Mission Possible

Avian Flu still rules in this part of Lancashire where bird ringing remains verboten until sometime never. Avian Flu also made the TV News headlines as an afterthought. Yet another panic story, as if there aren't enough to scare everyone witless and to place lives and normal freedoms on hold. 

Those temporary restrictions don’t stop a little bird watching or even topping up seed at supplementary feeding stations when suitable precautions are taken to minimise any spread of infections.

On Friday the mission was to seek, find and to count birds at both feeding stations and then to add some variety to the birds’ everyday food. A bucketful of rape seed, Niger and white millet gets them coming back for more, especially once temperatures dive and overnight frosts make natural seeds unpalatable. 

Supplementary Bird Food

The wind dropped overnight and left a touch of frost, but not enough to freeze shallow ditches and dykes. 

Pilling Lancashire

 

There’s a bonus to the avian flu because for now shooting in the 10km zone is also prohibited, which means that our coastal geese and wild fowl have a temporary reprieve from becoming a Christmas platter. 

A number of large skeins passed over, a constant flow of noise above, in all several hundreds, maybe 4/5000 thousand. 

Pink-footed Geese

Geese leaving their overnight roost are especially noisy, a constant conversation of shrill doggish yaps from each and every bird to their immediate neighbours in the line, perhaps a relative, a sibling or a parent. If only we could learn goose talk we might listen in to where they are heading, where are the best meals safe from disturbance, prying eyes and the threat of guns. 

And why do geese fly in V formation? Scientists have determined that the V-shaped formation that geese use when migrating serves two important purposes. First, it conserves their energy. Each bird flies slightly above the bird in front of them, resulting in a reduction of wind resistance. The birds take turns being in the front, falling back when they get tired. In this way, the geese can fly for a long time before they must stop for rest. Birds that fly alone beat their wings more frequently and have higher heart rates than those that fly in formation. It follows that birds that fly in formation glide more often and reduce energy expenditure. 

The second benefit to V formation is that it is easy to keep track of every bird in the group. Flying in formation may assist with the communication and coordination within the group. Pilots of fighter aircraft often use this formation for the same reason. 

Our morning goose flights can last for hours for anyone minded to watch. This is a daily winter occurrence, background noise to which Joe Bloggs becomes accustomed and immune. 

I too took my eyes off the geese and looked to the job in hand while the geese continued their morning mission inland. 

At our erstwhile ringing plot I found 130+ Linnets and a couple of Chaffinches. It was just as well I concentrated on a count because on the extremes of the Linnet flock a tail-wagging Stonechat flicked into view. And along the ditch were the ubiquitous Wren, a Blackbird and the ever present Reed Bunting, a wintering species that relies on animal food during the summer months but switches to a seed diet in the winter. 

Reed Bunting

 

Stonechat

 

A couple of hunkered down Snipe flew from beneath my sploshing feet, the grass wetter and the water deeper than first appeared; my wellies had been a wise choice. 

 

Snipe

The pool nearby held 20 or more Teal, an approximate count as a handful or more remained partly hidden. A single Grey Heron and a solitary Little Egret stayed in the trees as I looked from 50 yards away. 

Teal

Rain arrived from the west with immaculate timing - my appointment with BT. Another Bird Blog goes Fibre Broadband in 2022. There’s no stopping us now. 

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

 

Daylight Robbery

I've been robbed of a number of days birding lately by our November weather, the month that invariably brings gloomy, wet and windy days across the Atlantic from the direction of North America.  I blame Donald Trump. There’s no other feasible explanation. 

It wasn't much different on Saturday morning after a bright start that quickly went downhill, until by 11 am there was rain and I was back home. After soup and a sandwich I sat at the keyboard only to see the sky lighten once more. Too late. 

Our Pink-footed Geese aren't playing ball with birders yet. They are shot at every day and prove hard to find, even harder to watch. At Lane Ends, Pilling was a flock of several hundred, maybe a thousand and seemingly entirely “pinkies” - unsurprising when the odds of finding the oddity goose is several thousand to one.  A large tractor drove slowly past, followed by a brightly clad jogger as the geese peeled off from their brief feed and gradually flew inland in tens, twenties and thirties in search of peace and quiet. 

Pink-footed Goose 

Out on the marsh were about 800/1000 Starlings in a tight flock, a Buzzard, a Grey Heron, plus a good number of Skylarks - perhaps 40/50 but most of them distant. 

I stopped at Gulf Lane hoping to see a good number of Linnets but best estimate was 40+ birds and none especially interested in the bird seed crop. About half a mile down the road at Braides Farm I noted that a flock of 150 or so Linnets fed along the weedy track and in the extensive fields there. It seems that the lack of Linnets at our own project site, probably as result of the good summer, mild autumn and warm-wet, early winter, has produced an abundance of food. The Linnets can pick and choose where they eat most times, more so this year. 

Linnet 

Braides Farm produced some exceptional counts of waders. The aircraft from the nearby parachute centre was around and about, often overhead at very low altitude upon which the massed waders would all take off into panic flight mode. Mostly they settled down again and I was able to achieve good but approximate counts of 2800 Lapwing, 2000 Golden Plover, 200 Redshank and 120 Curlew. Throughout all of this a Kestrel sat unperturbed along the fence line, waiting I guess for an opportune meal. 

Lapwing 

Of late there has been much disturbance at Conder Green with both habitat improvement on the pool and major construction around the old road bridge and the A588 road to and from Lancaster. That explains the relatively poor counts here of 130 Teal, 22 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Redshank, 5 Little Grebe and just one Little Egret. 

I was about to spend an hour at Glasson, viewing the dock waters from the car, waiting for the wildfowl to come sailing by as they mostly do on quiet mornings. But then I saw that, where parking on this huge expanse of land has been free for as long as anyone can remember, folk are now expected to cough up via shiny new "Pay Here" machines.  In the village 50 yards away the little shops that sell bacon butties and ice cream to summer tourists are unhappy at the greedy tactics on display.   

Daylight Robbery 

Worse still the Canal and River Trust have sub-contracted the job to a company based in the south coast town of Brighton! Trendy Brighton, where (I'm told) bars like WTF and Naked Day fleece the sheeple punters, shops have names like ‘Vegetarian Shoes’ and ‘Choccywoccydoodah’, and kids have laughable names such as Lettuce, Rainbow and Daisy Boo. 

No, I can’t see birders paying for fancy parking here in Lancashire where folk are careful with their brass and where in the not too distant past in-your-face constructions demanding cash have been chopped at the knees during the darkest of winter nights. 

So instead I took a freebie ride in the direction of Moss Lane and Jeremy Lane and spent time watching a pair of Buzzards, about 150 Fieldfares and a dozen or more Redwings. 

Both Buzzards used a hawthorn hedgerow as a vantage point from which to watch the adjacent field. The Buzzards totally ignored the many Fieldfares that flew back and forth along the line of hedge as they scattered for no reason and then returned in unison. The Buzzards showed no interest at all in three Pheasants that walked along the hedgerow below them. No, the Buzzards were after small prey in the alongside field as one after the other they flew to ground where if necessary they ran to pounce upon the morsel they had spotted from their vantage point. 

Buzzard and Pheasants 

Buzzard 

Buzzard 

Noted many times on this blog. Buzzards principally eat small rodents, but also take birds, reptiles, amphibians, larger insects and earthworms. Buzzards do sometimes take game birds but such items make up only a tiny proportion of the diet. Buzzards are more likely to feed on carrion. 

Buzzards use three main hunting techniques. They locate prey from a perch and then fly directly to it. They may also soar over open terrain, occasionally hanging in the wind before dropping on to the prey and following up the attack on the ground. Alternatively they may be seen walking or standing on the ground looking for invertebrates. The photos are as close as we can get to Buzzards in this part of the world where the species is persecuted for any excuse and little reason. 

It was interesting that as I watched the Buzzards, the many dozens of Fieldfares using the same stretch of hedgerow displayed no fear of the Buzzards and at no time flew off because of the Buzzards’ feeding activity. 

Fieldfare 

Another thing. The fine, dry summer of 2018 produced little in the way of hawthorn berries and even now in early November, there are few berries left for wintering thrushes. Anyone who has yet to connect with a Fieldfare will find that they become scarce very soon if there is no food. 

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday. 

Picture This

The postman knocked on the door. Katrina had emailed to say there was a package on the way. I slid the precious contents from the tube. This was rather like Christmas.  But here was a job for an expert picture framer, so I made my way to Garstang Picture Gallery. But bad news, they were busy and I must wait three weeks for the framing job.

Picture This

Meanwhile here on the Lancashire coast, where many, many thousands of wild Pink-footed Geese spend the winter and where their calls and daily flights are part of everyday life, it is impossible not to become a fan of these rather special creatures. 

Into the New Year when the shooting season is over and the daily legions of wildfowlers lay down arms, our geese become comparatively less wild. They quickly learn that not every human wishes them harm and perhaps understand that us birders thrill to the sight and sound of their daily coming and going. 

With luck, and if the feeding on new grass or unharvested potatoes is especially good, the geese become tolerant of an inquisitive car with a telescope poked from a partly lowered window.  Mostly the Lancashire hordes are “pinkies”, but with the occasional bonus of a Bean Goose, White-fronted Goose or Barnacle Goose hidden in the mix. Very often, a gaggle of Greylags tag along for the daily ride. 

Pink-footed Geese 

White-fronted Goose 

Pink-footed Goose 

Bean Goose

Greylags

Barnacle Goose

To whichever species they belong, all geese share certain characteristics. Geese are highly intelligent team players - protective of their environment, inquisitive, amicable, loyal, caring, helpful, but aggressive where necessary.  Geese have eyesight more highly developed than man or dog, with hearing superior to both; hence the employment of domesticated geese as security guards in many situations, not least in the average farmyard where urban thieves, naïve in the ways of the countryside, may get a bite on the leg for their trouble. 

Yes, I'm a devotee of geese. So when I saw author and illustrator Katrina’s van Grouw’s stunning evocation of geese in her new book Unnatural Selection, I made enquiries as to how I might acquire a copy.

Unnatural Selection is the finest book I have read in many a year. Read my original review at Another Bird Blog.  

Goose Ancestry 

To cut this long story short, there’s now a new picture hanging in the hallway, a signed copy of the above in pride of place, visible from my workspace. I can't thank Katrina enough for the time and trouble she took to send me this wonderful picture. 

Goose Ancestry by Katrina van Grouw 

As you will see, Katrina is a brilliant artist. She also has a way with words that makes her prose equal to her artistry. Here she is on domestic geese, taken from “Unnatural Selection”, a passage that effectively explains the origins of the multitude of farmyard geese that cause all sorts of trouble to new (and sometimes not so new) birders. 

“By defining a species as something that can only interbreed (and produce fertile offspring) with others of the same species, you’re effectively denying any possibility that species can interbreed — otherwise, they wouldn't be species. But animal species do hybridize, and they do produce fertile offspring. And for evidence, you only need to look, once again, to domesticated animals. 

Take geese, for example. Geese are among the few domesticated animals that have not just one but two wild ancestors. I don’t just mean subtle genomic differences that suggest a hybridization event early on in their domestication history. No, pure-bred geese that derived from two totally separate species — the Swan goose, Anser cygnoides, from Central Asia and the Greylag goose, Anser anser, from Central Europe — hybridise readily and regularly. 

Out of any mixed farmyard flock, it’s normal to find a substantial number of hybrids between the two. Even several recognised breeds, like the Steinbacher from Germany, are hybrids between the two parent species. The domesticated forms of the Swan goose are the sublimely elegant Chinese goose and the more heavyweight African goose. 

Although Swan geese have a slender head and bill like a swan, with only a subtly raised “knob” at the base of the bill, both of the domesticated varieties have a deeper skull, and the bill knob is positively enormous. Both, however, share the Swan goose’s unusually smooth silky neck feathering and (unless they’re leucistic) the deep chocolate brown stripe running from the crown to the base of the neck. Greylag geese have a much deeper, more powerful bill than Swan geese and have the deeply furrowed feathering down the neck so typical of the majority of goose species." 

Unnatural Selection  

To read more about Katrina van Grouw visit  her web page.

Unnatural Selection is available from Princeton Press at £35 or Amazon at about £22.

I am not a fan of huge global companies dominating world trade to the detriment of small players whereby I deleted my Amazon account years ago. But I understand that in this case at least, the author receives the same payment as someone buying from the publisher. So there is a monetary saving to be made for those who have no issues with using Amazon.

This book would make a great Christmas or birthday gift to any aspiring author or artist.  A student of biology, science, history, or evolution would find this book indispensable. I am none of those things but I was enthralled by this most remarkable of books and I wholeheartedly recommend it to readers of Another Bird Blog. 

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

More Linnets Please

Just yesterday I entered some recent counts of Linnets at Gulf Lane into the BTO’s Bird Track. The system flagged up that the counts were of an “unusually high number”. Well BTO it’s good to hear that, especially as discovering more about winter Linnets is the objective of our project here. 

BirdTrack - BTO

Throughout September and October spot counts here varied between 50 and 100 Linnets during a period of poor and mostly wet and windy weather. In the last week and into November and with more settled weather there have been nearer 200 birds at any one time. 

Wednesday 15th and at last a morning of less than 5 mph winds. I met Andy at 0715 and ten minutes later the single panel nets stood ready for the Linnets as they arrived from roosts ready for their first feed of the day. 

Parties arriving varied between 3 and 30 individuals until our best counts of the morning realised 135 Linnets at any one time, a reduction from the most recent count of 200 on 11th November. Past catches tend to equate to approximately 10% of the spot count, just as today with 13 caught. This brought our running total to 190 Linnets for this autumn period. 

Today’s catch comprised 1 adult male and 12 first winters, 4 female and 8 male. In addition we caught a single Wren. One of today’s Linnets came in at a healthy 85mm wing and 19 grams, another two at 84mm and 19.4 and 19 grams, leading us to again speculate that such individuals originate from Scotland. 

Linnet

More time, more captures and more recaptures of Linnets ringed elsewhere may help us to prove the theory. All we need is more ringers catching and ringing spring, summer, autumn and winter Linnets.  

For the benefit of ourselves, the farmer and his Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme we record all bird species using the site on each and every visit. Today the list was restricted to Linnets, a Sparrowhawk and the aforementioned Wren. 

Fly overs today were Whooper Swan, Lapwing, Skylark, Kestrel, Buzzard, Meadow Pipit and Pink-footed Goose. Geese flew off the marsh and inland throughout our four hour stay. We were reliably informed that recent counts have been in the region of 40,000 Pink-footed Geese!

Pink-footed Geese

Seems like we have enough pinkies for a while. But if anyone would like to send more Linnets our way, we'll do our best to accommodate them.

Linnet Lite

At 0700 I heard a steady drizzle on the conservatory roof. The arrangement was to meet Andy at 0730 for a ringing session at Cockerham where a Linnet flock home in each day to a tiny set-aside crop. A look at the online forecasts, a quick exchange of texts and we were on our separate ways if a little later than planned. 

The weather played ball and quickly brightened up but the Linnets didn’t. Although we counted up to 300 Linnets in at least 4 separate flocks the birds seemed a little “net-shy” and we caught just eight to add to the 73 caught so far this autumn. 

Linnet

Linnet

On the Internet of late I have not read of any other local Linnet flocks and suspect that the concentration at Cockerham may be the only one for several miles. There is the danger that the Linnet is still seen as a relatively common bird and as such remains unreported by many bird watchers. 

A quick look at several online snippets of information reminds us that the Linnet is not as common or widespread as it used to be. Via the BTO - “The breeding population of Linnets declined steeply between 1965 and 1985, before the last breeding and winter atlases, and there has been less change in recent years. Numbers nationally then rose slightly in the ten years after 1985, possibly associated with the increased cultivation of oilseed rape. Since 1994, when the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) started, we have been able to detect regionally-different trajectories, with English and Welsh populations exhibiting a decline of slightly more than 30%. Looking at the demographic reasons for change in the Linnet, there is clear evidence that this is one of the species for which we have seen a reduction in breeding success, with higher rates of nest failure at the egg-stage during the period of greatest decline (1965-1985).“ 

Most of the UK Linnet population stay all year round although those from upland areas probably undertake an altitudinal migration to lower and warmer areas. Two previous recoveries from our own ringing group records point to the fact that a number of our Linnets, as winterers or passage migrants, originate from the Isle of Man, some 150kms west of here and out in the Irish Sea. 

Some UK Linnets migrate to Spain and western France for the winter. At the same time some Scandinavian Linnets are thought to come to Britain for the winter which might account for larger than average numbers of the species in North East England and South East Scotland. Here on the west coast the Linnet is now much less common than 20, 30 or 40 years ago, hence the need to monitor the population and if possible record their movements. 

This morning we saw 30+ Whooper Swans flying off Pilling Marsh and heading inland. Ditto the Pink-footed Geese but we made no effort to count their numbers except to possibly agree with a shooter returning to his car with an estimate of 30,000. 

Pink-footed Geese

Whooper Swans

When the rushhour traffic abated along the main road we were able to hear and see a steady passage of Skylarks flying over and also heading south. 

There's more news soon. Be sure to take another look at Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and  http://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.co.uk/.

Whistler In The Wind

There was snow this morning. Looking north over Morecambe Bay it was obvious the Lakeland hills had taken a hit. Down here on the Fylde coast I was thankful the white stuff had barely coated the roads. 

There's Snow In Them Thar Hills

I stopped off at Cockerham’s weedy field to see that the recent Linnet flock still numbers circa 120, and although there was no sign of Stonechats, there were 2 Reed Buntings. 

Linnet

There was a Kestrel near the farm buildings with four wildfowler’s cars parked up, the occupants already ensconced out on the marsh but the geese flying high above the guns and out of range. Many geese must have circled and then dropped back near the sea wall because less than a mile away at Sand Villa/Braides were upwards of 1500 geese feeding in fields immediately behind the embankment. 

Pink-footed Geese

At Braides Farm the extensive flood held several hundred each of Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Starlings and alongside the seaward path a Buzzard on the distant fence. 

Buzzard

It had been many weeks of rain and bluster since my last visit to Conder Green where by all accounts the pool would be full to overflowing. So it was, with the almost submerged islands and the broad sweep of deep water holding 38 Wigeon, 6 Little Grebe, 35 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, a single Goldeneye and 30 or more Teal. Many more Teal were in the nearby creeks to give a respectable total nearer to 140 of our smallest dabbling duck. There was no sign of the recently reported and wintering Spotted Redshank and Common Sandpiper, hidden from view today in the meandering creeks. 

Teal

A few bits and pieces enlivened the railway bridge walk. Namely - 2 Pied Wagtail, a single Rock Pipit, a singing Greenfinch accompanied by a second bird, a Reed Bunting and 8+ Chaffinch around the car park/café. How strange it seems that the once abundant Greenfinch is now so scarce that a sighting of a single one should be both noted and applauded.

 

Greenfinch

I parked up at Glasson Dock with a count of 1 Grey Heron, 15 Tufted Duck, 8 Cormorant and 15 Goldeneye, 13 males and 2 females. A couple of the Goldeneye whistled overhead and out to the Lune estuary. The whistling sound of a Goldeneye’s wings in flight is quite unique and the reason why North American shooters in particular call the species “The Whistler”. 

Male Goldeneyes

Now here’s a question for all the bird experts lurking out in blogosphere. And let’s face it there are lots ready to pounce, as anyone who sweats blood and tears to produce a regular blog while inviting comments will testify. 

Why do male Goldeneyes cruise mob handed around our winter waters? OK, by looking carefully you may find a dowdy looking female sailing on the far edge of the eye-catching black & white jamborees, but the general impression is that guys rule and don’t they know it. In fact the reason for the mostly all-male gatherings involves that old fashioned word “courtship”. (Readers below the age of forty might wish to consult a dictionary). 

Goldeneyes indulge in communal courtship where gangs of males with one or two females in attendance are a precurser to the male Goldeneyes’ elaborate displays designed to snare a willing member of the opposite sex. These presentations include much throwing, shaking and stretching of the head and neck together with over-egged wing fluttering. As we near the end of winter the elaborate but highly ritualised displays should begin any day now. 

Log in to Another Bird Blog soon for more news, views and pictures of tuneful birds.

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

Scrooge In Birdland

Christmas doesn’t last too long at our house. We both like to get back into a normal routine. For me that’s birding and in fact I went out early yesterday to top up the feeding station near Oakenclough in readiness for a ringing session soon. 

Our ringing site is quite remote and theoretically private. Scrooge must live nearby as here almost in the middle of nowhere, on or just before Christmas Day, he stole three bird feeders. Four other feeders were left untouched so held the usual array of finches albeit in reduced numbers. I topped the remaining feeders up and then chucked seed on the ground so hopefully the birds will be able to find their usual ration. Back home and online I ordered a couple of new feeders which should arrive Monday and in time for the next top up day. Andy is getting a couple more feeders plus making laminated notices advising Scrooge to leave the feeders alone. 

Goldfinch

Today I set off early for Pilling where as usual I found a Kestrel atop telegraph pole along Head Dyke Lane. Not far away was the usual Barn Owl which once again did its now customary trick of heading indoors. It looks like Barn Owls are finding food at the moment and so have no need to spend too many daylight hours hunting. 

At Damside was the resident Kestrel pair watching over the now very wet fields. We’ve had a lot of rain recently with the result that on these few fields were approximately 900 Pink-footed Geese, 290 Curlew, 200+ Lapwing, 160 Redshank, 45 Golden Plover and 120 Starlings. I spent some time grilling the geese but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary amongst the multitude of pink-feet. That’s my Christmas story and I’m sticking to it. 

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

I checked out Fluke Hall to find a calling Nuthatch and a singing Song Thrush, both drowned out by the sound of gunfire from a shoot in progress across the fields behind. Along the marsh and on the inland fields: 1 Kestrel, 52 Whooper Swan, 35+ Shelduck, 2 Little Egret, 48 Redshank, 125+ Lapwing and 80+ Wood Pigeon. 

In the maize stubble were a couple of Reed Buntings and 11 Skylarks searching through the vehicle tracks where the shooters carry in sacks of food for their tame mallards. 

I guess I’d best join in the Season of Goodwill, so here’s a message from my Christmas Robin to  Scrooge. "Enjoy your bird feeders you miserable sod!"

Robin

Back soon with more bird news on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Blog. Anni would rather be birding too.

Brief Sign Of Spring

At last on Monday a touch of overnight frost followed by a sunny day without wind and rain, and a chance to get out Pilling way for a few hours. Such has been the ferocity of the weather that my notebook told me I last walked Fluke Hall/Pilling Water on January 2nd, with in the meantime lots of sitting around the house, doing chores, blogging, and a brief but welcome respite of two weeks in Lanzarote. 

Here in Lancashire we have escaped the worse of the wet, windy and woeful winte, unlike the good people of Somerset suffering weeks and weeks of floods. And now it’s the turn of the Thames Valley to feel the pain as the UK suffers its officially wettest winter for 250 years. Roll on Spring. 

At Fluke Hall I found singing a Song Thrush, a drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, a singing Goldfinch and a pair of Long-tailed Tits, stuttering signs of spring which quickly abate when we return to the currnet normality. A couple of Chaffinches were about the roadside trees but I heard no song from them even though the species can be an early singer. 

Long-tailed Tit

Now that the shooting season is finished the lessening traffic and disturbance along the sea wall and across the Fluke Hall maize fields may produce more birds. Today, 220 Lapwing, 8 Golden Plover, 6 Redshank, 52 Woodpigeon, 7 Stock Dove, 20+ Skylark, 4 Mute Swan, 165 Shelduck and 6 Little Egret. 

At Pilling Water I found a pair of Skylarks, the wintering Green Sandpiper again, a couple more Little Egrets, 2 Chaffinch and a single Reed Bunting. Looking into the sun I thought I could see ducks other than the few regular Shelducks and Mallards, but when I strode closer to investigate, the duck’s sluggishness and reluctance to fly was explained by the fact that the wildfowlers had yet to collect several of their floating Gadwall x Wigeon decoys. Doh! 

Reed Bunting

It was as well I trespassed over the shoot because trapped in a pheasant/partridge pen I discovered several Red-legged Partridge and a single Stock Dove. Shooters are supposed to check such contraptions regularly to see that birds are not unduly kept there without food and water, so I suspected that no one had been along for a while, even though luckily there was spilled seed to keep the birds going. I opened the door, sent the partridges packing and rescued the Stock Dove, an adult “ringing tick”. 

Until this specimen I’d only ever ringed Stock Dove nestlings so had to look up the ageing and sexing characteristics in the Ageing and Sexing Non-Passerines guide. I’m pretty sure it was a first winter bird due to lots of light brown edging on the lesser and median coverts. A wing length of 220mm gave nothing away. 

Ageing and Sexing Non-Passerines

Stock Dove

Doing It By The Book

Way out on the marsh and towards Cockerham or Cockersands were “many thousands” of Pink-footed Geese, much too far away to count. A light aeroplane sent them into the sky once or twice before they settled back down on the distant marsh. If pushed I’d estimate their numbers at 10/12,000, the picture below a small chunk of the enormous flocks out there. 

"Pinkfeet" over Pilling and Cockerham marshes

Now the shooting season is over the “pinkies” will gradually become more tolerant of humans, less prone to panic at the sight or sound of them while slowly allow bird watchers to study them more closely. I can’t wait, nor to wait for another sunny day like this one. 

Roll on Spring.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.