Down To Zero

After yet another windy week our one out of seven days a week of ringing turned out to be Saturday. Overnight Friday/Saturday the temperature gauge dived to 0° whereby the Fiat’s heated seat and windscreen proved worth their weight in gold. 

I met Will at 0730 up at Oakenclough and where as I arrived he was already on with the mist nets. The sun stayed hidden behind the horizon as winter gloves made their first appearance. 

A quiet session ensued, highlighted by singles of Redwing and Lesser Redpoll included in our meagre catch of just 13 birds – 4 Chaffinch, 3 Robin and singles of Blackbird, Redwing, Lesser Redpoll, Coal Tit, Wren, and Blue Tit. 

Blackbird

Chaffinch

Lesser Redpoll

Redwing

More frustration followed by our failure to catch birds that we saw but which avoided our nets completely, e.g. Crossbill, Bullfinch, Siskin and Sparrowhawk. 

Loxia curvirostra, the Red Crossbill (North America) or Common Crossbill (Europe) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. Crossbills have distinctive mandibles, crossed at the tips, an adaptation enables them to extract seeds from conifer cones and other fruits. Adults are often brightly coloured, with red or orange males and green or yellow females, but there is wide variation in beak size and shape, and call types, leading to different classifications of variants, some of which have been named as subspecies.

   

Two parties of Crossbills, a gang of five then a larger party of 7 or 8 made their way and calling overhead as we watched a number drop into the area of a mist net. 

We failed to catch any but as the breeding season for Crossbills approaches we hope that some will stick around for the next several weeks. Common Crossbills nest very early in the year in English pine plantations, hatching their chicks in February and March to take advantage of the new crop of pine cones. 

Linking today to Eileen's Weekend.

Back soon with more pics, news and photos. Stay cool but stay warm and come back to Another Bird Blog on another day.

Finches On The Move

Monday’s weather didn’t disappoint with a start of zero wind, zero rain, and a hint of a sunny morning to come. I met up with Will at 0715 and we set just a couple of nets, single panels for finches in the seed plot together with a 60 footer alongside a hawthorn hedge. 

We didn’t wait long for the first Linnets to arrive from the north and east, following their trajectory that is inevitably the same north to south direction as the set-aside seed plot. The route became busy as many small groups and larger flocks passed through and eventually totalled over 450 finches when we packed in about 1030. 

Not all were Linnets in the catch of 30 birds and the good mix of species - 16 Linnet, 5 Greenfinch, 2 Robin, 1 Great Tit, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Wren, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Redwing. 

The percentage of Scottish type Linnets is increasing at each visit now with our 16 Linnets today almost exclusively of that type. If and when “ferocious” storm Babet hits Scotland it will surely send more Linnets our way. 

Redwing

Greenfinch

 

Reed Bunting

 

Linnet

Chaffinch

 

The concentration of finches brought in a Sparrowhawk on at least two occasions and although we didn’t see a kill, the hawk would not be without a meal for long when so many birds were on the move. A cream top Marsh Harrier flew around hunting for a while where it disturbed Teal and Mallards from their shallows haunt before it too set off to try its luck out on Pilling Marsh. 

Other birds seen in our 3+ hours included 10 Redwing, 8 Skylark, 10 Chaffinch ,2 Cetti’s Warbler, 20+ Reed Bunting, 3 Pied Wagtail, 6 Meadow Pipit, 4 Whooper Swan.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Linnet

Fingers crossed that Storm Babet is another figment of the weathermen’s imagination and that we can enjoy another excellent morning of birding and ringing very soon.

Storm Babet - Wednesday night

 

Stop Press. I studied several weather charts. You heard it here first.

Already I am downgrading Storm  Babet to a bit of a blow. They are trying to frighten us again! 

Linking at the weekend to Eileen's Saturday blog

 

Sticky Times

The forecasts for Wednesday proved to be on the wrong side of marginal. Luckily I’d already decided to drive and top up the feeding station without taking the ringing gear. The Fiat splashed through deep puddles of the days and weeks before as I looked for a less sticky spot to park up and disembark. 

I’d made a good decision as the wind was a tad strong for any netting and this would be a day for dropping a bucketful of supplementary seed and a quick look around. 

A Cetti’s Warbler greeted me with a burst of rapid-fire song as if it was trying to attract attention but I didn’t even look from where the song came because I knew the chances of seeing the bird were close to zero. And anyway, a few seconds later it would be gone and singing fifty yards away. 

Fifteen and more visits to Spain’s Balearic Islands where the Cetti’s is both common and widespread taught me not to waste time in trying to actually see a Cetti’s but to instead enjoy its song and eccentric behaviour. While morning and evening can be best, the colour, size and the habitat a Cetti’s chooses makes for challenging birding. 

Cetti's Warbler

 

It’s no different here in the UK where hardly anyone sees the skulking, evasive Cetti’s Warbler, a little bird with one of the UK’s loudest and most distinctive songs. It’s thought that by hiding away and singing loudly and forcefully from different parts of its territory, a Cetti's can fool rivals into thinking there are several males present, making the interlopers less likely to stick around. This behaviour allows a male to then have two or three females in his territory and thereby increase the success of his own lineage. 

Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, Long-tailed Tits and Greenfinches criss-crossed the net ride in search of the scattered seed. I watched for a while and then dropped seed on the whoosh netting square where the cleared and flattened ground held puddles formed by the days and weeks of rain.  A couple of days of wind and sun would dry the square - if only. 

Long-tailed Tit

Reed Bunting 

Chaffinch

It was Saturday before the wind and rain presented a real window of opportunity by way of a 5mph wind or less across a number of forecasts. It was time to have another go. I met up with Andy and Will at 0700 where the partly flooded farm track glinted in our combined headlights. There was mist which hung around until the sun burnt it off around 10am.

With a little drainage work we made the whoosh net area usable if a little muddy, dropped more seed, set the single panel net to one side of the flooded walkway and erected three nets in the woodland edge.

The morning began, the mist refused to clear, but eventually it did and the catch improved a little. We finished at 1130 with a nice and varied catch of 25 birds -  7 Chaffinch, 5 Linnet, 4 Meadow Pipit, 3 Redwing, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Blackbird.

Meadow Pipit

Reed Bunting

Greenfinch

Linnet

Redwing

Redwing

Today was one of the better Chaffinch days, yet another farmland species that is seeing a serious decline in its population. One of the males today, with a wing length of 95mm, was possibly of Northern European origin, a type we are seeing less of in recent years. Our UK Chaffinches are generally smaller, both males and females.  

Chaffinch

A good morning was had by all and we'll be back another day on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas

Picking The Best

Saturday morning was going to be the best of a bad bunch of yet another week of rain blown in from the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Off the south westerly sea currents, air temperatures have been unseasonably but not uniquely warm; but that’s no use if we’re unable to get out ringing. 

During the week Will volunteered for the supplementary feeding and had a good spot count of 70 or so Linnets, a couple of Reed Bunting, Chaffinch and Greenfinch. He saw again the Marsh Harrier that we think may have taken up temporary residence while the weather is so mild. He also saw a single Swallow, again, not unprecedented in wet and warm late autumns. 

With Andy in Pisa for Pizza the team today was me and Will for the 0630 meet at the farm. 

The breeze was too strong across the seed plot for catching Linnets so we stuck to a couple of nets in the sheltered spots. Although we knew we wouldn’t catch many birds it was just good to get out in the fresh air after being stuck indoors so much - 13 birds - 5 Reed Bunting, 2 Wren, 2 Great Tit, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Redwing and 1 Blackbird. 

The Redwing was caught early morning as was the Blackbird, the latter an example of a ‘continental’ first year male with streaky throat, scalloped breast & belly with all dark bill. Both species were in evidence for the first hour or so with maybe 15/20 Redwings and a dozen or so Blackbirds plus a single Song Thrush on the move. 

Redwing

Blackbird

Our supplementary seed drops are now definitely bringing more Chaffinches and Reed Buntings. Our count this morning being 15/20 Reef Buntings (5 new caught) and 15/20 Chaffinches (2 new caught). 

Chaffinch

Reed Bunting

A pair of Stonechats has been in residence for weeks now as they both range across a defined territory, all the while sticking like glue, one to the other. They might well stay throughout the winter but the more likely scenario is that after a couple of days of cold frosty weather they will disappear when their preferred insect food becomes hard to source. 

 

Stonechat

Other birds seen/heard - one large female Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 1 Cetti’s Warbler, 15/20 Meadow Pipit, 60 Linnet, 12 Skylark, 2 Greenfinch. 

The breeze picked up to turn our nets into wind socks. We called it a day at 1030 but we’ll be back. 

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

                 

 

Two For One

It’s not often our west coast weather allows two consecutive days of ringing, and hardly ever three days in a week. But this week, and after pushing our luck through marginal forecasts we managed Monday, Thursday and Friday – amazing! 

So after the last post, here’s the summary for Thursday and Friday rolled into one as the mornings were similar or the same in location, weather conditions, species and numbers. 

Our consecutive mornings of Thursday and Friday realised a total of 42 birds - 25 Linnet, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Redwing, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Dunnock, 1 Wren, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Robin, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit. 

We caught our first Redwings of the autumn, together with migratory Song Thrush and Blackbird. 

Song Thrush

Redwing

The Skylark theme of Monday continued throughout the mornings of Thursday and Friday with many more Skylarks passing over in their north to south path to take our count for the three mornings to several hundred individuals. This has been a phenomenal and most unusual occurrence to take place over this essentially narrow corridor of coastal Lancashire known as Fylde. We simply cannot be sure of the Skylarks’ start points, but almost certainly Scotland. 

Although a good number of the Skylarks showed a high level of interest in a recording of their songs and calls we had no luck with tempting any into a whoosh net catching area. Instead of Skylarks we caught a couple of Pied Wagtails with the whoosh net, both birds first year males. 

Pied Wagtail

Thursday and Friday saw another 25 Linnets ringed with zero recaptures from this or any other year. A good number of the latest Linnets are of Scottish origins. We know this because Linnets from Scotland invariably have the very blackish streaked heads not seen in typical cannabina forms of English Linnets. Alongside that we are also seeing slightly longer winged males of 83, 84 and 85mm. 

"Scottish" Linnet

 

The odds and ends of sightings/birds from Thursday or Friday seem insignificant when laid alongside the Skylark migration of the week.  

Thursday - 28 Whooper Swan, 1 Kingfisher, 2 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 5 Reed Bunting, 20 Swallow, 80+ Skylarks. 

Friday - 4 Blackbird, Stonechat, Cetti’s Warbler, Swallow, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel, Mistle Thrush, 30+ Long-tailed Tit, 140+ Skylark. 

We rather hoped to catch the Cetti’s Warbler singing from first light and periodically throughout the morning.  However, both male and female Cetti’s are known to sing so we can only assume that Friday’s bird was the same one as caught on Monday last, a female, a few days later and already adept at avoiding bird ringers' mist nets.  

Let’s keep an eye on the weather again! It’s looking like the weekend days will be spent at home with a pencil mark in the diary for Monday/Tuesday. 

Keep in touch my friends. 

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

Happy New Year

Too much food, too much booze and too few birds - that about sums up my last fortnight. It’s not for the want of trying when a number of trips out in less than ideal weather brought scant reward.  Or, from recent Australia but in England cricket parlance, “little to report and even less to trouble the scorers”. 

In recent days Buzzard, Kestrel and Merlin provided the raptors, but a few sightings only of Barn Owl or Little Owl where mild but windy weather with zero frosts meant no requirement to feed in daylight hours. 

Little Owl

Buzzard

Supplementary feeding areas gave counts of up to 180 and 80 Linnets at two places respectively while Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Reed Buntings and titmice added to the bulk.

Chaffinch

Redwings and Blackbirds provided the thrush interest while a single Fieldfare asked questions about where they all fled to during November.

Redwing

After five weeks we expect to be notified any day now that the 10km ringing ban is lifted; then  we can return to favoured ringing sites out Pilling and Cockerham way. In a previous post I remarked that shooters are also banned from their activities in Avian Flu areas. 

After this week seeing wildfowlers in our often shared haunts and engaging in conversation, it seems that I was mistaken. The guys were quite open about their shooting, two were not even aware of our local outbreaks of Avian Flu. This when Covid alone dominates news outlets and normal conversation.  

"BASC (British Association for Shooting and Conservation) is advising members that an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) has been implemented across the UK." 

“In addition to the requirements of the AIPZ, housing measures came into force on 29 November 2021. The Chief Veterinary Officers for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have brought in housing measures across the whole of the UK to protect poultry and captive birds from avian influenza following a number of confirmed cases across Great Britain in recent weeks. The housing measures mean that it will be a legal requirement for all bird keepers across the UK to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.” 

“Shooting is not restricted as part of the conditions associated with this Prevention Zone. Neither is shooting directly impacted by the implementation of 3km and 10km control zones at sites where Avian Influenza is currently identified. However, BASC urges members to be vigilant and aware of the symptoms of the disease and to follow the latest biosecurity advice and measures required in the zones.” 

"Anyone attending a shoot should follow good personal biosecurity and regularly cleanse and disinfect clothing, footwear and vehicles – this is particularly important if they have any contact with game birds, poultry or other captive birds. There is, however, a possibility – albeit remote - that wild birds shot or culled in pest and predator control could be infected with bird flu at any time of the year, so it clearly makes sense to avoid actions that could spread infection from killed wild birds into any kept birds, whatever their species. Do not use the same vehicles and storage facilities for shot and live birds without thorough cleansing and disinfection in between. Keep all shot or culled birds well away from any kept flocks. Likewise, wash or sanitise hands and wash clothing well after handling dead birds and before any contact with kept flocks to minimise spreading infection. Gundogs are not at any particular risk from bird flu but as a precaution do not allow dogs to eat any dead wild birds and do not feed uncooked shot or culled birds to animals." 

Just as witnessed in early 2021 UK wide lockdowns because of Covid, the rules applying to people following outdoor pursuits are different whereby shooting has a lower level of control than bird ringing, bird watching or even walking in the countryside. 

To paraphrase George Orwell, 'All countryside pursuits are equal but some countryside pursuits are more equal than others'.

Follow the money.

A Happy New Year to followers of Another Bird Blog, past, present and future.

Linking today to https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com and http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com.

 

A Numbers Game

November 26th was the day of the BTO notification that our bird ringing would cease with “immediate effect.” The now almost annual outbreak of bird flu in our geographical area had struck yet again in Preesall/Pilling, just a few miles from our coastal ringing sites in Pilling and Cockerham. 

Luckily we have our ringing site at Oakenclough on the edge of the Bowland Hills that is well outside the 10km control zone and so unaffected by the ban, except that until now inclement weather prevented ringing here too. 

This upland site is close to a reservoir, the water catchment placed strategically to collect the maximum amount of water from both rain and run off from surrounding land. The open situation of the site also means a fair amount of windy weather too; rain and wind, the nemeses of bird ringers everywhere. 

At last, a bout of high pressure promised a few days of settled weather and ringing, even though we knew that mid-winter catches at this site are small in numbers. I met up with Andy at 0700 in the blackness of morning, less than a week from the shortest day and the Winter Solstice of 21 December. Soon the days get steadily longer, lighter, warmer and may be even drier? 

The first net round brought a couple of always nice to see Redwing into the nets but none of the 50+ Fieldfares that stopped briefly before continuing to the east. 

Redwing

Fieldfares

Just as expected our catch was low in numbers with just eleven birds, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Redwing, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Goldcrest and 1 Wren. At least we managed a spot of ringing; and as a bonus the sun appeared. 

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Coal Tit

Birding was pretty quiet with Barn Owl, a single Siskin and the aforementioned Fieldfares the highlights.  

On the way home I noted near Nateby a pair of Kestrels at roadside poles. As I carefully stopped hoping for a photo the male flew across to a tree which held a good sized crow nest; a tree worth keeping an eye on in the coming months. Kestrels begin their courtship in the cold winter months to ensure their bond is secure before the breeding season begins. Pairs usually mate for life. 

Kestrel

 

Looking forward, we are on countdown, hoping to hear soon that the ringing ban is lifted at our coastal site. But in any case I will be visiting soon to top up the supplementary food.  

Failing that we will return to Oakenclough for another dozen or so birds. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog. 

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

 

Good Morning

I set off in the dark and drove towards Lancaster. The temperature hovered around zero under a clear starry sky that hinted at a sunny day. As it does so often, the morning began with a Barn Owl, but not in the usual spots. 

The owl was at Conder Green where it hunted over the areas of rough grass areas that surround the pools. I watched the owl for a while as it played hide & seek with the camera until it flew off towards Glasson Dock’s roadside barns. 

Barn Owl

The light wasn’t perfect yet but good enough to clock the wildfowl and waders where scans and counts revealed 28 Wigeon, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret and 48 Teal. There was no sign of the recent Green-winged Teal but my overall count of teal species was below recent averages whereby Teal are good at hiding in the reedy margins with the result that some remained unseen. 

Goldeneye

Waders were the expected handful of species that rarely changes in winter composition but fluctuates in numbers. Today all of them proved to be in a flighty mood - 65 Lapwing, 22 Redshank, 6 Curlew and a single Oystercatcher. 

Curlew

 

A Kingfisher obliged by sitting at the water spillway but briefly. Within a few seconds it was gone, skimming across the flat water to an unknown spot at the other end of the pool. 

Kingfisher

 

The few passerines around numbered 11 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Blackbird, 1 Dunnock, 1 Wren along the hedgerow, hawthorns that hold few birds, probably because there is constant disturbance from vehicles large, small and inevitably noisy in using the parking spot. 

Perhaps local birders can answer this question – where are all the unglamorous Dunnocks this autumn and winter? I have seen, heard and ringed very few all year. The species is even absent from the garden, most unusual. Theories please.

Dunnock

 

I took a drive up to Cockersands and picked up a few extra species that included a small flock of mixed Redwings and Fieldfares, about 30 birds in all that flew between tall trees and a single hedgerow. Near here and Gardner’s farm a Kestrel sat atop a roadside pole and approximately 130 Whooper Swans stayed noisy and distant. There are very few berries left now following a quite average berry crop this autumn. 

Redwing

Fieldfare

On the way back home a stop at Braides Farm found a rather decent if somewhat approximate number of Lapwings (500), Golden Plover (750) and 40 or more Redshank. I wondered why all were so difficult to count, very flighty and taking to the air for “nothing”, flying around and then dropping back into the fields. It was a Sparrowhawk, a large female sat on a broken down post in the centre of the mayhem where it watched for the opportune moment and a meal. 

I let the birds be then drove to Gulf Lane and the feeding spots we cannot work for ringing purposes because they are close to a case of Avian Flu in Preesall/Pilling. 

I dropped more seed on the ground for the count of 125 Linnet, 12 Chaffinch, 4 Blackbird, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Great Tit, 1 Robin and 1 Moorhen. It's very frustrating that we are barred from catching and ringing these small passerines. Let’s hope we can return to our ringing quite soon.  

Linnets

Back soon with more news, views and photos on Another Bird Blog. 

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