Solely Birding

Thursday.The early birding at Cockerham, Conder and Glasson had more than a little of a déjà vu feel. 

There was no Barn Owl but the early morning Kestrel sat alongside Head Dyke Lane where regular as clockwork it can be found atop one of just a few roadside poles. Birds are such creatures of habit - much like birders really. Needless to say there was a Buzzard at Braides Farm, custodian as usual of the regular fence line which crosses the farm. The Buzzard often faces directly into the early morning sunrise taking the chill off those overnight feathers. That's the sea wall directly behind the Buzzard.

Buzzard

Maybe I was later than usual but there were wagons parked at Conder Green with drivers out of cabs generating noise and disturbance therefore no birds around. I made a quick exit for Glasson Dock where the early light and reflections can often be more spectacular than the birding. 

Glasson Dock

There are few Swallows around Glasson Marina this year. Last year many thousands roosted amongst the boats and yachts moored in the marina, this year so far just handfuls of Swallows feeding along with similar numbers of Sand Martins. If anything there appeared to be less Swallows than Swifts with a dozen or more of the latter. 

Swallow

One of the adult Common Terns from Conder Green was on its regular fishing circuit; around the yacht basin favouring the south end, up and over the lock gates and then around the dock a couple of times. Then it’s back over the lock followed by a circuit of the basin again, by which time it has usually caught a fish of suitable proportions for the youngsters back home. Later, all three recently fledged but not yet independent youngsters were lined up on the island at Conder Pool waiting for their meal. I can’t say that I have seen either of the adults fishing Conder Pool itself even though there may be suitable prey items as testified by the regular appearance of both Kingfisher and on Thursday the return of a single Little Grebe. 

Common Tern

Back at Conder Green and suitably quieter after the wagons and bodies moved on - 5 Little Egret, 7 Common Sandpiper, 4 Meadow Pipit, 5 Pied Wagtail, 3 Greenfinch. 

There wasn’t much else doing so I paid a visit to our Sand Martin colony at Cockerham where I’m free to wander around the dairy farm while birding courtesy of Chris the farmer. Roughly 90+ Sand Martins were in evidence with a number of youngsters visible at nest holes as adults returned with food. The next visit for ringing purposes is due in early August, a visit scheduled to fit BTO recommendations for ringing at Sand Martin colonies. 

Sand Martin

On Friday Jamie at Knott End promised me a Dover Sole fresh from the Wyre Estuary so I left him skinning the fish and went for a walk up river where the tide was surging up the channel. 

Wyre Estuary - Fleetwood (left) Knott End (right) 

The Wyre Rose - Fleetwood to Knott End Ferry

There was a Grey Heron along the tideline with many Oystercatchers flying to their roost upriver. In the car park a pair of Pied Wagtails collected food and then flew with beaks crammed full before dropping to the rocks below and out of sight. So that’s where they nest. 

Pied Wagtail

As I walked up river I’d counted 300+ Oystercatchers when a couple of them broke ranks to see off a Peregrine which floated above me. But too late, my camera was bagged and an elementary mistake. 

Upriver and then alongside the golf course I noted a Kestrel, a couple each of Goldfinch and Linnet plus a wheezing Greenfinch. 

All this fresh air sure gives a birder a healthy appetite. Grilled Sole for supper - count me in. 

 Dover Sole

There's more fishy tales soon from Another Bird Blog.

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

Bank Holiday Blues

There’s a little part time birding and a few pictures from Saturday morning, it’s all I could manage, and if I’m honest Bank Holiday Weekend birding fills me with dread. 

It rained overnight and into the morning, so much so that my trip to Knott End for a spot of soft-core birding was delayed until 0815. The sun was breaking through, rain clouds headed south up The River Wyre and ahead of a hint of northerly, a recipe which often leaves a glorious morning light to fill the estuary. 

Not for the first time I paused to survey the scene, clicked the shutter button and thanked my lucky stars that I live in such a beautiful part of the UK. I walked in the direction of the dark clouds safe in the knowledge that the morning would remain fine and that I would see a good selection of commonplace birds.

Double click your LH mouse for a slide show of Wyre, Lancashire and just a few of the county's common birds. 

The River Wyre looking North West

The River Wyre looking South East

From the car park I’d noted masses of Oystercatchers on the mussel beds at the mouth of estuary, the rocky islands just beginning to flood and the Oystercatchers to leave. It’s quite a spectacle to see and hear hundreds of oyks “kleep-kleeping” to their up-river roost, not en-masse just a steady stream of tens and twenties until an hour later you’ve counted 450+ and there’s still some left on the shore. Redshanks and Curlews were on the move too, flying up river in their small exclusive groups which never mix with the numerous and noisy gangs of Oystercatchers. 90+ Redshank and 42 Curlew went in the notebook. 

Redshanks

I didn’t find many birds up here but the antics of the weekend golfers make for alternative entertainment. And to be fair they often send a fairway feeding wagtail in my direction as they did today, plus an autumn Meadow Pipit. Half a dozen Goldfinch, a few Dunnocks and Robins in the willow/hawthorn stretch and then it was time to head back down river where the incoming tide would fill the shore. 

At the ferry jetty I noted 2 Pied Wagtail, on the tideline 2 Grey Heron and a Little Egret, a good number of small and scattered waders which the tide should concentrate, and the screeches of Sandwich Terns. 

Sandwich Tern

There was a good selection of waders with a few more northerly species making a “welcome” comeback. A question - why do birders wish the seasons and their lives away to see birds that they are only too familiar with? 

I mustered 6 Turnstone, 68 Dunlin, 27 Ringed Plover, 6 Grey Plover, 7 Sanderling and 17 Sandwich Tern 

Turnstone

 Sanderling

There was horse rider on the beach who decided to drive her mount fast along the tideline. She stopped to scan her mobile phone before charging off again and so scattering the birds to the far horizons and sending me back home. Yes, this part of Lancashire is rather special, mostly. 

The River Wyre, Lancashire

There’s more birding soon on Another Bird Blog if you decide to return, Bank Holiday or not.

Linking today to Our World Tuesday and Stewart's World Bird Wedesday .

Double Take

I took a look at a couple of places this morning, first Rawcliffe Moss and secondly the group’s ringing site near Myerscough where whilst I was away in Cyprus Will busied himself with putting seed out, altering a few mist net rides and clearing the remains of bramble stalks, the ringers enemy.

At least one Little Owl is pretty much guaranteed when I visit Rawcliffe Moss where this morning the most regular spot didn’t disappoint when a single bird sat puffed up the against the biting cold in the overhead trees.

Little Owl

A Kestrel hung about near the barn, no doubt looking for unwary mice and rats that scuttle about when things seem quiet. I parked up alongside the feeding track where 15 Woodpigeon and 2 Yellowhammers were the closest birds searching for spillage under the shooter’s seed hopper. Further along the hedge I could see 4 Blackbirds attacking the hawthorn berries as a couple more flew from there across to the wood. Slowly I walked the track, close to the hedge so as not to disturb the feeding Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches and bits and bobs that hang about with them. Eventually they flew in groups over to their refuge hedge, 130 Tree Sparrow and 10 or 12 Chaffinch only, with a couple of Blue and Great Tits and a Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Woodpigeon

I walked north disturbing 2 Brown Hare buried deep in the rough grass and they shot away over the embankment, until up near the plantation I could see 2 Buzzards being harried by the crows which always give the game away for the Buzzards who just like to wait in a convenient tree for a passing meal.

In the plantation where only a month or so ago we ringed many birds, the frosted net rides yielded 4 Chaffinch and 2 Wren but the pool was frozen solid. With so little doing I headed off towards Myerscough but stopped off to survey the River Wyre at Town End where it is partly tidal but ice floes reached across and along the water. As I stood taking a picture of the solid river a lone Fieldfare chuckled away from the hawthorns behind me and a lone Mistle Thrush watched proceedings.

River Wyre

Will had been energetic, the feeding station at Myerscough held 60 to 70 Chaffinch, 6 Tree Sparrow, at least 20 Blackbird, 3 Song Thrush, 5 Robin and 1 Grey Wagtail, with a couple of Goldfinch nearby, and an overflying Grey Heron.

Song Thrush
Tree Sparrow

Things are looking up for a ringing session, all we need is for the snow to stay away and the early morning roads to remain ice free - that’s not a lot to ask is it?.

Blue Morning

It was a bright blue sky this morning after clear overnight and when I looked across the estuary from Knott End and out towards the Wyre Light all was calm serenity save for the hoot of the 8am ferry. All right I exaggerated the blue a little but not the flat water as the east wind was barely perceptible, leaving the river like a mirror.

River Wyre from Knott End

I struggled to find many birds, even the 2 drake Eider hidden at the base of the jetty half way to Fleetwood so far was the tide out. A couple each of Linnets, Goldfinch, Meadow Pipits and "albas" flew from up river but I couldn’t be certain if they were migrants or not. Apart from the actual beautiful morning, the weather conditions hadn’t been ideal for migrants again so I headed for Pilling and my favourite walk in search of the mythical, elusive Wheatear.

Eider

At Lane Ends I saw my first “mallard” ducklings of the year, seven multi coloured bundles of fluff scooting across the pool with mum when a dog got too close to the water’s edge. Also on the pools were 2 pairs of Tufted Duck, the Little Grebes and a drake Gadwall, no sign of the female from last week! What I took to be the same Kestrel from Wednesday hung around but didn’t perform for me as it did the day before. Just as well I took plenty of pictures, because I didn’t today apart from a Chaffinch and a Woodpigeon – well someone has to. In the plantation I didn’t see or hear a single Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff, only the still present Reed Buntings represented the little brown jobs.

Chaffinch
Woodpigeon
Authentic Mallard
Kestrel

Towards Pilling Water I had the usual smattering of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks, now only 800 Pink-footed Geese, 4 Little Egrets and on the wildfowler’s pools, 90 Redshank. Apologies but it’s yet another Little Egret picture.

Little Egret

I was sat at the stile at Pilling Water when I received a message that IG had seen a Marsh Harrier over his Fleetwood house; so I looked both west towards the river then north towards Heysham and south over Pilling itself, but couldn’t pick up on anything that big heading my way. Sometimes I think the harriers on hitting the coast at Fleetwood follow the course of the Wyre up river and thence across to the mosslands. That’s my excuse for not refinding this one but I did have a single Whimbrel again, the highlight of my sea wall vigil.

Wheatears? None! But better luck tomorrow I hope with a ringing session elsewhere.