Bygone Times

We’re already planning the autumn Linnet ringing so with that in mind I set out to check Richard the farmer’s bird seed plot at Cockerham. Although we like to complain about the weather the year has been a good one for plant growth with a good mix of showery rain and now a spell of hot weather that should ripen the seeds.

Bird Seed Plot- Cockerham 

There was a Linnet singing from the stretch of bramble that lines the adjacent ditch. Hopefully it has found a mate. As a breeding species the Linnet is now pretty scarce around here so let’s hope this is an omen but I suspect not – more like a relic of times gone by. It’s not so many years ago that close to here were two loose breeding colonies of Linnets - one in gorse at Lane Ends 750 yards away and the other in a larger clump gorse at Braides farm half-a-mile away. Now we have none. 

Linnet 

As we have discovered through ringing here, the autumn and winter Linnets are not our own but originate much further away, some from the Northern Isles of Scotland.  They come here to bask in the relative winter warmth of the Lancashire coast.   

At the monoculture of Braides Farm I saw very little over or in the expanse of green except for a couple of distant Skylarks and a single Red-legged Partidge walking the farmer's track. 

I motored towards Conder Green and to compare notes now that early autumn is here. Already we have passed the longest day, the summer solstice.

There was evidence of early returning waders by way of 2 Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 24 Lapwing, 70+ Redshanks, and a handful of Curlews. Resident waders had changed little with 2 Avocet, 15 Oystercatcher and a single adult Little-ringed Plover. There have been a number of sighting of Little-ringed Plovers this year, sometimes one, often two, but it appears that no breeding occurred with zero young reported. 

Little Ringed Plover 

Little-ringed Plover Charadrius dubius is named via Charadrius a Latin word for a yellowish bird and dubius, Latin for “doubtful”, via Sonnerat a French naturalist, writer and explorer who in 1776 thought this bird might be a variant of the common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula. We now know of course that the two birds are related but totally different species. 

Wildfowl and herons have changed little in recent weeks and continue as 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Shelduck, 1 Teal, 3 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. There’s little change on the crowded nesting platform with what looks like two chicks each for both Common Tern and Black-headed Gull.  

Common Tern

It appears that any breeding success of both Oystercatcher and Redshank here has been poor; my own sightings consisted of a single young Oystercatcher some weeks ago. Small birds and “others” were limited to 12 Pied Wagtail, 3 Reed Bunting, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Blackcap and 2 Stock Dove. 

Swallows continue to be scarce other than an unexpected posse of 35 or more at Gardner’s Farm along Moss House Lane. First broods are on the wing now so let’s hope the fine weather continues and allows the Swallows another go. A feeding party of 30 Swifts over the hedgerows was rather fine to witness. 

Swallow 

 On the way home I chanced upon a single Corn Bunting, another rarity relic of times gone by.

 Corn Bunting

Back soon. Don't go away and have a super weekend.

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot.

That’s A Big Swallow

At last, a morning without rain. First priority this morning was checking the Hambleton Swallows where the second broods are later in the season than is normal. I knew from previous notes at least one nest would have chicks for ringing, or that is if they had managed to survive the last 3 days of rain and the resulting reduced food intake. I needn’t have worried, as although the five youngsters have proved to be slow developers, they were large enough for a ring each. Three other second nests were at full egg stage but a week or two behind their normal progress at this time of year.

Graham the land owner who follows the success and failures of his Swallows with huge interest asked me “Have you seen the nest in the old garage?” the old building that Swallows use in some years only. Off I went anticipating a new Swallow nest I had overlooked but found instead a Woodpigeon guarding a nest with a sizeable chick. That’s the first Woodpigeon chick I ever ringed in a building.

Woodpigeon
Woodpigeon

The day brightened further, enough to chance a walk down Pilling Way. The sea wall was rather quiet, even the finches down to single digit counts of Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Meadow Pipit. I came across another 3J Wheatear, an unringed bird but a similar looking individual to the one I caught on 12th July. This latest bird was also attracted to a meal worm lunch.

Wheatear - juvenile
Wheatear - juvenile
Wheatear - juvenile

Between Pilling Water and Fluke Hall my counts were of 700 Curlew, 115 Lapwing, 18 Oystercatcher, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Pied Wagtail and 3 Grey Heron. I finished my agreeable morning on a nice little high with 3 Little-ringed Plovers on the wildfowler’s pools, filling up nicely after the recent rain – It’s an ill wind etc.

Little-ringed Plover

Double Report

There’s not an awful lot to mention from this morning’s birding except returning waders stealing the limelight, as they often do in July, when they are usually more obvious and easier to seek out than skulking, moulting warblers hiding in thick, summery vegetation.

The morning started with a Barn Owl again at 0730, one of the Burned House Lane birds patrolling the fields next to the Z bends with the double white lines; so I daren’t stop, but instead glanced left then motored on to Pilling for my morning walk.

At Pilling Water I approached the wildfowler’s pools with care as birds are often tucked below the bank, unseen until a body is too close, and then as if to prove it, 11 bright-plumaged, fresh in from Iceland Black-tailed Godwits flew noisily off before I could drop any lower onto the open ground that surrounds the pools. The godwits caused 5 Oystercatchers and 3 Redshanks to fly off, but a single Little-ringed Plover stayed on the pool, together with a Common Sandpiper and a couple of Lapwings. We associate Little-ringed Plovers with the stony margins of water courses but on migration they aren’t that fussy.

Black-tailed Godwit
Little-ringed Plover

On the outer part of Broadfleet and the surrounding marsh I counted another 4 Common Sandpiper, 70+ Lapwing, 22 Redshank, 40+ Curlew and 2 Grey Heron. My passerine count was almost identical to recent days with 8 Goldfinch, 6 Greenfinch, 8 Pied Wagtail and 2 Meadow Pipit, with still the Linnet flock but their numbers now increased to a healthy looking 60+ birds.

Linnet
Meadow Pipit

I’ve been looking for a Wheatear for a week now without any success but finally found one today on the stones below the sea wall but it didn’t hang around the spot to take my meal worm, and instead carried on in the direction of Fluke Hall.

I just sat quietly on the stile minding my own business when three Carrion Crows pointed me in the direction of a Stoat, running towards me on the landward side of the sea wall. The crows harried the Stoat from above, calling and drawing attention to the little predator, but when it spotted me it turned tail then ran back to where it had come from, before eventually disappearing into the long grass. Stoats are fairly frequent along here, making a living from bunnies and other small animals, carrion and probably ground nesting birds. I’ve missed a few photo opportunities lately when the creatures have spotted me on their route ahead, and I hope one day soon to meet face to face again with the engaging little creature.

Stoat

In contrast to my lack of numbers birding, the latest totals from our Fylde Ringing Group is that we ringed another 265 birds in June, more in fact than in both January and February, but a lesser total than the migration months of March, April or May. More than half of June’s 265 birds were accounted for by 110 Tree Sparrow youngsters from nest boxes and 36 Swallow chicks. Pied Flycatchers came in third place with a total of 27 birds, a small number of adults but mainly nestlings. Now we are all looking forward to the birds of autumn time!