More Of The Same

The run of sunny mornings at the moment is just great for making hay by going out birding often. 

On my way through Pilling this morning I stopped to watch a Barn Owl ghosting through the mist and to take a picture of the sunrise. A Quail was calling somewhere in the distance, but no chance of seeing the small and elusive creature, a bird which is more easily heard than seen. The song which is heard mainly at dawn and dusk, is unmistakable and is said to most easily remembered by the phrase "wet my lips". Click on the xeno-canto button to hear the dawn chorus. 

Pilling Sunrise

At Conder Green I was in time to see the local Barn Owl scattering a number of hirundines as it headed for its daytime roost and out of sight. The owl was unlikely to emerge again as the early vehicles and people were beginning to appear, so I settled in to look about the pool and creek. 

A good count of Swifts and hirundines hawking the early batch of insects – 40 Swift, 15 Swallow, 6 Sand Martin and 15 House Martin. Others – 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Sedge Warbler, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 Linnet, 8 Goldfinch, 7 Greenfinch. 

Good numbers of Redshank today with 75+, my how their numbers vary according to overnight arrivals and departures. 60+ Lapwing, 8 Common Sandpipers today plus an about-time Green Sandpiper and a very vocal Little Ringed Plover. 

Common Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper - Photo credit: Photo Nature / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA 

Little Ringed Plover

The Oystercatchers have split the young now, one chick with the male, the other with the female, a strategy employed to maximise the number of chicks making it to flying stage. 

Oystercatcher

 

Oystercatcher chick

Wigeon increased today to 7 individuals, only 4 Tufted Duck but the addition of a distant juvenile Goosander. Other tufties seem to have moved on the more regularly frequented Glasson Basin where I later counted 8 Tufted Duck and 12 Coot.

Goosander

I found a Grey Heron hiding away in the usual quiet spot at Glasson – out of sight out of mind and where it can hunt the shallows without fear of being disturbed. 

Grey Heron

More later from Another Bird Blog. Log in soon and in the meantime remember to click my pics.

This post is linking to  Camera Critters  and Anni's Blog.

Autumn Clues

I decided to give ringing a miss on the principle that a little lie in wouldn’t come amiss, plus as autumn draws near I fancied a bit of just birding because “you just never know”. I did one of my usual mixes which consisted of Conder Green followed by a walk along the shore at Pilling. Not much new then with my choice of locations, but the combination gives me a nice selection of birds, and on a bright morning I might even get a few photographs.

At Conder Green a Spotted Redshank in the creek, still almost totally blackish in summer plumage, immediately stood out from the 120 or so Redshank and a couple of Curlew, whereby there was no need to search for the dusky one amongst the crowd of commoners. I just wish I could get a picture of the bird in this plumage but it seems just as unapproachable as its cousins are. Less obvious to the eye were 4 Dunlin, a species that is one of the early autumn returns, black-bellied adults that almost disappeared in the middle of the crowd of taller redshanks that picked through the stones and low water of the channel. A single Common Sandpiper kept as they usually do to the edge of the channel unmolested by the crowd of other birds.

On the islands an Oystercatcher still sat on eggs whilst another adult flew back and forth from another island where a chick of the year is not yet ready to fly. The Little Ringed Plovers have been far from obvious this year but a single bird did show on the far margins of the pool today. But I must say I haven’t seen any evidence of breeding yet, and the birds need to get on with it soon or it will be too late.

The regular 2 Grey Herons put in an appearance, as did a hunting Kestrel plus still singing Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting. There were several Swifts and House Martins whizzing about but as yet I hadn’t lifted my camera in anger, the pictures below from a previous sortie.

Little Ringed Plover
Redshank
Meadow Pipit

I took a slow drive to Lane Ends via Moss Lane then Thurham where I noted three roadside Sedge Warblers, then in the fields approaching Lane Ends 80 Lapwings in a loose flock and several Curlew interspersed with them. At Lane Ends three warblers sang loudly, Blackcap, Reed Warbler and Chiffchaff with several Swallows and House Martins hawking insects over the mound. It was a good morning for insects, sunny with a warm breeze, which probably accounted for the 20 or more Swifts I saw here and another 8 up at Pilling Water.

It may seem strange to talk of autumn birds in June but the earliest spring migrants are always the first to reappear in summer, so it was no surprise to see a Wheatear on the marsh near Pilling Water as late June is a classic date for the start of their return passage. Also on the marsh here alongside the Damside ditch were 11 Pied Wagtails, mostly juveniles birds, and 3 Common Sandpipers, with on the pool a pair of Teal plus loafing Lapwings and Oystercatchers.

Wheatear
Pied Wagtail

I took a little time out to photograph a group of Swallows, adults and young birds that settled on the metal fencing here in between hunting for insects over the reedy dyke. Exactly the spot I got some similar shots almost twelve months ago.

Swallow
Swallow
Swallow

Between You Me And The Gatepost

Today I wanted to catch up with the jobs that holidays let you forget about, like 100+ emails and dozens of items of post, not to mention two weeks of growth on the lawn.

To hell with it then when my farmer friends at Cockerham gave me a ring to say they had an interesting Oystercatcher nest so I called in and took a look, and there it was in the hollow top of a gate post. Such a nest is not without precedent of course but it is a clever strategy of the birds to nest off the ground and avoid land based predators at the egg stage. The birds, mainly the female in Oystercatchers, have been sitting for about two weeks now so I’ll give it about fourteen more days before looking to ring the young.

Sitting Oystercatcher

Three Egg Stage
Oystercatcher
Pushed for time I took a quick look around the rest of the farm and noted 3 pairs of Lapwing, 2 still on eggs and the other with small young, another pair of Oystercatchers, and a Buzzard in a nearby wood together with a couple of pairs of Swallows in the farm buildings and a Willow Warbler singing from a small copse.

I bumped into PW at Conder green but apart from a quick chat about spring being virtually over, I had time only to check out the receding water levels that now look so good for the returning waders of July. So for PW and because I know how much he likes them, I'm posting a photo of a Little Ringed Plover from last week at Tirant, Menorca.

Lille Ringed Plover
I usually like to have a look in Thurnham Hall in May, mainly in search of Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Chiffchaff. I wasn’t disappointed today when I saw a single Spotted Flycatcher but at least 3 Garden Warblers, singing and hard “tacking”, plus 2 singing Chiffchaffs with a likely nest locality memorised for a follow up when I have more time.

In Menorca Spotted Flycatchers moved through in very large numbers during 1st to 15 May and I did get more than one photograph. So here is just one of those plus a photograph of an Audouin’s Gull taking a gulp of pool water and yet another Hoopoe, all pictures from the confines of a sunbed – happy days!

Spotted Flycatcher
Audouin’s Gull
Hoopoe

Now please excuse me, I really must tackle those emails.

Less Work, More Play

After Friday’s ringing, I decided this morning would be less like a job of work so decided to go birding with the aim of getting a few photographs, of anything.

First stop was deserted Conder Green, where the absence of large wagons overlooking the pool allowed me to be probably the first person there. I looked in vain for the Spotted Redshank now almost completely black that is always there but I drew a blank on the species for the first time in many, many months. I settled for a Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 7 Redshank, a Curlew and an overhead Whimbrel that flew out over the railway bridge to the marsh. The owning Oystercatcher chivvied a single Black-tailed Godwit to the furthest side of the island before I could get a decent look at it in what seemed to be almost full summer plumage. The Oystercatchers and Redshank still spend a lot of time displaying and squabbling, but not so the Lapwing as there seems to be one pair only. Likewise the Little Ringed Plover with a displaying bird over the back of the pool today.

Greenshank
Little Ringed Plover
The morning duck count was 3 Goldeneye, 2 Tufted Duck and 4 Shelduck.

It was fairly early in the morning and with a tide due I thought that Cockersands Abbey might be worth a visit. The first obvious birds were 8 “Greenland” Wheatears flitting around the shore, and as in the last week elsewhere they proved immediately mobile, reluctant to pose for photographs, and I judged, too urgently dynamic a group to try and catch any of them. In fact it took a while to take pictures just from my car without even trying to approach them they were so energetic. In addition to the Wheatears, a party of 12 Meadow Pipits looked new in, a theme to be repeated later at Pilling. Two Sandwich Terns flew up and down the river calling constantly.

”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear
Waders were thin on the ground with the normal suspects Oystercatcher, Redshank, Ringed Plover and Dunlin but I took time out to photograph 2 Grey Plover that stood obligingly on a rock.

Grey Plover
Grey Plover
Grey Plover
At Lane Ends a Sparrowhawk left towards the village as I arrived but a Blackbird carrying food dived into the plantation despite the Jays that have been seen again doing their evil best. Singing birds included a loud Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.

As ever I walked up to Pilling Water where I found yet more Wheatears. Another 8 here that like all the others this week continued with rapid migration, this time east towards Lane Ends, but not before a female tripped my spring trap closed without getting caught but I watched it go back for a look at the meal worm inside. Along the tide line was another party of Meadow Pipits that this time numbered about twenty.

Meadow Pipit
”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear
The wildfowlers pools held less Redshank today with perhaps only 40, but the ever present Little Egret was in the ditch out towards the shore, and over the ex-stubble at Fluke Hall where the Lapwings recently laid their eggs, a Buzzard circled over the newly ploughed earth.

Right Decision

I was tempted last night by the thought of ringing on a fine Tuesday morning but I looked carefully at the “all wrong” weather synopsis of north easterly wind with a drop in air temperature and decided to give the ringing a miss on the basis that there wouldn’t be much overnight migration to fill a mist net or two. Instead I opted for a birding afternoon, a quick check at Conder Green, a wander around Bank End then a look for Wheatears where I hoped the morning sun might have worked its magic by waking up the chat’s sheltering insect food.

At Conder Green I saw my first Common Sandpiper of the year in the creek together with both a single Greenshank and the piebald Spotted Redshank. Often, but not today, I forget to count the commoner things, like 12 Redshank, 11 Oystercatchers, the dozen or so Teal still scattered around or the Grey Heron that always honks into sight if I wait long enough. There was still at least one Little Grebe with 2 Goldeneye, the wintering duck that always lingers longest in spring and often in pairs.

Like PW yesterday I had to search for the Little Ringed Plover and also following in his footsteps, found it alone in the west corner. Perhaps now is a good time to remind ourselves Little Ringed Plover is a Schedule 1 species and as such, where present in the breeding season, is provided with special protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981.

Little Ringed Plover
Grey Heron
By the afternoon it was pretty blowy and cool, so I reckoned I hadn’t missed much in the way of morning migration as confirmed by my walk down Bank End alongside the marsh but also on an adjoining farm where I have permission to do a little survey work. The marsh was fairly quiet with 2 of those frustrating Little Egrets that seem not to be paired up but destined to spend their summers and winters stalking the fields and ditches of Fylde and Lancaster districts. The only summer birds came in the shape of 8 Swallows together, and a single Sand Martin, but I listened in vain for a Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff or Blackcap to enliven proceedings.

Little Egret
Walking the farm I counted 14 nests in the rookery where a Buzzard flew off to another copse at either my approach or the noise and attention that the Rooks gave it. The farm pools had a pair of Tufted Duck with 4 displaying Oystercatchers and a pair of Lapwings on the surrounding land, not to mention sundry ex-farmyard Mallards, Greylag and Canada Goose. In the passerine line I settled for overflying local Tree Sparrows, 2 Linnets, a fine Pied Wagtail and a single White Wagtail, another species which has been in very short supply this spring.

Pied Wagtail
Back at Pilling Lane Ends I found the now resident Reed Buntings, the trilling Little Grebe and a pair of Meadow Pipits, more bachelor and spinster Little Egrets out on the marsh and still 1000+ Pink-footed Geese that perhaps felt at home in the cool, cloudy, northerly air with a distinct Icelandic feel to it.

Pink-footed Goose
And once again I didn’t find a single Wheatear, another day of grace for the meal worms.