An Early March

There was a thick frost this morning, reminding everyone that the price of clear overnight skies in March may be a sunny day but an unwelcome cold start. So after de-icing the car for the second time this week I called in Damian’s shop at Knott End for supper time fish then I turned my attention to a little gloved and hatted birding for an hour or two.

The medium tide of about 10 am was just turning, heading into the Wyre from Fleetwood and Morecambe Bay but bringing a little mist that the weak sun could barely shift. But it wasn’t so bad that it stopped a count of sorts and even a few pictures of the assorted waders, or at least those that stick to the close shore and are more tolerant of early morning passers-by: 550 Oystercatcher, 32 Turnstone, 105 Redshank, 110 Knot, 90 Dunlin, 11 Curlew, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Grey Plover.

Knot
Turnstone

The wildfowl numbers are quite low now after a number of Shelduck and Eider departed to breeding sites, so my count of 15 Shelduck on the water and 3 Eider loafing on the jetty was not unsurprising. I’d parked in the car park where early mornings there are always 2 Pied Wagtails tottering about, and then lining the car park wall, numerous Black-headed Gulls that arrive in waves with each new car, but quickly lose interest if no food appears from wound down windows.

Eider
Black-headed Gull
Pied Wagtail

Along the promenade the Twite flock on the seed numbered approximately 30 very flighty individuals today: they took to the air at the passing of every one of the numerous pedestrians, who in the main seem not to notice the nondescript little brown birds that grace their village each winter. There were 2 more Pied Wagtails on the frosted foreshore below the railings plus 2 Rock Pipits.

Twite

I took a run up to Lane Ends where the tide was full but distant in the now partially sunny haze. From here and the trek to Pilling Water and back the best I managed were 3 Little Egrets, a distant and predictably perched Peregrine, and a bunch of about 15 Skylark, not counting the one that rose singing above the nearest field. The inland fields held about 60 Lapwing and 95 Curlew, whilst way out on the marsh the sight of 700 Pink-footed Geese told me that it it’s still only March 3rd and I’ll have to wait a week or so yet for spring migrants and the chance of catching Wheatears again.

Knott The Arctic

This morning the Knott End pack ice resembled a scene from a Spitsbergen travelogue. From the esplanade I pencilled 1100 Oystercatchers in my notebook but wasn’t entirely sure if I should be on the lookout for Polar Bears too.

Oystercatcher

The Twite flock was bigger this morning at 80+ mobile birds, unable to find the seed put out for them that now lies buried under the ice and snow. The Rock Pipit was around near the jetty again, plus a Song Thrush, a refuge from the café garden, and then 6 overflying Skylark closely followed by a single Lapwing looking for something green and unfrozen. As the tide ran in I counted 135 Shelduck on the water, plus 4 Wigeon.

Shelduck

Wader numbers were similar to yesterday with 60 Redshank, 30 Ringed Plover, 13 Turnstone and 35 Knot.

Knot
Knot
Ringed Plover

In places you do have to tread carefully because the cryptically feathered Turnstones can go unnoticed and fly off before they are spotted. Even their white belly is useful in the snowy terrain.

Knot, Turnstone
Turnstone

There were the usual gulls hanging around for a free meal from the parked cars. There is simply no unfrozen fresh water about now, and I watched a Common Gull scoop up snow as a substitute.

Common Gull
Common Gull
Common Gull

Here's a picture of the Black-headed Gull from yesterday, the new temporary header that I have vowed will stay there until the arctic weather goes elsewhere.

Black-headed Gull

On Ice

With any plans for ringing literally "on ice" there were two places on my keep moving itinerary this morning, a look at Lane Ends followed by a walk along Knott End promenade for the incoming midday tide.

I didn’t hang around at Lane Ends, where standing around for more than few minutes invited hypothermia, but walked the sea wall to Pilling Water then back to the car park on the lookout for just about anything that still survives the extreme weather. Whooper Swans this morning, about 140, then quick, rough counts of 550 Shelduck, 400 Teal, 180 Wigeon, 40 Lapwing, 25 Curlew and 15 or so Redshank. Of the small birds I still found 40 or more Skylarks and 5 Meadow Pipits braving the elements but nothing else save the Blackbirds, Robins and Dunnocks that survive around the car park.

It was a good bright morning and I thought I might have better luck with the tide and waders at Knott End where the ice and snow covered the beach, foreshore, the walkways and the jetty. It didn’t take long to find a good but not especially numerous selection of waders either roosting or feeding, but I was careful not to disturb them nor venture too far onto the treacherous icy surfaces.

Ringed Plover
Knot, Turnstone
Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone, Knot
Redshank
Turnstone
Knot
Redshank

For the record my counts were 30 Turnstone, 1 Grey Plover, 48 Redshank, 22 Knot, 14 Ringed Plover and 3 Oystercatcher.

A few Shelduck in amongst the ice floes sailed past the end of the jetty, as they looked for food at the tide edges.

Shelduck

Also along the foreshore were approximately 45 Twite and a single Rock Pipit.

Twite

I’d spent an hour or more taking pictures and I was pretty much frozen to the core so headed home for a hot drink and a sit down in the warmth, unlike the birds I’d just seen.

New On The List

The morning started with a surprise when at Knott End jetty a male Tufted Duck drifted quite close in on the incoming tide, then just as quickly floated out again towards the middle of the tidal channel. An unusual event indeed for my imaginary Knott End list, but 4 Eider, 3 drakes and a female that the tufted headed over to were more typical.

Tufted Duck

The Twite flew over a couple of times, two separate groups of 20 plus as I watched them head towards the village where they eventually joined up to form a tight flock of 45 birds. On the shore just below the jetty a couple of wary, totally grey Knot fed amongst 23 Turnstone and a half a dozen Redshank. I didn’t give the Knot its full title, which of course is actually Red Knot, the description of a plumage we hardly see them in, and then only partially; they are of course one of the circumpolar long distant migrants of the wader world.

"Red" Knot

Knot Migration

Turnstone

It was a week ago that I saw tremendous numbers of waders in a feeding frenzy on the inland fields just recovered from the weeks of frost, but this week all change again as numbers reverted to more normal levels. Only Fluke Hall Lane field held good numbers of about 120 Lapwing and 40 Redshank, even though the grass remained flooded and the few Curlew around were up to their ears in the dark stuff.

Curlew

There was little to report from Lane Ends but far off Pink-footed Geese and white swans, so distant I couldn’t be certain but I thought the usual Whooper Swan, about 25 partly hidden in the ditches and low parts of the green marsh. There were 2 Little Egret here, and later 2 at Braides then 2 near Cockersands.

I checked out Conder Green to find 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Grey Heron, 7 Tufted Duck, 3 Wigeon, a solitary Grey Plover, 10 Shelduck and 80 very mobile Teal, with 4 Snipe playing at statues on the edge of the island.

Snipe

Teal

Teal

As I drove up to Cockersands with the car window open I heard croaking Raven again in what has been my Raven Week, and then saw a pair overhead flying closely together heading inland. A quick check at the Crook Farm end saw the usual wader culprits scattered too far and near to count with any certainty but between here and the caravan park I noted huge Wigeon numbers of 1500+ and more than 300 Pintail.

Close to the caravan park about 15 Tree Sparrows sat in the hawthorns at the awkward to park spot but of course weren’t there on the way back when my camera lay primed on the seat next to me. A Stonechat searched the shoreline but insisted on keeping some distance from me, so my photograph is poor, suffering from the usual defect of too much ISO on a grey end to a sunny start, but at least it’s current.

Stonechat

“Others” seen up here included up to 1000 Lapwings, 600 Dunlin, 15 Ringed Plover, 80 Golden Plover and a fine Merlin flashing by to finish an uneventful but interesting morning.

Sarnies 72, Knot 72

Now I know what a caged tiger feels like. There I was pacing about the house waiting for the rain to clear as promised by them that are qualified to tell us. To be fair, they were right and as they often tell us, they only forecast the weather, they don’t produce it do they?

After a few false alarms of a brightening sky I finally got out for an hour or two to watch the tide roll in at Knott End before the rain beat me again. At least the rain and wind kept everyone off the beach allowing a half decent estimate of numbers even if the driving rain still ran down the back of my neck after finding its way through the vandalised windows of the bus shelter. The Oystercatchers have built up a bit recently but today I got a total count of 3150, those nearest the Bourne Arms marching ahead of the incoming tide plus the separate flock still on the beach but towards Pilling.

Birds are a mystery to the layman but I remember an occasion at Knott End quite recently when I overheard a snatch of conversation where a couple discussed the possibility that the pied birds walking ahead of the incoming tide were penguins! Alright they’re not birders, but don’t people read the papers, magazines, books or watch anything remotely educational or informative on TV these days to know one of the commonest British birds? Rant over – for now.



Six Black–tailed Godwits flew in with a single Whimbrel to land amongst the Oystercatchers and Knot where I counted 72 of them along with a dozen or so Redshank.

Apart from half a dozen birds most of the Sandwich Terns stayed close to the tide line and I counted a total of 72 of them as well.

The rain got heavier again so I drove around to the car park to look on the estuary where the usual Eider float along until the tide recedes. Today I only saw three as the visibility was so bad I could barely see beyond the end of the jetty.

For the gull enthusiasts out there I took a few pictures.