Owl Time

When I spoke to Andy a day or two ago he told me of two nests in man-made nest boxes, a Barn Owl and a Kestrel. The Barn Owls had produced eight eggs and also a pair of Kestrel sitting on five eggs. Both boxes have remote cameras so as to monitor the timing and extent of any breeding attempts and to minimise visits. 

We can inspect the Kestrels under a general Ringing Licence, but for visits to Barn Owls we must have our Schedule One Licenses to hand, permits which also cover other species in our geographical area - Cetti’s Warbler, Little Ringed Plover, Kingfisher and Avocet. 

For the interest of readers I reproduce here just a few of the many conditions attached to having a permit to disturb nesting birds. 

• "While engaged in work permitted by this Permit the Permit holder shall carry a copy of the Permit and produce it to any Police Officer or any Country Agency officer on demand 

• Permit holders are expected to exercise the utmost care to avoid undue disturbance to wild birds, and in particular to avoid any action which might endanger breeding success. Failure to do so may result in revocation of the Permit. 

• Any wild bird taken under this Permit shall be liberated at the site of capture immediately after examination and/or ringing or marking 

• The Permit holder should contact the landowner prior to exercising this licence in order to avoid duplication and minimise disturbance to Schedule 1 birds. 

• Eggs or chicks may be handled (by ringers) or moved (by nest recorders) for brief nest examination purposes only. Any chicks or eggs must be returned to the nest immediately after examination unless the eggs are addled or from nests which are known to have been deserted." 

I was on the way to Cockerham this morning when I stopped on Stalmine Moss to watch another Barn Owl. This one clearly had young to feed as it was hunting at 0600 and still at it when I returned the same way.

Barn Owl 

At one point the owl dived into the grass and caught something very small, so tiny it was probably not even a mammal, and then flew immediately into a nearby building. Ten minutes later it was back and allowed some fair distance photography. Clearly, this is an owl on a mission to feed both youngsters and a partner. 

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

Spending time with the Barn Owl rather delayed my visit to Conder Green where the water levels are very low following three weeks with almost zero rain. 

Conder Green 

Tufted Ducks 

There was little to add to the visit of Friday last but some joy in discovering four singing Reed Buntings, a shy bird that is easily missed. And at last a number of Swifts fed over the hawthorn hedgerows, twenty or more in total. 

The small nesting platform is rather crowded with single pairs of Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher and Common Tern vying for space and where one or more may lose out come hatching time. 

Maybe the Common Tern I saw circling the basin at Glasson Dock is one of the returning pair that laid eggs here in 2018 but failed to progress. Worth keeping an eye open. 

Glasson,  Near Lancaster City

 Common Tern

 More news, views and photos soon.

Linking today to https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com.

Sunny Survey

It was the Cockerham round today - Conder Green, Glasson and Cockersands.

Common Sandpipers continue to pass through with 11 today, joined in the creek by 25+ Redshanks, 1 Curlew and a summer plumaged Spotted Redshank.

Spotted Redshank - Lorenzo L M. / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenzo-l-m/3646591077/ 

At this time of year adults spot-reds look totally different from their autumn and winter cold-grey plumage. Although July seems early for returning migrants from relatively cold northern climes, female Spotted Redshanks leave breeding sites first. Exhausted from producing eggs, it is an advantage for them to arrive at staging areas early and have first pick of the food. Males usually leave next, and juveniles later. These waves are not due to the lack of food on the northern summer grounds, but because there is more food at the staging area for those that arrive first. Female Spotted Redshanks sometimes leave up to a week before eggs hatch, leaving males to look after the youngsters, a breeding and survival strategy adopted by other wader species.

It is a number of years since a mid June outing to the then undisturbed River Ribble found 14 of the black beauties on a tidal pool that was also the site of a Ruff leck. Oh Happy Days.

I counted just 10 Lapwings this morning plus the usual number of Oystercatchers, a pair with 2 well grown chicks and other adults still behaving territorially. And here's proof if any were needed that Oystercatchers eat more than oysters.

Oystercatcher

The juvenile male Goldeneye is still around but a long lonely wait for more to join him in October with for now just 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon and a few Shelduck for company.

Goldeneye

Small birds and others – 1 Reed Bunting, 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Whitethroat, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Linnet, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, and it's hard to get any passerines into double figures at the moment. Two Stock Dove, 30 Swift and 8 Sand Martin and 1 Grey Heron.

Two Sedge Warblers in song this morning, one at the lay-by the other towards the Stork, the pub that to be strictly accurate should be renamed “The Grey Heron”. The pub dates from 1660 when any large wading bird with long legs, a long bill and long neck would be referred to as a stork.

It was a lovely sunny morning for a look at Glasson Dock and a walk along the canal towpath. I found a single Great Crested Grebe, 6 Goldfinch, 2 Whitethroat, a Chiffchaff in song and 2 Willow Warblers feeding in a sycamore tree although not much else unless you count a Song Thrush, and I guess we really should.

Glasson Canal

Mallard

Cockersands was quiet too with 2 Grey Plover, 6 Curlew, 1 Reed Bunting and 2 Grey Heron moved on by the incoming tide.

Looks like a sunny weekend ahead - hooray.

Linking this post to Camera Critters and id-rather-b-birdin .

Good weather decision

It was one of those indecisive evenings, birding or ringing, and after watching Look North West, Granada and the national weather forecasts, not to mention trawling all my Internet weather “favourites”, I wasn’t really sure. As first light beckoned I opened the back door to hear the trees rustle, looking up to see bats whizzing around next door’s sycamore. At least it was warm but too windy for ringing.

A slow drive north then in case of Over Wyre Barn Owls on the prowl but saw I none. Turning to Conder Pool I remembered the height of the tides this week in seeing last night’s tidal debris on the road making a mental note not to stay loo long or leave my car at the usual spots for the tide to claim. Drat, the overnight tide had also filled the pool to cover the muddy corner where I hoped to catch up on yesterday’s Wood Sandpiper. A lone Oystercatcher roosted in the shallows with a party of Lapwings on the little island.



The creek held the usual assortment of Redshank and Curlew with a couple of Dunlin, two Spotted Redshank and a single Greenshank after the numbers of a few days ago. I turned my attention back to the pool where two Ruff reappeared silently but the higher water kept them a distance from the screen. The Kingfisher appeared, as it always does, so I spent the next ten minutes trying to get a few shots as I waited in vain for the sun to appear from dark clouds. Eventually it flew along the pool out of sight to allow me to watch the Ruff and a Common Sandpiper again.



A quick look at The Victoria gave me about 275 Dunlin and over a thousand noisy Lapwings before a Peregrine silenced them as they scattered high over the Lune.



Of course I called in at Lane Ends. The “Creatures of the Night” had been and gone, leaving their usual pile of rubbish for other to clear up, left over fire, beer cans, cigarette packets and goodness knows what else they need to make their lives complete.



But what a sorry mess is Lane Ends Amenity Area, the west pool “set aside for nature”, more like abandoned to let nature take over, with the rest of the place devoted to satisfying the usual public demands. There has been no thought to what might be achieved with a little money and expertise, and apart from picking up a little rubbish, Wyre Borough Council and Environment Agency do little to encourage wildlife. Sad to think that not so many years ago this place held half a dozen pairs each of Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler and could do so again with proper management. Instead they have managed to rip out the middle story of vegetation including a developing area where Linnets roosted.

Near Pilling Water I counted 16 alba wagtails out on the marsh but as I also counted my first two Meadow Pipits of the autumn “tseeping” overhead, I am inclined to think the albas may have been White Wagtails. The few Swallows around found a little male Sparrowhawk following the contours of the sea wall before it saw me, to change direction and let me watch it disappear into HiFly’s fields. Not two minutes later a different but bigger Sparrowhawk quartered over the inland fields towards the dyke, for all the world like a tiny harrier until it too disappeared into HiFly territory. The Little Egret was still around, this time with a Grey Heron for not too close company.

Now let me go and watch the cricket and get our hands on some proper ashes.