Two For One

It’s not often our west coast weather allows two consecutive days of ringing, and hardly ever three days in a week. But this week, and after pushing our luck through marginal forecasts we managed Monday, Thursday and Friday – amazing! 

So after the last post, here’s the summary for Thursday and Friday rolled into one as the mornings were similar or the same in location, weather conditions, species and numbers. 

Our consecutive mornings of Thursday and Friday realised a total of 42 birds - 25 Linnet, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Redwing, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Dunnock, 1 Wren, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Robin, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit. 

We caught our first Redwings of the autumn, together with migratory Song Thrush and Blackbird. 

Song Thrush

Redwing

The Skylark theme of Monday continued throughout the mornings of Thursday and Friday with many more Skylarks passing over in their north to south path to take our count for the three mornings to several hundred individuals. This has been a phenomenal and most unusual occurrence to take place over this essentially narrow corridor of coastal Lancashire known as Fylde. We simply cannot be sure of the Skylarks’ start points, but almost certainly Scotland. 

Although a good number of the Skylarks showed a high level of interest in a recording of their songs and calls we had no luck with tempting any into a whoosh net catching area. Instead of Skylarks we caught a couple of Pied Wagtails with the whoosh net, both birds first year males. 

Pied Wagtail

Thursday and Friday saw another 25 Linnets ringed with zero recaptures from this or any other year. A good number of the latest Linnets are of Scottish origins. We know this because Linnets from Scotland invariably have the very blackish streaked heads not seen in typical cannabina forms of English Linnets. Alongside that we are also seeing slightly longer winged males of 83, 84 and 85mm. 

"Scottish" Linnet

 

The odds and ends of sightings/birds from Thursday or Friday seem insignificant when laid alongside the Skylark migration of the week.  

Thursday - 28 Whooper Swan, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 5 Reed Bunting, 20 Swallow, 80+ Skylarks. 

Friday - 4 Blackbird, Stonechat, Cetti’s Warbler, Swallow, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel, Mistle Thrush, 30+ Long-tailed Tit, 140+ Skylark. 

We rather hoped to catch the Cetti’s Warbler singing from first light and periodically throughout the morning.  However, both male and female Cetti’s are known to sing so we can only assume that Friday’s bird was the same one as caught on Monday last, a female, a few days later and already adept at avoiding bird ringers' mist nets.  

Let’s keep an eye on the weather again! It’s looking like the weekend days will be spent at home with a pencil mark in the diary for Monday/Tuesday. 

Keep in touch my friends. 

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

Monday, Monday

The tail end of Hurricane Ian assured us that Monday would be the only morning for a spot of ringing. I was on the school run so met Andy and Will out Pilling way two hours after their start time of 0630. The weather forecast predicted the wind to steadily increase throughout the morning from a lowly 5 mph right through to 15mph, the latter a speed that would curtail the session early.

The boys had started well with Blackbirds, a rare Song Thrush,  several Linnets and a new bird for the site in the shape of a tiny female Cetti’s Warbler. 

The Cetti’s Warbler is a species still on the increase in this the Fylde plain. Further expansion may be difficult as potential sites get swallowed up by the creation of new build at the expense of green land as homo sapiens escape inland towns and cities for a healthier environment. 

Cetti's Warbler

There was a strange looking male Blackbird that exhibited pale emarginations to much of its underside plumage, the like and extent of which I’d not seen before. 

Blackbird

 

We continued in the same vein, interspersed with sightings of dashing Merlin, Peregrine and Sparrowhawk all looking for a slice of the action. Perhaps they were drawn in by the small flocks of Linnets that arrived, along with a Stonechat, several Meadow Pipits or the steady stream of Skylarks flying from North to South West. 

By 1100 the wind became too strong and we packed in after 29 Birds caught - 1 Goldfinch, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Robin, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 2 Wren, 18 Linnet. 

We noted good numbers of Linnets around, c150-200, and would probably have caught more but for the increasing wind speed and a billowing net. 

There were darker headed and longer winged Linnets, signs of Scottish birds leaving the highlands and islands in readiness to escape the first frosts and to spend winter in the relative warmth of the Irish Sea gulf stream. 

Linnet

 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

There’s more soon on Another Bird Blog with a trip across North America. Don’t miss it. 

 

Plucking Post

There's a Sparrowhawk plucking post in a quiet corner of our garden. I realised that earlier in the week when tidying around the edges of the grass. 

Ten or more days ago I watched a Sparrowhawk carry its snatched-nearby Collared Dove into our garden and follow up on the strike. The hawk landed immediately behind the apple tree yards from a bedroom window, perhaps too close to the house for the hawk’s comfort. The hawk quickly despatched the meal, and once the dove stopped struggling the Sparrowhawk flew low across the garden to a quiet secluded corner where it could dismember its prey. 

 

Sparrowhawk

 

The hawk finished its meal and left the garden after 30 minutes or so. It was when tidying the garden this week that I noticed the left over feathers from the earlier meal contained darker and fresher ones that I recognised as those of a Blackbird. So either the same or a different Sparrowhawk had returned to the exact same spot with its latest meal. 

 

A Quiet Corner

Plucking Post 

A “plucking post” is not necessarily a post, wooden or metal, but more simply a raised piece of ground or a tree stump used regularly by a bird of prey to dismember its prey, removing feathers and other inedible parts before eating it. The sometimes elevated nature of a post allows for a safer landing with the heavy load of the prey, as well as being a good vantage point to scan for other predators while the bird is vulnerable and involved in the relatively complex process of plucking and feeding upon its prey. 

Pellets composed of the indigestible items of the prey are often found on or around plucking posts. Plucking posts surrounded by feathers and fur may indicate that a raptor nesting site is nearby and may be mainly used during the breeding season. 

It has been suggested that faeces marks and plucking may represent a widespread method for communicating current reproduction and territory to other raptors in the same area. I do know that Sparrowhawks regularly nest a quarter of a mile away from home and that the species is frequently seen by me at least. 

I will leave the plucking post undisturbed, continue to watch for Sparrowhawks and whether one finds the quiet little corner of the garden again.  

Sparrowhawk

 

The weather is a little windy today, as it has been most of the week. 

With luck there may be a ringing session soon. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog. 

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

Cool, Calm and Collected

Visits to the Sand Martin colony must coincide with zero or gentle winds from the east or south east. Anything else is a no-no when a billowing mist net becomes visible to keen eyed Sand Martins able to pick out an insect from many yards away and then unerringly catch the insect in flight. Our visits must also be in the cool of early morning and before the sun travels west and makes a mist net visible. 

Our third visit of the season and a perfect forecast made us pencil in Tuesday. I met Andy at 0615 to a temperature of 20°, pretty normal for a real British summer rather than the wet and windy ones of recent years. 

Two earlier visits on 4 June and then 30 June saw 119 Sand Martins caught-103 adults and 16 juveniles of the year. We still await details of one of the adults caught on 4 June that bore “Paris Museum” 8911708. 

Before today

 

It’s never easy to come up with a Sand Martin count when so many are in the air, a good number feeding over the nearby water and others toing and froing at the nest tunnels where poking out heads add to the counting difficulties. Our best guesstimate was 180/200 individuals throughout two hours of watching while working at ringing. 

The count was probably fairly accurate with a catch of 65 Sand Martins being a healthy proportion of those around. The 65 comprised 37 juveniles of the year, 17 new adults and 11 adult recaptures, the eleven recaptures all from 2021 or 2022. 

Today’s figures, especially of juveniles, suggest that the Sand Martins here are having a pretty good year following a couple of poor years caused by wet summers, failed broods and the birds’ early departure for Africa. 

Sand Martin

Field Sheet 19 July

 

Sand Martin - juvenile/first summer

 

As an afterthought, here in the UK the two day heatwave green hysteria doom and gloom is out of control. It has become comical and ridiculous by confusing climate with patterns of meteorological conditions that have been with us for the last 15 billion years. 

In the 14th and 15th centuries ‘unnatural climatic phenomena’ were often blamed on ‘a great conspiracy of witches’. During the Little Ice Age in particular, when crops failed in many parts of Europe, there was a frenzy of witch-hunting. Some in society held witches directly responsible for the high frequency of climatic anomalies. 

This sounds all too familiar, like current attempts to pin the blame for weird weather of any sort on today’s witches - coal-mining, cows or motorists. 

Everyone needs to calm down and cool off. We’re safer from weather than we have ever been. It’s the ever increasing numbers of “experts” we should be afraid of. 

Other birds this morning comprised 1 Swallow, 4 Common Tern, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Pied Wagtail 

I worked hard this morning doing real Citizen Science. Now it’s sunny and warm. I’m off to sit in the garden with an ice-cream and dream of holidays in Hot and Sunny Skiathos - nine weeks and counting. 

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

Minor Movement

Monday at Pilling proved fairly unproductive with yet another catch that barely reached double figures. There was a lack of warblers but a noticeable increase in the flocking behaviour of Linnets. It appears that Linnets have done OK, but for warblers the season has been less productive with post breeding dispersal＊yet to kick-off. 

Eleven birds caught - 4 Linnet, 2 Robin, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 1 Sedge Warbler. 

Adult male Linnets quickly lose their bright red colours and in a few weeks will look completely different after their post-breeding moult. 

Linnet

The two Reed Warblers were recaptures from 19 May 2022 and from August 2021; quite remarkably for mid-July of any years past it meant we had yet to catch a juvenile of the year. 

Reed Warbler

 

＊Post breeding dispersal. When juvenile birds from the last brood have successfully fledged they are no longer dependent upon their parents for feeding and training and it is common for both adults and juveniles to disperse. They are no longer tied down to the nest site when the rearing of young is over. Adults don’t need to defend their territory anymore and begin to wander further afield in search of food while youngsters head off to discover the big wide world away from their birth place. 

The week continued warm but windy from the north and it was Saturday before any morning looked suitable for another go so I met Will at 0615. The forecast of 5mph proved partly accurate as the wind increased to 10 and then 15 mph with full cloud cover by 10 o’clock and no sign of the overhyped "heatwave". 

We hit a morning of minor dispersal with a handful of warblers newly arrived from elsewhere and definitely not from our site. 

Ten birds caught - 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Linnet and 1 Great Tit. Once again, no new Reed Warblers in our catch report although a few adults still sing away. It could be that all the nests of June and July have failed. 

The Lesser Whitethroat was an adult in partial moult, the rest of the warblers being birds of the year. 

Lesser Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler

Goldfinch

 

Chiffchaff

 

Willow Warbler

 

Blackcap

The ever increasing breeze put paid to plans of catching Linnets when the net became visible to the ever wary finches. Throughout the morning we estimated 50/70 Linnets visiting the area but only one caught. 

Other birding entertainment was provided by a pair of juvenile Peregrines twice hunting a pack of Starlings. It was the rush of sound from the wings of tightly packed Starlings that alerted us to the pursuing raptors presence. 

Others - 1 Kestrel, 1 Raven, 4 Swallow, 2 Swift, 2 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron. 

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

Watch And Wait

Things have been quite quiet so I took a sabbatical from blogging but kept up with news and views, good and bad, whether birds or life in general. 

A trip to Cockerham on 22 June saw a meagre catch of just 8 birds that included the first two juvenile Linnets of Project Linnet 2022 but zero juveniles of both Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers - yet another indication of our terribly cold spring, global cooling and the beginning of the next Ice Age. 

Juvenile male Linnet

 

Since then a week or two of weather watching resulted in a decision to visit the Sand Martins at Cockerham, our second go at catching. The first visit of the season took place on 4 June, a trip that  resulted in a successful catch of 42 adults, including "8911708 Museum Paris", a French ringed Sand Martin. We have yet to hear from the French Ringing Scheme and of that bird’s original capture. 

Today, Thursday and the last day of June I met up with Andy, Will and Bryan at the appointed 0630 to zero wind at the quarry face where the Sand Martins have their hard–won burrows. 

It appeared that numbers had increased since our last visit and we estimated 150-200 Sand Martins around the colony. We were kept busy and confirmed the earlier guesstimate with a catch of 80 Sand Martins, 51 new adults, 16 juveniles of the year and 13 recaptures, some from earlier this year, and others from 2021. 

A few of the juveniles were very young and probably left their burrows in the last day or two. To catch so many new adults so soon after our visit of 4 June suggests new adult arrivals, ones  that stayed to breed and swelled numbers in the period between 4 June and 30 June. 

Adult Sand Martin

Ringing Station

 

Juvenile Sand Martin

Juvenile Sand Martin

Other birds seen this morning - 2 Common Tern, 2 Great Created Grebe, 2 Goldfinch, 3 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 3 Pied Wagtail, 45 Mallard 

Back soon after more watching and waiting with more news & views of birds and Lancashire Life. 

Linking this weekend 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 .

Monday/Wednesday

Monday morning I devote to the school run, transporting two of the grandkids to their school a mile or two away while their mum heads off to work and a 0830 start. That’s not to say there’s no birding or ringing for me because I later caught up with Andy at our Pilling ringing site at 0900. 

He’d already had some success by catching a couple of Redwings, a few more Linnets and three “Continental” Blackbirds. 

Almost three-quarters of the Blackbirds breeding in this country may be resident but others winter in France and yet others (particularly from Scotland and northern England) head for Ireland. Their places here are occupied by migrants from Scandinavia, Denmark and Germany. Some of these Blackbirds, more noticeably the males, display “continental” like features of sooty colouration, entirely dark bills, scalloped breast feathers and finely speckled throats. 

Blackbird

 

A southerly breeze and blowy net hindered our Linnet catch but we still gathered another seven individuals and so reached a total of 204 for this autumn. This is a great result so far with more to come and thanks are due to Farmers R and H for their support & encouragement during this and other years.  

There’s no shortage of Greenfinch so far this autumn as testified by our catching of another nine that gave a total of 50 Greenfinch here during September, October and early November. 

After a number of years in the population doldrums there’s little doubt that “green linnets”, Greenfinches, made something of a comeback during 2021. 

Greenfinch

 

Total birds caught on Monday - 7 Linnet, 9 Greenfinch, 3 Blackbird, 2 Redwing, 1 Wren, 1 Blue Tit. 

On Tuesday the rain lasted all day long, not good for the already muddy paths we planned to tread on Wednesday morning. 

Wednesday seemed fine at 0630 until we started to erect the first net and then half way through came a few spots of rain that became even heavier when the heavens opened. There was no option but to carry on and then close the net until the rain stopped after about fifteen minutes. 

The sky remained grey and overcast, the morning quite unlike the one forecast except for a welcome wind of zero.  We caught 14 new birds - 6 Linnet, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Robin, 1 Wren and 1 Blackbird. 

Greenfinch 

Understandably the Linnets seemed reluctant to drop and feed in the saturated seed plot with the maximum seen about 60 birds milling around in contrast to the bigger flocks of late. It was as if by some unknown method of communication the Linnets knew to go elsewhere for a feed.  

Linnet

 

The second year male Blackbird was another “continental” type with an above average wing length of 133mm and a healthy weight of 101gm. 

Blackbird

 

At this time of year it’s not only thrushes that may come from further afield and it was striking this morning how all three Chaffinches were not only adults but also of slightly larger dimensions than typical UK Chaffinches. The males came in at wing lengths of 92mm and 90mm respectively while the female’s wing gave up a whopping measurement of 87mm. 

Chaffinch

In between birding was hindered by the weather but we noted good numbers of Lapwing, Curlew and Starling. 

We watched a Sparrowhawk very nearly take a Linnet in flight, a drama eclipsed by the sight of a Merlin in relentless, twisting, turning and stooping dive bombing pursuit of a single Linnet. After a few close shaves the Linnet finally evaded capture when after a minute or so the Merlin gave up the chase to rest on a fence post. 

Birding doesn't get much better than encounters like those two.

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

 

Blown Away

It seems my precious Linnets are not as popular as the newest guide book about birds. With 286 views and still counting, my review of Europe's Birds on 4 October blew away "Those Linnets Again" of 6 October, the latter post attracting a miserly 44 viewers to Another Bird Blog’s tales. 

As far as I’m concerned the more Linaria cannabina the better so on Friday I made for Cockerham armed with a couple of mist nets, a pair of bins and a high dose of expectation. There was coffee, a slice of malt loaf and a crispy apple for second breakfast. 

It wasn’t so bad despite the cold morning air leading to expired coffee and food long gone by 0930. After near zero wind at the 0700 start, a breeze in the region of 10-12mph took over and began to make the net visible to the Linnets, a species that is wary at the best of times. Here in Fylde of coastal Lancashire near enough every field is as flat as a pancake with no let up from wind coming from any direction. 

At 1030 I packed in after a pretty good catch of 14 new Linnets (11 first years, 3 adults), a Wren and a migrant Chiffchaff. Had the wind not blown me away early there was a chance of 20 or more Linnets. 

Chiffchaff

Wren

Each Linnet takes about 25 seconds to process, a concentrated but brief routine that leaves ample in-between time for looking, listening and watching. 

Birds other than the ones ringed manifested as 200 Linnet, 12 Greenfinch, 4 Pied Wagtail, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Magpie, 2 Robin, 2 Reed Bunting, 4 Skylark, 8 Stock Dove.

Kestrel

 

Regular flights of Pink-footed Geese overhead amounted to over 1000 together with more distant sounds from geese that were not counted. 

Short and sweet I hope. Back soon with more news, views and pictures at Another Bird Blog.

 

Signed Off

That’s it for a while. When I finished at Cockerham today I packed the ringing gear away for a couple of weeks because Sue and I are off to Greece. There will be no ringing in Skiathos but for sure there will be a spot or two of birdwatching. 

Sunday was to be the last go at the Linnets so I started early in the half-light with zero wind and visibility across to the Lake District some 45 miles away. There was lots of noise when about 300/400 Pink-footed Geese lifted off the salt marsh and flew just half a mile away to land on farmland. We set our year calendars by the arrival of the Pink-footed Geese, always within a day or two of mid September. 

The “pinks” probably arrived from Iceland during the clear night after their 800 mile journey and then roosted out on Pilling Sands until breakfast time. I heard them later in the morning from a distance away so they found a spot safe from the guns for now until the shooters realise their wintering “sport” is back. 

Pink-footed Geese

 

I caught a couple of Linnets early doors but it soon became obvious that the numbers of up to 200 individuals didn’t equate to those of two days ago when the count was closer to 250 or maybe 300. 

In fact I finished today with seven new Linnets plus a single Robin. That makes 74 new Linnets (zero recaptures) caught here in this latter part of summer entering autumn, and 66 of those were juveniles/birds of the year. Such a high percentage of juveniles points to a highly productive year for this, a Red Listed species. 

I’m also sure that a number of those 74 Linnets have arrived from further afield, if not from Iceland, then certainly Scotland. 

Robin

Linnet

Birding was pretty quiet too although there was the now regular Sparrowhawk targeting Linnets. Flyovers came from a single Black-tailed Godwit and two Golden Plover. Also 14 Lapwing, 8 Curlew, 4 Swallow, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel and 1 Grey Heron. 

The next post from Another Bird blog will be from Greece. Watch me fly!! 

Landing - Skiathos

Skiathos

No promises for bird pictures amongst the sunny Greek landscapes but I will try.