Can It Be Magic?

There’s always excitement at Knott End, but not always in the birding line. This morning three police cars arrived to deal with a stolen van, doors left-open and abandoned on the beach; so much for my quiet walk along the esplanade when half the village turned out to see what all the fuss was about. So I clocked the 18 Eider, 4 Pied Wagtail, 8 Turnstone and the 1500+ Oystercatcher then headed off to Pilling for a walk.

Lane Ends turned up 4 Little Egret, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Jay, 2 Meadow Pipits and three falcons in the similar but different shapes of Peregrine, Kestrel and Merlin. The Peregrine was dashing over the edge of the marsh scattering everything in sight, including 1500+ Lapwings while the Kestrel patrolled the embankment without causing so much as a stir.

Normally I see a Merlin in high speed aerobatic pursuit of prey, ducking and diving, dashing about trying to catch small passerines or waders, but the one I watched today spent a long time fence hopping and then ground feeding by walking about searching for food. If this is the same Merlin which has been around Lane Ends for a week or two there aren’t many small passerines about for a hungry soul at the moment, but Merlins are known to consume insect prey, for instance beetles and moths, although they need a lot in numbers as substitute for the weight of a single small bird. As they always are, the Merlin was pretty distant and the picture well cropped, but I think it’s a juvenile female if that’s relevant.

Merlin

In the car park I chatted to a couple of wildfowlers who also thought that 15,000 Pink-footed Geese was a near enough estimate for recent morning and evening gatherings, but unlike me they didn’t hear the Siskin that flew over - It’s very worrying when people with guns can’t identify birds. A single Jay and several Blackbirds were the only additions to my Lane Ends list.

Siskin

Up to Pilling Water where I added 3 more Little Egret and 3 Grey Heron, 30 Whooper Swan, 22 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 4 Linnet, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Skylark. As I remarked, not many passerines about today, so that poor little Merlin needs to pull something out of the hat.

Linnet

A Change Of Direction

There’s not a lot in my update tonight. I got out for a couple of hours intending a walk from Lane Ends to Pilling Water, hoping to come across a Lapland Bunting along the sea wall now that a few are beginning to appear locally, but Hi-Fly had a big shoot on next to Pilling Water. It wasn’t a couple of folk taking pot shots, more like a major organised half-a-day occasion, with dozens of beaters and shooters with their attendant noise which echoed along the marsh.

So I decided to walk in the other direction, towards Cockerham, but first I got a few bits and pieces near the car park. There were plenty of Pink-footed Goose again, way out towards the sands, but only 7/8000 today and not the 20,000 or so of Sunday, and those that flew inland had adjusted their flight direction to Cockerham, away from the sound of gunfire on the flooded but baited stubble. Without much effort I counted 5 Little Egrets as they intermittently disappeared than reappeared by walking in and out of the distant tidal ditches. I could hear a trilling Little Grebe from the western pool and below the car park a Chiffchaff, but the main pool was devoid of wildfowl except for a dozen or two Mallard.

I headed off east where I came across 2 Wheatear on a stretch of rocks put down to strengthen the sea wall, a patch of ideal habitat for Wheatears, where there’s always insects down in the crevices. A bit further on, about 50 yards out on the marsh is a great lump of tree carried in by the tides months ago, a perfect spot for the wintering Merlin, or so I thought some weeks ago. I passed level with the dark mass, looking at the sticking up branch in shadow on the right hand side when something made me lift my bins just in case. It really was; the Merlin had let me walk so far, but as soon as I made to look closer, the branch lifted off and the Merlin shot off towards Braides before I could get a decent picture. At least I now know the bird is around and has found the perch. The quicksilver, fearless Merlin, one of my favourite birds.

Merlin
Wheatear

A Kestrel hovered above and along the wall, and as I walked I flushed 2 Grey Partridge from the grassy slope, but they flew back to overgrazed Sheep City where there isn’t much concealment. I continued on alongside the inland drainage, full to overflowing in places, too full for muddy margin waders but not too full for a Little Egrets or a Greenshank, both of which flew off to the marsh at my arrival. I found a third Wheatear up here, on yet another pile of stones, and also a Pied Wagtail.

Pilling Marsh and distant pinkies
Kestrel

Up this way it’s a long walk in both directions, one I used to do both ways when Lapwings and Redshank bred in the adjacent fields, before sileage, winter crops and farm improvements; but not today as I turned back towards Lane Ends There were definitely 3 Wheatears, and I didn’t see much different on the way back except for a Snipe, the Kestrel again and the constant flights of pinkies and Curlew heading inland.

It was a pleasant enough walk but there's nothing quite like the tried and trusted favourite spot is there? Better luck tomorrow I hope when the sportsmen have gone.

Spring Two

I always buy in a pot of live meal worms for springtime because Wheatears just can’t resist them, so when I go to Lane Ends and Pilling Water I combine birding with trying to catch a few Wheatears if they are around.

I hadn’t seen a Wheatear until today but when after lunch I walked towards Pilling Water I saw three of them; within 5 minutes I caught two in spring traps whilst the third watched proceedings from the top of the single bare elderberry tree.

Male Wheatear
Female Wheatear

Earlier on I didn’t expect to see any Wheatears because of the Merlin sat amongst the rocks of the sea wall in my favoured Wheatear catching location. Maybe it was the sight of those white rumps from the distant marsh that brought it near in the first place, but as soon as it saw me it sped off again.

Merlin

Other birds seen this afternoon with combined Lane Ends/Pilling Water counts: Little Grebe 2, Gadwall 2, Meadow Pipit 6, Goldfinch 6, Little Egret 4, Reed Bunting 2, Linnet 3, Skylark 3, Long-tailed Tit 2. Additional birds of prey were represented by a male Sparrowhawk over the plantation and a male Peregrine both sat on and dashing over the marsh towards Cockerham.

I called in at a Little Owl spot for another twosome: I guess this goes on Birdtrack as a positive breeding record?

Little Owl
Little Owls

Wader Count

Today turned out to be a bit of a wader counting session because almost every spot I passed or looked at seemed to hold large numbers of them.

It was a bitterly cold easterly wind this morning at Fluke Hall but a quick look from the sea wall revealed a number of corvids, about 250, comprising 50/50 Carrion Crows and Jackdaws.

On the immediate marsh were 325 Lapwings, later to be a huge feature of the morning, and 1200 Pink-footed Goose that quite quickly left their roost to fly just inland to the fields next to Fluke. 5 Whooper Swans also flew onto the same area as the geese.

I combined the count from the wet fields at Fluke Hall Lane, Damside, Backsands Lane and roadside fields up to Gulf Lane to come up with impressive figures of 600 Redshank, 2200 Lapwing, 40 Dunlin, 3 Snipe, 310 Curlew and 22 Oystercatchers. Non-waders seen were 7 Meadow Pipits, 3 Little Egrets and a single Kestrel.

A further 330 Lapwings seen at Braides Farm together with small numbers of Golden Plover, probably 75 only, although they were distant behind the sea wall. Whilst Lapwing numbers are now high following the month or more of snow, ice and frost, it does appear that many Golden Plover left the area. Two more Little Egrets at Braides.

I spent an hour or more in the Conder Green area with nothing unexpected to report: 16 Shelduck, 2 Coot, 2 Spotted Redshank, 95 Teal, 3 Snipe, 7 Wigeon and 1 Little Egret. Only 4 Redshank in the creek, a low count but it looks like Redshank as a whole have taken to the now wet very fields of the surrounding area. Along the hedgerows and car park I found 10 Long-tailed Tit, 13 Goldfinch, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Linnets and several Blackbird.

The Jeremy Lane area held many more common waders; 430 Curlew, 105 Redshank, 10 Black-tailed Godwit and a further 385 Lapwing. Two Little Egrets in the roadside ditches and a Kestrel. I admit I didn’t stop to count the Mute Swan but a couple of hundred of them scattered over the fields amongst the waders certainly added to the impression of a feeding feast on abundant prey.

Next, down the lane to my usual finishing spot at Bank End where the wet fields on either side held more of the common three, 180 Curlew, 85 Redshank and 140 Lapwing.

Lapwing

Curlew

Curlew
Alongside the marsh a Pied Wagtail and a Grey Wagtail walked ahead of me as I prepared my camera for yet another Grey Wagtail photograph. No chance, a Merlin flashed low in front of me to closely miss both wagtails then vanished out of sight over the embankment into the fields. I didn’t see the wagtails after that brief encounter but the Merlin returned from the fields and perched on a distant post out on the marsh before it was seen off by Carrion Crows.

Grey Wagtail

Merlin

Apologies for the poor shot, I did say it was distant and it was.

"Pinkie" time

A bit grotty again this morning. That seems to be the pattern of the weather at the moment, poor starts then clearing up a little later in the day when all the birds are that bit harder to find and I get home to my pottering or jobs to do.

I still needed to see the big brute digger in action and even though the bird blogs are full of pictures, how nice to get a feel of what the birds and the birders are going to get out of this. Yes I did see it close up, a mighty impressive bit of kit, probably a bit more expensive than the average farm tractor as I watched it cut a 500yard swathe through the old salt marsh in a matter of minutes guided by the tripod mounted laser. The sandy ditches created yesterday were already full of overnight rain. A group of a few dozen Swallows quickly latched onto the opportunities created as they flew around and through the clouds of earthy debris the machine spewed out.

An overhead Merlin had obviously been hanging around where the flock of 70 plus Goldfinch fed on a good thistle crop. Nice to see such a flock, but where are all the Linnets again?



Walking through the fields flushed about 10 Skylarks together with at least half a dozen Meadow Pipits although I am sure more would be hugging the ground against the wind.

My first Pink-footed Geese of the year appeared in the form of two single birds “ank-anking” as they flew in a south west direction. Now it's definitely Autumn. Pinkies just seem to get earlier each year, in fact there is probably a gap of only three months when I don’t see them.

Although the light was pretty poor, promises of blue, I managed a picture of a windblown Pied Wagtail on edge of the track, the only photo I grabbed all morning.

On the way back south I called into Lane Ends, the marsh shrouded in murky light and mizzle to see 1200 Lapwings and half as many Curlew, 140 Shelduck, and a lone Little Egret. Not a morning for walking to Pilling Water or Fluke Hall.

Maybe soon the sun will shine and I will get a full morning birding in?