A Kingfisher Plus

Just a few days after returning from two weeks in sun-kissed Skiathos I had messages from Andy and Will. Unlike my sunshiny days of Greece they had struggled with gloomy, rainy Lancashire and managed only one or two ringing sessions. 

On Saturday morning we met up out Pilling way to a bright start and 5mph breeze and set the usual nets plus one. The Plus One was to be important. 

The morning began slowly and in a rather unexceptional way with half a dozen Long - tailed Tits and singles of the Blue and Great variety. “Things could only improve” we thought in unison. And they did with a final catch of 32 ringed and a couple or more superb sightings. 

Ringed - 10 Linnet, 5 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 7 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, 2 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Kingfisher. 

We quickly realised that a number of the Linnets coming from the seed plot had characteristics of the Scottish race of Linnet. 

We have noted in past years that movements of Scottish birds beginning in September include slightly darker plumaged birds and also marginally longer winged individuals, often both characteristics in the same bird. The dark features of Scottish Linnets are very noticeable on the crown, around the ear coverts and on the back, especially so when when compared side to side with the “average” Lancashire individuals we see in the summer months. 

" English" Linnet

"Scottish" Linnet

A couple of years ago and after discussion with experienced ringers from North of The Border we concluded that there is no Scottish sub-species but that the marked plumage and size variation in Linnets during our Lancashire winters is one of a gradual north to south clinal variation  between two populations of Linnets. 

Our 19 Goldfinch/Linnet/Greenfinch catch came mostly from the seed plot where the concentration of 150 - 200 finches attracted in turn a marauding Hobby and two Sparrowhawks. 

 

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

When I travelled off on holiday Andy and Will were under strict instructions to catch the female Kingfisher I had photographed on 7 September. Of course the usual weather tricks put paid to that and other plans but this fine Saturday morning allowed the first opportunity. 

A Kingfisher obliged in net Plus One but it wasn’t the individual from September 7, a female, but this one a male. It’s the old cautionary story of never assuming that the bird seen one minute is the same individual five minutes later. And we must never assume so where hours, days or weeks are involved. 

Kingfisher - male

Kingfisher - female

Other sighting came today via a Marsh Harrier, Cetti’s Warbler, 15 Little Egret, 20 or more Swallows, 50/60 Meadow Pipits, 25+ Skylarks. 

Back soon with more tales news and photos on Another Bird Blog. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday.

 

Hobby Times Two

The Hobby is still something of a scarcity in this part of coastal Lancashire known as The Fylde. The sighting of a Hobby adds more than a smidgeon of excitement to an often mundane day. Even better when a single sighting of the will o’ the wisp raptor becomes a double whammy. 

The Hobby, a Schedule One Species, breeds inland not too many miles away, just a car ride away, a location already subject to  interest from too many bird listers.  It would be easy to add to the database  of visitors and potentially draw attention to a breeding locality but how much better is it to meet and to enjoy a Hobby or two in the course of a normal day's birding?  

  

My latest encounter of this pacy raptor came about today while Andy and I were out bird ringing over Pilling way, catching the bits and pieces of a normal day.  A quiet spell had us sitting in the sun watching Meadow Pipits surveying a walk-in trap placed about 40 yards away on the farm track. We’d had some success with eight Meadow Pipits caught but frustrated by the sight of two Yellow Wagtails not finding their way into the metal maze while pipits had no such problems.

From the north and east came two Hobby (is that Hobbys or Hobbies?) in close unison, playing in the breeze like the juveniles they were as they drifted over the nearby sea wall and continued their leisurely way west. It was yesterday evening when the farmer Richard told me of his sighting while tending livestock of a “large swift” - “going like the clappers”, one of those sightings that goes into the memory hole to often resurface another day. 

Hobby

 

We caught other species in a single, slightly blowy mist net and ended up with 14 ringed – 8 Meadow Pipit, 3 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

Meadow Pipit

Reed Warbler

Whitethroat

Pied Wagtail

Birds that got away or didn’t come near the nets included 70 or more Swallows,40 Meadow Pipits, 4 Wheatear, 25 Pied Wagtail, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 8 Goldfinch, several Linnets, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper. 

Linnet

Wheatear

Wheatear

Goldfinch

Yellow Wagtail

Swallow

Swallow

Yes, it was a very young Wheatear that has quickly joined in the action, already setting off  on the long journey to Africa. 

While the sun shines I’m making hay too.

Weekend is not looking good but two more days of bright weather means more news, views and photos on Another Bird Blog. Don't miss it folks.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog.

 

After The Thunder

Monday evening saw thunder and lightning rolling around the area followed by late night downpours. But we stuck to the pencilled in plan and hoped everything would be on song for Tuesday 0630, a visit to the Sand Martin colony at Cockerham. 

Tuesday morning began fine, the rain and thunder long gone to leave a cool, almost idyllic morning at the colony. The 0630 start had left the birds a couple of hours or more feeding time before we intruded upon their space. 

Two previous visits of 17 April and 26 May saw a total of 32 captures, 17 females, 14 males and one indeterminate sex of the April visit. This almost mid-June visit would almost certainly result in a catch containing a percentage of youngsters and thus, together with noting brood patch progress, assessing the breeding success of the colony so far. 

The colony is concentrated in one small area of the quarry face and estimated to be 60/70 active holes, not huge by Sand Martin standards but the only Sand Martin colony for a good number of miles around and therefore a valuable and unique addition to local flora and fauna. 

Sand Martin colony

 

We caught 25 on this latest visit, 12 adults (9 male, 3 female), three of them recaptures from earlier in the year; and 13 juveniles of the year. 

Adult Sand Martin

Juvenile (3J) Sand Martin

 

We sex Sand Martins and many other species by examination of their cloacal protuberance in the case of males, and for females by her brood patch (bare belly) progress. Males of some species develop a partial brood patch that is not as extensive as that of a female, a bare region of the undersides that at the peak of incubation lacks any feathering at all. 

Almost all birds incubate their eggs: keeping them warm while the embryo develops into a chick. In order to transfer heat better from their body to the eggs, many birds develop brood patches (a.k.a. incubation patches). The bird loses feathers from the belly, and the bare skin becomes wrinkly and swollen with fluid. Brood patches are a good way to tell what breeding stage a bird is at, since usually the brood patch begins to develop during nest building, becomes very swollen with fluid during incubation, and then declines. 

Brood patch

 

Juvenile Sand Martins that spend a couple of weeks in their nest tunnels often emerge carrying swollen and unsightly blood sucking hippoboscid ticks that have attached their body parts through feathers and into the birds’ skin. The one pictured below had six such ticks on its head.

Sand Martin

We can remove the insect with a careful grasp of the blood-filled tick using ringers' pliers and then a slow and gentle twist & pull action that releases the parasite. 

A bonus came with the catch of a feisty second summer male Kestrel when it tried to snaffle a Sand Martin but didn't count upon a mist net across it's normal approach line. There was some evidence of predation of the colony by the amount and type of feathers on the ground immediately below the nest holes.

Kestrel

Kestrel

All in all a very successful morning. Back soon with more news and views from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday blog.

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.

Martins And More

Sand Martins arrived late from North Africa this year. Cold northerlies and cool temperatures throughout April and May saw few at the Cockerham colony and those that did find their way didn’t seem to hang around long. 

The quarry faces north and the Sand Martin’s tunnels look out in the same direction whereby there is no warming sun until late in the morning. Insects might be in short supply and perhaps this site is not a favoured one when newly arrived birds are free to fly off and find a more suitable location? 

Whatever the reasons, probably a combination of many, the land owner Chris phoned me mid-May to ask “Where are my Sand Martins?” Although I was in Greece at the time I was able to reassure him that the martins would be along soon but warned of a late breeding season but one where a “proper” summer might enable the birds to catch up somewhat. 

During the last week we waited for a suitable morning which finally arrived on Saturday. I met up with Andy and Will at 0630 at the colony where we set a single net to see how the martins were doing. We estimated around 80/100 birds present of which we managed a catch of 41 new ones and 1 recapture from 2021. All of the catch were adult birds, 23 males and 19 females.

The catch included "8911708 Museum Paris", a Sand Martin bearing a French ring. Almost certainly this was ringed in the vast reed-beds of Loire Atlantique. 

Sand Martin

Field Sheet - 4 June 2022

Museum Paris 8911708

We’ll visit again at the month end and see if the Sand Martins caught up with their late start and to estimate how many young they rear. Other birds this morning - Kestrel, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 Oystercatcher. 

Great Crested Grebe

Meanwhile Friend Steve has both Kestrels and Barn Owls at his home. While the Kestrel camera is working fine, the Barn Owl camera is on the blink, which means a trip up the ladder to determine where the owls are at.

Kestrels

Back home there’s a Dunnock in the garden sitting on five eggs that are probably quite close to hatching. 

Dunnock Nest

There's more news, views and photos soon at Another Bird Blog. 

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

 

This And That

Tuesday 19 April - There was no traffic on the road when in the semi darkness a Barn Owl drifted across the road ahead. It’s a regular spot for Barn Owls and best visited when there’s a little more light. I pulled up, clicked a few shots and then motored on to my real destination. 

Barn Owl

When I arrived at the Pilling ringing site, all was quiet and the temperature gauge showed -1.5°C so I elected to employ just two nets, one at a time, so as to warm my hands in between. I reckoned that there would not be too many new birds around following the clear frosty night. 

I was right. Just 4 birds caught, 2 Blackcaps (male and female), 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Willow Warbler. 

Blackcap

Blackcap

Reed Bunting

Willow Warbler

There was little else to see or to hear during the “one bird an hour” session. Although local reports mention other insectivores like Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Grasshopper Warbler , Redstart, Sedge Warbler, Whinchat and Swallows, the numbers are low, and those same species have yet to appear at our ringing site. 

Still, it wasn’t too bad sitting in the now warming sun, coffee and hot-cross bun at hand,  day dreaming of birds yet to come in May, home or away. 

Email news arrived of adult male Lesser Redpoll APN5870 caught at our ringing site Oakenclough, Nr Garstang on 14 April. It was another of the regular south to north movements that we have come to expect with our redpoll captures. 

In this case APN5870 was first ringed 62 days before in a suburban garden in Bracknell, Berkshire on 11 February 2022. This redpoll may have wintered in south-east England however I tend to think that it had more likely wintered across the English Channel and in February it was already migrating north to its eventual destination some way north of Oakenclough. 

Lesser Redpoll - Bracknell to Oakenclough

Perhaps the redpoll was looking to join with the huge numbers of Lesser Redpolls in the birch woods of Scotland. 

While not strictly “garden birds” Lesser Redpolls will visit bird feeders at certain times of year when their natural foods become scarce. The species seems to prefer niger seed (aka thistle or Nyjer), but the seed must be fresh and aromatic when they are more likely to find it and to return day after day. The species’ natural food is the seeds from birch, alder and spruce.

Lesser Redpoll

 

Like most finches, the redpoll family are susceptible to salmonellosis because of their flocking behaviour, therefore garden feeding enthusiasts must have a scrupulous bird feeder cleaning regime. 

On Thursday morning I checked out our Sand Martin colony to see how many had arrived and so as to guess when might be the first visit for ringing purposes. A stiff easterly wind blew dust and sand across the face of the colony as about 15-20 Sand Martins circled around. 

Sand Martin colony

None seemed interested in returning to old excavations but it was rather a cold morning for builders. I pencilled mid-June into the memory hole. 

Nearby were two pairs of Oystercatcher and a pair of Pied Wagtails, both of them probably a little further on with their year than the Sand Martins; especially since the Oystercatcher tried to see me off site in case I found his partner sat on eggs. 

 

Oystercatcher

Back soon with more this and that. Don’t go away. 

 Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas .