Standard Autumn Fayre

Surprise surprise. We survived Storm Debi, a “storm” hyped up by the usual suspects quoting 70 mph gusts from well-known exposed sites on cliff tops and unprotected coastal locations. Here in flat windswept Fylde the gusts turned out to be nothing more than the typical weather we experience for days at a time every autumn. Strong winds with bouts of rain, before everything returns to normal a day or two later.  

We know of course why they do it – to crank up climate alarmism for people who have yet to realise that the “climate emergency” is one big scam designed to part them from their money. 

Clearing our garden of neighbours’ sycamore leaves is a yearly event come rain or shine but inventive doom mongers have yet to claim that the late falling leaves of 2023 are due to global warming. 

 

Autumn Leaves

Early this week we pencilled in the only suitable day, of Friday for a ringing session at Oakenclough near Garstang. Will visited a week earlier with moderate success that included the catching of four Common Crossbills, a few Redwings and other bits and pieces. 

Yours truly, Will and Andy met up at 0730 to rain but forecasts of brightening skies and afternoon sun; before planning a ringing session we make it a rule to check at least two weather forecasts as they hardly ever agree. About an hour later the rain relented and we set to the job in hand and landed a good variety of species, 18 birds before packing in about 1100 when things turned suddenly quiet. 

We caught no more Crossbills, a rarely encountered species that would have enlivened the usual autumn fayre of 4 Blue Tit, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Siskin, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Goldcrest. 

Chaffinch

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Siskin

Siskin

 

Lesser Redpoll

As autumn turns effortlessly to winter, so do the birds, with little in the way of numbers that punctuate September and October ringing sessions. 

Noted today, small numbers of Jackdaws, Woodpigeons and Starlings. Otherwise let’s hope that some of the influx of Waxwings, & Short-eared Owls to Scotland and the east coast of England can find their way westwards. Both species pictured below from previous winters in the Fylde. 

Waxwing

Short-eared Owl

Enjoy your weekend folks. Stay safe, warm and sane then come back again to Another Bird Blog for news, views and photos.

Linking this Saturday to Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Finches On The Move

Monday’s weather didn’t disappoint with a start of zero wind, zero rain, and a hint of a sunny morning to come. I met up with Will at 0715 and we set just a couple of nets, single panels for finches in the seed plot together with a 60 footer alongside a hawthorn hedge. 

We didn’t wait long for the first Linnets to arrive from the north and east, following their trajectory that is inevitably the same north to south direction as the set-aside seed plot. The route became busy as many small groups and larger flocks passed through and eventually totalled over 450 finches when we packed in about 1030. 

Not all were Linnets in the catch of 30 birds and the good mix of species - 16 Linnet, 5 Greenfinch, 2 Robin, 1 Great Tit, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Wren, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Redwing. 

The percentage of Scottish type Linnets is increasing at each visit now with our 16 Linnets today almost exclusively of that type. If and when “ferocious” storm Babet hits Scotland it will surely send more Linnets our way. 

Redwing

Greenfinch

 

Reed Bunting

 

Linnet

Chaffinch

 

The concentration of finches brought in a Sparrowhawk on at least two occasions and although we didn’t see a kill, the hawk would not be without a meal for long when so many birds were on the move. A cream top Marsh Harrier flew around hunting for a while where it disturbed Teal and Mallards from their shallows haunt before it too set off to try its luck out on Pilling Marsh. 

Other birds seen in our 3+ hours included 10 Redwing, 8 Skylark, 10 Chaffinch ,2 Cetti’s Warbler, 20+ Reed Bunting, 3 Pied Wagtail, 6 Meadow Pipit, 4 Whooper Swan.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Linnet

Fingers crossed that Storm Babet is another figment of the weathermen’s imagination and that we can enjoy another excellent morning of birding and ringing very soon.

Storm Babet - Wednesday night

 

Stop Press. I studied several weather charts. You heard it here first.

Already I am downgrading Storm  Babet to a bit of a blow. They are trying to frighten us again! 

Linking at the weekend to Eileen's Saturday blog

 

Another Hobby

Tuesday 16 August. The forecast looked spot on for Wednesday morning so on Tuesday afternoon I drove out to Pilling way to check everything was in place for a ringing session the following morning. I saw five Common Snipe on the mucky pools and where wagtails usually outnumber waders but not on this occasion. Perhaps the time of day was not ideal for wagtails but I was confident there would be both Meadow Pipits and wagtails the next morning. 

Snipe

Pied Wagtail

As I drove off site I spotted the slow, lazy flight of a Marsh Harrier, quartering the ground like a Barn Owl, floating above the grassy fields and reedy ditches on long, V-shaped wings, looking and listening for movement below. The harrier was heading my way, but then veered off and I lost it as it headed north west. Not to worry, there was a good chance the same or another one would be around on Wednesday morning. 

Marsh Harrier

 

On Wednesday morning I met Will at 0630 with a net or two and with the walk-in pipit trap. the one we bait with wriggly meal worms.

Meal worms

Although we caught a few Meadow Pipits, the numbers for a larger total just weren’t around and neither were the wagtails of recent days. We caught 8 birds - 4 Meadow Pipit, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Reed Warbler,  1 Sedge Warbler. 

We rarely capture Meadow Pipits a second time because the species is extremely transitory in both spring and autumn. Therefore it was most unusual that this morning one of the pipits in the walk-in trap bore ring number ACV6545, previously caught and ringed here on 9 August. The lure of free meal worms had overcome any fear or memory that the bird may have had of the walk-in trap just a week ago. It seemed that the pipit is no hurry to migrate south. 

Reed Bunting

Reed Warbler

Meadow Pipit

Sedge Warbler

 

Our catch was a poor representation of the numbers of small birds and the species we saw, with highlights of 40 Meadow Pipit, 10 Reed Bunting, 8 Goldfinch, 30 Swallow, 15 Tree Sparrow, 3 Sedge Warbler, 15 Linnet and 8 Goldfinch. 

Better was to come when Will’s superior eyes caught sight of a Hobby heading our way. And then we watched as it changed direction upon spotting us and hurried off in the direction of Fluke Hall and Knott End some miles away.  It quickly became a speck in the hazy sky to the west.

It was not a surprise to watch a far off Marsh Harrier as it hunted out over the salt marsh but it was too distant to age or sex from some 100 yards away. Was it the same one as Tuesday? Unlikely since mid to late August is peak passage time for this now fairly common raptor of Northern England. 

We packed in early as numbers and the clear skies above did little for our catch. But we’ll be back soon so don’t go away good friends because there’s always news, views and photos on Another Bird Blog. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday. 

More Pics

A few weeks ago I related the tale of my new Canon 90D camera which has been itching to get out and earn its keep but remained mostly at home because of the constant poor weather. Rain and poor light are the arch enemies of cameras, especially those with a Sigma 150-600mm lens attached. 

Sunny mornings together with a bird rich location near Pilling tempted me out on a couple of occasions. Almost all of these pictures were shot at ISO 800 or even ISO1000 at f7.1, a setting which seems to be the combination’s sweet spot. The extra megapixels of the 90D give a better result than my old 80D in allowing a bigger crop and an overall finer image. Some of the images are finished via GIMP, others treated to a touch of Microsoft Photos filtering. 

Click the Pics for the best effect.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

The adult male Reed Bunting is undergoing a post breeding moult as can be seen in the median coverts and the upper tail. Meanwhile a second Reed Bunting is a juvenile i.e. born this year. 

A juvenile Sedge Warbler was very obliging for a second or two only before hopping along the fence and diving into the vegetation that meets the fence line. 

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Rain during the last few weeks has meant that wagtails stay around, but still no Grey Wagtail, just Pied Wagtail and Yellow Wagtails, both species 90% juveniles of the year. 

Pied Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

 

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Even when ringing autumn Meadow Pipits it is not too often that an adult bird is encountered in the hand. The birds below are juveniles of the year where it is possible to see the remnants of the nestling yellow gape.  

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

And now for a couple of juvenile Linnets, a species to which our attention will be turned in the coming weeks. The annual seed plot is coming on a treat thanks to the amount of July rain and its (very) intermittent sunny spells. 

Linnet

Linnet

 

Wagtails and pipits are not the only birds to find muddy pools attractive. As anticipated there have been Redshanks and Oystercatchers, and today a Common Sandpiper. 

There are limits to the reach of a digital camera and 600mm lens, more so when reflections from bodies of water seem to interfere with how the camera sensor interprets the scene. Best I could do with the small sandpiper 50 yards away. 

Common Sandpiper

 

Likewise the buck Roe Deer, some 100 yards away but in good sunny light. 

Roe Deer

More news, views and photos soon at Another Bird Blog. 

 

Mips, Wags And Weather

Wednesday evening’s forecast looked hot to go for a Thursday ringing session so I met up with Will and Andy at 0630 out Pilling way, a week after our last get together since when it has barely stopped raining. 

“In July 2023 some parts of England set new rainfall records, with Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside all recording their wettest July since records began some 150 years ago. The succession of low pressure systems resulting in long periods of damp and windy weather in much of the country was in sharp contrast to July 2022, when there were heatwaves and temperatures as high as 40.3C.” 

Weather

Although hopes were high we didn’t do at all well with just 5 birds caught - 4 Reed Warblers and a Sedge Warbler. Always looking for an excuse we blamed the weather for the lack of birds and the rubbish catch.

Plan B came into play and I set off to another site a car ride away and our brilliant idea for Friday morning. Here are heaps of waste material from a bio plant where the rain of recent days has created muddy pools that hold thousands if not millions of tiny flies and other food items of the right size for pipits and wagtails. 

The sun was out, the gate posts and fences proving to be ideal places for the birds to pose. I grabbed a few photos of Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails and Yellow Wagtails and it seemed a shame that there were no Grey Wagtails around for the full set of common wags. 

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

It’s arranged. Friday morning is a meet up with Andy and an attempt to ring a few of the species above. 

Look in again on Friday evening folks to see how we did. 

UPDATE. Friday morning was windy, breezier than the forecasted 6-8mph and although we turned out in hope, the wind proved too troublesome to continue. This frustration was intensified by the sight of 100 + Swallows, 25+ Pied Wagtails, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Reed Buntings, 8 Goldfinch and a Great-spotted Woodpecker, none of which we could catch.

Reed Bunting

 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blog.