Stuck For Time

I am a little stuck for time this weekend. Therefore here’s a selection of recent photos but previously unpublished on the blog. A few from the recent holiday to Skiathos, Greece and some from local visitations to the hills north of Garstang, and an obliging Grasshopper Warbler from Pilling.

The Grasshopper Warbler was seen May 2nd, the day before we set off for Manchester Airport at 2am Wednesday 3rd May. The morning was grey and windswept and not the best for pictures.

Grasshopper Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler

A few birds ringed the same day as the "gropper" - adult Reed Warbler, adult female Chaffinch and a rather nice adult male Reed Bunting. 

Reed Bunting

Reed Warbler

Chaffinch

Here's a few from Skiathos. 3-17 May. 

Before the grey shrike came close the long range views below helped separate out Great Grey Shrike versus Lesser Grey Shrike. A Lesser Grey Shrike shows long wings (long primary extension), relatively short, rounded tail, and stubby-looking bill. It was probably 25 years since my last LGS and 5 years since a GGS. 

Lesser Grey Shrike

 A spectacular European Roller made for a brilliant hour or so until it presumably flew off north, across the Aegean Sea to Europe, perhaps mainland Greece itself. It lived up to the book descriptions of "favouring open country with scattered trees and woodland patches. Mostly seen singly or in small groups perched on prominent spots such as bare snags or wires". 

European Roller

European Roller

Skiathos has both Red-rumped Swallow and Barn Swallow as resident breeding species and also as migrants spring & autumn. Both species seemed to be at similar stages of nest building by collecting mud from tracks and rain filled puddles. 

Red-rumped Swallow

The photo below shows how a Little Owl was able to play hide and seek. If it wasn't in the mood for posing it would walk down under the corrugated roof and disappear from sight until later. 

Visitors to Skiathos always hear the nightly monotone calls of the common Scops Owl even if they hardly ever see one. Meanwhile the less vocal Little Owl, a perhaps unlikely member of the birds of Skiathos, stays out of the limelight.

Little Owl

Bringing everything up to date here are some photos in the hills near Garstang from this week.

Red-legged Partridge

Redshank

Lapwing

Curlew

Back soon with Another Bird Blog. Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot.

Gone Sunning

Henry The Labrador and daughter Joanne are in charge of the house. Alarm at 2 a.m. Next stop Manchester Airport and a 7 a.m. flight. 

Sue and I set off for Skiathos Greece on Wednesday looking for a break from the British weather, the coldest spring for many a year. The average UK temperature in April was just 8 degrees Celsius, or 1.6 degrees colder than the usual monthly average. 

On a sunny Greek day the sight of JSI runway splitting the landscape gladdens the heart and brings a lump to many a Boomerang's throat. We circled Mamma Mia island (Skopelos), passed close by Skiathos Town low enough to look in cafes and tavernas lining the harbour and then hit the football pitch runway to a roar of air brakes. If we overshot we’d land on Xanemos beach on top of a taverna, shaken but not stirred. 

Skiathos, Greece

Less than an hour later we loaded cases and bags into the Jimny and set off to Spiti Oneiro, Dream House, our base for a day or two. Kostas, Efi and baby Vagelis greeted us with cold beers and a welcome hug. Xenia, Greek hospitality at its best. We strolled to Maistrali our favourite taverna, more hugs, an early night, and an unwelcome but fortuitous thunderstorm. Kosta's Breakfast  set us up nicely for the day ahead.

We hit the road north in the Suzuki Jimny, the best car to ever leave Japan. The island has a roundabout under construction this year, an interesting addition to the perils of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, especially since according to local gossip it won't be finished until October. 

Jimny

The storm had done the trick with a huge flock of Bee eaters some 200 birds strong which tucked into the plentiful flying insects. Grey skies and into the light didn't make for the ideal morning but the best was yet to come with shrikes, Black-headed Buntings, Red-rumped Swallows, a European Roller and a simply superb Little  Bittern. Several hundred clicks later the camera batteries needed a top up.

Bee eater

Black-headed Bunting

European Roller

European Roller

Little Bittern

Red-rumped Swallow

Red-backed Shrike

It's not all about birding. Here are few pictures of the other Skiathos until I get around to going through the hundreds of pictures so far. 

Goatherd and goat

From Plakes

Spring Jimny

Black Swan

Boatyard

Towards Skiathos Town

The Bourtzi

Plakes Skiathos

More soon from Skiathos. Now go back and click the pics for a break from the UK weather.

 

A Bit Of News and A Bit Of Cr..

Slowly catching up after the few weeks away I checked out a few nest sites today without too much luck. Two hoped for Little Owl nests produced blanks when a nest box contained old nest material but no Little Owls, and a second natural site in a tree cavity saw an adult fly off ahead of my approach with no eggs or hatched young in sight. I suspect the owls are nesting deep down in the cavity, out of arm or indeed harms reach.

Little Owl

Weeks ago Will had seen Stock Doves at the entrance of an apparently ideal tree hole, a location where several doves were in evidence from early in the new year, but when I checked the tree out today there was no evidence of any nest, Stock Doves or otherwise.

Afterwards I visited my regular Swallow site at Hambleton where I found quite a bit of Swallow activity with 4 on-going nests, two with eggs, a full clutch of 5 and a second one containing one newly laid egg, then 2 further nests at the lining stage.

Swallow
Swallow

Tomorrow I have some Tree Sparrow boxes to check and I hope I am not too late after their seemingly good start to the year.

Missing a few early nests is the price paid for heading off to Menorca in Spring. Of course the best thing about Menorca is that there are seemingly no other birders there, so the task each day becomes to go out and find birds to enjoy at leisure without the crutch of local bird pagers or grapevines.

So to fill today’s blog gaps here are a few common birds found and enjoyed two weeks ago in Menorca; a Red-footed Falcon that I discovered hunting insects amongst a pack of 15/20 Kestrels, followed by a rather distant shot of a shy but stunning Roller I came across at Tirant.

Red-footed Falcon
Kestrel
European Roller

Then there is an Egyptian Vulture near Son Bou, a species which is common and seen daily in Menorca but declining in large parts of its range, often severely. In Europe and most of the Middle East, it is half as plentiful as it was about twenty years ago, and the populations in India and south-western Africa have greatly declined. Now here’s something not commonly known about Egyptian Vultures; they feed on a range of food including mammal faeces especially human where it is commonly left on the ground e.g Africa and India, also insects in dung, carrion as well as vegetable matter and sometimes small live prey. Studies suggest that feeding on mammalian faeces helps in obtaining carotenoid pigments responsible for the bright yellow and orange facial skin.

Egyptian Vulture