

From the bowling green but looking directly into the sun and the backlit waders there were lots feeding at the incoming tide, approximately 450 Dunlin, 200 Redshank, 80 Lapwings and 2 Grey heron; later I would see most if not all of the Dunlin arrive at Cockersands after the tide filled the Conder sandbanks and stopped the waders from feeding. 

The full tide at Cockersands held the aforesaid Dunlin, 42 Eider, 3 Whimbrel, 25 Curlew, 2 Ringed Plover, 120 Oystercatcher and 7 Grey Heron. 

Dunlin

Whimbrel

It was good to see a flock of about 30 Linnets here feeding in the depths of the marsh grass where the seeds fall to the sand below. Come November the Linnets will be gone, replaced by their northern cousin the Twite. 

Just along the road I found a family party of 5 Whitethroats, a species which appears to have experienced a good breeding season. After a cold spring the season has been an average one for Tree Sparrows, so after their slow start it was good to find a flock of 50+ flitting between a ready to harvest field and the roadside hawthorns. 

Tree Sparrow

“Click the pics” for a closer view and then log in to Another Bird Blog soon to see what Friday brings.

Seeking To Find

After a couple of days with no birding I returned to the fray this morning. But if the birding is a little quiet the current sunny days do at least give a few photo opportunities when birds cooperate. 

When I arrived at Conder a juvenile Grey Heron stood waiting for a chance to go fishing. After what seemed ages it finally took the plunge and entered the water as I took several pictures, hoping to get one of the bird grabbing a meal. The heron tried really hard to catch breakfast but I didn't see it take anything from the water; when a car and occupants drew noisily up it fled off over to the creek to try its luck there. 

Grey Heron

 

Grey Heron

 Grey Heron

Grey Heron

The Oystercatchers are as aggressive as ever now, even though their chicks are very big, and I watched the adults chasing off a Black-tailed Godwit, a Redshank and then a Lapwing. 

Lapwing

Things were much the same on the pool and the creek with 7 Dunlin, 6 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Black-tailed Godwits the “cream” of the autumn waders while 70+ Redshank, 21 Lapwing and 4 Curlew made up the numbers. The waders and wildfowl are somewhat repetitive at the moment with just small variations on a daily basis. But hey, no one ever found a bird by staying at home and I need to see birds most days, even though I saw plenty on the other 364 days. After all, “finding comes from seeking”. 

Dunlin

Teal increased to 4 today, plus an overflying drake Goosander, the all alone Goldeneye still in-situ, plus 2 Tufted Duck and a single Little Grebe. 

Tufted Duck

“Small” and “other” stuff today – 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting, 6 Linnet, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Pied Wagtail, 5 Greenfinch. 

Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog - who knows what you might find soon.

Linking this weekend to Camera Critters and Anni's Birding Blog .

A Silhouette Day

Another one of those grey, uninviting mornings which promised no camera time, but at least today it wasn’t raining so instead of staying home thinking about birding I set out to do a little. Pilling was the venue again where a high tide was due at 11am. 

Two raptors greeted me, first a rather small, grey Peregrine flying west towards Fluke Hall, which I lost when it dived into the Broadfleet gully and panicked thousands of birds into flight. I’d walked up towards Pilling Water when a Merlin flew towards the sea wall, this time in the direction of Lane Ends itself, where it dipped over the sea wall and then over the adjacent fields. The Merlin was flying with that clipped, almost “bouncy” action they sometimes show, reminiscent of a Mistle Thrush. Such a flight pattern may imitate the flight of their prey, disguise their falcon outline and so allow a closer approach: it has been called “masked hunting”. Merlins also indulge in persistent chasing of their prey where they seek to exhaust the target, combining the chase with spectacular vertical stoops where they either grab or knock down the victim. Who’d be a tiny bird in Merlin territory? 

Merlin 

There were lots of Dunlin this morning, at least 1500, and a wader which is a favoured target and a handy sized meal for a Merlin. Other waders - 40+ Snipe, 270 Redshank, 450 Lapwing, 70+ Curlew. 

Dunlin

Two other raptors this morning, a Kestrel and a Buzzard. The Buzzard was hanging about at the wildfowler’s pools and stubble where there are still lots of Red-legged Partridge for nabbing, hence the regular sighting of a Peregrine over the site too. When sportsmen started to gather for the Wednesday afternoon shoot the Buzzard headed off inland towards the mosslands. On the pools themselves, 50+ Teal, some of the 700+ out on the marsh, together with 250 Wigeon and 300+ Shelduck. Two Grey Herons today, outnumber as ever by the 11 Little Egrets on show. 

The only chance for a photograph came when I settled down to watch about 15 Meadow Pipits feeding in the shore rockery, one or two coming within camera a range but at ISO800. As the tide came in the Meadow Pipits disappeared over the wall to be replaced by 2 Rock Pipits appearing on the high tide with 18 Linnets and 15 Skylark flying in too. 

Meadow Pipit

Rock Pipit

Ravens are a bit of a mystery bird out here, appearing and disappearing without any apparent pattern, just like today when four appeared over the marsh from the Cockerham direction and then proceeded to fly noisily south west. There’s a rubbish and distant photo, not taken in black and white, just “silhouette” mode on a grey day, but Ravens are very noisy birds which are impossible to miss. Click on the xeno-canto button to hear the Ravens.

Raven

Let's hope for a more colourful day tomorrow on Another Bird Blog. Stay tuned just in case.

Another Day, Another Buzzard

I spent the breezy morning at Knott End looking along the tideline for waders and checking the golf course for passerines before the lure of Pilling Water and Lane Ends drew me back yet again. 

Although due high tide the actual level would be quite low with the distant channel of the incoming water leaving a huge expanse of sand for birds to spread out from Knott End then across to Fleetwood on the other side of the river, and north towards far-off Heysham. A good selection and decent count of birds with 400+ Oystercatcher, 220 Redshank, 60 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Turnstone, 8 Dunlin, 6 Cormorant, 7 Eider and a single Sandwich Tern. I’ve been carrying around a little compact camera rather than constantly swapping lenses on the SLR between 35-50mm for landscape and 400mm for birds. The Panasonic is OK but I hate not having a viewfinder and it’s hard to beat the quality of SLR. The landscape below is compact camera, the birds SLR, the Redshank a distant dot towards the river, the Oystercatcher and Turnstone archives from a sunnier day and the Dunlin from earlier in the week here at Knott End. 

Redshank

Oystercatcher

Dunlin

Turnstone

From Knott End across to Fleetwood

Alongside the golf course produced a Chiffchaff in the conifers, a Pied Wagtail on the fairway of the first hole and then 15 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet and 2 Greenfinch in the bushes of the fairway rough. A small movement of Swallows, 15 + arriving from the North West and then leaving south. I was back at the car when the ever present gulls alerted me to a raptor flying in from a north westerly direction, and when I looked up it turned out to be a Buzzard. It continued up river and over the golf course, gathering more gulls as it went. Buzzards aren’t common at coastal Knott End but much more easily seen a few miles upriver at Out Rawcliffe, as they are all over the Fylde and North West England now. The camera was set for waders, not overhead raptors but I clicked away for a not very good record shot as the Buzzard flew over, but there’s a better shot from Pilling on Thursday last. 

Buzzard

Buzzard

The books tell us that UK Buzzards are essentially sedentary with adults remaining in the home range and youngsters of the year dispersing from their natal areas. Here in the Fylde and with the increase in the local Buzzard population it has become obvious in recent years that some sort of autumn dispersal/migration takes place with a corresponding return/increase in numbers during the spring. The movement is nothing like the migrations that occur in other, colder parts of the Buzzard’s range with for instance a passage of over 20,000 individuals in a typical Falsterbo, Sweden autumn. 

  

By the way, and for some US readers for whom my use of the word “buzzard” causes some difficulty; in the US “buzzard” can mean a vulture, particularly the American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture, or as a general term for vultures or for hawks of the buzzard Buteo family which occur in the US e.g. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) or Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). In the UK our Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is known as “Buzzard” with the word “Common” usually omitted. If in doubt, consider the Latin name of the species and/or read “buzzards” on Wiki. This birding stuff is as technical or as unscientific as you want it to be, but the main thing is to enjoy it. 

A useful digression I hope. Pilling proved very quiet, the most notable thing being the continuing Swallow movement with a number of small groups totalling approximately 60 birds heading along the sea wall into now gusty south easterly. Otherwise, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Grey Heron, 6 Goldfinch and 4 Linnet. Still no Wheatears. 

More unscientific stuff and pictures on Another Bird Blog soon.