The Owl And The Kingfisher

Saturday morning and I stopped at Gulf Lane to take a photo just as a singing Corn Bunting broke the silence. A touch of mist promised yet another fine day and a great photo opportunity for someone who knows what they’re doing. 

Cockerham

Farmers have taken a cut from the silage fields thereby making the fields more accessible to waders like Lapwings and Curlews which prefer to feed in short grass. I counted over 200 Curlews and 75 Lapwings on a very recently cut field, and then at Crimbles were more Curlews and Lapwings plus a Little Egret on a puddle of tidal water 

Conder Green has gone off the boil of early July. The water level is down, counts are down, species missing, but birders still arrive to check, just as I do and just in case. 

The female Common Tern still sits tight on the nest, the male arriving intermittently to present a freshly caught fish. There was a Cormorant today, it after fish too. Redshank numbers have fluctuated and were down at 35 this morning. Common Sandpipers have passed their early peak and 7 only today, also 3 Snipe, 14 Oystercatcher, 23 Lapwing and 6 Curlew. 3 Little Egret and 4 Grey Heron. 

There’s a Lapwing here named Hopalong which has claimed a stretch of mud along the edge of the pool. It has no foot on the left leg and so hops along the water line where it chases off other Lapwings and defends its feeding territory quite vigorously, making up with aggression what it lacks in the foot department. 

Lapwing

Wildfowl: 2 Wigeon, 2 Teal, 4 Shelduck and 16 Tufted Duck. 

 Tufted Duck

There’s often a Tawny Owl at Glasson. The other birds see it more often than I do but this morning the owl posed for a picture at ISO1600. When I went back with a smaller lens and more light the owl had woken up and flown off but I heard the other birds giving it a good telling off. 

 Tawny Owl

Whilst walking the canal towpath I stopped to chat to a Glasson Dock local who asked me how he might see a Kingfisher, adding - “You probably know what you’re looking for.” The Average Joe may think that Kingfishers are rare, exist only in books, on television programmes, or as figments of a birdwatcher’s imagination. When I explained that I see Kingfishers regularly in his home village, either along the canal, flying across the yacht basin, sat around the dock or along the main road half-a-mile away at Conder Green, he was truly astounded. 

I explained that although a Kingfisher may be brightly coloured, it is also quite tiny, mostly elusive and shy, and that a certain amount of experience and fieldcraft is required to obtain good views. Noting that he carried none, I added that a pair of binoculars would be useful to spot such a small bird from a distance.

I had in mind my own experience some fifteen minutes earlier when I glimpsed a Kingfisher from across the dock before it shot away into the distance. If someone is looking for a Kingfisher on a large expanse of water the picture below shows how small and inconspicuous one can look. It is probably the same Kingfisher from a couple of weeks ago which has already learnt that it is best to avoid the human race. 

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

There was a good count of approximately 300 Swallows again, the birds feeding across the waters of the dock and the yacht basin for an hour or more. Overhead, 20+ Swifts. 

Very soon the Swallows went their separate ways as I did too.

Tawny Times, Lapwing Woes

The Fluke Hall thrushes had found the Tawny Owl again. Blackbirds and Song Thrushes joined in to noisily mob their enemy and led me directly to the spot where the owl sat motionless against the trunk. Fortunately, I have the landowner's permission to cross a private piece of land.

It squinted at me through half open eyes as I moved around trying to get a clear view for a filled frame picture. The owl's dark eyes opened a little more to stare me out; luckily I hadn’t frightened the roosting bird away so I rattled off half a dozen frames and then retreated. 

Tawny Owl

 

Tawny Owl

The Tawny was the highlight of not much doing here. The Mistle Thrush family fed together in the recently sown field, 2 adults and 3 youngsters bounding across the field when they saw me in the gateway. In song were 6 or more Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Song Thrush, plus Tree Sparrow activity and noise around the nest boxes. 

I’ve been looking in vain for proof of Lapwing success this year. Between Pilling and the River Cocker, a distance of 2 or 3 miles I found less than 10 Lapwings in total, none of them showing any sign of nesting or parental behaviour. This count included a scan of the “environmental stewardships” at Fluke Hall Lane and the one of Braides Farm, the latter having some success in 2013 but which this year appears to lack ideal Lapwing habitat, the grass, too lush, tall and dense for nesting Lapwings. 

It’s not too many years ago when this stretch of coastline would hold 40/50 pairs of Lapwings, any high counts nowadays reserved for animals, the several hundred sheep and dozens of cattle crammed into already over-grazed fields. 

Lapwing

I hoped to complete the owl double with the regular Barn Owl of Conder Green but no luck on a rather cool and windy morning that Barn Owls also dislike. 

On the pool, in the creeks, reeds and surrounding hedgerows: 19 Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher, 15 Shelduck, 3 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 10 Tufted Duck, 3 Grey Heron, 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting, 6 Whitethroat, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Pied Wagtail. 

Pied Wagtail

Tufted Duck

Grey Heron

I took a quick tour towards Cockersands totted up 18 Stock Dove, 5 Whitethroat, 5 Sedge Warbler, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Blackcap, 1 Willow Warbler and 15+ Lapwings scattered across a number of fields, but none appearing to be in the throes of breeding. 

Once again the situation looks pretty bleak for Lapwings in this part of Lancashire, a former major stronghold of the species. I’m left wondering if I will see any young Lapwings this year to restock the ever dwindling population of this iconic bird. 

Juvenile Lapwing

The fields held more Brown Hares than they did Lapwings, with in particular a gang of eight or more hares hurtling through a single field. More hares hid in the lush grass of Cockerham Marsh until a wave of chasing began here too as the animals ran far and wide and then melted into the landscape.

 Brown Hare

Brown Hare

There will be more birds soon from Another Bird Blog, hopefully this might include a few Lapwings, but don’t bank on it. 

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

A Sylvia Day

Wednesday - Not quite the morning hoped for with100% cloud, poor light and a touch of drizzle at times. Oh well, best to make the best of a bad job and set off somewhere. 

As soon as I arrived at Fluke, the Blackbirds were at it, scolding a Tawny Owl again. The Tawny Owls here are very active at the moment. I’m guessing that there are youngsters to feed, necessitating more frequent hunting, this being the third time in a week I’ve seen these normally nocturnal owls. I located the owl which was being chased by a posse of Blackbirds, the owl changing its chosen spot in the trees three times until the rumpus eventually died down and the Blackbirds went back to their business. 

It’s a snatched shot just as the owl was looking for a place to roost, away from so much noise and attention. ISO1600 in the poor light and those damned leaves in the way again. 

Tawny Owl

I knew roughly where the owl had flown to and left it in peace. There’d be no point in setting off more commotion by making the poor thing fly again. 

The wood and hedgerows held reasonable numbers of warblers with no obvious fresh arrivals other than a singing Garden Warbler and a song so close to a Blackcap as to be almost identical. I don’t have my own picture of a skulking Garden Warbler other than in the hand - It’s rather like a plain Blackcap but without the coloured cap. Bird watchers have been known to make unkind “jokes” about the Garden Warbler’s plain appearance and its Latin name Sylvia borin - borin = boring, get it? Very unfair. 

Garden Warbler - Photo credit: themadbirdlady - anne cotton / Foter / (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) 

There are still at least 2 Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla in the area giving a chance to compare its loud, highly musical song with the more subdued but lengthy song of the Garden Warbler. 

Blackcap

There seemed to be good numbers of the other “Sylvia” this morning, Sylvia communis, the Common Whitethroat, with at least 8 birds seen/heard along Fluke Hall Lane. The Whitethroat is much easier to see than the previous two with Spring the best time to take photographs of the commonest of this family of UK warblers. 

The males arrive during April/early May and quickly set up territories from where they constantly sing their jolting, scratchy song. They use prominent vantage points from which to show off their white throat and pink-washed breast as a way to impress any watching females. 

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

On the ploughed field: 1 Wheatear, 1 Pied Wagtail and several Linnets. 

There was a Kestrel hunting the freshly turned earth and a Sparrowhawk in high circling flight. Both species are nesting at nearby Fluke Hall but as raptors do not compete for food, having different requirements.  The Kestrel takes small mammals and the Sparrowhawk favours small to medium sized birds. 

Kestrel

Sparrowhawk

Lane Ends to Pilling Water turned up little in the way of migration or new in birds except for a Common Sandpiper. There was a single Little Egret at Pilling Water pool and 2 Wheatear some way out on the marsh. At Lane Ends: 2 Little Grebe, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap. 

It wasn’t a bad morning and while some sunshine and better light would have been welcome, the conditions are never, ever perfect for a very demanding birder.

Get The Picture?

There are new photographs today for blog readers, but as is often the frustrating case for budding photographers, “something” intrudes into the scene far too often. So let’s start with a couple of the better ones and then head downhill as trees, branches, twigs, stones and goodness knows what get in the way to spoil the photograph.

A male Chaffinch posed beautifully at Lane Ends. The female is on a nest nearby, the male keeping guard to make sure no harm comes to his partner. 

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Two Jays were in the trees again; up to no good I’ll wager. Out on the marsh the highish tide concentrated the Pink-footed Geese and allowed a more accurate count of 340, a rather high number for late April when the geese should be in thawing Iceland. Two Whimbrel flew over, plus a mixed flock of 90+ Dunlin and Ringed Plover, too fast and high flying to count as separate entities. A Lesser Redpoll chattered from the tree tops as a Reed Warbler croaked its unmelodic theme from the small reed bed, the annual spot next to the road and my first Reed Warbler of the year. 

I found 4 “Greenland” Wheatears along the sea wall, each in turn doing its best to avoid a clear portrait or take the meal worm bait. 

 Wheatear

 Wheatear

Wheatear

At Fluke Hall there was a Tawny Owl again. This one sat in the trees, seemingly unperturbed by my proximity, the two of us separated by a tall hedge and a cluster of leaves swaying in the breeze. Try as I might I could not get a totally unimpeded photo. Hopefully the owl will be there or thereabouts on another day for a new attempt. 

 Tawny Owl

As two Mistle Thrushes collected food for their nearby nest one broke off to give chase to a female Sparrowhawk, the thrush rattling out an alarm call for all to hear as it pursued the hawk though the trees.

The road transect gave a count of 4 Whitethroat, 4 Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaff and at least 6 Willow Warblers. One of the Willow Warblers atop a clump of bramble appeared quite amenable to a picture, but did not shift its pose until it flew off. Concentrating on the bird's eye, only at home later did I discover the stray pieces of vegetation which ruin the picture. 

Willow Warbler

Maybe it was possible to get the picture at Conder Green? The customary species appeared and the usual counts ensued. Lots of Swallows and a few House Martins headed north, 71 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Spotted Redshank, 15 Redshank, 1 Greenshank,16 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon and 12 Oystercatcher. 

The wispy grass cutting across the bright orange bill makes for a far from perfect picture of an Oystercatcher, but it will do for now until a better one comes along. 

 Oystercatcher

Log in to Another Bird Blog very soon for more pictures.

Linking today to Stewart's Photo Gallery where there are lots more bird pictures.

As there are one or two fences in today's post I'm linking to The Run-a-Round Ranch Blog.  I'm sure there will be more birds on Theresa's fences, so go take a look.

Hoopoe? What Hoopoe?

The Hoopoe excavating some unfortunate person’s lawn about 10 miles away decided my birding destination should be in the opposite direction this morning. If there’s one Hoopoe, there just might be another around the area or something equally exotic, but no one will ever find anything unless they go birding. 

Hoopoe

Fluke Hall gardens have the look and feel of Hoopoe Land but alas there were none of the floppy fliers to be seen, just scolding Blackbirds and a post-dawn Jay directing me to a Tawny Owl instead. The owl was deep in the trees, a half view and half a picture was all I managed this time. 

Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl

The owl flew to a private spot near the hall where it usually hangs out. I know that because the local birds often find the hidden owl and noisily tell the whole neighbourhood including visiting bird watchers. They should recognise the signs that point to a concealed owl. 

There seemed to be very few birds on the move this morning despite or perhaps because of the clear, frosty start. Later there would be a couple of flighty redpolls at Lane Ends, but here nothing. 

Never mind, there was a good selection of local birds with today the turn of Mistle Thrushes to be feeding youngsters. An adult bill packed with tiny items told of small young but I lost the adult as it dipped through the trees and then up again. There was a Grey Heron on the pool, a couple of Shelduck, the usual gaggle of Mallards and Moorhens, and in the tree tops 2 Buzzards calling to each other. Later on and as the sun warmed the air both Buzzards circled high over the trees. 

Buzzard

The Kestrel pair sat along a fence line, two posts keeping the two apart; handsome birds but as adults hard to approach for a portrait. 

 

Kestrel

In song amongst the trees and hedgerows were 3 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Greenfinch plus uncounted commoners like Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird. One Great-spotted Woodpecker was actually drumming this morning, not very loud, more like a regular “tap-tap-tap” in the absence of competing males in the area. “Odds and Sods” comprised a single Swallow, 1 Little Egret and I male Reed Bunting on a regular stretch of territory. 

There were 3 Wheatears at Lane Ends, 2 males and a female, all of which had the appearance of “Greenland” types. When I eventually caught the female, wing 97mm and low weight of 22gms, biometrics which placed it in the overlap zone, I decided that due to her male companions she was almost certainly a “Northern” Northern Wheatear. 

Northern Wheatear

 Northern Wheatear

I heard Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff in song here too, the trilling Little Grebe and there was a flying visit from the Damside male Kestrel. 

The wildfowlers’ pools and sea wall were uneventful with regular counts of 300 Pink-footed Goose, 90 Shelduck, 65 Redshank, 4 Teal, 8 Linnet and 6 Skylark. 

Well in four hours I didn’t see a Hoopoe, nothing exotic, untoward or even unexpected but I did enjoy a great morning of bird watching. 

Hoopoe

There’s more unexciting bird watching soon from Another Bird Blog. Log in if you dare.

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

It's Not Life Or Death

Conder Green was the destination this morning, where a gentle walk and a dose of serious birding seemed a good option for the bright sunshine start. 

I stopped briefly at Braides Farm perhaps the most reliable spot in the Fylde to see Golden Plovers and where sure enough I saw a number of goldies, 45 or so distant in the rough grass field. Much more impressive were the large numbers of Curlews feeding in the soggy field whereby I counted a minimum of 430 birds. 

Feeding in the same field were approximately 600 Starlings, perhaps the reason a female Sparrowhawk was poised "ready to go" on a distant fence post.  Sure enough the hawk dropped to within inches of the ground and in one motion set off low across the field, scattering everything in its path, hoping to surprise some luckless prey. I lost the hawk in the melee but within a minute or two and after a panicked fly about, everything returned to normal. 

I’m posting a picture of Golden Plover courtesy of Princeton University Press which is from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland.

  Golden Plover from  The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

For anyone who missed it last week, 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 Last Wednesday's posting.

There were more Curlews at Conder Pool, another 60+ refugees from the flooded fields nearby. Something had disturbed them from their usual hangout, some flying about the pool, others landing briefly but remaining as wary as only Curlews are inclined to be. Also representing the waders were a single Snipe, 1 Oystercatcher, 2 Spotted Redshank and 12 Redshank. 

Curlews

I had a good count of Teal when the wandering but resident cows pushed the duck from their favoured haunt behind the island. Together with the Teal in the creeks it made my count up to 270 birds, dwarfing the other wildfowl and waterbird counts of 14 Little Grebe, 10 Wigeon, 3 Cormorant, 1 drake Pochard and 4 Little Egret. Looking across the marsh I noted another large female Sparrowhawk, this one adopting a slow, gliding flight in the hope of flushing something in passing; with no luck it continued its path and into the caravan park where there will be bird feeders.

Pochard

I decided to try my luck at Glasson where the morning light for counting the wildfowl was dead against me, but there looked to be 150 or more combined Coot and Tufted Duck. 

I’m not in the least a religious person, but I quite like a mooch around a quiet churchyard where gravestones tell wonderful tales of life and death and where birds can be found; usually it’s Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes and in the summer if you’re lucky, Spotted Flycatchers. 

No big thrushes today, just 10 or more Blackbirds which found me a Tawny Owl huddled away in a tree, Chaffinches and Goldfinches joining in the scolding. There was even a Grey Wagtail on the topmost branch of the tree and a Chiffchaff adding its warning call. 

Tawny Owl

 

What a great way to a end a fine morning. There's more of this bird watching lark soon on Another Bird Blog.

Snowy Scene

What a strange day for birding. There was a bitterly cold easterly wind as the BBC said there would be, but one minute I’m out in the sunshine enjoying a good bit of birding, and then two minutes later scurrying for the car to escape horizontal snow showers. Listening to the radio and waiting for the shower to stop it seems the maritime Fylde is surrounded by snow to the north, east and south once again. 

Sunny Showers

It's On The Way

Snow Shower - Out Rawcliffe

I was out on the moss again topping up the finches with niger and their regular seed mix, and not before time after being unable to get there yesterday. The birds are becoming quite astute, disappearing as soon as I approach the dropping point, and then by the time I stand there filling the feeders the place is devoid of birds. A stranger to the site would quickly abandon any birding there on the assumption there were no birds to see. After a while the finches return allowing a count of sorts as 10 Brambling, 15 Chaffinch, 6 Reed Bunting, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, 4 Blackbirds and a Song Thrush. 

The Robin often waits near the car hoping for seed spill when the car stops and a gust of wind blows spilled seed from the open hatchback.

Robin

More interesting today was the number of birds on nearby stubble, most of them visible only when a Hen Harrier motored in from the west in fly-fast surprise rather than slow-quartering pounce mode. As it flew rapidly over the fields the harrier dislodged 120+ Skylark, 35 Corn Bunting, 18 Fieldfare, 60+ Woodpigeon and 90+ Starling from just one field as pandemonium took hold. With so much food in the offing and snow still blanketing the hills, no wonder the harrier is staying put for now. 

Hen Harrier

Snow in Bowland

The car window was down and as I drove further down the farm a female Sparrowhawk came off the roadside and then flew in and then out of the adjacent wood to escape attention. The hawk wasn’t unnoticed by the resident Tawny Owl though, the owl giving out a couple of territorial hoots to see off the Sparrowhawk. That  ploy worked well enough on the hawk but made me head into the wood instead. I found the Tawny in what looked like a well-used roosting spot of a low, ivy covered stump of a tree. No sign of its mate which could well be sat on eggs by now and keeping those snowflakes at bay. 

Tawny Owl

Other bits and bobs today - 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mistle Thrush, 30+ Tree Sparrow, 1 Kestrel, 1 Buzzard, 1 Little Owl. 

Little Owl

More soon from Another Bird Blog, but just for a change of scene and a hint of what’s on the menu here next week, try Princeton University Press Blog .

In the meantime today I'm linking up with Stewart's photo gallery.