Windy Week, Sunny End

Last week was a little wild and very unlike April. Here in coastal Lancashire high winds toppled trees, wrecked fencing and blew sea ducks inland as far as Preston and probably beyond. 

Andy phoned to say friends had a Common Scoter on their garden pond for a day or more and would I like to go and “grab a picture or two”? You know the rest. The wind subsided, the Scoter decided that Poulton -le-Fylde wasn’t quite so nice after all and did a moonlight flit. 

Common Scoter

Not to worry, Saturday morning looked a goer for ringing at Oakenclough so I met up with Andy and Will at the appointed 0630. When I arrived on site the dashboard read 1.5°, a major improvement on the -0.5° when setting off from home 35 minutes earlier. 

The sun was on the rise and gave way to a pleasant enough morning with a good mix of species to ring but not many birds on the move in the clear blue sky. Fifteen birds caught – 6 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Great Tit, 1 Siskin. 

Click the pics for close up views.

The most unexpected bird of the morning was a Reed Bunting, a species quite scarce on site and at the elevation here of about 700ft above sea level. It’s a species more generally thought of as a lowland farmland dweller. 

Reed Bunting

 

The single Siskin caught was a fine adult male. 

 

Siskin

 

Six new Lesser Redpoll added to recent catches of the species while the two Coal Tits came from previous visits here in the winter of 2022/23. 

 

Lesser Redpoll

Coal Tit

 

Goldfinch

Other species seen – 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Swallow, 5 Sand Martin, 3 Jay, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Sparrowhawk, 1 Buzzard. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

All three Jays flew overhead, unusually silent as they disappeared into nearby trees. Jays are normally noisy when they are around as their Latin name of Garrulus glandarius would suggest. Garrulus is a Latin word meaning "chattering", "babbling" or "noisy". The specific epithet glandarius is Latin meaning "of acorns", a woodland fruit in which the Jay specialises. 

Jay

 

See you in the week folks. 

“It’s warming up” said the BBC weatherman. If it's on the BBC it must be wrong. You heard it here first.

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Yay. We’ve gone beyond the shortest day with many reasons to be cheerful. From now on each and every morning and evening will see increased daylight as temperatures climb and winds subside. Birds will sing and flowers bloom. We will say goodbye to news & media doomsters and their visions of apocalypse around every corner. The viruses avian and human will fade into distant memory. My gold shares will rocket as crypto crashes, again.

Happy 2022 everyone. May all your days be bird filled.

Here’s a post I knocked up earlier while waiting for the rain to stop.

It was quite recently and not for the first time that a reader in the US thought that a UK Coal Tit was one and the same species as the North American Black-capped Chickadee. Their  respective scientific names are Periparus ater and Poecile atricapillus, two related species of the same bird family known in the US as "chickadees" and in the UK as "tits". The two species are remarkably similar but where similarities occur in other species of animal or bird, confusion is avoided by understanding and/or investigating the respective scientific or Latin names.

Black-capped Chickadee

Coal Tit

For many birdwatchers the use of scientific names is boring or inconsequential, at best a riddle and of interest only to ornithologists who speak Latin. But as well as a means of allowing people throughout the world to communicate unambiguously about birds, the name give an insight into the origins of the scientific nomenclature and hence the bird itself. Here are some examples and a few pictures from Another Bird Blog archives.

There’s a question that often crops up on TV quizzes, one designed to trap the unwary. Which bird has the Latin name Puffinus puffinus? The correct but perhaps perplexing answer is of course Manx Shearwater. In days gone by the word “puffin” was a synonym for a shearwater and not the unrelated seabird Atlantic Puffin, hence it was the shearwater and not the puffin which earned the Latin title of Puffinus puffinus. 

The “manx” refers to the species’ former abundance on the Calf of Man a small island lying to the south of the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, while "shearwater” describes the birds’ mode of flight which skims or shears the water. 

Manx Shearwater - Puffinus puffinus

The scientific/Latin name for Wigeon is Anas penelope. I’m somewhat disappointed that the Anas part of the name for such a creature should simply mean duck-duck. It’s from the Latin anas and the Greek respectively, a duck that in Greek mythology was reputed to have rescued Penelope when she was thrown into the sea. 

Eurasian Wigeon - Anas penelope

Would anyone who has slept under a duck down duvet that contains feathers plucked from an Eider duck Somateria mollissima disagree with the Latin meaning “very soft woolly body”? 

Eider -  Somateria mollissima

Now for an easy one, Barn Owl. Tyto alba simply means white owl. I think we can all agree on that one for the often ghostly apparition that will sometimes allow a photograph or two.

Barn Owl - Tyto alba

One might think that the rustica element of the Latin name Hirundo rustica refers to the reddish forehead, throat or the often pink underparts of our common Swallow. In fact it means a rural or rustic swallow. The Swallow is a bird which graces our countryside for a few short months of the year. Long may it continue to do so until the politicians succeed in concreting over the entire landscape of England. 

Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica

I’ve not heard of any Bohemian Waxwings Bombycilla garrulus finding their way to the UK this autumn and winter but if they are around soon I’ll be looking out for the “chattering silk-tails” that their Latin name describes. The Bohemian part of their common name tells us the species’ wandering habits were reminiscent of tribes of gypsies or Bohemians. The silk tail is self explanatory when an observer or lucky bird ringer receives close views of this beautiful species. 

Bohemian Waxwing -  Bombycilla garrulus

The Phylloscopus collybita of Chiffchaff translates as Phylloscopus a leaf-watcher, and collybita originating from a word meaning money-changer. The clicking, repetitive sound of the Chiffchaff’s song "chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff" was thought to resemble the sound of coins being clinked together. 

That’s a really interesting if somewhat esoteric explanation which may or may not be the truth. Readers should think about that one in the Springtime while watching and listening to a Chiffchaff in the tree canopy.

Chiffchaff -  Phylloscopus collybita

There was a Jay Garrulus glandarius in my garden just this this week, taking a break from raiding the young oak tree in a neighbours garden. Jays are often silent but “acorn-eating chatterer” would apply on many occasions. 

Jay - Garrulus glandarius 

Please excuse my bout of name dropping today. It's not something I normally do or even like to hear from others, but hopefully there will be more posts and news soon. 

In the meantime here's wishing readers, new or old a very Happy Christmas.

An Outstanding Event

This morning saw a heavy and highly visible migration of northern thrushes through our Oakenclough ringing site.  Andy, Bryan and I met at 0645 with nets up and set ready for 0715. 

We caught very few birds in the less than ideal conditions of a 12/14 mph southerly wind and bright sunshine on one net, but witnessed an impressive movement of Northern thrushes based almost entirely on North West to South East flight lines 

Our tally of ringing was just 12 birds - 9 Redwing, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird, 1 Robin. 

Redwing 

Song Thrush  

These nine birds were a tiny part only of a count from 0800 to 1100 that saw approximately 3800 thrushes - 2300 Fieldfares and 1500 Redwings. 

All was quiet until about 0800 when the influx of Redwings and Fieldfares began from the direction of the coast and Morecambe Bay some 15 miles away. It was slow at first, mainly Redwings then as the light and visibility improved we realised that a heavy movement was on the cards. So it began with flocks of anywhere between five, fifty and three hundred thrushes, mostly mixed. There was always a majority Fieldfare configuration, especially in the latter stages when good numbers arrived from a more northerly, even north easterly direction, flying quite low against the now fresh southerly wind. 

The plantation has a heavy and very brightly coloured crop of hawthorn and rowan berries that the thrushes targeted as soon as they landed. 

Redwing and Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Other birds were in the mix, one or two Song Thrush, Blackbird and Mistle Thrush but almost certainly more in the general melee of hundreds of overhead birds. Otherwise- 25+ Chaffinch, 30 Woodpigeon and one Sparrowhawk that hunted the arriving thrushes. 

A further sighting was of three Jays, an essentially sedentary species unless acorn crops fail, when they must migrate to other areas for food. Such years may result in quite large numbers of Jays being seen on visible migration. This may be the case this year with many reports of Jays in unusual and non-regular locations. 

Eurasian Jay 

In recent days I looked on local Whats App Birding and Bird News, Twitter and Facebook but found no messages, posts or apparent interest in this once in a year spectacle. It would appear that Redwings and Fieldfares are not rare or exciting enough to merit a mention. 

The absolute best local web and information site I know belongs to Bryan Yorke, who come rain or shine, conducts daily visible migration counts at Burton in Kendal,  Arnsideand Silverdale Blog , some 20 miles just north west of Okenclough.  His sightings and counts give a useful comparison to our own. Bryan's very low counts from today seem to point to this morning’s thrushes taking both more coastal and also inland Pennine routes. 

"Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Taylors Fields, Vicarage Lane, Burton In Kendal 0730hrs" 

"Obviously the thrushes were not about other than a sprinkling which seemed to be going in various directions."

"Chaffinch: 306 (282 SE and 14 W) 
Linnet: 216 (213 SE and 3 SW) 
Redpoll: 3 SE (one party) 
Greenfinch: 1 SE 
Alba Wagtail: 11 SE 
Skylark: 6 SE 
Fieldfare: 98 (20 W/SW,10E,4E,4E,6NW,9W,30SW,15N) 
Redwing: 171 (5SW,3SW,30SW,12SW,50SE,1E,6E,30SW,10SW,9S/SW,5SW,10SW) 
Starling: 50W (15,2,4,5,20,4) 
Woodpigeon: 29 NW 
Pink Footed Goose: 6 SE at 1135hrs" 

Back soon folks. Keep logging in for more news, views and photos.

Linking this post to Anni's Birding Blog.

Spring Is Here

Thanks to the grim weather of late any opportunities for birding or ringing have been few and far and hence the lack of blog posts. With a forecast of a dry and less windy Saturday morning I arranged to meet Andy and Dave at Oakenclough where we hoped for a ringing session which might discover the changes since our last visit of 5th March. 

Five hours of pretty constant work gave us a total of exactly 70 birds caught and a very good selection of 13 species. Evidence of Spring migration came with the catching of new Goldcrests and new Lesser Redpolls, two species which are both typical of March ringing sessions. 

One of the Lesser Redpoll bore a ring not of our own series and so is highly likely to have arrived as a recent migrant. 

Totals and species caught: 16 Blue Tit, 12 Great Tit, 10 Goldfinch, 8 Coal Tit, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Goldcrest, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Robin, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Blackbird and 1 Jay. 

Goldcrest

The two Song Thrush were definitely an item as both were caught together and headed off in unison when released; so too with two pairs of Lesser Redpoll and the pair of Long-tailed Tits. Male Lesser Redpolls are now looking especially stunning in their Spring colours, while catching a Song Thrush is something of an occasion. 

Song Thrush

Lesser Redpoll

The male Nuthatch proved to be a recapture from previous weeks and a regular visitor to the feeding station. 

Nuthatch

At least one Jay has been a regular visitor to the feeding station and while we don’t expect to catch the Clever Crow, we did today. 

Jay

We were so busy with ringing that our birding was limited but we did note a pair of Pied Wagtails on territory, one carrying nesting material. Also, a pair of Great-spotted Woodpecker, singles of Buzzard and Kestrel plus a good number of noisy Oystercatchers heading back and forth via the surrounding fields. 

Pied Wagtail

There's more news soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday, Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

Birding Back Home

If a couple of weeks in sunny Greece and a spot or two of birding is rather good so is returning home and hitting the local patch to see what’s changed, even if the temperature is halved and the sun doesn’t shine so bright. Two weeks is a long time to be absent when migration is underway. 

At breakfast I watched a silent Jay in the garden as it examined the apple tree thinking there was still no one at home. Overhead the calls of Pink-footed Geese reminded me of missing two weeks of the UK's autumn arrivals. I set off for Pilling. 

Three raptors in the space of five minutes at Fluke Hall with the resident Kestrel, Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk, the latter as elusive as ever, drifting silently through the trees to a place unknown. There was a Jay or two in the wood here and I glimpsed them in the tree tops as they melted into the greenery. For such a brightly coloured bird our often shy European Jay can be very hard to observe, due in no part to its reputation as a killer. 

Jay

A Red Fox sauntered across the dried up pool and although its departure seemed incidental I think the animal spotted me long before I touched the camera. I have it on good authority that “lots” of foxes have been shot in the Pilling area this year, mostly by “lamping” in the hours of darkness. 

The wheat has been cut, the maize sprouted to a good height with a couple of fields partly ploughed. The wildfowlers were out on the marsh, digging and then emptying sacks of wheat as a pump filled their scrape from the water filled ditch. It’s all looking good for plenty of birding birds and many birds to shoot. Maybe the Woodpigeons have sussed out the wheat already as I counted 80+ on the roadside field. 

Last week in hard-to-bird Skiathos there were no larks, pipits or even waders, so along the Pilling sea wall I retuned my ears to the calls of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks, 40+ pipits and 90 or more Skylarks, some of the Skylarks definitely heading south as others stayed flitting about the marsh. Two Wheatears, one at Fluke Hall and the other at Pilling Water, neither of them especially catchable even though I went armed with worms and traps. 

There were Wheatears In Skiathos, the one below flycatching from a roof. Don’t you just love seeing familiar birds in unfamiliar places? 

Wheatear

It’s rather nice to see and hear Pink-footed Geese again even though it does signify that dark nights and a long winter looms. "Make the best of it" as they say, so I sat on the wall and tried to photograph some of the 1400 pinkies as they sallied back and forth across the marsh or headed inland. Very soon, and once the lookalike guns begin, a 400mm lens won’t touch these magnificent creatures. A Snipe landed on the marsh a little way out so there’s a record shot of that to fill the post. 

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Snipe

The wildfowlers’ pools hold good numbers of wildfowl, mainly Teal at 800+ with smaller numbers of 40 Wigeon, 15 Pintail and 30+ Shelduck. The Teal fly back and forth from the marsh to the pools seemingly unable to resist the food the shooters leave out, the other species less so with many more Wigeon, Pintail and Shelduck out on the marsh. 

Teal

There seemed so few Swallows about today unlike two or more weeks ago with now less than 20 in total and very unlike Skiathos where thousands of both common Swallows and Red-rumped Swallows suddenly appeared on the few cloudy or thundery days we experienced.

Isn’t that just one tiny example of what makes birding at home or abroad so fascinating? It is good to be back though.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

Not A Lot

Daughter Joanne had a surprise when for a couple of days from the kitchen window she saw a Little Owl on the garden fence. Dad had the job of finding out where the owl was living and why it suddenly took a liking to Joanne’s garden. 

Monday began with a hint of rain, but at 10am I made my way to the garden arbour waiting for the owl to appear. Little did I know the owl was on the conservatory roof behind me, not until it swooped low over the lawn pursued by a scolding Blackbird. The owl flew over the fence and off towards the rather large and unkempt garden 30 yards away where there are tumbledown sheds and greenhouses. The Little Owl perched up briefly as I grabbed a single (underexposed) picture. I’ll go back soon for another try, remembering to use the eyes in the back of my head that all dads have. 

Little Owl

On Tuesday I had a couple of hours free before the babysitting employment so snuck off down Pilling way. 

The sea wall has been really hard work this year, the breeding success of the waders the worst ever in 25+ years of surveying this stretch of coastal "wetland". This year the warning calls of adult Lapwings, Redshanks and Oystercatchers have been absent, the sky overhead unusually silent. This morning I found only my second Lapwing brood of the year and this just a single small chick; it's hardly enough to replenish the pool of new blood for coming years. The remaining pair of Oystercatchers looked to have given up since their chosen Hi-Fly field was tilled again since my visit of Sunday. 

Lapwing

Oystercatcher

There was little else of note, 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails, 2 Grey Heron, 6+ Skylark, 2 Corn Bunting, several loafing Shelduck and way out at the tideline a pair of Eider duck. 

At Lane Ends in the tree tops was a young Jay calling loudly for food. Nearby I found one that didn’t make it, a dead youngster. Jays have bred here for a few years but for a normally noisy species they remain very quiet throughout the breeding seaon. 

 Jay

On and around the pools were 4 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Little Grebe and a Kestrel suspended in mid-air. 

Little Grebe

Kestrel

That’s not a lot for a couple of hours birding is it? Have no fear, Another Bird Blog will try again tomorrow.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Is It Here Yet?

There are signs the end of the atrocious winter weather may be in sight, and Spring around the corner. It certainly felt like that this morning when the sun shone and the wind dropped to less than 15mph, almost perfect birding conditions. 

I set off for Pilling where a pair of early morning Kestrels greeted me on the roadside at Damside. In some years Little Owls have used the nest box so it looks like the Kestrels have first shout this time. 

Kestrel

I decided to give Fluke Hall a try where I was dismayed to find shooters on the maize fields and so above the high water mark, where as I understand it, the “season” for shooting wildfowl should have ended on 31st January. A small pile of corpses littered the sea wall but I was too far off to make out the species. 

Despite the loud guns there were a number of Lapwings and Redshanks on the flood, some 95 and 8 respectively, also 10/12 Linnet and 15 or so Skylarks. Later, and as I walked the sea wall I saw and heard a good number of Skylarks, some in song, others in obvious territorial disputes, with a morning total of 30+ birds. 

Fluke Hall Lane and the wood itself proved quite productive with 2 singing Song Thrush, a pair of Mistle Thrush, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Buzzard, 2 Jays, a minimum of 12 Blackbirds and 3/4 Chaffinches in song. 

Jay

By now the shooters had driven discreetly off the track in their mud spattered Land Rovers, Range Rover and Navarra so I walked the now very quiet sea wall to Lane Ends. 

A good selection of birds ensued, circa 850 Pink-footed Goose, 7 Little Egret, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Peregrine, 1 Brent Goose and a good number of the aforementioned Skylarks. The Brent was alone on the salt marsh and not in the company of Pink-footed Geese or Shelduck, species it might be expected to mix with.

Brent Goose

At Lane Ends it was good to hear the trilling of courting Little Grebes, an unmistakeable sound emanating from the pool hidden from view. A couple of Chaffinches in song here too. 

Little Grebe

Maybe Spring is finally on the way? If so Another Bird Blog will be there to record the details, so log in very soon.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Three Hours To Kill?

Following 180 minutes at Pilling this morning my notebook was pretty full but the camera devoid of new pictures. That’s the way it goes sometimes, the birds just don’t cooperate. So sorry folks, it’s my archive pics today to illustrate the morning’s effort. 

Jays are so noisy that one can’t but help knowing they are around although getting a clear view of this shy species can be a lot harder. From the series of raucous calls I could tell that more than one was somewhere in the Lane Ends plantation, a glimpse of a white rump the best I could manage on this occasion. 

Eurasian Jay

After complaining recently about the shortage of both Kestrels and Sparrowhawks, today I saw both species, a male Sparrowhawk cruising the marsh before circling above the trees, then within minutes, a juvenile Kestrel hunting from the fence posts. There was also a Buzzard hiding somewhere in the trees and calling to be fed by nowhere-to-be-seen parents. 

Common Kestrel

The plantation and pools are now very overgrown, desperate for sympathetic management to improve the area for visitors who might want to watch birds, study insects or botanise rather than walk a dog or join in the after-hours activities. Trying to speak to or make contact with anyone in the Environment Agency is like Waiting for Godot, and I’m not expecting a reply to emails of several months ago or for anyone to actually lift a ringing telephone. 

I walked to Fluke and back via Pilling Water. There was a Corn Bunting in song from the roadside wires next to HiFly wheat fields, the second time in a week at the same spot so I guess there’s some sort of late breeding taking place. It’s a pretty good record for the species, especially in the light of my numerous sightings from the same area during May and June.  The Corn Bunting's bright pink legs are a noteworthy characteristic, trailing as they do like the wires of a parachute before the bird lands on fluttering wings at its singing perch or feeding site.

 

Corn Bunting

There were also 3 Skylark here, a single and a pair busily flying to and from the thick maize crop and carrying small items of food, another late breeding success. A seven-whistling Whimbrel flew over, disturbed off the sands beyond by a biker touring the incoming tide. Two Grey Herons came off the marsh and flew inland as I settled down at Pilling Water to watch the tide approach. 

Masses of Curlew formed the bulk of the distant birds with over 650 birds my count. Also, 380 Oystercatcher, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 6 Snipe, 11 Ringed Plover, 14 Dunlin, 4 Little Egret, 11 Shelduck and 19 Teal. 

A number of the Dunlin and Ringed Plover flew straight over my head, high and heading south, not for hanging about here at Pilling. 

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

There are lots of thistles along the sea wall but a dire shortage of Goldfinches and Linnets to take advantage, my count of three hours being 2 Linnet and 6 Goldfinch, a pitiful number for August when there should be swarms of both. Maybe they are all taking advantage of the continued warm weather to raise another family - let’s hope so. 

Log in soon for more birding adventures with Another Bird Blog.

And There’s More…

Bramblings that is, but only two new ones today. After the wind suddenly dropped at lunchtime I went to Out Rawcliffe where I checked and topped up the feeders, chucked more mixed seed on the ground and put up a couple of nets. 

At the moment the short days mean that with a midday start and birds heading off to roost soon after 3pm it leaves just a couple of hours catching time. Birds caught 1230-1430, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin, 1 Great Tit. 

Although it’s just a small sample of 11 birds, 8 of this week’s Bramblings have been first year males, the remainder three females. 

Brambling

Brambling - first calendar year male

One of the male Chaffinches was especially “adult” with very squared off and dark tail feathers. 

Chaffinch

Chaffinch - adult male

The Reed Bunting was a tiny first year female, wing length 73mm only. 

Reed Bunting

Other birds seen, in no particular order: 4000+ Woodpigeon, 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Jay, 1 Buzzard, 1 Merlin, 1 Kestrel, 8 Skylark, 30+ Goldfinch, 10+ Reed Bunting, 4 Brambling, 1 Snipe, 2 Woodcock, 18 Chaffinch. 

Woodpigeons

Jay

Tonight there’s babysitting, hence the rushed post. Never fear, Another Bird Blog will be up with the lark tomorrow looking for more birds to report. Stay tuned. 

This post is linking to Anni's I'd Rather Be Birding blog.