It's Late

On Sunday I got hindered by other tasks in posting on the blog so saved it until today. Nothing much to report except that the morning was grey and miserable, so rather than birding or trying to take photographs with a 400mm in poor light I spent a couple of hours ringing in the garden. It was pretty unexciting but a couple of surprise birds turned up in the catch of 8 birds.

After two cold winters in 2010 and 2011 the population of our smallest UK bird the Goldcrest must be fairly low, but luckily when two flitted about the damson trees it was only a matter of a few minutes before one found the net, 5 grams of feathers and not much else.

Goldcrest

Also fairly scarce around here at the moment are Greenfinches, their population still suffering due to the effects of the Trichomonosis virus, so it is heartening to say that not only I have heard a few “gringos” singing recently, but they have also joined in with the Goldfinches in visiting garden feeders. Just one caught, a colourful first winter male.

Greenfinch

Other birds caught: 2 Great Tit and 1 each of Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Dunnock and Wren.

Chaffinch
Dunnock
Great Tit

Short And Sweet

There’s just a short post today with a few bits and bobs to report together with a couple of photographs.

At Knott End: 5 Little Egret, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit, 1 Rock Pipit and 4 Eider. I put some Nyger out for the Twite which appear to have gone missing for now unless the black stuff can tempt them back.

Meadow Pipit

At Lane Ends there appeared to be an influx of 8 to 10 new Blackbirds, plus an accompanying Song Thrush, but I saw the now silent Jay.

Lane Ends to Fluke Hall via Pilling Water: 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Grey Wagtail, 12 Meadow Pipits, 8 Little Egrets, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Reed Bunting, 7 Skylarks and 1 Buzzard. Less Whooper Swans today with circa 140 plus the incongruous Black Swan. 20+ Chaffinch at Fluke Hall with the normal titmice and 1 Goldcrest, and it’s another non-show for the latter species again this autumn.

Great Tit
Robin
Grey Squirrel – “Tree Rat”
Black Swan and Whooper Swan

The forecast looks a little better for weekend with a possibility of a spot of ringing.

Mostly Chaffs With Chiffs

After Saturday’s rain lasted until midnight it came as no surprise when our 6am start on the moss began not only soggy underfoot but also rather slow in terms of birds being around or becoming active. By 0730 Will and I had caught only 6 birds, but as the morning brightened and warmed up so did our tally of birds.

By 1130 the figures looked much better with a total of 45 birds of 10 species, 44 new and 1 recapture. New birds: 22 Chaffinch, 5 Goldfinch, 4 Whitethroat, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Robin, 2 Blackcap, 2 Dunnock, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Linnet and 1 Great Tit. The single recapture was a recently ringed Goldfinch.

The feature of this morning proved to be the Chaffinches, not hugely noticeable in terms of the numbers passing overhead but enough small groups to estimate a total north to south movement of 150+ birds, particularly if we catch 22 individuals. Although finches predominated again today we notched up more warblers in the Sylvia shapes of Whitethroat and Blackcap. The squeaks of Chiffchaffs also became noticeable once the air had warmed sufficiently for them to move around the plantation and we thought that our 4 birds could probably be doubled for the day count. We don't normally catch many Robins or Dunnocks here so the two of each today were thought to be migrants.

Chiffchaff
Chaffinch
Great Tit

Today’s 4 Whitethroat pushed our year total here to 147 new birds. Below are two of today’s, a bright-eyed adult and a dark eyed juvenile.

Whitethroat
Whitethroat

It looked like the flies took a day off yesterday and then spent the morning drying off against the warm heavy metal of our motors.

Warming Up

Our birding followed a similar pattern to the ringing with increasing activity as the morning temperature rose. Overhead and/or north to south: 135 Swallow, 3 House Martin, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Raven, 20+ Meadow Pipit. Locals: 2 Skylark, 50+ Goldfinch, 100+ Linnet, 2 Tawny Owl, 1 Little Owl.

Raptors proved obliging this morning, Buzzards in particular taking to the air after their rain sodden no-fly Saturday, with 11+ and a gang of 9 riding the same thermal to the south west about 11am. Also, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel and 1 Marsh Harrier over towards the Pilling Moss road again.

Buzzard

A Middling Morn

Will and I finally got to Out Rawcliffe for a spot of mist netting on a fine morning with just an early breath of wind that left the nets motionless in the cover of the planation. As expected for early to mid-June we didn’t get a mega catch, just 19 birds, with 13 new and 6 recaptures. New birds: 5 Great Tit, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackbird and 1 each of Goldfinch, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler. Recaptures were 4 Sedge Warbler, and 1 each of Great Tit and Willow Warbler.

We hoped we might catch several fresh juvenile (3J) warblers today, but it was not to be. The only juveniles caught were 3 Great Tit and 2 Blackbird so we must wait a few more days for an indication of breeding success as more youngsters appear.

Blackcap
”3J” Blackbird
”3J” Great Tit
Willow Warbler

By 1015 hours the ever present 2011 wind sprung up to 15-20mph again which caused us to take the nets down.

Other birds seen this morning, most from the well positioned coffee chairs on the sun-deck of the moss: A Raven flying inland and then later (if the same one) back out towards Pilling Moss; 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Corn Bunting, 2 Skylark, 2 Buzzard, 2 Oystercatcher, 20+ Lapwing, 6 Goldfinch, 1 Yellowhammer, 12 Tree Sparrow, 4 Swift, 6 House Martin, 4 Mistle Thrush, 2 Stock Dove, 30+ House Sparrow. And not forgetting 25+ Brown Hares which entertained us as they rushed and chased around the nearby fields in groups 8 and 10 at times.

Driving home through Town End, Out Rawcliffe I heard roadside Chiffchaff, Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat and then stopped to snap a Great-spotted Woodpecker doing a Woody Woodpecker impression on a telegraph pole.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Yes, it was just an average sort of morning but don’t we sometimes take even those too much for granted?

Opening March

It was out to the moss today, the real beginning, the first of our spring ringing proper and a chance to weigh up if the Niger feeders put up two weeks ago had done the trick for small finches. It was a dull, grey start and nil wind, good for ringing but not necessarily for seeing March migrants but with luck in between ringing a few Goldfinch, Siskin and Redpolls we might see a few more species heading north.

The feeders had certainly worked because we caught 16 Goldfinch, 15 new plus a recapture from last week, a single new Great Tit and other recaptures of a Dunnock and Great Tit, but unfortunately no more variety than that.

Goldfinch
Great Tit

Besides approximately 30 Goldfinch seen the plantation was as quiet as we expect in early March, with other species limited to 3 Reed Bunting, 6 Chaffinch, 2 Wren, 2 Long-tailed Tit and a couple of Blackbirds.

The birding was reasonably interesting with a good SE to N passage of approximately 35 Meadow Pipits in mainly twos and threes, and singles of Siskin and Alba Wagtail. We also saw a flock of 40 Fieldfare come from the south west and fly strongly to the north east, calling as they went. A couple of flocks of Curlew also went north, 30 birds in total. “Usual” stuff around the fields comprised singing Skylark and Corn Bunting, still a flock of 90 Woodpigeon and just 2 Buzzards, neither of them venturing skywards on such a dull morning.

On the way off the moss I saw a pair of Grey Partridge and once again found the two pairs of Little Owls now well and truly “at it” in their respective territories and holey trees.

Grey Partridge
Little Owl

A respectable morning’s work for 16th March and from now on the days can only get busier.

How To Stay Positive……………

and go birding again. Yes, it has been a little problematical in the last week or so after constant grey days and the wintry sameness of the birding. Then after last night’s dire weather forecast there’s always the temptation to stay in with a cup of coffee and spend a few seconds reading The Sun from back to front. But you can’t keep a good birder down, using of course “good” in its meaning of virtue rather than skilled birding excellence, as anyone who knows me would agree. So I arranged with Will to meet at our site near Lancaster, have a look around, put food out for the birds, and if the promised snow, rain and 20mph winds didn’t materialise, put up a net or two.

The site is sheltered from the wind blowing from certain directions, and after a quick look around we put up two nets, one in the “icebox” and one through the beech saplings where the Bramblings have hung about in recent weeks. The icebox is so called because it is down in the depths of the trees but wide open to the often easterly wind that gusts viciously across the railway line. But it wasn’t snowing, and there was even a little sunshine – wow!

To sum up we had a successful couple of hours catching a reasonable number of birds of valued species. We caught 18 new birds with 3 recaptures: 7 Brambling, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Chaffinch and 6 Blackbird. Recaptures were 1 Brambling, 1 Great Tit and 1 Blackbird. This brought the ringing group's total of Bramblings caught this winter to 59 individuals.

Brambling
Brambling - juvenile male with contrasting coverts
Brambling - juvenile male
Great Tit

A recent email message from a blog reader told of almost 30 Bramblings in a Lancashire garden, all of which were males, a very unusual and surprising majority of the unfair sex. However I responded to the writer to say that in the field the differences between males and females may not be always clear cut, especially with adult winter birds where the male shows black-blue crown feathers and the female blackish crown feathers. However the difference is not always as clear cut as the two individuals below.

Brambling

The 7 Blackbirds caught this morning brought the ringing group’s total of the species this year to 24 individuals. When entering ringing data on IPMR a day ago the system “bleeped” me for a Blackbird entry to say that 140grams is the maximum weight for that species; but it is interesting that so far in 2011 every single one of 24 Blackbirds has carried fat reserves, with weights varying between 111 and 141 grams, with several in the high 130s and an overall average of 123.17 grams.

Other birds seen this morning on our feeding, birding and in-between net round rounds: 2 Bullfinch, 2 Jay, 2 Nuthatch, Treecreeper and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, one of which drummed away on a hollow tree in a very positive and optimistic manner. Just like us really.

Not much "vis"

What a quiet morning. I was out reasonably early full of hope and expectation of seeing visible migration, surely some mipits either “tseeping” overhead or grounded at dawn? But no, I must have walked 100 yards at Fluke before I heard and saw anything apart from overflying gulls and the Lapwings that merge into the edge of the shore and green marsh. It was a couple of Snipe that broke my duck as they flew from the marsh amongst the Lapwings then off inland. I didn’t find any passerines for a while until I went down towards Ridge Farm where the usual Dunnocks hung out with a couple of Tree Sparrows.

I consoled myself with the thought that recording nothing or little at all is in fact a positive result. Work that out! Just then a single Pied Wagtail vissed over and I counted it.

On a partly harvested potato field I found 4 Stock Dove feeding quietly together with an Oystercatcher and two Curlew before I retraced my steps along the lane towards Fluke Hall Lane. A good number of Swallows, about 70, fed over the barley yet to be harvested and a few Linnets and Goldfinch flitted about the margins. I heard then saw a male Reed Bunting in the roadside hedge but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a migrant, Reed Buntings have been along this stretch of road all year, as have Linnets where I saw a pair nest building in May.

Just then I spotted a Barn Owl perched upright on a post nearby, just as it saw me and fled out of sight. It was now 0945, pretty late in the morning for a Barn Owl so I suppose they still have dependent young nearby.

Not one to “flog a dead horse” I decided to cut my losses and do a bit of leisurely ringing at home.

First to bounce out of the net was a Great-spotted Woodpecker but I caught a handful of common birds as well as watch a Sparrowhawk fly out from behind my Holly tree from where it was watching both my own and next door’s feeding stations. Such opportunists.

The pictures show a smart adult male Great Tit, a juvenile Blue Tit and a juvenile Wren.







Later I called at Hambleton to check my last Swallow nest to find one young alive, primary feathers still “in pin” and one dead one. Not totally surprising given the cold and rain of the last week but I am fearful that the single survivor may not make it given the lack of development over a week. Swallows that stay this late in leaving not much time to succeed are adopting a very risky strategy both for themselves and for the late young.

I duly entered the nest record detail on IPMR and tidied up the data on “outstanding nests”. It just remains to create a data file for BTO for all nests and I guess that is it for another year unless anyone out there knows of unfinished nests.