Round Robin

I did the rounds this morning in a search for migrants where I seemed to be the only birder at large, almost outnumbering any birds I thought likely to be migrants.

My first stop was Pilling, where at the end of Wheel Lane the 2 male Ruff gave super views on the closer bits of the flashes as one of them quarrelled with a Redshank over ownership. Here I also counted 8 Curlew, at least 15 displaying Lapwing, 15 Redshank and a couple of singing Skylarks.

Ruff
Down at Fluke I avoided parking next to the teenagers in their cars separated by a few inches (makes it easier to pass essentials through you see), the ground below surrounded by the cigarette paper, aluminium and plastic detritus of their nighttime’s endeavours, the roof of one car decorated with a blaring rooftop “boombox” of vile unimaginable racket. Parents, if you at all want to know where your child was last or any night, please follow the trail of noise, litter and herbal smells that leads to Fluke Hall and you will probably find them even if the Police and other authorities have no interest.

So I walked the sea wall in the direction of Ridge Farm where I found a much reduced flock of 15 Twite with close by a smaller group of 7 Linnet, 4 Skylark together, as distinct from the 2 that sang above the fields and 2 Reed Bunting atop the hedgerow. That was pretty much it apart from the resident Robins, Dunnocks, Wrens and Woodpigeon that populate the gorse hedge at the moment. Roll on the much promised spring.

I walked back to Fluke and reclaimed my car where the partygoers had departed, and perhaps now their parents had left for work the poor kids could take to their beds exhausted after being out all night.

At least Lane Ends was quiet and deserted so I took a look around there and walked to Pilling Water then back. In the area of the car park and plantation I counted at least 18 Blackbirds, but how much of this count is due to migration or the effects of the Blackbirds mopping up after "animal lovers" feeding the abandoned cockerels is open to debate. Look on the positive side though, the proper birds get a bit of food, the occasional cockerel is too slow to avoid passing cars and the resultant mess of feathers will make good nesting material for lots of species in the weeks to come.

Additional birds along/about here: 4 Goldeneye, 4 Little Egret, 2 male Reed Bunting singing, 3 singing Skylark and 2 Long-tailed Tit. Down at Pilling Water, 3 Teal, 2 Black-tailed Godwit and 5 Bewick’s Swan. A Kestrel I saw had a ring on the left leg which I discovered only when I later looked at the photograph.

Kestrel
At Knott End on the incoming tide I counted 300 Oystercatcher, 125 Redshank, 22 Knot, 12 Ringed Plover and 5 Eider, then by the bus shelter stopped to confirm the Twite at 18.

Oystercatcher
Twite
Linnet
I have to say I spent a couple of hours looking and searching but found nothing I could say was a true migrant.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I may not get out birding or ringing, but what I really need to know is when is Grandad’s Day?

Another Sunny Day

A layer of frost on the car also means another sunny day lately so who am I to complain about de-icing the windscreen with cold fingers again? All I do is set off a little later and give the birds a chance to move around more when the early sun warms the air. But the current high pressure also seems to be blocking wholesale migration from the south as we birders wish our lives away to hope for a rush of Meadow Pipits, see the first Wheatear or Sand Martin or maybe hear the rasping of a Sandwich Tern along the shore. But there's hope yet as I note Bardsey Island had their first Wheatear on Tuesday.

First call today was Knott End, probably as good a place as any to see the aforementioned harbingers of spring. But there were no Meadow Pipits overhead, just the single Rock Pipit below The Esplanade again with about 25 Twite. Out from the jetty just a single male Eider floated on the incoming tide with no female companion which is a good sign as she was probably up river hidden away somewhere. Before the tide displaced most of them I counted 80+ Redshank, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 44 Knot, 22 Shelduck, 40 Turnstone and 140 Oystercatcher, a dramatic reduction on recent counts as birds head off to breeding sites.

Isle of Man Ferry at Fleetwood

Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
Turnstone
Twite
It was good to be out but I wasn’t seeing any March migrants so I decided to do Fluke and Ridge Farm. In the field at Wheel Lane I could see 2 distant Ruff, and even through the bins I could see how each bird is colouring up for spring; also at least 20 scattered but some displaying Lapwings, the larger numbers of previous weeks now dispersed like the Knott End Oystercatchers.

”Distant” Ruff
Lapwing
Ridge Farm produced a healthy variety of birds in the shape of 70 Twite feeding on the deck in the open field, 9 Linnet, 11 Skylark, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Pied Wagtail and at last, 1 migrant Siskin calling overhead but invisible in the bright blue sky, but zero Meadow Pipits. It was now 10am so I was somewhat surprised to see a Barn Owl flying along the hedgerow before it returned towards the farm buildings. A Kestrel circled the wood and a Sparrowhawk hung around the trees near the Tree Sparrow boxes, hoping for an opportune meal as Sparrowhawks always do.

Barn Owl
Twite
Reed Bunting
Tree Sparrow

I motored on to Braides where I saw absolutely zero. The year has been so dry that the ditches dug last autumn to encourage breeding waders are bone dry which makes the field unsuitable for Lapwings at the moment unless we have lots of rain.

Yet another trip to Conder Green produced 2 Greenshank, 14 Tufted Duck, 18 Teal, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Little Grebe and 5 Oystercatchers displaying over the pool again.

Short But Sweet?

I did get out for a few hours this afternoon, but apologies for the short summary as I have to go a meeting in the Black Bull later.

Over at Pilling before I turned off Wheel Lane to Fluke, there was Great-spotted Woodpecker activity when one perched in a roadside tree followed a second one that flew across in front me from the direction of Fluke Hall itself. I notice how this species has become extremely noticeable and vocal over the last week or so as they sort themselves out for the breeding season.

Along Fluke Hall Lane there were plenty of Lapwings, as in 235 of them, 15 Golden Plover, 40 Redshank, 2 Dunlin, the single Ruff from the previous week or so, 2 Stock Dove and 10/12 Skylarks.

Lapwing

Ruff
At the entrance to Lane Ends I saw a single Fieldfare still working the buckthorn berries above the road, then from the top car park I quickly counted 44 Whooper Swan on the distant marsh, 195 Shelduck with 2 Little Egret closer in.

Fieldfare
I decided to check out Braides, partly as a preliminary to the wader survey work I have permission to do on there. It was fairly productive with counts of 210 Lapwing, 95 Curlew 12 Golden Plover, 9 Skylark, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Short-eared Owl and a high count of 11 Little Egrets. I will have to do a lot of my work from the gate, because although I have full access, by walking along the very open track I was extremely visible to all the birds, most of which gradually moved elsewhere.

Little Egret

I met a farmer up at Cockerham who gave me a ring GC75867 he found about a month ago on a dead roadside owl which he said was a Tawny Owl. I’ll do the business on the BTO website and see what transpires.

Conder Green was well, Conder Green. Greenshank 1, Spotted Redshank 1, Snipe 2, Teal 40 (are numbers going down a little?), Grey Plover 1, Wigeon 7, Tufted Duck 8, and Grey Heron 1. Just as I was about to leave 6 Black-tailed Godwit flew in calling but landed on the far side of the pool and didn’t approach the road side screen – pity.

Luney Morning

I stopped at Damside, Pilling this morning to let a wide vehicle over the bridge, quite handy really as it allowed me a glimpse of a Mistle Thrush almost overhead on a telegraph pole, then to hear a snatch of song above the traffic noise. Well it is December and I reckon I always hear a Mistle Thrush on or close to December 25th, but certainly soon after the shortest day; maybe it was the sunny start that persuaded the thrush to try a verse or two. It’s not a species that figures a lot in ringing totals, but here’s an old digitised slide from Singleton Hall in the 1990s.



I had just come along Fluke Hall Lane where strangely the stubble was devoid of birds even though the shallow floods now look perfect for waders and wildfowl – perhaps yesterday was a shoot day and the birds haven’t returned?

But the Whooper Swans were out on the marsh, where from Lane Ends car park I could see distant swans further out from Fluke Hall with 18 Whooper Swans directly opposite me which as usual flew off south in small groups. For the record, 5 Little Egrets here this morning with 4 at Braides Farm, 2 at Bank End and 4 on the Lune Estuary.





The sunny start allowed me to spend a little time at Conder and also at Glasson where in the south facing car park, it was positively balmy if not quite summer. Here’s a picture to remind us how Glasson Dock looks in summer.



I counted most of the wildfowl, i.e. 38 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Cormorant, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 1 Goldeneye, but I didn’t feel up to a Coot count.











There was no tide to concentrate birds but it was such a clear morning with phenomenal visibility that I did a quick circuit of the Lune via the Victoria, Bodie Hill and Cockersands and attempted what was I admit a not very scientific “guesstimate” count of the most obvious and numerical species. For what it’s worth, I got 3000+ Wigeon, 7500+ Lapwing, 2000 Bar-tailed Godwit and 8000 Knot with small numbers of Goldeneye, Pintail, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Great-crested Grebe. And that’s not including the thousands of gulls and lesser numbers of waders like Redshank and Oystercatcher. I think it’s called “scratching the surface”.

At Conder the sight of 400 Black-headed Gulls greeted me, whose noisy presence rather took over the expanse of the pool. Neither did they seem in any hurry to leave, so I had to search for the normal odds and ends, as in 2 Little Grebe and 1 Goldeneye.

Over near the Stork pub the creek held 10 Redshank, 30 Teal, 4 Curlew and just a single Snipe. I was pleased to see a Ruff, presumably the same one seen in recent weeks but not for a few days or more.



I walked part of the cycle track where a mixed group of 15 Chaffinch and Goldfinch searched through some flimsy weeds with a small party of titmice.





A couple of Redshank fed below the bridge in the strong sunlight but a Greenshank was too quick off the mark for me to get a photo of it and flew off with its customary triple alarm. PW, I think the reflections from the sand messed up the image? Digital isn't everything.



I had time for a dive down to Bank End where I saw a Kestrel with mammal prey awaiting me on a roadside post before it sped across to the marsh to a similar sized post to continue the meal. It did me a real favour because as it travelled low over the grass it put to flight at least a dozen wagtails and 15 Meadow Pipits which remained near the roadside.



There were a number of Tree Sparrows in the hedgerow, staying out of sight as usual but I counted at least 10 keeping an eye on me.



Such short days, so time waits for no man, my cue to head back. It’s all very well getting out then blogging for Britain but I really must catch up with my Bird Track records tonight.

At Last

A couple of enforced days off - MoT, the car. Then a family birthday, still it would be no good going birding everyday would it?

Left or right as I turned from our road? Never one to make hasty decisions I hesitated a minute or two before turning right towards Lancaster.

Prepared as ever I wore my winter plumage on the realisation that spring had imperceptibly turned into winter: bobble hat, gloves, two jumpers and winter trousers.

At first glance the windswept Conder pool didn’t look too promising, the nondescript ducks, distant gulls and waders sheltering from the elements again. “Now concentrate” I urged as the blobs morphed into objects more acceptable, a Greenshank, several Teal, a couple of Snipe and then to the left the male Ruff in the herbage who seemingly had dumped the two bossy females to now survive alone.

The consistent creek held the usual quota of two Grey Herons, twenty or so Redshank, three or four Curlew together with the resident Lapwing crew and a single noisy Greenshank, as below me two Spotted Redshanks hoovered together through the water. It was quiet enough to venture past the Stork to look from the other side where I managed a couple of distant shots of Curlew and Oystercatcher before the first exercisers of the morning clumped and shouted their way across the bridge leaving the waders, now including two Greenshank, to flee noisily.



Back at the platform I glimpsed the Kingfisher over the creek, and heard the call several times from the edge of the water below the road where they seem to spend some time out of sight. So I waited at the screen out of sight but watching the Ruff and Redshanks interacting for a while. Five more Greenshank appeared from behind a far island to fly calling towards Thurnham then circle back to land in the creek. By this time the sun was really trying its best to warm everyone up but I swear the same dark cloud as last week hung around in exactly the same bit of sky to the east to blot out any brightness. Then suddenly the sun came out, giving the scene a quick make over as the Kingfisher landed on the outflow wall. I had time to grab literally one shot before a Fiesta drew up noisily, doors clattered open then shut to unload dog, wife and tripod whilst the Kingfisher departed. One shot only today then but I think it’s not a bad one with a bit of sunlight to make a difference.



A good cue to move on to the next venue, so I splashed through the British Waterways Gravel Pits to leave my car in as dry a spot as possible. All those £1 coins I gave to that old geezer at the hut and he never did tarmac the place, I just knew it was a fiddle.

I had barely left the car when I saw the Lapwings in the air then Mr Peregrine fly overhead and above the bowling green towards the river. By the time I reached the other side of the bowling green the Peregrine had gone, the waders had settled and I counted upwards of 400 Dunlin, c800 Lapwings together with 400 or so Redshank. Another exerciser came jangling along and down towards the steps, time to move on again.

Saturdays aren’t complete without my newspaper so I popped into Glasson Stores for a Telegraph to read later. Well it’s either a glass of Primitivo and the Daily Telegraph or watch “X Factor”. Life is just one hard decision after another. I hadn’t realised that the shop is no longer a Post Office so the chap couldn’t help me in realising some cash back on my £1.60 to grab a bacon butty next door so I went without. What a busy little shop though, piles of newspapers everywhere, but I guess there’s not much to do in Glasson apart from read, watch TV or take up the local sport of Running Your Dog at the Waders.

I’d seen the Great Crested Grebes from the lock so went around for a closer look. Still feeding young, fish bigger than our chippy.



Naturally I called in at Lane Ends where I fought against the wind to reach Pilling Water just in time to see HiFly quad biking around the pool and the two distant white heads become not Little Egrets but mongrel duck. Not all was lost because the sight of 7 Wheatears surprised me somewhat given the overnight weather. I also had a Lane Ends tick in the form of a cracking little “deux chevaux” 2CV, the original farm motor and just had to take a picture.

Good weather decision

It was one of those indecisive evenings, birding or ringing, and after watching Look North West, Granada and the national weather forecasts, not to mention trawling all my Internet weather “favourites”, I wasn’t really sure. As first light beckoned I opened the back door to hear the trees rustle, looking up to see bats whizzing around next door’s sycamore. At least it was warm but too windy for ringing.

A slow drive north then in case of Over Wyre Barn Owls on the prowl but saw I none. Turning to Conder Pool I remembered the height of the tides this week in seeing last night’s tidal debris on the road making a mental note not to stay loo long or leave my car at the usual spots for the tide to claim. Drat, the overnight tide had also filled the pool to cover the muddy corner where I hoped to catch up on yesterday’s Wood Sandpiper. A lone Oystercatcher roosted in the shallows with a party of Lapwings on the little island.



The creek held the usual assortment of Redshank and Curlew with a couple of Dunlin, two Spotted Redshank and a single Greenshank after the numbers of a few days ago. I turned my attention back to the pool where two Ruff reappeared silently but the higher water kept them a distance from the screen. The Kingfisher appeared, as it always does, so I spent the next ten minutes trying to get a few shots as I waited in vain for the sun to appear from dark clouds. Eventually it flew along the pool out of sight to allow me to watch the Ruff and a Common Sandpiper again.



A quick look at The Victoria gave me about 275 Dunlin and over a thousand noisy Lapwings before a Peregrine silenced them as they scattered high over the Lune.



Of course I called in at Lane Ends. The “Creatures of the Night” had been and gone, leaving their usual pile of rubbish for other to clear up, left over fire, beer cans, cigarette packets and goodness knows what else they need to make their lives complete.



But what a sorry mess is Lane Ends Amenity Area, the west pool “set aside for nature”, more like abandoned to let nature take over, with the rest of the place devoted to satisfying the usual public demands. There has been no thought to what might be achieved with a little money and expertise, and apart from picking up a little rubbish, Wyre Borough Council and Environment Agency do little to encourage wildlife. Sad to think that not so many years ago this place held half a dozen pairs each of Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler and could do so again with proper management. Instead they have managed to rip out the middle story of vegetation including a developing area where Linnets roosted.

Near Pilling Water I counted 16 alba wagtails out on the marsh but as I also counted my first two Meadow Pipits of the autumn “tseeping” overhead, I am inclined to think the albas may have been White Wagtails. The few Swallows around found a little male Sparrowhawk following the contours of the sea wall before it saw me, to change direction and let me watch it disappear into HiFly’s fields. Not two minutes later a different but bigger Sparrowhawk quartered over the inland fields towards the dyke, for all the world like a tiny harrier until it too disappeared into HiFly territory. The Little Egret was still around, this time with a Grey Heron for not too close company.

Now let me go and watch the cricket and get our hands on some proper ashes.

Up the creek

Well you if you are going to Lancaster anyway why not put the bins in the car and call into Conder Green for a quick peek? It will only take a few minutes. How many times have we all said that as a couple of hours later we glance at the wristwatch in amazement?

I hoped it might be a good omen as I passed Braides Farm and a Little Egret flew from the nearest fields on my left and continued over the car.

It was pretty windy this morning but I was not prepared for the strength of the gusts against the Conder Pool viewing screen. No wonder all the birds were sheltering from the vicious blasts under the far bank as I struggled to stand upright and felt the solid wooden structure shake. No matter, the rising tide began to do its magic as the birds moved off the marsh to join the pool as eleven pale Greenshank stood out from the hundred or more Redshank. I set up a scope in the safest spot I could find to watch the activity over the filling creek and the pool. About 80 Swallows and a dozen House Martins took advantage of the insects disturbed from the marsh as six Snipe and a couple of Common Sandpipers took flight. The usual Grey Heron took good advantage of long legs, hanging around as long as possible in the rising water before being forced to higher ground. I watched for a while longer as best I could as the wind whipped through the viewing screen before I thought better of it and took a trip down Jeremy Lane to try out the fields.

Although there were no gulls to check there were two recently cut fields pretty full of at least 1500 Lapwings, where I tried to get a few photographs of them and the half a dozen Golden Plover. It didn’t help that two other birdwatchers stood outside their car preventing the plovers from exploiting the whole field and moving closer to my camera. A pretty poor but recognisable image of a Lapwing resulted. Lapwing flocks can be so flighty, all those eyes watching and ears listening. As if on cue the whole lot panicked at least twice to return to roughly the same spot, all that energy wasted on a false alarm.

Lapwing

Time was running out so I returned to the pool to see what had changed. At least the wind had dropped a little in sympathy with the tide. My Greenshank count was up to fifteen, Redshank over 280 together with a Spotted Redshank a lone Whimbrel and at least six Common Sandpipers. Then joy of joys, three beautiful Ruff, two males and a female who was clearly in charge as she kept the others at the bottom of the feeding hierarchy of the muddy edges. I managed a few pics but by this time the light was into the lens. There’s always tomorrow.

Common Sandpiper

Ruff