Diary Dates

How soon spring turns to summer, by the calendar that is, not the actual weather. May 2021 has been both the coldest and wettest on record up here in the Frozen North. Thursday morning was fairly warm by recent standards and I took the opportunity to visit a couple of spots out Pilling way. 

There was an Oystercatcher to check in the field where last week we ringed three Lapwing chicks. There may be more Lapwings to come from distant adults when they bring their young towards the coast via the path. And perhaps young Oystercatchers from the three egg nest located today.  Oystercatcher incubation is around 25 days, therefore, allowing for the uncertain days of laying, the date of egg hatching should be close to 13 June. I marked my diary with “Oyks Pilling”. 

Oystercatcher nest - May 27

 

A pair of Oystercatchers has just one breeding attempt each year. It is said that if at first they don’t succeed they do not try again, but as long lived birds, up to 30 years, they have lots of time to make up for unproductive years. 

Oystercatcher

 

Meanwhile and not too far away a pair of Pied Wagtails was busy feeding young, the nest hidden in a thick tuft of grass alongside a watery ditch. Both birds had hung around the same spot for weeks without giving much away.  The young were pretty big so were quickly ringed and put back in their nest, and then covered with a cloth for a couple of minutes so as to settle them back in their dark hidey hole. 

 

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Along the same waterway was the now regular Great Egret, destined perhaps to spend the summer here out of sight and out of mind. Two Grey Heron but no Little Egrets.  Not far away was a single Wheatear, a remnant from recent migration and not likely to breed hereabouts. 

Part of the day's task was to find Skylarks, and plenty there were, upwards of 8 singers in several hundred linear yards so potentially the same number of pairs. Skylark nests are difficult to locate and May has been so cold and wet that the chances of finding active nests was close to zero. However I chanced upon a pair in the early stages of nest building below a fence post and entered another marker in the diary “Skyla East End 15 June.” 

In nearby reedy pools and scrapes were 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and many active Sedge and Reed Warblers zipping around the reeds and in and out of the vegetation. Like other species this year, the “Acros” were late to arrive, late to start but now seem intent on making up for lost time. 

 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

The Tufted Ducks involved themselves in some sort of group courtship behaviour which consisted of males sailing off over the water, closely followed by a noisily quacking female. That guy looks a little henpecked.  Maybe the picture is worthy of a caption contest - “Don’t be long. And what time will you be back?” 

Tufted Ducks

 

That reminds me. I have a few chores to finish.  Back soon.

Linking at weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

Over To You Padre

Blogger friend The Padre over in Grand Junction Colorado requested “more Barn Owls please.” Ever one to please I found another Barn Owl this morning. 

In broad daylight at nine am I guess the owl hunted for its mate and/or young owlets so after a few pics, I let it be. 

Barn Owl

 

Local birders are pretty much OK in realising that disturbing nesting Barn Owls is a no no because the owl has Special Protection as a Schedule 1 species. Other casual birders and/or toggers either don't know or don't care and often continue to be a nuisance, even in the breeding season.  

Members of our own Fylde Ringing Group are all covered by a Schedule 1 Permit to cover Barn Owls and other species but would never abuse that privilege for a photograph. 

Close by was a Common Whitethroat, a male Reed Bunting and a pair of Skylark. 

Common Whitethroat

 

A walk took me to fields where I found a Lapwing pair with three fluffy youngsters, spaced out behind mum. Give it a couple of days and the chicks will be large enough to find in the short sward and have legs suited to take a D ring. Another two or three adult Lapwings hunkered down in the crop while their mates chased off crows, a sure sign that these Lapwings at least are still on eggs. 

An Oystercatcher posed up for me while a pair of wild Tufted Duck looked for all the world as if they would fly off any second. Tufted Ducks in the local park become tame as mice. Here in shooting country the tufties don't much like human company and may prefer to take their chance in life with natural food and sportsmen rather than live on a diet of white bread and greasy crisps. 

 

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck 

Oystercatcher

I found the regular Great Egret and 3 Grey Heron and just a single Little Egret rather than the eleven of last week. 

Great Egret

 

There seemed to be good numbers of Skylark with at least 6 singers and potentially 8/10 pairs once they sort themselves out.   At last, the slightly warmer weather of the last few days has spurred the Skylarks into action. 

Around the areas of reeds, water and woodland edge - 1 Swallow, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Mute Swan, 2 Little Grebe, 6 Reed Warbler and 7 Sedge Warbler. 

Back home I found a micro moth hiding against my pure white car. From a yard or two away it looked like a strand of vegetation had stuck itself onto the paintwork. Closer inspection revealed it to be White Plume, a ”micro moth” Pterophorus pentadactyla. 

White Plume

Fairly common I imagine and I'm not normally “into” moths but I have just been reading a new field guide to insects to be published in June by Princeton Press - Britain's Insects – a bargain buy of 600 packed pages £25 if ever I saw one.

Britain's Insects

Log in soon you insectophiles, There's a review of this book from a strictly neutral birder.

Mostly Waders

While we have been waiting for migrants the Lapwings just got on with the job in hand. I was fairly surprised this morning to find a brood of three young Lapwings at Cockersands. Not one to miss an opportunity I walked through an open gateway and immediately picked up two of them while the third managed to hide from sight in the muddy tractor ruts. So that's ring numbers DE33134 and DE33135 used, the first D2s of the year. 

Lapwing 

There were other several other pairs of Lapwings around but I didn't see any more youngsters, in fact not many birds except for a few Skylarks, half a dozen Linnets and a single Swallow. 

The morning had been one of waders, especially so at Conder Green. Sixteen Avocets was quite a count. Equally impressive was the sight of 180 Black-tailed Godwits in their many shades from last years greyish youngsters to the dark brick colour of full breeding males. Unfortunately most of the godwits stayed roosting out of camera range on a far island with just a few in the roadside creeks. 

Avocet

Black-tailed Godwit

The Avocets were noisy and flighty, just as migrant birds tend to be. Not all of the sixteen will stay around to breed, most likely four or five pairs depending upon levels of disturbance, the attentions of predators and the ever changing weather. Pretty sure that two days of downpours and cold temperatures last summer killed all four of the young Avocets we ringed on 16th June. 

Avocet

Avocet

Other waders and wildfowl in lesser numbers; 14 Oystercatcher, 7 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, 1 Snipe, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Curlew. All the sixes with 6 Shelduck, 6 Tufted Duck, 6 Greylag. 

Oystercatcher

 

Small birds were few and far between with two Willow Warblers along the footpath the best and still no sign of Whitethroats. I drove to friends R and H for a look along their private tracks and found a couple of Wheatears. There was both Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler in the reed bed and 3 Willow Warblers in the copse. 

 

Wheatear

On the pool 2 Greylag and 2 Canada Goose, a Grey Heron and a Little Egret. Behind the sea wall I found five more Little Egrets and a single Great Egret. 

 

Great (White) Egret

 Hopefully more news tomorrow. A spot of ringing looks likely. 

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Anni in Texas.

Comings And Goings

It's usual for me to spend a short time only at Braides Farm where the parking gateway allows views over a wide expanse of open fields devoted to growing grass. And more grass.  And not many birds.

After the autumn and winter of 2020/2021 there are still large areas of floods that have held a few Whooper Swans for weeks now. Imagine my surprise this morning to see those few swans suddenly transformed into an enormous herd of Whoopers that counted in the region of 450-470 individuals. The herd extended from the roadside, north to the River Cocker and then all the way across to the sea wall some 300 yards away. The count may prove to be bigger as when I later drove up to Conder Green, more Whoopers were in the roadside fields there but mostly hidden from view by hedgerows. 

Click the pics. Here's a not very good video shot with a Sony and 135mm lens. 

 

And then a couple of closer pictures with a 600mm. All of a sudden the herd erupted into a clamour of frantic calling and whooping, I suspect they will be heading off back to Iceland very soon. 

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swans

At Hillam, and where 2 Sand Martins flew across the lake, I checked the water level to see if Avocets might return. Last year's nesting island is now buried by autumn and winter downpours. A word with farmer Chris and he said he would look into making the island visible again for the spring and summer. 

I drove up to Conder Green where I soon picked out a single Avocet amongst the 10 Shelduck and 40 Black-headed Gulls. 

Conder Green

The Avocet won't be alone for long - soon joined by several more I expect.  

Avocet

The Oystercatchers here are becoming flighty. I saw a group of four in the throes of their springtime “piping” display. The piping displays in this the early breeding season allows the birds to establish a territory. They bow their heads and point their beaks at the ground, then pipe loudly while walking and flying around the area. The display often attracts other Oystercatchers so that half a dozen birds may eventually run along side by side in a line or fly around in a tight flock while calling loudly - "kleep kleep, kleep kleep." 

"Piping" Oystercatchers

Other sightings. 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 4 Pied Wagtail, 36 Wigeon, 65 Teal, 8 Redshank, 2 Curlew. 

I was out in the new car this morning, giving it a run because due to lockdown it has been hardly anywhere for weeks. 

Ssangyong

“What is it?” you say, just as many others have done. It's a Ssangyong Tivoli 1.2 Ventura, of much the same size and with similar performance to my old 1.6 Suzuki Vitara. The difference is an equivalent Vitara today is about four grand more than this Ssangyong. This comes with half leather heated seats and heated steering wheel for the winter days together with a few more bells & whistles like keyless entry and cruise control.  A 7 years warranty! - well recommended. 

And here's a heads up for the suppliers, Barker's of Preston . Thanks guys. 

Another heads up for my pals Wally and Gini over in Florida. They sent me a virtual coffee. Take a look at Wally's blog – blue sky, birds, bugs and alligators at Our Natural Places Florida   

Cheers guys. Enjoy all that sunshine but look out for those harmless alligators and friendly snakes. No such problems here in occasionally sunny Lancashire.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

The weather for this weekend looks very poor. Unless something should change it seems like it will be next Tuesday or Wednesday before I can post more news on Another Bird Blog.  

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Caption Contest

I couldn’t make it on Thursday so Andy sent me a picture of three young Kestrels he ringed. It’s deserving of a funny caption. All entries to Comments section please. The winner will receive a copy of the photograph. 

Kestrels 

Friday morning, and prior to meeting Andy I had an hour spare for a look at Conder Pool. 

Late June and singles of both Greenshank and Common Sandpiper are back. There was an increase of Redshanks too with a count of 30+, with maybe a slight increase in Oystercatchers and Curlew in the creeks where 2 Avocet fed. On the water, 4 Shelduck, 6 Tufted Duck and 3 Canada Goose - of the latter, two adults and one gosling. The Canada Geese would seem to be the single wildfowl success this year with the winning waders a single pair of Oystercatchers; but even they reduced now to a single chick. 

Oystercatchers 

There may be an inquest into what has gone wrong with the breeding birds of Conder Pool in 2020. Animal predators like Mink and Fox, overgrazing of both cows and sheep, or human interference appear to be the favourites. My own observations suggest a mix of all three. 

While 2020 has been a disastrous year there remains too much focus and emphasis on the two recent colonising species, but there is memory failure, inexperience, and a lack of awareness of those species lost as breeding pairs in recent years. 

As might be expected nowadays, star billing is given to the ‘celebrity’ species of Common Tern and Avocet. Meanwhile the less glamorous but equally important ones like Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Shelduck, and Redshank are shoved down the memory hole. 

With the right habitat suitably managed and protected from interference by man and/or predators, those lost species will surely return to breed at Conder Pool with the terns and avocets? 

There might be a few hours before rain would arrive where Andy and I might catch a few warblers and to update our farmer pal on his breeding birds. We ringed 3 Reed Warbler and 2 Sedge Warbler before ever darkening clouds rolled in from the west. 

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler 

Reed Warbler

Birds seen, including the five ringed: 1 Blackcap, 2 Sedge Warbler, 8 Reed Warbler, 7 Reed Bunting 

Around the fields and the small pool - 2 Grey Heron, 2 Little Grebe, 3 Mute Swan, 4 Corn Bunting translated as 2 breeding pairs. 

Seven Reed Bunting, 400+ Starling, 65 Curlew, 12 Lapwing, 10 Oystercatcher, 4 Stock Dove 6 Woodpigeon, 12 Swallow and 1 Sparrowhawk. 

By ten o’clock the dark clouds turned to rain so we ran for cover.

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

Martin Morning

Our Sand Martins (smarties) give us headaches every year. Last year all of their nests were high up the quarry face and out of reach for catching purposes. This proved even more frustrating when regular visits showed peak counts of 250-300 individual and 100 or more active nest holes. 

This year, and along with Swallows and House Martins, the Sand Martins arrived late. This year they chose a different part of the quarry face in which to nest and where the number of active tunnels seemed closer to 60 with the numbers of martins no greater than 130. 

But, this year’s face has a sheer rather than a sloping profile of loose grand and gravel, so on weighing up the possibilities, we considered it might be possible to catch a few.  Chris kindly offered to help out by way of placing some heavy anchorage on the quarry floor with which to secure a single mist net at both ends. 

Off we went for an early start when the sun would not light up a mist net. As it was, our net was many feet below the lowest tunnels but in the shade of the quarry face. We had a decent catch of 30 Sand Martins and 1 House Sparrow, the latter very unexpected. 

Sand Martin 

Sand Martin colony 

The martins divided as 20 adult males and 10 adult females. This told us that a good number of females were sat tight in the nest holes and that, as yet, there are no fledged youngsters. 

Field Sheet

Sand Martin

Other birds seen this morning – 18 Greylag Goose, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Mistle Thrush. 

Oystercatcher

Mistle Thrush

Linking today with Eileen's Saturday Blogspot and Anni's Blogging.

On The Road Again

Recent mornings saw overcast skies, cold winds and very little sunshine. Such mornings are not ideal for a visit to the Pennine hills with a camera itching to click. I pencilled in Wednesday for an early start and then watched as the forecasts did their best to thwart the plan. 

There was a thirty minute drive before the first stone walls above Garstang where waders, wagtails and pipits wait for townies to slow, or stop and stare. They quickly drive on, not knowing the names of common British birds while clueless as to the dramas that unfold behind them. 

In April and throughout May begins a potent mix of territorial song and single-minded ownership of a stretch of wall, fence, hedgerow and a patch of ground.  By late May and into June begins the frantic warnings to vulnerable young and the loud scolding of intruders - man, beast or bird. 

Oystercatcher

It would be interesting to see how birds react to a car and wound down window following eight weeks when Joe Public was locked out from their heritage. While the shutdown continued gamekeepers were given a free pass for the “essential work” of supplying Red Grouse for the shooting season of 12th August.

During this time the RSPB were flooded with reports of birds of prey being killed in the uplands - a pure coincidence perhaps?  The Guardian.

Red Grouse

For those who wish to continue reading, I will post the same link at the bottom of this page together with a link to Raptor Rescue with the question - "Why has grouse shooting not been banned for this year?"  

But now back to the job in hand and a favourite stretch of road where the farmer had been busy catching moles. 

Moles 

I saw upland waders in their regular spots - Lapwing, Redshank, Curlew, Snipe and Oystercatcher but probably less Oystercatchers and Lapwings than in recent years. 2020 has been an exceptionally dry spring, one that has not been beneficial to birds that probe wet areas for food. On the other hand there seemed good numbers of Snipe this morning, and decent counts of both Curlew and Redshank, three species that favour soft ground.  And, I was surprised to see one or two roadside puddles perhaps as a result of a drop or two of heavier rain on Tuesday. 

Lapwing 

Redshank 

Snipe 

There was a Redshank that survived a winter or two despite the handicap of sheep wool entwined around each ankle. 

Redshank 

Meadow Pipit 

Pied Wagtail 

I saw plenty of Meadow Pipits, not too many Pied Wagtails, but 20 or more Grey Wagtails along the various watercourses up here. Both Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails have yet to show many youngsters, but the early breeding Grey wags have had a good year. This was a dry spring and zero disturbance from the annual day trippers who like to splash sticks and stones into the many streams. 

Grey Wagtail habitat, picnic spot

Grey Wagtail 

The streams held a couple of pairs of Common Sandpiper, a single Grey Heron and a small colony of 30 or more Sand Martins in the low riverbank banks of Cam Brow. Unfortunately this is another spot favoured by the sticks and stones brigade of picnicking tourists, now with no work but beginning to return to Bowland on sunny days. 

It’s difficult not to hear Cuckoos but virtually impossible to see them up here in Bowland. I guess I heard six male Cuckoos this morning, one or two fairly close, but saw not a one. Maybe this is a sign that the fortunes of the Common Cuckoo are on the up? 

At Marshaw the House Martin colony at Tower Lodge was frantic with birds rushing in and out of the eaves and eager to make up for lost time of their late arrival. Hard to say how many with the eaves in near darkness but six or eight nests looked likely. 

Other birds seen but not photographed today included 6 Blackcap, 2 Redstart, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Pied Flycatcher, 2 Lesser Redpoll,  8/10 Willow Warbler, 4 Mistle Thrush and piles of Blackbirds.  Those links below.

RSPB flooded with reports of birds of prey being killed.

Raptor Politics.

More soon. Stay Tuned.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Blogspot. Pay them a visit for more weekend birds.