Staying Warm

I sprayed defroster on the windscreen and then started the old girl up to see the temperature indicator flashing a “1°” warning. Definitely a morning for the heated seat and not hanging around on street corners, so stand by for a mixed bunch of stuff from this morning’s rapid transit whereby I managed five different birding spots in four hours. 

In the half-light there seemed to be good numbers of Little Egrets in the Pilling Roost so I stopped to examine the ghostly shapes in more detail. After two counts the best I could get was 36 and by then the early risers were already on their way out of the trees, others stirring as if to go. Early Whooper Swans, 30+, were flying over from their roost way out on the marsh and then heading south towards the fields of Eagland Hill where counts of 300+ Whoopers are now an everyday occurrence. 

Soon I headed back to Knott End and a check of the 0830 tide. The biting south-easterly wind made for a brief but bitterly cold look, with 1300 Oystercatcher, 6 Turnstone, 85 Dunlin, 60+ Redshank, 70+ Shelduck, 15 Curlew, 140 Lapwing, 12 Twite and 2 Pied Wagtails. 

Shelduck

On passing Lane Ends again I could see a flock of mainly Lapwing which upon closer inspection revealed 6 Redshank, 80+ Starlings and 320 Lapwings. There were more Lapwings and also 120+ Golden Plovers on the Cockerham flash floods and then as I scoped the sea wall, 2 Buzzards again, the birds on foot prospecting both along and up & down the embankment.

I’m not having much luck finding the unseasonal Common Sandpiper at Conder Green, but the 2 wintering Spotted Redshank are ultra-reliable in the creeks below the road, as they were again. 

Spotted Redshank

Also there today and as combined pool and creek counts, 280+ Teal, 30 Wigeon, 6 Curlew, 5 Little Grebe, 15 Lapwing, 4 Goldeneye, 3 Goosander, 1 Tufted Duck. Below is not a very good and also rushed Goosander shot with the equally wary Teal somewhat distant. 

Goosander

Teal

It was here that a walk around the block produced most of the Teal count, also 18 House Sparrow, 1 Tree Sparrow, 1 Reed Bunting, and on the outer marsh 20+ Linnets. 

A wildfowl count at Glasson Dock gave 55 Tufted Duck, 20 Goldeneye, 4 Cormorant, 1 Pochard, 1 Grey Heron and 4 Mute Swan. 

Tufted Duck

I know for sure that next week’s birding will heat up considerably, so stick around Another Bird Blog to see why. 

Linking today to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday.

Saturday Sandpiper

This morning’s jaunt out Pilling way provided similar fare to recent days, the exceptions being a build of the Linnet flock and the reappearance of a Curlew Sandpiper. 

I stopped at the lane and took in the waders on the stubble, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 120+ Lapwings, 4 Curlew, 20 or so Redshanks and a single Snipe. I gave up on the tiny and distant peep which kept disappearing into the troughs of the flooded stubble, and while I thought it was the Curlew Sandpiper I’d last seen on 15th November, I couldn’t be certain. 

 

Black-tailed Godwit

It didn’t take long to find the Peregrine at Fluke Hall as it rocketed along the shore sending everything ahead of it into a panicked frenzy. One of these days I might be sat there with a ready primed camera and get a world beating picture of a Peregrine in full flight- more likely not, so I’ll have to make do with just seeing on an almost daily basis this awe inspiring raptor. 

The combination of my approach and the Peregrine put all the crows in the air again, 300+ Jackdaws, 40+ Carrion Crows, 2 Stock Doves and 6 Woodpigeons. I’ve been missing Wood Pigeons this autumn, counting tiny numbers in comparison to the avalanche of last winter when counts of 10,000 and 20,000 could be easily had on the mossland stubbles, the skies darkened by huge flocks.  Last winter the wide scale failure of acorns in Europe brought quite incredible numbers to the UK, now this year seemingly just the opposite. It will be interesting to see what happens when the usual January and February cold weather grips Europe. 

Woodpigeon

At the sea wall I was able to count the Linnets moving between the marsh and the stubble, eventually coming to an estimate of 140+. While the Linnets increase, my Skylark numbers now rarely reach double figures, and just 12 today. Two Reed Buntings about the spent maize, together with 4 Meadow Pipit and the usual 40 or so Shelduck coming and going via the wildfowlers pools, plus 30 Whooper Swans feeding on the stubble. 

Shelduck

There wasn’t much doing in Fluke Hall, a number of Chaffinch and Goldfinch obvious in the sunny tree tops and a noisy Jay hiding somewhere in the greenery. By 1130 the warm morning sun had sent Tree Sparrows into flurries of noise and activity around nest boxes while near the car a Dunnock was in full song. 

On the way back I stopped the car for another look on the flood and clinched the now closer and unimpeded Curlew Sandpiper. A reasonable end to a good morning’s birding. 

Curlew Sandpiper - Photo credit: jvverde / Foter.com / CC BY-NC 

More soon from Another Bird Blog - keep looking.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Camera Critters .

Thursday On Friday

I’m posting for Thursday because I didn’t get chance to do a write up from my usual trip out to Pilling. 

There’s nothing better than getting out birding after being marooned indoors for a few days by inclement weather, especially when there are stories of thousands of thrushes heading south and west from Norway. Apart from the mad rush of early October the autumn has been a poor one for thrushes whereby I’m not seeing any Redwings, Fieldfares, extra numbers of Blackbirds and certainly no Song Thrushes. Yesterday drew another blank, even after I checked the hedgerows of both Ridge Farm and Fluke Hall, hawthorn highlights there just several Greenfinches. 

The fields at Ridge Farm are as wet as I’ve ever seen them, as evidenced by 250+ Black-headed Gulls, 12 Black-tailed Godwits and even 10 Snipe rising from the stubble and upwards of 25 Skylark. There was a hovering Buzzard, soon pestered by the local crows, the Buzzard then heading off back inland. I found more Black-tailed Godwits on the Fluke Hall fields with another 60 or so together with 18 Redshank, 90 Lapwing, 6 Curlew and several more Snipe. A couple of shoots have reduced the number of Red-legged Partridge but still 150+ to see in place of any native partridges. 

There are a lot of Shelduck about at the moment, with a count of 500+ along the shore where a concentrated effort could almost certainly have doubled the guestimate. Unlike most of the UK’s wild duck population Shelducks are protected by law from shooting. But as a species they are far from easy to approach, being just as wild as the “permissible quarry” of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail which also spend most of their time out on the shore and marsh. 

Pilling Marsh, distant Heysham

 

I managed to place myself in a handy spot to get a few pictures as a dozen or two Shelduck came in from the marsh heading for the shooter’s pools where wheat is put out to attract wildfowl in. The wind was just strengthening, making the Shelduck slow down their approach flight, some almost vertical before they landed, others applying the brakes perfectly in time, yet others miscuing and then having to go round again for another landing attempt. Their circlings reminded me of a flight to India some years ago where we spent an hour or more viewing Dabolim Airport from a great height, going around in circles and wondering if we’d ever land, until eventually we scraped home by the skin of our nervous fingers and a holiday in Glorious Goa.

There’s a close-up of a Shelduck being ringed at the Wildfowl Trust winter catch of a few years ago. 

Shelduck

Shelduck

Shelduck

Shelduck

 Shelduck

A walk along the sea wall produced another 30+ Skylarks and a welcome if brief Merlin in the usual low dash over the marsh. I say usual but it was my first autumnal Merlin, the species appearing slow to return to its coastal haunts this year. The Merlin had appeared from near Pilling Water the spot where I found 15 or so feeding Meadow Pipits, these birds so late in the autumn as to be potential winterers. One sat up on a fence post and watched my progress along the path.

 

Meadow Pipit

Just 7 Whooper Swans today so it appears the Icelandic swans have left Pilling for more appealing places: no worries, I’ll make do with a picture of Mute Swans. How do swans fly so close together without causing a major pile-up in the airways?

Mute Swan

There was a headless Pink-footed Goose behind the sea wall, a spot I don’t often see a Red Fox but the decapitated evidence suggests one may have been along quite recently, leaving the crows and gulls to follow on. I can’t imagine a pinkie being nabbed by a fox unless the goose was injured in some way, perhaps as a result of a recent shoot on the marsh.

ex Pink-footed Goose

That’s all for now but don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter the Free Draw for a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland here on Another Bird Blog via Wednesday’s post.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and  Camera Critters

A Rare Visit

The continuing strong winds have made for a birder’s lazy week, so today I thought I’d pay one of my rare visits to the RSPB Leighton Moss Nature Reserve a fifty minute drive up the M6. With a bit of luck I’d see a few birds in shelters spots and get a few photographs to share with blog followers.I ended up with an enjoyable few hours birding, a good list of birds, but not too many pictures. 

The “summer visitors” Marsh Harriers are still in residence and with three birds this morning, it seems likely that at least one may spend the winter here. It’s not so long ago that Marsh Harriers reappeared in the North West, now they are a common enough sight in most seasons. At first light two harriers were hunting across the reeds, one of them taking a Coot from the water and then flying off with the hapless bird.

Little Egrets were leaving the roost some distance away, and later on I would see at least nine throughout the reserve. Several Grey Herons at first light too. 

With being a wetland reserve Leighton Moss holds lots of wildfowl, with today many Wigeon and Teal together with smaller numbers of Gadwall, Shoveler, Pintail and Shelduck. 6 Whooper Swan were my first of the autumn. 

Teal

Teal

Pintail

Shoveler

Wigeon

Wigeon

Out from the salt marsh hides were plenty of rather distant and “into the light” waders. All the better to promote some of the very expensive optical equipment on sale at the visitor centre a cynical birder might say! 

There were high numbers of Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank, with 1 Knot and 3 mostly sleeping Curlew Sandpipers. A Kingfisher gave a double flypast, not stopping to pose. Raptors out here were the third Marsh Harrier, a Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel, and passerines a couple of Grey Wagtails, Linnets and Skylarks. 

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

 

Redshank

So that's probably my annual visit to Leighton over for another year. Join Another Bird Blog soon for more far far away adventures. 

Sunday Shanks

First off and for all my blogging pals especially Wally in Florida who knows a good British pub when he sees one, here's a picture of The Stork at Conder Green with their sign depicting a heron. Confused? - Read the last post on Another Bird Blog or click the pics below for close-up views of The Stork and this morning's first Grey Heron spotted just yards away from the inn. 

The Stork at Conder Green

Grey Heron

Yes I was there again this morning hoping for pictures and more than a few birds in the bright sunshine. That dusky stunner Spotted Redshank was still in the creek, the naked eye all that was needed to pick it out from the centre of a gaggle of 20+ Redshanks. At least 8 Common Sandpipers noted today as the birds moved up and down the creek according to pedestrian traffic over the bridge or vehicles heading to the car park. Oystercatchers still have two young, the chicks now very mobile in exploring all parts of the pool edges. 

Less obvious was a single Greenshank hiding away at the back of the pool, sometimes in view, mostly not. 

Greenshank

The Canada Geese have quite big youngsters now, the goslings looking for all the world like tiny versions of their parents. The young Shelducks are getting there and it is obvious who they belong to especially when the female is so attentive because dad has done a runner. The drake Goldeneye still there with 8 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon and now 1 Little Grebe 

Canada Goose

Shelduck

The warm sun definitely helped but there appeared to be more passerines about this morning with small groups of calling finches, mainly long the old railway line. Into the notebook went 15 Linnet, 12 Goldfinch and 10 Greenfinch as a clear improvement on recent counts and hopefully the start of larger flocks of each. Good numbers of Whitethroats too with 3 singing males, a couple of family parties and additional churring adults lifting the morning count to 15. Others – 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Tree Sparrow, 3 Stock Dove. 

Greenfinch

Linnet

Also along the railway path, 2 Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail flying over. It was from the old railway line that I saw a Roe Deer out on the marsh, the animal crossing from north of Conder and heading all the time to Glasson until it bounded up the embankment and disappeared from view; it's quite normal to see cattle out on the marsh or river mud at low tide, but not wild deer. 

Roe Deer - River Lune

Cattle - River Lune

I made it to Glasson where as I shaped to photograph another Grey Heron a Kingfisher flew up and landed on the jetty beyond the heron. It was good to see a Kingfisher after such a hard and prolonged winter even though the tiny bird was too distant for a photo. I settled for yet another heron shot, a Black-headed Gull and a juvenile Starling. 

Grey Heron

Black-headed Gull

 Starling

A blog reader asked where my bird ringing has been lately. The explanation is that after ringing over 25,000 birds home and away during 20+ years I decided to wind down a little from general mist netting to concentrate on smaller ringing objectives, bird watching and photography.

So stay tuned to Another Bird Blog for the same mix as before with perhaps less frequent ringing news and views.

Similar Summer

“Summer” continued in the same cloudy, cool and breezy vein at Conder Green this morning. So no surprises when after a couple of hours of due diligence my notebook entries almost mirrored those of recent days.

There was an extra Common Sandpiper today, two birds flicking low over the creek as I arrived to a  water level which filled the channel. The high water level kept the Redshanks away so my count didn't exceed 30 birds, likewise the Oystercatchers count of 16 which included two chicks. A flock of 40+ Lapwing came off the filling marsh to roost towards the back of the pool as 12/15 Curlews headed more inland while 2 Grey Heron stayed overlooking the creek.

Wildfowl numbers were low today with the single Goldeneye, 9 Tufted Duck and 12 Shelduck completing the count.

Shelduck

The long and dense hawthorn hedge provided action in the shape of approximately 20 Sand Martin, 12 Swallow, 15 House Martin and 20 Swift hawking for insects again.

The same hedgerow supplied the passerines too - 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Chaffinch, 6 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Linnet and 2 Pied Wagtails, the wagtails feeding in roadside puddles below the hedge.

Juvenile Goldfinch

After remarking a couple of days ago upon the scarcity of Stock Doves at Conder Green today I noted three of them feeding quietly alongside the road; later I was to see one in our garden where the timid species is an now an uncommon but previously impossible species to expect. Perhaps like their larger relative the Wood Pigeon the inconspicuous and overlooked Stock Dove will become a common garden bird? Here's a handful of a woodpig I caught earlier in the week.

Woodpigeon

A quick scoot around Jeremy Lane and Hillam Lane revealed 30+ Sand Martin, 12 Tree Sparrow, 1 Kestrel and 8/10 Skylarks. It was a pretty unpleasant morning for Flaming June and far from ideal for birding so I cut my losses and headed home to try again another day, hopefully tomorrow.

Skylark

Look in Sunday and see if things improved for Another Bird Blog.

Linking this week to Stewart's Gallery,  Weekly Top Shot ,  Anni's Blog and  Camera Critters.

Friday News

There aren’t many new pictures on offer with this post but there’s a good list of birds following an afternoon out Pilling way. Yes, the wind and rain finally gave way to a half-decent few hours of bright weather for a  circuit of Lane Ends/Pilling Water. 

Less Pink-footed Goose in evidence than of recent days with a count of just over 2100, but the birds were reluctant to fly into the maize and wheat fields due to the steady stream of human activity, me included, along the sea wall. I had a good count of Teal and Pintail today with 750 and 110 respectively, together with just 90 Wigeon, although in most years the Wigeon do tend to appear in higher numbers during the depths of winter. 

Shelduck numbers may be building after a count of 60+ today as birds return from their moult migration. Many UK and Irish Shelduck fly east to the Helgoland Bight in the Waddensea, an intertidal zone in the south eastern part of the North Sea, where they join birds from Scandinavia and the Baltic, and there complete their moult before returning to the UK and form the large winter concentrations we expect. 

Shelduck

Two Peregrines were active today, both out on the marsh and over Hi-Fly fields, one in particular actively hunting any Red-legged Partridge foolish enough to take to the air, and while I didn’t see the raptor catch a partridge, it came very close. Peregrine was the only raptor seen, with seemingly the recent Buzzards and Marsh Harriers having moved elsewhere. An expected count of 7 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron. 

Peregrine

Passerines etc: 120+ Swallow in the area but none specifically engaged in visible migration, although it was afternoon time. Also, 5 Skylark, 8 Meadow Pipit, 15 Goldfinch, 20 Linnet, 1 Pied Wagtail and 2 Wheatear. 

Wheatear

The BBC say the wind is dropping overnight with probably a morning frost after a clear night. So there’s signs of  a ringing session tomorrow if the early morning alarm call does the trick. If so, log in tomorrow for more news and pictures on Another Bird Blog.

KE, Recaptures And Fingers Crossed

An hour or two at Knott End (KE) this morning proved very rewarding for seeing a good selection of birds, but not for photography on the grey, overcast morning.

A walk up river and then near the jetty produced 9 Red-breasted Merganser, 15 Eider, 30+ Wigeon, 4 Grey Heron, 2 Little Egret, 6 Pied Wagtail, 1 Rock Pipit, 4 Cormorant and 1 Kestrel.

The incoming tide pushed waders and wildfowl to the shore, with 1900 Oystercatcher, 1400 Knot, 145 Redshank, 28 Turnstone, 140 Dunlin, 40+ Curlew and 35 Shelduck. A Peregrine dived once or twice at the assembled Knot before the tide ran in so quickly that I didn’t get to accurately count the many birds which flew either up river to the Wyre roost or along the sands to the Preesall/Pilling roost.

Turnstone
Rock Pipit
Shelduck

It rained later so I turned my attention to trying to answer a question from a blog reader from the US who asked about ringing recaptures.

I keyed WILWA into our Fylde Ringing Group IPMR database and came up with the example below to illustrate how full life histories are gleaned from multiple recaptures of the same individual, in this case a small migratory warbler, the Willow Warbler. British Willow Warblers spend the summer here before migrating to central Africa for the winter.

IN1795 was first captured as a juvenile (age code 3) in July 1990, almost certainly a bird whose parents bred within the ringing site. It spent its first and subsequent winter somewhere in Africa, returning to exactly the same UK location in years 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, and 1997, when we recaptured and identified it as a breeding male (code 4M) in most years. The bird was almost certainly present during the summers of 1993 and 1996, the reason for the non-recapture being that it simply escaped us ringers that year. In 1997 it went off the radar and may have died from old age, an unknown cause, or possibly on migration south during the autumn of 1997, in its Africa winter, or even on the way back to the UK in the spring of 1998. Willow Warblers, indeed most small birds are not especially long lived, but in its 6+ years the recapture history of IN1795 provided lots of valuable data.

Age 3, First ringed - 14/07/1990 Inskip, Lancashire
Age 4, Recaptured - 20/04/1991 Inskip, Lancashire - 280 days
Age 4M, Recaptured - 18/05/1991 Inskip, Lancashire - 308 days
Age 4M, Recaptured - 14/05/1992 Inskip, Lancashire - 1 year 305 days
Age 4, Recaptured - 01/05/1994 Inskip, Lancashire - 3 years 291 days
Age 4, Recaptured - 14/04/1995 Inskip, Lancashire - 4 years 274 days
Age 4M, Recaptured - 06/05/1995 Inskip, Lancashire - 4 years 269 days
Age 4M, Recaptured - 03/05/1997 Inskip, Lancashire - 6 years 293 days

Willow Warbler
The forecast isn’t looking too bad for a ringing some new birds tomorrow, and maybe even a few more recaptures. Fingers crossed.