A Ruff Old Morning

In the half-light of dawn the Kestrel of Head Dyke Lane was where it often sits atop one of two telegraph poles. Birds are such creatures of habit, just like the birders who watch them. It was too dark for a photo and asking for trouble to stop along this double white-lined stretch of the A558, one of the most dangerous roads in England. 

In the tree tops at Lane Ends I counted 41 Little Egrets waiting for the off, any minute now. And then through Cockerham I spotted a roadside Tawny Owl as it too saw the car’s headlights slowing to make it fly back to the nearby trees. 

A heavy autumn mist lay across Conder Green and the River Lune, so much in fact that there was no point trying to bird watch until the sun lifted a little more. At Glasson Dock the boats were enveloped in misty light as early rising Swallows and Starlings attached themselves to any masts which reached into the emerging sunshine. 

Misty Sunrise - River Lune

 Glasson Dock

A few Swallows were feeding low across the water as frrom the left a Kingfisher appeared amongst them, slowed as if to stop and then vanished once more into the gloom. There was a Common Tern doing a hunting circuit but too fast with no light for a picture, and then a croaking Grey Heron flying out of and back into the mist. 

After a while the mist cleared enough to count the Swallows at about 200, a drop from recent counts, and the Alba wagtails at 20+, also a fall from the highs of late. 

Swallow

The towpath walk gave a couple of Chiffchaffs and a Great-spotted Woodpecker but otherwise quiet. By now folk were stirring, the overnight camping anglers and the first doggy walkers on the path so I high-tailed it to Conder. 

Black-headed Gull

First check was the far creek where a small, juvenile Ruff picked along the sand, my first Ruff of the autumn. The Ruff fed on its own, away from the usual assortment of 2 Greenshank, 7 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Snipe, 2 Common Sandpiper, 6 Curlew, 30+ Lapwing, 20+ Redshank and 20 Teal. 

Ruff - Photo credit: Aaron Maizlish / Foter / (CC BY-NC 2.0) 

On the pool - 3 Common Tern, 7 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Wigeon. And in the vicinity - 50 Goldfinch, 1 Kestrel, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Chiffchaff, with the hedgerow and the old orchard quiet following an overnight clearout of the birds from Friday and Saturday. 

There have been a lot of Chiffchaffs this week with many dozens being reported along the coast, even one migrant juvenile in my own garden on Saturday where they are but occasional visitors. 

Chiffchaff

I called back at Lane Ends, Pilling hoping to see Wheatears but there were none, just 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Buzzard, 25 Goldfinch, 2 Skylarks and lots of folks out for the sun. 

Yes, the pun was highly unoriginal and the morning slightly disappointing but it’s nice to add Ruff to the autumn list of Another Bird Blog. 

Wood You Believe It?

After Wednesday’s Wood Sandpiper today provided another one this time at Conder Green.

By 0600 I was  headed for Conder, Glasson and Cockersands, a trio of pretty good birding sites that are close together and share many species, but I started at Conder Green. A Wood Sandpiper was feeding on one of the islands, perhaps easy to miss at long distance or when it decided to feed around the side of the island hidden from view and where it could remain for many minutes at a time. 

There were the usual and consistent wader counts of 120 Redshank, 35 Lapwing, 2 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 14 Oystercatcher, 4 Snipe and 6 Curlew. And of course, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Teal and 1 Cormorant. 

Common Sandpiper

A Kingfisher showed briefly and didn’t hang around for a decent view or a picture so I made do with a more obliging and dependable Pied Wagtail, one of three around. 

Pied Wagtail

I made for Glasson where the Swallow numbers were much reduced from recent days with just 30+ feeding over the waters today but overhead 9 Swifts. As the Canal Trust workers readied the lock gates a service boat for the rigs waited to exit the basin on its way to the river and then the open sea. Two Grey Wagtails on the far side of the yacht basin again.

Glasson Dock

Glasson Dock

The Tufted Ducks were fairly obliging this morning unlike some days when they just head for the deeps as soon as anyone looks at them. A standard count of 16 containing no males, just females and juveniles. Ducks manage to preen themselves without leaving the water by turning partly over and doing the necessary then repeating the process on the other side. This seems especially true for Tufted Ducks, a species loathe to leave the safety of water. 

Tufted Duck

 Tufted Duck

It was a beautifully quiet morning for a saunter along the canal, an undisturbed walk where I picked up on another 30+ Swallows, 1 Grey Heron, 8 Tree Sparrow, 5 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. I couldn’t help but feel that I missed many more birds skulking silently in the still dense reeds and impenetrable hedgerows. 

Reed Warbler

Speckled Wood

Cockersands was serene in the morning sun, no cars, no dog walkers, no birders, just birds. Along the shore and in the close fields I found 18 Linnet and made a magnificent count of 110 Tree Sparrows and 400+ Starlings. 

Tree Sparrow

Starling

Along the shore and in the shallows I counted 26 Eider, 7 Whimbrel, 300+ Oystercatcher, 22 Redshank, 2 Grey Heron and 1 Little Egret. 

The ancient abbey above Cockersands shore was founded about 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to Leicester Abbey. It later became a Premonstratensian priory and was eventually elevated to abbey status in 1192. 

In the background to the picture below distant Heysham Power Station dates from the mid 1980s.

Cockersands Abbey and Heysham

The tumbledown walls of the abbey provided good feeding and vantage points for 3 Pied Wagtails and 2 Wheatears, sitting stones where I took a rest and tried to imagine how many Wheatears had passed through here in more than 800 Springs and 800 Autumns. 

Wheatear

 

What a splendid morning of being out in the big wide world and enjoying it to the full. Better still, there’s more bird news and views on Another Bird Blog UK very soon.

Linking to Eileens's Saturday Blog and   Weekend Reflections.

Forget The Weekend

If the rain of both Friday and Saturday was bad, Sunday’s was far worse, so no bird watching until Monday. At last today there was a half decent list of birds and so a little news to relate. 

On the way to Glasson Dock there’s a tiny, reed-fringed pool where a Grey Heron often stands. Not today, there was a Red Fox instead, so I whizzed the car round the mini-roundabout hoping to park up for a photo. Just as the car slowed almost to a halt the fox melted into the hedgerow. 

At the dock a Kingfisher flew to the favoured Noggers Ark ropes and then just as quickly disappeared towards the estuary without taking the plunge. 

Kingfisher

A Common Tern was fishing the dock waters but I didn’t see it fly off towards Conder Green with the catch as he usually does. When I looked at Conder Green later there was no sign of the female so I reasoned that the sometimes torrential rain of the weekend caused the nest to fail at almost hatching point. 

Maybe the poor weekend weather cleared out some of the recent Swallows too because I counted less than a hundred today feeding across the water, some of them resting on various parts of various boats. When the Swallows leave the local deck hands will have to get cracking with the old spit 'n' polish to clean up their shiny boat fittings. 

Swallow

Swallow

 

Swallows

 Swallows

There were 2 Grey Wagtails flying around the moored boats looking for insects, so restless that they hardly settled at all and I don’t know where they ended up. On and near the water, 55 Mallards, 15 Tufted Ducks, 22 Coot and 1 Cormorant.

Glasson Dock

At first glance Conder Green at high tide appeared very quiet whereby a certain amount of perseverance and waiting for the tide to drop was required in order to find any birds. I thought there might be 2 Spotted Redshanks but then decided it was just a single bird doing a full circuit of the creeks. It helped that it was an adult bird now in almost complete winter dress with just a hint of the black plumage of the summer months. Below is the best picture I could get of the distant and wary “shank”, however it does show the remnants of black adult plumage. 

Spotted Redshank

There were definitely 3 Greenshanks, all three feeding virtually together, almost running through the shallow water with the distinctive side-to-side sweep-feed action that Greenshanks employ. 

Greenshank

There were 6 Pied Wagtails and single Grey Wagtail here too; at one point the Grey Wagtail walked along the mid-creek bare tree that I’ve seen a Kingfisher use recently. Good numbers of Redshank scattered through the creeks and beyond the bridge with a conservative count of 190 individuals. Just 3 Common Sandpipers, 5 Curlew, 3 Dunlin, 12 Oystercatchers and 40 Lapwing with herons represented by 2 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. 

 Grey Heron

Wildfowl - just 15 Shelduck, 2 Wigeon, 2 Little Grebe. 

It was certainly a weekend to forget and a relief to get outdoors today. New news and more birds quite soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday in Australia.

A Double Day

There wasn’t much time for birding on Monday however I did manage an hour or so at Knott End on either side of the 1 p.m. high tide. 

The highlight was a juvenile Marsh Harrier seen from the promenade about 1230, the harrier quite high above the tideline but heading purposefully west towards Fleetwood. Like many one-off migratory birds here, it probably flew up river towards the extensive marshes either side of the river and where it would avoid the Fleetwood conurbation. Marsh Harriers are very much passage migrants in this part of Lancashire and where they occur in fairly small numbers April/May and then again from July to September/October. 

Marsh Harrier - Photo credit: Ferran Pestaña / Foter / (CC BY-SA 2.0)

A reasonable only count of 110 Oystercatchers, but otherwise just 9 Dunlin, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Redshank completed the waders. Four Sandwich Terns on the beach, with 4 Pied Wagtails at the jetty and 2 Shelduck up river. 

Tuesday dawned bright and clear so I hit the road north to Conder Green and Glasson Dock. 

The numbers of Swallows flitting around the Glasson yachts was down to about 150 today. It could be that the Swallows are actually spending these warm nights roosting amongst the shelter that the boats provide and where the Swallows would be fairly safe.

Glasson Dock

 

 Swallow

When birds settle down to sleep, it’s called “roosting” and the place they choose to sleep at is called a “roost”. The main things birds are looking for at a roost are safety and warmth but also to minimise the danger from predators. Predators could be ground or avian predators like birds of prey, owls, foxes, mink, stoats, rats, cats, dogs or man. Dense cover, foliage, reeds or even farming crops can serve as a secure roost for small birds. Bigger birds have more options and can sleep on the water, on a branch, or even just right on the ground. 

Birds using communal roosts probably benefit by gaining access to food supplies: an individual that found insufficient food one day might, on the next, accompany others leaving the roost, and so be led to a new food source. So a roost is a sort of information and meeting centre, Facebook for birds. 

At one point a number of Swallows took off noisily to see off a Peregrine they’d spotted, the Peregrine coming in from the estuary and flying strongly in non-hunting mode in the general direction of Cockersands. It’s getting to that time of year when a Peregrine becomes an almost guaranteed sighting for a birding session along local coasts. Getting a decent image of one is another matter altogether. 

Peregrine

At Glasson I parked on the “wrong” side of the dock whereby 70 yards away the tiny Kingfisher was fishing the dock waters again from a huge mooring rope. I was just about to drive the wheeled hide around for a closer look when from under his nose an oblivious early morning dog walker sent the Kingfisher packing. 

One Common Tern was also fishing the dock with 2 Grey Herons waiting their turn. There was a Grey Wagtail on the dockside and then along the towpath 2 Pied Wagtails, a Willow Warbler and a Blackcap. No sign of Saturday’s Tawny Owl. 

Grey Heron

Conder Green was quiet again with little new to report except for consistent counts of 135 Redshank, 9 Common Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin, 1 Snipe, 2 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. 

 I checked Bank End, Cockerham to see how many wagtails were about after last Thursday gave a count of 130+ feeding on the marsh. Just 58 Pied Wagtails today, a more than reasonable number. There were a few Lapwings on the marsh, 2 Little Egret and a one legged Curlew struggling to make a living. 

Pied Wagtail

Curlew

The sun hadn’t lasted long. The clouds rolled in, it was backwards to ISO800 and at 10am I headed home, just in time to see a familiar Barn Owl heading for a familiar building near Pilling. 

He’ll be out again soon and so will I.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Fun In The Sun

Best not to waste this run of fine mornings and get out birding because sure as hell we’ll pay for it sooner or later with a spell of rain, we always do. 

So I was up at misty dawn heading north along the A588, slowly but surely so as to give any Barn Owls chance to show. No owls so I made do with a Mistle Thrush, a couple of fence-hopping Skylarks, 3 Pied Wagtails and a singing Corn Bunting. The Corn Bunting was near Gulf Lane again, where it has been singing for a week or ten days from the tops of the tallest roadside bushes and following the pattern of rather mysterious June arrivals by setting up territory near silage crops. There’s another one singing a couple of hundred yards away on the moss and at least two more between Lane Ends and Fluke Hall. 

Cockerham Dawn

Corn Bunting

Skylark

At last at Conder Green, and it’s been a long time coming, a Tufted Duck with youngsters. I watched the female lead 10 ducklings off the near island, the balls of fluff no more than a day old. At Glasson later there was another female with 5 much bigger young. 

Tufted Duck

Otherwise there was little different from recent days, low water levels on the pool and high tide in the creeks making for low counts of 6 Common Sandpiper, 24 Lapwing, 48 Redshank, 1 Greenshank, 5 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. 

At Glasson Dock a Kingfisher was down in the depths of the moorings today, flying to the stones which are sometimes visible when water levels are low. Against the light and the background of water this picture required some “manipulation”. Digital cameras, long lenses and water surfaces don’t make for good images. 

Kingfisher

Noise levels increased as people arrived for work at the busy little working port. Early risers chatted and waited to take their boats from the yacht basin, through the lock gates and out to the River Lune via the working dock. It’s a well-practiced operation as boat owners and Canal & River Trust workers join forces to crank the road bridge closed and then manoeuvre the boats through the lock gates to let the water levels rise and fall as necessary. 

Meanwhile a Blackbird and nesting Swallows looked on, their precarious nests on the underside of the road bridge now inaccessible for an hour or more until normality was resumed. The Kingfisher flew off towards the estuary and I went for a walk along the canal. When I came back the road bridge was restored with the Swallows going about their business as usual, although they have yet to produce any youngsters and have clearly lost a nest or two already. 

 

Glasson Dock

Swallow

Blackbird

There were 2 Common Terns patrolling the yacht basin, their screeching calls drawing attention to their presence. After a while they flew over heading out to the River Lune. Five Pied Wagtails on the car park with 1 Grey Wagtail, 8 Reed Warbler, 3 Reed Bunting, 8 Goldfinch and 6 Linnet along the sunny tow path. 

Common Tern

There's more fun in the sun with more birds to see on Another Bird Blog very soon.

Linking today to Skywatch Friday  and Run A Round Ranch in Texas.

Mainly Kingfisher

I’m hoping that blog readers like to see Common Kingfishers because that’s virtually all the pictures on show today when other birds failed to play ball with the camera. Don't forget to click the pics for a Kingfisher feast.

There are many boats of all shapes and sizes at Glasson Dock, the vessels tied with all manner of ropes and chains. The moorings and the boats make for great perches where a Kingfisher can watch the water just a few or several feet below. From across the water I spotted one doing just that. 

Glasson Dock

A Kingfisher has eyesight with polarising filters which cuts out reflections and enables the bird to see their underwater prey better. When they plunge into the water, the eyes are protected by a membrane, so they actually catch their prey blind, relying on touch to snap their bills shut. A Kingfisher prefers to hunt in shallow water because it gives them better accuracy. 

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Just like the owl family, the kingfisher family of birds bring up the indigestible parts of their food as pellets. In the case of kingfishers they regurgitate tiny pellets of indigestible fish bones. The pictures below show today's Kingfisher doing that. 

 Kingfisher

 Kingfisher

Kingfisher

I walked a good way along the towpath towards Conder and then back to Glasson with reward in the shape of an unexpected Nuthatch, the bird calling loudly from the tiny wood alongside the path.

Nuthatches have been somewaht scarce in recent years, although they may still be a mile up the road at Thurham. It's  a Nuthatch haunt of many years standing but not a particularly good summer birding spot. The Nuthatch below is from 2011.

Nuthatch

Otherwise, a good count of 12+ Reed Warblers, made up of three singers and other birds scuttling through the waterside vegetation to feed or be fed. Also, 2 Chiffchaff in song, 4 Tree Sparrow, 3 Reed Bunting and 3 Whitethroat. 

A good number of Moorhens use the thick waterside vegetation, some feeding their likely second broods. 

Lancaster Canal - Glasson

Moorhen

Two whistle stops at Conder Green revealed 50+ Swift, 120 Redshank, 12 Common Sandpiper, 2 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Spotted Redshank.

The usual herons, 4 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

More soon from Another Bird Blog.