Bird Watching

Wednesday 19th March 2014. 

It’s hard to decide the highlight of Wednesday morning, catching the first Wheatear of 2014 with the help of trusty meal worms or seeing a full set of local raptors in action. 

Northern Wheatear

Meal Worms

First stop as usual was Wheel Lane where the Golden Plover count reached 360+, Redshanks numbered 20+, and the well scattered Lapwings totalled 30+. Two Little Egrets could be seen along the ditches that cross the maize field. As per a few days ago a Chiffchaff sang brief snatches of song from the hedgerow and as I waited for the chiffy to show, I picked up on 2 Long-tailed Tit, a single Goldcrest searching the hawthorns, and several Meadow Pipits in the near part of the field. 

The waders took to the air a couple of times, once for a passing Kestrel and then for brief views of a dashing Merlin, the latter heading out over the sea wall. 

I parked at Fluke and checked out the woodland. The Long-tailed Tit nest of 9th March appears to have come to a standstill a couple of days after, the nest now a complete cup but without the essential domed topping. No sight or sound of the adults either - an unexplained failure for the BTO Nest Record. I’m keeping an eye on a freshly manicured hole near where I’ve seen and heard the Great-spotted Woodpeckers, ”chicking” today and in the last two or three weeks. It’s not been a great year for hearing the peckers’ drumming noises, perhaps a pointer to fewer pairs in the area and less competition? 

 Great-spotted Woodpecker

There were 2 Buzzards calling in the tree tops, noisy Jays and then further along the lane a Sparrowhawk came gliding through the trees and made as if to perch up. When the hawk saw me it sped off out of sight. Generations of human persecution have made raptors reluctant to share their world with bird watchers who mean them no harm. 

Buzzard

In the wet field south of Fluke Hall were 14+ Pied Wagtails, 15+ Meadow Pipits and in the hedgerow, 2 Reed Buntings and 2 Greenfinch, the wags and mipits difficult to locate in the badly rutted, furrowed and still partially flooded ground. 

I walked east along the sea wall with the still strong wind at my back where in the shelter of the rocks I found a bright male Wheatear. The spot was too public for even a tiny trap - a host of footprints on the muddy shore and piles of doggy poo testified to my preference for a quieter spot. 

From the sea wall I watched a female Peregrine arrive from the west and then settle low on the marsh but out of sight. Waiting for a Peregrine to fly is not always a short delay so I walked further east and then counted the Pink-footed Geese for the umpteenth time this winter - 420 this time and never a total the same. Good numbers of Shelduck but no count today and no sign of the Brent Goose or regular Green Sandpiper. 

Pilling Water provided the ideal Wheatear, settled on the rocks and looking for food. A meal worm later it was mine - a fine female to finish the morning and to open the Wheatear account for 2014. Now that’s what I call bird watching. 

Northern Wheatear

More bird watching very soon from Another Bird Blog.

Monday Meanderings

The Buzzards were calling and circling high in the blue when I arrived on the moss. The dry weather and resulting farming activity had probably caused the birds to investigate the disturbance from a safe distance. Our local Buzzards are not ones to stay put and so pinpoint the nest if there are potential villains around, but many farmers about here don’t notice Buzzards and have better things to do than go out of their way to harm the birds. Rough shooters might, the danger being that many of them can’t tell arse from elbow, their knowledge of birds other than their precious “game” being infinitesimal. 

I think the weather of the last six months has also caused problems for Buzzards just as it has for many other resident species. This has resulted in low populations for the start of the breeding season, with just two pairs in an area I know well compared to 4 pairs in recent years. The nests are at the top of the tallest conifers in each wood, the shy adults departing the wood via the back door long before an intruder nears the livestock-proof ditch and fence. I found evidence of a recent meal, the Buzzards having left tufts of fur from a bunny or a hare on a plucking post. I couldn’t find proof that the raptors might have brought game birds here and they’d struggle to bring in a native Grey Partridge as that species is almost certainly locally extinct, competing as it must with thousands of released pheasants and red-legs for four months of the year. 

Buzzard

Buzzard plucking post - bunny fur

The woods proved quite productive in other ways, the other species tolerating the Buzzards’ presence. There was a Blackbird nest in a tree hole, a calling Nuthatch, a Great-spotted Woodpecker feeding a noisy family hidden away in a holy tree, singing Blackcap and singing Garden Warbler. I checked a Carrion Crow nest and found 3 healthy young, so torn between being conservationist or ringer I slapped rings on each then wished them luck for the winter shoots. Boy that chick is ugly but I’m sure his mum loves him. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

"Woodpeckered" Tree

Carrion Crow chick

The plantation was full of singing birds - 5 Willow Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 6 Whitethroat, 1 Reed Bunting and 2 Blackcap. On a recently seeded field were 12 Stock Dove and a couple of Lapwings plus 2 singing Corn Bunting along the margin. And Yellowhammers were in full song today, their “little bits of bread and cheese” going a good way in the calm conditions. 

At the barn Pied Wagtails were feeding young, the nest in a pile of cut and stacked wood, and from the size of the meals the chicks were receiving I reckoned they wouldn’t be too far from fledging. A Little Owl was hanging about the building, the wagtails not entering until the owl was safely in the roof spaces.

Pied Wagtail

My cue to head home for a bite to eat too. More news and views soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's Photo Gallery .

Woodys All Over

Woodpigeons don’t often steal the show but they did this morning. There’s been an influx in the last week or two, with noticeably large flocks building up on the mosses in particular where the poor summer has left a number of spoilt and unharvested crops for both birds and mammals. 

This morning as I drove across Stalmine Moss and then Pilling Moss towards Out Rawcliffe I noticed there seemed to be even more than the usual hundreds of Woodpigeons about. As I stopped to watch many thousands of them were flying over, pausing to look for food in the hedgerows and fields, all the time their numbers swelling into huge, massed and urgent flocks which continued south and east until many were out of sight. After a while I had estimated several thousand woodys, upwards of 10,000 in all. 

While the Woodpigeon is an essentially sedentary species in the UK, it has a very large range in most of Europe, especially in the north and east where it is largely migratory, responding to both cold weather and food shortages by travelling huge distances. Some individuals reach Spain where they target the woodland acorn crop So it appears that this year, and just like the more exotic and sought after Waxwing or Brambling, the unloved, mostly ignored Woodpigeon is the latest species to become a victim of the poor acorn, berry and beech crop in Europe. 

To put my meagre count into the larger perspective - in Europe, the breeding population of the Woodpigeon is estimated to number 9-17 million breeding pairs, equating to 27-51 million individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 75-94% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 30-70 million individuals. 

Woodpigeon

I stopped on Union Lane where like recent weeks, yet another Kestrel posed up for a portrait. What a shame a stray branch intervened to spoil the shot. It was almost 10am but a Barn Owl was hunting too and unlike the Kestrel, the owl didn’t want to pose up so I made do with a distant record shot. 

Kestrel

Barn Owl

Rawcliffe Moss could have made for a disappointment after such drama; however a few bits and pieces made for an entertaining hour or two. Wandering through the plantation revealed my first Woodcock of the winter as it crashed from a clump of bramble to give the usual few seconds of in-flight views. “Small stuff” count: 2 Fieldfare, 1 Goldcrest, 7 Reed Bunting, 15 Goldfinch, 20+ Chaffinch, 22 Tree Sparrow, 4 Blackbird, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Skylark, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker. Non-passerines: 1 Kestrel, 3 Jay, 1 Buzzard. 

Reed Bunting

Another unwanted branch spoiled the ‘pecker shot too. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Better luck next time on Another Bird Blog.  Log in soon to check. 

Here, There And Everywhere

That’s what it felt like this morning, doing the rounds as the heavy showers dictated the time spent at a particular spot and in which direction the car travelled. 

The day started cloudy but dry at Fluke Hall, with plenty of Blackbirds around, and more than the usual number of finches in evidence. The busily feeding and mobile Chaffinch looked like recent arrivals with 25+, and with them at least 2 Brambling, the latter giving away their presence in the usual manner by the unmistakeable and obvious wheezing calls. Siskins did the same, feeding quietly and undetected in the high branches until a few tell-tale calls made me look up to find more than 10 of them moving through the tree tops. Near Ridge Farm I found the flock of Greenfinches numbering 25 today, and still 6+ Goldfinch. 

Brambling

Siskin

Not much on the flood at Damside, just 40+ Lapwing and a Great-spotted Woodpecker calling incongruously from the top of a telegraph pole. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Lane Ends next where a walk to Pilling Water was curtailed by an approaching black cloud. Hurrying back and then waiting for the burst to subside gave counts of 9 Little Egret, 3 Raven, 8 Snipe, 2 Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Siskin and 2 Buzzard. One Buzzard was perched on a post out on the marsh towards Cockerham, the other flying off the marsh and towards Pilling village. 

I headed north, trying to keep ahead of the rain coming following behind from the south-west, and stopped for a minute or two at Braides where 22 Redshank and 15 Curlew fed on the muddy pools. 

At Conder I found time to count 8 Little Grebe,1 Goosander and 2 Spotted Redshanks before the running tide cleared the waders from the creek and cleared me off to Glasson. I couldn’t find more than 1 Scaup with the 35 Tufted Duck, one or two of which with a hint of white at the base of the bill, have pretensions of being a real sea duck instead of a “bread” duck. A Cormorant proved fairly tolerant today, posing for a prehistoric portrait before sliding off into the water. 

Tufted Duck

Cormorant

It rained during the Jeremy Lane circuit where lots of Mute Swan were scattered across the fields, but I found a flock of 60+ Fieldfare along Moss Lane. When I stopped to take a look through the thrushes a female Sparrowhawk appeared from my left and then flew across the road to scatter the Fieldfares along a hedgerow. Towards Cockersands were 275 Curlew, 40 Golden Plover, 140 Lapwing, 6 Skylark, 3 Reed Bunting and 21 Tree Sparrow, the sparrows feeding alongside a single hedgerow. 

Tree Sparrow

Can’t believe it’s almost Friday, but time flies when you’re having fun and birding, so log in again soon to find out if Another Bird Blog has been having fun down your way.

Monday Meander

It was a top up day at Rawcliffe today, filling the Niger feeders which swayed about in the stiff breeze, the level of seed down a little and with just a couple of Goldfinch and a single Redpoll again, probably not worth netting just yet. There's a large flock of approximately 140 Chaffinch and 10/15 Yellowhammers knocking about the farm, some of which visit the shooter’s feed bins and my feeders in an irregular manner when they are disturbed by passing vehicles from the maize stubble.

A walk across the moss showed a good selection of species to be around. The noise from several hundred jackdaws and other corvids made me look over towards Pilling Moss where I spotted the Hen Harrier heading north towards Skitham Lane. This harrier hasn’t ventured far during the 4 or so months it has been around since I first noted it on 26th October 2011, it just seems to carry out circuits of the moss bounded by roads north, south, east and west. After seeing the bird dozens of times throughout the winter I still haven’t got a decent photo, and it’s no coincidence, the bird is just good at avoiding the human race.

Hen Harrier

Over towards the west along a field boundary I could see a 90 strong flock of Corn Buntings, 75 or so Linnets and 145 Lapwings. These Corn Buntings plus many others seem to have arrived recently in the mild Fylde as a result of snow and ice elsewhere, but it would be wrong to assume they are all local birds, so scarce are Corn Buntings at most times, with one or two pairs only breeding on this particular farm. Within a week or two we should hear the "jangling keys" of the Corn Bunting. Click the "xeno-canto" button to hear the song.

Corn Bunting

I spent some time looking across the fields waiting for the harrier to reappear, but it didn’t and in its place I saw 2 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Grey Partridge, 3 Buzzard, 8 Stock Dove and 2 Skylark.

Kestrel

I stopped again further south to count birds on the winter feed track and beyond: 140 Tree Sparrow, 9 Reed Bunting, 3 Yellowhammer, 10 Skylark, 15 Chaffinch and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker on the peanut feeder.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Killing Time?

When about midday the warming sun cleared the car windscreen and the roads of the overnight frost and ice, I took a trip Out Rawcliffe way. Last week I put a couple of Niger feeders out in readiness for any spring passage of finches so wanted to see how the feeders were performing. I say “any” spring passage because this winter has been totally different from the previous one. In the early part of 2011 and into March we were busy catching lots of Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, but in 2012 there are a lot less of those species, especially the latter three, so for instance I haven’t seen a Brambling since November.

There seemed to be birds around our spring and summer plantation today, mainly Chaffinch and Goldfinch, and although the Niger levels had hardly dropped I topped the feeders, set a couple of nets just in case and then took a wander through the still bare trees. After the frost a Woodcock was a certainty, and as I aimed for the clumps of winter bramble the question was not whether I would flush a Woodcock, but when it flew would it head towards the nets? It crashed off north, in the opposite direction to the desired one, but I got a good look as it twisted up and away.

I waited for the nets with in the background a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming out his spring mating call, above the wood 2 Buzzards soaring, and in the distance 5 Roe Deer running across the stubble to the safety of a quiet copse. Click on the "xeno canto" arrow to hear the woodpecker.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Buzzard

Watching the plantation combined with a meander about clocked up 2 Kestrel, 18 Skylark, 8 Linnet, 15 Chaffinch, 12 Goldfinch, 3 Blackbird, 1 Lesser Redpoll and 12 Yellowhammer, but very few of them were interested in making a guest appearance on the field sheet; I caught just 5 birds, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Blackbird and 1 Great Tit. The shy Yellowhammers were coming in for the remains of the shooters wheat stock, providing me with an excuse to perhaps come back soon in the hope of connecting with one or two of the yellow buntings.

Chaffinch
Yellowhammer

Well it may not have been the busiest of birding or ringing days, but it sure was enjoyable out in the sun and fresh, cold air.

"You must not know too much, or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers. A certain free margin...helps your enjoyment of these things." - Walt Whitman

A Hundred Plus

Before this morning the last time Will and I managed a ringing session on Rawcliffe Moss was 4th September, the in-between time spent waiting for Irene and Katia to clear our shores. Today dawned cold but fine and bright and without the nagging, sometimes vicious wind of the previous ten days, so we hoped for lots of migrant birds previously held up by the bad weather.

The cold air gave us a fairly slow start which gathered momentum so quickly and successfully that by the end of the 6 hour session we had exceeded the magic one hundred by amassing a total of 122 birds of 12 species, 113 new and 9 recaptures, with the highpoint of the morning being the large number of two species in particular on the move south, Meadow Pipit and Chaffinch. New birds: 52 Meadow Pipit, 45 Chaffinch, 7 Goldfinch, and singles of Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Jay, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Coal Tit.

Our recaptures were 8 recently ringed Goldfinch, all returnees to the Niger feeders, and a Chiffchaff which has hung around the site whilst completing its adult moult.

Meadow Pipit - juvenile
Meadow Pipit- adult
Garden Warbler
Goldfinch

Whilst we caught both Chaffinches and Meadow Pipits steadily, the peak of catching Chaffinches proved to be between 9am and 10am. There was a noticeable spike in Meadow Pipits numbers between 10am and 11am, in both visual migration and in the numbers we caught which might suggest that the Meadow Pipits had travelled a greater distance or from a wider area than the Chaffinches. Here on the moss we find migrating Meadow Pipits to be more detectable than Chaffinches, and taking this into account the estimate of both species on the move south here this morning is approximately 400 Meadow Pipit and 500 Chaffinch. We noted other finches on the move this morning, mainly 40+ Siskin and 4 + Lesser Redpoll, with small numbers of locally feeding Linnet c30 and Goldfinch c100.

In their different ways a Jay, a Great-spotted Woodpecker or a Sparrowhawk are all capable of drawing a ringer’s blood.

Great-spotted Woodpecker
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Sparrowhawk – juvenile male
Sparrowhawk – juvenile male
Jay

Processing 120 plus birds limited our pure birding somewhat, but we also noted 6+ Reed Bunting, 1 Tree Pipit, 3 Snipe, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Jay, 2 Sparrowhawk, 4 Buzzard and the return of 15 Pink-footed Goose.

Making The Best Of It.

With blustery winds and heavy showers blowing in from the west a ringing session was out of the question this morning.

So I took myself off to a farm near St Michael’s village where there’s a good selection of habitat and more than a few trees that offer shelter to birders and birds. There’s also lots of large, open fields of barley, silage and maize, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to see an autumn Marsh Harrier, but very distant. They always are far off when I’m around, my camera so jinxed that it never gets a good shot of a Marsh Harrier, hence the poor excuse for a photograph again, not helped by the first of many heavy showers that chose the same moment to drench me in half a minute.

Marsh Harrier

I found a good flock of about 90 Woodpigeon feeding on a recently cut grass meadow, and in the same field 4 Stock Dove, but feeding apart from the pigeons. What is it about pigeons and doves that make them unexciting to birders? The Stock Dove is actually a very subtly marked yet attractive bird, with that glossy green neck patch, its shades of grey and blue so splashed with black. Even the lacklustre old Woodpigeon has a certain charm when it fixes you with that yellow glare.

Stock Dove
Woodpigeon

Down the farm track the showers cleared enough for me to count the hirundines, 140 scattered Swallows, just 2 House Martin, but 3 Sand Martin dropped low by the rain storm I think. Just then the Swallows twittered in alarm, regrouped, and then saw off a Sparrowhawk which soon lost interest before disappearing over nearby trees.

On a recently tilled field I found a flock of 110+ purely Linnet but 5 Mistle Thrush searching through the same soil. Another thrush appeared on the trail ahead of me, this time a Song Thrush, which whacked the life out of a snail shell until the goodies inside fell to the floor. Everywhere I go I see lots of snails, slugs and bugs, all good sustenance for thrushes, but I see very few of the now scarce Song Thrush. The light was poor, the thrush was fast, but you get the general idea.

Song Thrush
Song Thrush

Looking west the sky was clearer, with patches of blue and to the north a bright rainbow against a dark grey sky, as up in the blue 3 Buzzards wheeled around, making the most of the respite. Buzzards have been largely quiet of late, but I get the feeling their autumn dispersal is taking place.

The farm has a couple of stands of trees, places for stopping, listening and looking. It was here I found a couple of Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff, the chiffy in brief but full song. A Kestrel skirted the trees then a Great-spotted Woodpecker moved along the line of trees to the one furthest away, and when there were no more trees it flew to a telegraph pole where the road began.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

The ‘pecker was my cue to hit the road too, but what a splendid morning of birding despite the dreary old British weather, the sort we like to moan about. But at least we don’t have to lookout for Irene like our friends across the pond.

Rush Job

The blog post is a bit of a hurried job this evening because I promised to push the boat out and take the better half for a meal at the exotic and expensive Knott End Steak House. So while Sue locates the bus passes, here‘s a quick summary from Pilling today and a few new, but not very good photographs.

At Lane Ends: Tufted Duck with 5 young, 3 Little Grebe, Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler and Willow Warbler. The 3 Kestrel siblings from recent days were moving between here and Pilling Water, with much interaction between them.

Lane Ends to Pilling Water: A surprise bird at PW was a Great-spotted Woodpecker frequenting the fence posts along the sea wall for a while before it flew off towards the distant trees of Lane Ends. Otherwise, 3 Little Egret, 5 Common Sandpiper, 40 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 12 House Martin and 5 Swift.

Sand Martin
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Swallow
Kestrel

The finch, lark pipit and wagtail count today: 45 Linnet, 18 Greenfinch, 6 Goldfinch, 14 Skylark, 6 Meadow Pipit and 14 alba wagtail, all seemingly Pied Wagtails.

Linnet
Wader and “others” count: 485 +Curlew, 15 Redshank, 120 Lapwing, 8 Oystercatcher, 18 Shelduck, 10 Cormorant, 1 male Sparrowhawk.

Lapwing

I ringed the latest brood of Skylarks yesterday, that’s 11 youngsters now from 3 nests. Let’s hope the the Evil Operator, Carrion Crow doesn’t find those nests before the youngsters fledge.

Carrion Crow
Skylark nest

Tomorrow looks like a bit of a ringing morning and an early start – I hope the last bus from Knott End is on time tonight.