Where Are The Kids?

Thursday - what a strange morning. We met at 0600 up at Oakenclough - Andy, Bryan and me - a sunny morning in mid-June when we might expect good numbers of both breeding adults and newly fledged juveniles. 

However, and against all expectations our catch of birds in four hours totalled a paltry twelve - 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Robin, 2 Blackcap, 1 Goldfinch, 2 Wren and 1 Dunnock. Only three of those twelve birds, the resident Robins and the single Dunnock, were juveniles of this year. 

A surprising aspect of the morning was the lack of juvenile Willow Warblers as opposed to the fifteen or so males still in full song in the planation. Spring 2022 was so cold, late and lacking in the timely arrival of both males and females that we suspect many Willow Warblers are still at the nesting/incubation stage where males sing while females attend to their nest. Alternatively there may be many nest failures but either way is bad news. 

Female Bullfinch AKN3608 was a recapture from the last visit while the male was new to us. Both were in prime breeding condition that suggested a nearby nest. 

Bullfinch

 

Bullfinch

Both Blackcaps were male but we saw no females or newly fledged young.

Blackcap

The two juvenile Robins were offspring of resident birds rather than summer returning warbler species. 

Robin

 

On the water and along the grassy banks we saw an unseasonal Whooper Swan, one that by rights should now be in Iceland. 

 

Whooper Swan

Quite why and how a Whooper Swan is up in the hills of Lancashire in mid-June is something of a mystery, but it could be the same one that summered in the Cockerham area 15 miles away in 2021 but then joined Greylags returning inland to breed. During the northerly winds and cold of May 2022 the Whooper probably felt quite at home. 

A single Buzzard soared around for a while before performing a display dive to distant trees. 

Buzzard

Buzzards are now scarce up here on the edge of Bowland where raptors must still take their chances against tech-savvy gamekeepers. In contrast to this certain and continued persecution there is informed talk of a very successful breeding season for both Hen Harriers (40+ young fledged) and Merlins on private land where the species are well watched and soundly protected. 

From nearby trees, mixed and conifer, we saw Siskin, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker and a party of 15-20 Long-tailed Tit. Thankfully, and for the second time on the trot we retained a clean sheet for the timice family. By all accounts it would seem that they too have experienced a poor season due to a lack of caterpillar food in April and May. Our pet name for Oakenclough is "Coal Tit Central", but not on Thursday.

Nuthatch

Siskin

Others seen - 3 Grey Heron, 1 Grey Wagtail, 3 Pied Wagtail, 4 Swallow , Oystercatcher with one young. 

Back soon with more news, views and photos.

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.

Updated.

Sorry I’m late. Windows decided to bring me up-to-date me with the latest enhancements that I can’t live without.

Mr Gates, you need to know, my Sue has been trying to modernise me for years and failed miserably.  Yet it appears that Windows 10 does automatic updates whether the user wants them or not and by clicking constantly pressing “no”, all I did was delay the inevitable.  Like a fool and worn down by the constant messages on the screen I clicked “go”. Three hours later here we are trying to update the blog. 

February and every birder I know has been looking for signs of spring in the extra daylight hours despite the constant Arctic winds headed our way. There’s been a few pointers at home with Blue Tit and Great Tit popping into nest boxes, Blackbirds hanging around the ivy covered hawthorns, and the annual Nuthatch visit following a burst or two of song. I’m still hoping that one of these years the Nuthatches might go further than simply practice their nesting skills in that mostly neglected box. 

Nuthatch

I’ve watched a Treecreeper search the apple tree on a couple of occasions and noticed an increase in Goldfinches after a distinct lack during December and January, but I think those latter two are more related to food. 

This morning I set off in the usual direction and soon hit upon a Barn Owl in the half-light. As I watched the owl a handful of calling Fieldfares rattled over having just left their overnight roost. 

There was nothing doing until I got to Gulf Lane where I waited a while for Linnets to arrive for the seed I dropped. Just 100 or so today their numbers and persistence tested to the full in recent weeks by the constant battering of rain and wind. There was a Snipe, the inevitable Little Egret, a Kestrel from the nearby farm buildings, and just over the fence a gang of Lapwings with muddy bills. 

Lapwing

Around Moss Edge I found the male Stonechat that’s hung around for weeks along a line of fence bordering a few straggly reeds. There were Fieldfares here, about 80 or 90 but looking into the light and very flighty. Brown Hares were about this morning. I saw a couple on a circuit of Jeremy Lane tucked in close to the ground, motionless and with their ears pressed flat along their backs, trying for all the world to look like a large clod of earth. 

Brown Hare

“Bits and pieces” between Jeremy Lane, Moss Lane, Slack Lane and Cockersands included 150+Starling, 90 Fieldfare, 2 Redwing, 20+ Meadow Pipit, 1 Merlin, 8+ Skylark, 7 Greenfinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Stonechat (female). The Stonechat appears to have parted company with the male Stonechat that was along the same stretch of foreshore for several weeks. The two of them could always be found with a few yards of each other until now, but now just the one. 

Stonechat

Starling

 At Glasson I noted just 11 Goldeneye and 1 Goosander although of note, a single drake Pochard was still in residence. 

Conder Green was relatively quiet but still approximately 200 Teal, 22 Redshank, 18 Lapwing, 10 Curlew, 5 Snipe and 1 Greenshank. Of note here was a pair of Oystercatchers on territory close to last year’s nesting site that failed at the busy roadside. 

Curlew

Don’t forget. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog to see the new updates.

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

After The Deluge

We’ve had a lot of rain. On Thursday we had a month’s average rainfall in less than a day. Fifteen miles from here the River Conder burst its banks just south of Lancaster and flooded the village of Galgate. The story made the national TV news. 

When I set off birding this morning I ran into still partially flooded roads that criss-crossed acres of waterlogged fields. Three miles south of Lancaster and on the other side of the River Lune the fields surrounding Cockersands Abbey (circa 1184) were some of the worst. That’s the tiny ancient abbey in the centre of the picture with Mute Swans installed on the flood. 

Slack Lane, Cockersands

B&W of Slack Lane

 Cockersands Abbey

As might be expected the floods held lots of birds looking for food washed from the ditches, dykes and already saturated ground following historic summer rain. Too many to count and scattered far and wide were Starlings, Lapwings, Golden Plovers, Curlews, Redshanks, Mallards, and a couple of Grey Herons. 

A stop and look found 40 Meadow Pipit, 14 Goldfinch, 8 Tree Sparrow, 4 Greenfinch, 3 Chaffinch, 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Reed Bunting and 2 Skylark. The Golden Plovers spooked at nothing and then wheeled around, twisting and turning in unison before they settled again among Lapwings, Redshanks and paddling Starlings. The morning sun lit up the plovers' pale bellies against the shower filled sky.

Curlew

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Grey Heron

Golden Plover

The herd of Whooper Swans picked a well-drained field in which to spend their days. They are more scattered across the field but still in excess of 400 individuals and ever wary to passing cars that slow or stop for photographs. The now well-trodden field grows muddier by the day but the swans’ method of feeding leaves them looking less than white. 

Whooper Swans

 

After the Deluge

I called at our Linnet field, waded along the net ride and dropped seed into the nearby vegetation. With a little luck the 140+ Linnets will stay around and we’ll get a ringing session when it stops raining and our seed stops washing into the adjacent ditch. 

Linnet

Back home I was greeted by a calling Nuthatch, one of the few birds in the garden just lately. 

Nuthatch

Even the Goldfinches have mostly deserted us after weeks and weeks of cascading water.

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

Nut Case

Nuthatches are fairly uncommon close to where I live but unexpectedly I have previously caught a couple when ringing everyday garden birds like Goldfinch, Dunnock and Blackbird. 

Nuthatch

On Tuesday there was a very vocal Nuthatch in the big sycamore in a neighbour’s garden, calling, whistling and generally shouting “this is my territory”. I thought no more about it until sat in the afternoon April sunshine when a bird flew from the said sycamore and landed in an ancient damson tree at the bottom of our unremarkable garden. Yes, the damson tree which hosts a beat up old nest box that is rarely occupied from one year to the next.

So to cut a long story short, I now have two Nuthatches nest building at the bottom of my garden, a very welcome first. Wednesday, and watching from the conservatory the two are still at it but in a less active manner during what is a cold and showery day.

Nuthatch - Photo: Sergey Yeliseev via Foter.com/CC BY-NC-ND 

To put this record into a local context the Nuthatch is far from common in this part of coastal Fylde, where there is a lack of suitable mature woodland, an absence which limits the species’ ability to increase its local population. Although Nuthatches are resident all year round they have a somewhat patchy breeding distribution related to their habitat requirements. 

If all goes according to a normal timetable I should BE ringing the youngsters by early to mid-May.

There's more nut case birding very soon. Be sure not to miss it.

Out At Last!

Blog regulars may think the reason for a lack of recent posts is that I took a day or three off birding to do a few household chores, look after grandkids or spend time with my long suffering wife. The truth is that all three played a part in my being AWOL but the major reason was the good old British Weather. For the last four days it has blown the proverbial gale with up to 70mph gusts coupled with  lots of  rain, and then for good measure the occasional burst of snow or sleet. And all of this in our so called “Spring”. 

On Wednesday morning I set off for Fluke Hall where I gave it an hour or two in the cold air and then quickly packed in after I saw and heard very little. The few highlights proved to be watching a pair of Nuthatches collecting nest material before they flew into the nearby woodland to their chosen nest site.

There was a flock of c700 very flighty Golden Plover which eventually scarpered off over the sea wall after being spooked by the antics of crows and Lapwings and their customary arguments. By the early afternoon there was more rain so I was happy to be ensconced at home with a cup of tea and a chocolate digestive, postponing the birds until someday soon.

Nuthatch - Photo credit: corvidaceous / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

Finally, and by Wednesday evening there looked to be a window of weather for Thursday morning so Andy and I arranged to meet up 0630 at Oakenclough. It was a whole week of missing visits and we weren’t quite sure what to expect apart from having to don winter wellies and a couple of layers in preparation for the forecast 3⁰ degrees.

We continued where we left off with yet more redpolls plus a number of other finches in a total of 19 birds, 13 new ones and 6 recaptures.

New birds: 6 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Long-tailed Tit.  Recaptures: 2 Great Tit, 1 Siskin, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Long-tailed Tit.

The morning was pretty cold and we didn’t see or hear the Chiffchaff until we caught it. There was no sign or sound of Willow Warblers even though they are due in on 1st April.

Chiffchaff

Below is a rather splendid example of a bright adult male Lesser Redpoll, one of six lessers caught today, bringing the total here this Spring close to 40.

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

One of the two Siskin caught was a recapture from January, suggesting that there are still very few Continental immigrants around. Pictures are of an adult male and a second year male.

Siskin- second year male

Siskin- adult male

Siskin - second year male

Birding proved as quiet as the ringing apart from a fly over Osprey (Thanks PK) heading North West and out towards Morecambe Bay about 0915. Perhaps the one flying over over Burton Mere, Cheshire earlier in the morning?

Otherwise - 4 Pied Wagtail, 3 singing Song Thrush, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Kestrel.

More soon - stay tuned to Another Bird Blog.

In the meantime I'm linking this post to  Eileen's Saturday 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.

Tales Of The Unexpected

There were no great surprises at Fluke Hall this morning; unless you count a couple of strange birders - it must be October and Yellow-browed Warbler time. The major surprise was to arrive later in the day while catching a few more Goldfinches in the garden. 

I was hoping for some Whooper Swans along Pilling shore but instead found 2 Ruff feeding on the wildfowler’s pool amongst 40 or so Shelduck. Ten minutes later Whooper Swans appeared, nine of them flying in from the outer marsh and continuing south, the first of the autumn and fresh-in from Iceland. About thirty minutes later another four Whoopers appeared from the North East and then circled about before landing somewhere just inland. 

Whooper Swan

There was a jellyfish along last night’s tideline, such a good example that I took a picture. 

Jellyfish

The farmers were busy sheep shearing where I next wanted to look so after a single Grey Heron and a couple of Little Egrets I abandoned that idea and instead spent time near the wildflowers’ stubble field and pools. The stubble is pretty good with 70+ Skylark, 25 Linnet, 6 Meadow Pipit, 1 Snipe, a couple of Redshank and 1500 roving Starlings. 

The pool proved not so good with Shelduck flying in in but not staying, 4 Reed Buntings around the perimeter and small numbers of Meadow Pipits in-off the marsh. 

In the woodland - Two Buzzards, 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers and 3 Jays, plus an overflying Sparrowhawk. There’s a huge crop of beech mast this year and it lines the road and crunches underfoot when walking through the lane. A few Chaffinch and Great Tits took advantage of the harvest but otherwise I couldn’t even find a Brambling and certainly not a Yellow-browed Warbler. 

Back home, and to add to eleven of a day or two ago, I caught another 8 Goldfinches from the flock of 50+ that’s in the neighbourhood, 2 more Greenfinch and a Robin. One of the Goldfinches was so young it wasn’t possible to ascertain the sex, but from the wing length and bill size a likely male. This plumage in October suggests it is one of a very late brood of September. 

Goldfinch - adult male

Goldfinch - juvenile

First winter Robin

Robin

Next was a bird I’ve never seen in the garden in almost fifteen years of living here, a Nuthatch, not just one but a male and a female in a net which had interrupted their flight line from the niger feeders. A very nice but also unexpected surprise as the species breeds uncommonly in this area. 

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

I thought back to earlier in the week when there was a Nuthatch at Fluke Hall, not a breeding site for the species but where Nuthatches occur infrequently in the spring, autumn or winter. It made me wonder if Nuthatches may be undergoing one of their periodic irruptions. 

An irruption is a dramatic, irregular migration of large numbers of birds to areas where they aren’t typically found, possibly at a great distance from their normal ranges. Depending on the species, irruptions may occur in cycles from 2-10 years, or they may be much more unpredictable. 

Several factors can lead to irruptive years for different birds. The most common cause is a lack of food in the birds’ normal wintering grounds; famine can force large numbers of birds to seek more plentiful habitats until seeds, flowers and insects return in the spring. Birds that feed on the seeds and catkins of birch, maple, pine, spruce and hemlock trees often irrupt when those types of trees have poor seed crops. 

Other causes for bird irruptions include unduly harsh cold or severe weather that may force birds to find more temperate wintering grounds, or overbreeding that may further deplete even plentiful food supplies. No matter what the cause of the irruption, however, it is difficult to predict where or when irrupting species may appear. 

Log in to Another Bird Blog soon where there will be more tales of the expected and maybe even the unexpected.

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

Brambling And Barm Cake

A busy couple of hours in Will’s Garstang garden gave us a catch of over 50 birds again, fifty-one in fact. 41 new birds were: 33 Siskin, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Great Tit, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Wren and 1 Brambling. Recaptures: 6 Siskin with 1 each of Tree Sparrow, Nuthatch, Great Tit and Wren – an interesting and worthwhile selection of species.

As normal the Siskins arrived early and noisily from the nearby roost, perhaps 125 individuals this morning, coming for a feed on the plentiful Niger. The 33 new ones trapped lifted our total of Siskin in the garden to 258 birds ringed this year, and we are fairly sure there are more to come, for a week or so at least. After our success here with Bramblings in December and January, the single juvenile male today was the first caught here since 16th February, and whilst there have been low numbers about, including 3 or 4 today, the one we caught may well be the last until autumn.

Brambling
Brambling
Siskin

So while the Siskins kept us busy, huge entertainment ensued for Will and Peter when the male Great-spotted Woodpecker gouged lumps from my finger and drew blood as I took a portrait of it; whoever said ringing birds was for softies? The recaptured Nuthatch was a male, probably the one that may stay to breed in the garden.

Great-spotted Woodpecker
Great-spotted Woodpecker
”peckered”
Nuthatch

Peter joined us today and enjoyed his encounter with lots of Siskins but found time to share in a compulsory Ringer’s Breakfast - bacon butties with tomato or HP.

Barm Cakes

For whatever reason, probably entirely accidental by mistakenly clicking incorrect buttons on their computers, this blog has a number of readers from the US who struggle somewhat with the strange colonial terminology occasionally found herein. So for their benefit I can translate the previous references to bacon butties as – “bacon sandwiches with ketchup or brown sauce”. The bread in question is often a barm cake as seen in the photograph.

“Barm cake is an unusual term with a surprising amount of meanings. In England, it is a term for a bread roll similar to a hamburger bun, often filled with French fries, sausage or more usually, crispy fried bacon. Barm cake has also come to use in slang, to refer to a stupid or idiotic person, as in “I’m such a barm cake when it comes to maths.” The slang use of barm cake is of uncertain origin, but likely is a reference to the blandness of the British roll. The simple plainness of barm cakes may relate to other British slang terms for stupidity, such as simpleton. In any case, this term is an excellent piece of obscure slang for those who enjoy insulting others in a way they likely will not understand”

Siskin

By 10am the scene quietened a little as the feasting Siskins moved on, so the breakfasting ringers packed their gear into the car boot for another day. "Don't you mean 'trunk'? you barm cake!”