More Of A Circus

Andy and I were due to go ringing this morning but then he cried off because of an emergency baby-sitting request. Grandparents come in useful sometimes, even if the old fools do vote the “wrong” way in referendums and generally don’t do as they are told. 

Not to worry, I decided to go birding instead of ringing. I was at the car putting on a jacket when I heard a Tawny Owl hooting from nearby gardens, a reminder of autumn and that today is the first day of September. 

The main times to hear Tawny Owls call is during the breeding season which runs from February/March to May, and then again in the autumn when the adults have finished their moult. In June and July the adults tend to go silent and only the young may be heard, squeaking for food throughout the night from dusk. August, September and October can be very active times vocally for adults as they set about reaffirming their territories in preparation for the next breeding season. 

Tawny Owl

As usual I drove over the moss road towards Pilling. It’s a more productive bird route than the main road although in the half light of this morning the best I managed was a Kestrel on the usual roadside post. Near Pilling village I saw a Barn Owl on a fence post so slowed the car in preparation for a possible photographic encounter. Not this time. The owl was away and across the fields before I could even lift the camera. 

I made for the flood at Out Rawcliffe where on Saturday 27th August I’d seen the Marsh Harrier and a few waders. Today was also the first day of the inland shooting season, something I remembered when from across the fields I heard the sound of gunfire but saw no people carrying shotguns. 

The parish of Out Rawcliffe is one of the largest in England. It takes more than a couple of hours to walk north to south or east to west over the mossland, so I wasn’t too worried that the guns would be on me soon; there was time to scope the flood for birdlife. 

Out Rawcliffe, Lancashire

On the water I counted the wildfowl as 150+ Mallards and 24 Teal. So many Mallards indicated the recent release of captive-bred birds and another reason for the sound of gunfire. By contrast the Teal are truly wild birds and recent arrivals from north and east. Waders today comprised just the two species, 220 Lapwing and 4 Black-tailed Godwits. 

Lapwings

There was a single Kestrel about plus 3 or 4 Buzzards, and then as a bonus 2 Marsh Harriers in the air together over the trees and the distant water. There was some interaction between the two harriers when I could see that both were “cream tops”, juvenile/female types with noticeable and extensive creamy foreheads. Local Swallows instinctively mobbed the pair of raptors but I can’t imagine the circling harriers were any real threat to the Swallows. 

Marsh Harrier and Swallows 

Soon a line of a dozen or more sportsmen appeared on the horizon, spread right to left at regular intervals over the maize field dotted with blue feeder bins that sate the released partridge and pheasant. The shooters were headed slowly towards the flood so it was time for me to head in the direction of Conder Green. 

In the wildfowl stakes I counted 19 Little Grebe, 5 Shoveler and 3 Wigeon on the pool, 4 Goosander in the main creek and 20+ Teal in all. Just 3 Little Egret today but a zero count of Grey Herons and a species that continues to disappoint in the numbers seen at expected and traditional locations. 

Waders obliged with 105 Lapwing, 24 Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 3 Snipe and 1 Common Sandpiper. A Kingfisher put in the usual fly-by appearance as did a passing Kestrel. 

Over near the railway bridge the nesting House Martins numbered 20+, a similar quantity to the Swallows hanging around the nearby farm buildings. Otherwise - 15 Linnet, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Reed Bunting. 

House Martin

I was saddened today to hear of the passing of a fellow blogger and ringing pal Lew/Errol Newman, a name that blog readers will know from reading the “Under Rydon Hill” link in the right hand sidebar.

Like me Lew was a regular visitor to Bardsey Island, Wales where our paths sometimes crossed. Lew almost singlehandedly built the main Heligoland trap in the central withy beds. It was a trap that worked like as dream and I had cause to thank Lew on a number of occasions when his construction presented me with bags full of birds and several ringing “ticks”. Lew will be greatly missed by friends, colleagues, family and his partner Jenny.


Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Blogspot.

Totting Up

Domestics kept the birding at bay this morning, so after a quick lunch it was time for a visit to Out Rawcliffe and a check on the finches. 

I found the big flock first, 300+ mixed Chaffinch and Bramblings still feeding in roadside stubble where they have been most of the winter, flying back and forth to tall trees when they get disturbed. It was the farmer himself today, where after a run of dry days he had the tractor out pulling a plough back and forth over the very same field. As the finches flew to the tree tops it gave me chance to weigh up the ratio of over 250 Chaffinch and at least 15/20 Brambling. 

Less than a mile away were my productive Brambling and Chaffinch feeders and the seed drop where I found at least 8 more Bramblings but only similar numbers of Chaffinch - there’s something about that seed mix which brings in the Bramblings. I promised myself another ringing session at the first opportunity, maybe tomorrow or Wednesday as both days should be dry without too much wind to blow the nets. Still 18+ Reed Bunting on site together with 25+ Goldfinch and single Linnet and Yellowhammer today. Captures of the target species just here from November 1st to date read as 66 Chaffinch, 37 Brambling, 36 Reed Bunting and 28 Goldfinch - fascinating days! 

Brambling

Chaffinch

Many low-lying local farms appear to be still saturated from the deluges of last summer, the autumn and early winter, and a walk around the area still requires wellies in places; and there’s still snow on them thar hills. 

Rawcliffe Moss

Over towards the still soggy fields of Pilling Moss I could see the Lapwing flock, more than 200 of them sometimes panicking into wayward flight with their antics lifting the Golden Plover and the Black-tailed Godwits too, 15 and 32 respectively today. 

Woodpigeons numbers have been dropping of late, losing noughts rapidly with 300+ today. Fieldfare numbers down too with less than 20 in the tall trees with the aforementioned large Chaffinch flock. Afternoon is not the best time for a Barn Owl, but I did find evidence of their comings and goings along a favourite fence route, a fairly fresh pellet. 

Barn Owl pellet

Raptors on this grey day, 4 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel and 1 Sparrowhawk. 

Kestrel

Try Another Bird Blog soon and see how the numbers add up after Tuesdays effort - I'm counting on it.

And this post is also linking to Stewart in Australia  for World Bird Wednesday.

Afternoon Escape

Just too many competing priorities meant no birds this morning. At midday the sun still shone and the wind blew nil. So what is a man supposed to do but escape out onto the moss for a few hours of fresh air and birding before the weather turns again for the rest of the week? So I put up a few nets then sat in the warm sunshine taking in the view across the puddled wheat crop and over to the distant fells. 

 Afternoon On The Moss

11 birds caught at the feeders, 8 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Great Tit and 1 Chaffinch. So definitely not as productive as the morning might have been, but a pleasant couple of hours and a variety of other birds seen. I can’t resist taking more photographs of Lesser Redpolls, a stunning little bird. Fortunately enough it has in the last eight or ten years become much more locally common and numerous, especially in spring and autumn. 

Lesser Redpoll

Not surprisingly, and after another downpour last night, the wet fields still hold a number of Snipe, impossible to say how many without walking every square inch to see and hear them explode from your feet as they zig-zag away to escape. It was the difficulties involved in hunting Snipe which gave rise to the term "sniper".

Snipe

Two hunting Kestrels today, and as I watched them came a fly-over of 6 Black-tailed Godwit and a large party of c 150 Lapwings and upwards of 1000 Starlings, all disturbed off a more distant field. During the couple of hours I saw 90/100 Fieldfares, ones and twos going in various directions, and then about 1600 hours a flock of 80 heading to a roost somewhere over towards Pilling. By 4 o’clock finches were heading to roost too, with 30+ Goldfinches flying north and 15/20 Chaffinches contact calling as they headed somewhere north but out of sight. Other birds in the immediate area, 5 Skylark, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1Yellowhammer, 4 Linnet, 15 Tree Sparrow, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Pied Wagtail, 12 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Buzzard. 

I hadn’t seen a Little Owl here for weeks so as I drove off site about four-thirty I looked in all the trees they use until I found the right one. 

Little Owl

The forecast isn’t good for the rest of the week but let’s not grumble, only count ourselves fortunate in comparison to the good folk of eastern USA who are about to experience a humdinger of a hurricane. Stay safe all you blog followers over there. 

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Anni who'd also rather be birding anytime, and also with Stewart an ex-pat who lives in Australia - Stewart. 

A Little On The Side

As I drove to Out Rawcliffe in the half-light this morning mist hung around the low lying fields. When I passed the roadside barn the Little Owl stayed in-situ for once instead of disappearing into the roof space, so I slowly dropped the rear window and snapped a picture, just in case nothing else came our way. 

 

Morning Mist 

Little Owl

The track through the farm had a roadside Kestrel, and as I donned willies for the wet, long grass, a male Sparrowhawk left the plantation and dashed low and fast the way I’d come. A good start, if only it could last. The ringing was quiet again, a lack of warblers, in fact a lack of birds, just 11 birds caught in 3+ hours before a strengthening wind forced net closure: 4 Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackbird, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Robin and 1 Dunnock. 

 

Ringing Station

Whitethroat

Robin

Next time, which could well be August, we agreed to shift our efforts to finches rather than non-existent warblers. 

Birding was equally quiet, with visible migration represented by 2 Siskin and 2 Pied Wagtail overhead. Other birds, 3 Yellowhammer in song, 4 Corn Bunting, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Willow Warbler, 4 Swift, 40 Swallow and 12 House Martin. 

The sun rose, warming the thermals, the Buzzards became more active and switched from their invisible calling to soaring into the clouds. A minimum of 4 Buzzards today, some of the aforesaid calling from hungry youngsters in the tree tops. 

 Buzzard - Buteo buteo

On the way home I called into another Little Owl spot, a place where the bird comes out into the warming sun, takes in the view, and then watches the world and me go by.

Little Owl

Little Owl

Most blog readers in the UK will be familiar with the Little Owl Athene noctua which became truly resident in Britain in the early 1900s after several earlier unsuccessful attempts to introduce it from Europe during the 19th century. The Little Owl is much smaller than other larger UK owls like Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl and Short-eared Owl, and they feed mainly on insects (beetles, moths and spiders) and earthworms, but also small birds, amphibians and mammals. Little Owls are often active during the daytime and can often be seen perched on branches close to the trunk, fence posts, or walls out in the open, often at the roadside. But not all are as obliging as my little bit on the side. 

Little Owl 

I’m Counting On It

It was still breezy this morning but bright with it, perhaps the nicest morning we’ve had for some weeks; let’s hope it’s an omen for the New Year. I decided a tramp across Rawcliffe Moss would be both beneficial to me and productive for finding birds, an idea which proved to be fairly accurate although I didn’t need the calculator of Wednesday’s swan day, just the fingers of one hand this morning. My thanks go to Grace in Maine for that last piece of advice; over in Maine the folks are whizz at counting the depth of the snow in metres, and often need to use all ten fingers.

The first bird/birds of the day can be a pointer to what’s to come later: migrants overhead, thrushes in a dawn hedgerow, a hunting Barn Owl or a dawn chorus. Today it was a Buzzard, or rather a Buzzard and several Blackbirds in my field of view at once, the Buzzard perched motionless in a tree but watching the antics of the thrushes fighting over the few remaining berries along the hedgerow below. It was too early for the Buzzard to fly, and often they just sit and wait, so inconspicuous are they, despite their size.

Blackbird

Next in my notebook came Hen Harrier again, the now regular “ringtail” floating across the road ahead of me as it hurried across to Pilling Moss, its main hang out of the past month or so. Later I was to see the harrier make the return journey, helped this time by a convoy of corvids that chased it mercilessly until it was off their feeding stubble.

By now I was at the Tree Sparrow track, where I headed east along the hedge to see how many flushed off the seed. 180 was the answer, eight or nine flights of twenty heading for the safety of the next hedgerow and away from bird ringers. A number of Chaffinch were amongst the sparrows, as well as a few Yellowhammers, but on a return viewing an hour or more later the Chaffinch count increased to 30+, Yellowhammers to 16, and Reed Buntings to 10.

Yellowhammer
Chaffinch

Next came the big field and then a slog north over wet stubble where I came across a Merlin, a Kestrel, 8 Corn Bunting, another dozen or so Reed Buntings, 5 Linnet, 7 Grey Partridge, 15 Skylark and 7 Roe Deer. Although the birds scatter along the hedgerow, the deer never ever stay around, but just run and run to the safety of a distant wood.

Merlin

As the light burst through the sky and the sun hit the abandoned maize, I took a black and white photo that turned out ok, and then a colour one that isn’t nearly so intense.

Rawcliffe Moss
Rawcliffe Moss

A walk through and around the winter plantation yielded 6 Reed Bunting, 3 Blackbird, a Robin, a Sparrowhawk, and in distant trees 500+ Wood Pigeon. Hey Grace, I almost needed an abacus for those last ones.

Short Saturday

I woke at 3am due again to Ringer’s Sleep Syndrome, the unconscious fear of missing or being late for a ringing session that causes a person to wake long before the alarm clock but unable to go back to sleep. So not long after I got up, made a cup of tea then blogged yesterday’s late news before I headed off to meet Will at Rawcliffe Moss again for a 6am start.

Although the wind blew at less than 5mph we knew the forecast promised it would increase quite quickly, so we set nets accordingly and hoped for an hour or two to catch early movers. Our nets went up in the more sheltered western side of the plantation, away from the east wind. It was just as well we did because by 9am the wind blew quite stiffly, enough to make the nets very visible so we took them down.

In the continued clear conditions visible migration was quiet and birds high overhead. Early moving wagtails numbered one or two albas and 3 Grey Wagtails, and by now the 4th of September, a very thin movement of Meadow Pipits numbering less than 10. Tree Pipits featured again in what is proving a mega autumn for the species. We saw and heard at least 5 birds and caught another two. Similar to the past ten days or so Chaffinches proved the most numerous migrant/local dispersal with more than 40 individuals passing south overhead, sometimes unseen because of the height they flew at. We noted our first autumnal Woodpigeon movement as a tight flock of c30 birds sped west.

We caught 15 birds today, 12 new consisting of 2 Tree Pipit, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Whitethroat and 8 Chaffinch plus recaptures of 2 Long-tailed Tit and 1 Blue Tit.

Tree Pipit
Tree Pipit
Chiffchaff
Whitethroat

Other birds seen this morning: 4 Grey Partridge, 3 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 1 Golden Plover, 10 Linnet, 15 Goldfinch and 1 Jay

Jay
Rawcliffe Moss Morning