The Whole Shebang

There was a bit of everything today, as might be expected after the wind and rain of recent days. Even well into Morecambe Bay at Lane Ends there were a few wind-blown seabirds, together with a good selection of waders and wildfowl, an unexpected owl and good views of an elusive mammal.

The morning started quiet enough at Lane Ends where a look on the pools didn’t produce stranded phalaropes or gulls, just 2 Little Grebe and a gang of Swallows feeding low over the pools and in the lee of the windswept trees. Many of the Swallows were also headed west, into the still strong westerly: during the next couple of hours I counted 80/100 flying steadily west. Just here I also found 6 Wheatears on the marsh, another migrant blown in from the west by the constant winds of the past week.

The tide wasn’t due for an hour or more so I walked to Fluke and Worm Pool then back to Pilling Water where I sat for a while. The Green Sandpiper of recent weeks was tucked into the edge of the pool again, with another 4 Wheatears along the wall in their usual spot, and 40 Goldfinch, 12 Linnet and a patrolling Kestrel. I’d seen a Stoat amongst the rocks too, and as I watched to see where the Stoat might pop up, a Wheatear landed on the rock furthest away. So I took pictures of both, although the Stoat wasn’t for allowing a full frame, and the Wheatear didn’t hang around just to finish up a as Stoat’s breakfast.

Stoat
Stoat
Wheatear

By now the tide was just about beginning to run, allowing a count of 6 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron, with many Shelduck and Curlew arriving from the west. The Shelduck count came to 280 birds, a much higher count than recent ones, with the 170 Curlews about par.

Redshanks have been scarce in recent weeks and it is somewhat strange to report today’s 5 as a high count, but there was a single overflying Spotted Redshank that I tried to capture. More waders arrived with the tide, 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 18 Grey Plover, 1400 Knot, 35 Golden Plover, but only 18 Lapwing.

Spotted Redshank
Golden Plover

Perhaps the strangest sighting of the morning came at midday when calling Starlings alerted me to a Barn Owl flying over the rough pasture adjacent to the wildfowler’s pools. Maybe the rough weather of the past week stopped the owl from feeding as much as it should and it was simply taking advantage of a spot of sunshine? I walked back to Lane Ends, stopping here and there to count the wildfowl, 70 Pintail, 190 Teal, 40 Wigeon, 18 Cormorant and 2 Great-crested Grebe.

Cormorant

The well up tide revealed a few sea birds, 4 Gannet, 1 Sandwich Tern and a distant "Bonxie", a Great Skua chasing down a few gulls towards distant Cockerham.

Great Skua
So ended an eventful and bird filled morning.

Year Ticking

I got out early to try and catch up with Leach’s Petrels at Knott End where the early morning dropping tide might harbour a few stragglers coming out of the bay after the overnight storm.

The light was poor and the rain threatened but I got a Leach’s for my non-existent year list as one followed the tideline towards the jetty then crossed the river to Fleetwood. I got a second year tick in the form of a Bonxie, a Great Skua, that steamed across the water much faster than the petrel did, but luckily the petrel journeyed a few minutes before the Bonxie, otherwise there may have been a meal in the offing for the bigger bird. It seems that the word Bonxie comes from the Norse Bunksi, meaning an untidy old woman. I found this great web site for fans of this super aggressive animal.

Great Skua - Bonxie

With the atrocious forecast of more wind and rain that looked every bit like coming to a wild and wet fruition, I decided that it is possible to have too much of a good thing but also that discretion was the better part of valour, so headed north to spend some time at Leighton before my appointment in Kendal. What’s more there was a chance for my incredible third year tick in the shape of Black Tern as three juvenile birds had been there yesterday. Leighton Moss looked bleak as the rain, the wind and dark clouds hurled in from the west without any respite. I set my camera to ISO800 and it stayed there until I left about 2pm.

Black Tern

I had time to walk the public footpath of the causeway where 3 Black Terns moved between the areas of open water but they didn’t come close and often disappeared from view at the far end of the reserve or melted into the grey of continuous heavy showers. As the showers came and went the hirundines did the same with at one point hundreds of House Martins, hundreds of Sand Martins and dozens of Swallows feeding over the open water. Roosting on the reserve were hundreds of Redshank, dozens of Black-tailed Godwit and at least 10 Greenshank, but impossible to count with much certainty as they were distant, bunched tight and huddled down against the wind and driving rain.

I also got a few photographs of common or garden stuff but it wasn’t the best morning for a camera.

Shoveler
Cormorant
Snipe
Snipe
Red Deer

That’s enough year ticks for a year, next I need to do some serious birding and ringing.