More Subdued Birding

Although the morning was bright and sunny the cold north westerly’s continue to hold back migration. 

When I arrived at Fluke Hall there were Meadow Pipits lifting off from the nearest field and a count of 30+, the birds heading due north across the shore and then towards Heysham. There was a single Wheatear along the sea wall, and those two species proved to be the only genuine migrants I saw in three hours of searching the area. 

At least the sun gave resident birds plenty to sing about with even the normally shy and retiring Tree Sparrows making lots of noise in and around several nest boxes. It is actually hard to detect the song of Tree Sparrow, a short twitter mixed with the occasional chirrup. A Tree Sparrow’s calling repertoire consists of varied chirps and cheeps generally similar to the House Sparrow but shorter and higher pitched. All in all, and due to its generally wary behaviour, the humble Tree Sparrow is a bird that is easily overlooked. 

Tree Sparrows are birds of lowland farmland but will also inhabit large gardens, especially where nest boxes are provided. They prefer mature trees in open country, on the edge of woods or in hedges. Tree Sparrows usually nest in holes (including nest boxes) but may build a nest in thick, large hawthorn hedges if no holes are available. 

Tree Sparrow

A walk through the woodland and along hedgerows revealed 4 Twite, 4 Greenfinch in song, 3 Song Thrush, 5 Linnet, Stock Doves in display mode, 2 Greylags on the pond and 25+ Woodpigeon. The pair of resident Kestrels can generally be seen. Today the male was atop a roadside telegraph post while the female hunted the nearby fields. 

Woodpigeon

The “wet fields” aren’t especially wet at the moment after a somewhat dry spell, but with a little effort I found a gang of 9 Snipe, 4 Teal, 2 Little Egret, 12 Redshank, 4 pairs of Lapwing, 2 pairs of Oystercatcher and 18+ Shelduck. The Shelduck are mostly paired up and on the lookout for somewhere to nest. 

An old name for the Shelduck is “burrow duck” a title earned from the birds’ habit of making its nest in a burrow of a rabbit or in a hole hollowed out by itself. In the Orkneys the Shelduck was once known as the “Sly Goose” from their instinctive cunning and ability to divert people from robbing their nests of young. Like many a wader species an adult Shelduck will fly along the ground as if wounded until the young can reach a place of safety whereupon the adult bird will return to the young to collect them together. 

The "sheld" part of the Shelduck's name refers to the pied and brightly coloured variegated parts of the species plumage.

Shelduck

The forecast is pretty dire for several days ahead so I’m hoping the experts are wrong and I can get out birding or ringing. If so, read all about it here on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to I'd-rather-b-birdin.blogspot and Eileen's Saturday Blog .

Plan B Birding

Today’s plan was to meet Andy for another ringing session at Oakenclough but on looking out of the window at 0530 there was dense and freezing fog, so not the best conditions for a 40 minute drive into the distant hills. I sent a text to Andy saying I was chickening out and then slunk back to bed for a while vowing to go birding at Pilling when the sun cleared the fog. 

When I reached Fluke Hall the resident pair of Dunnocks was busy seeing off an intruder on their territory, a male Yellowhammer. Although Yellowhammers breed a mile or two inland they are somewhat unusual just here right on the coast so this was almost certainly a migrant bird looking for a home territory. 

Yellowhammer

The Stonechats weren’t far away, a male and a female along the sea wall having their own ding-dong with the resident Robin. Our UK Robins are members of the chat tribe as well as being very territorial so don’t take kindly to a pair of Stonechats feeding on their patch. They will however tolerate a Wren using their singing rostrum. 

Stonechat

Robin

Wren

Below the sea wall was a fine male Wheatear, the only one seen in my half mile walk to Pilling Water and back. If the warm weather continues there should be many more Wheatears very soon. 

That walk along the sea wall produced an eclectic mix of birds with 4 Little Egret, 7 Pintail, 2 Teal, 8 Meadow Pipit, 6 Linnet, 5 Pied Wagtail, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel and at least 6 Skylark in song. The fields along here are still wet but not flooded and so retain a sprinkling of common waders plus a fair number of Shelduck. A number of the birds are on territory and in display mode with a total count of 26 Shelduck, 14 Redshank, 40 Lapwing and 6 Oystercatcher. 

Oysterctacher

I returned via Fluke Hall Lane where in the meadow, trees and hedgerows were 6 Pied Wagtail, 2 Greenfinch, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Jay and 1 Chiffchaff. 

The Chiffchaff was busily feeding, finding good sized insects in the willows. Somehow it remained strangely silent for a new-in migrant and I doubt I would have seen it but for its fly catching acrobatics and constant searching through the trees. Although the monotonous and almost robotic call of  "chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff"  might seem rather unexciting it's a sure sign that March is well under way.

Chiffchaff

Tree Sparrows are very active now and I counted at least 10 individuals, including one in the throes of nest building. 

Tree Sparrow

Andy had a decent catch without me, including more Lesser Redpolls and Chaffinches. I missed a ringing session but Plan B didn’t turn out too badly after all and the weather looks decent enough for even more ringing quite soon.

Sunday Buzzards

Buzzards again I’m afraid. Well let’s face it a “big brown job” like a Buzzard is a lot easier to find, ID and photograph than those “little brown jobs” and I’m all for an easy life. 

The first Buzzard was at Braides Farm again, way out on the fence towards the sea wall; and in the photo below that’s Heysham Power Station in the far distance, 20 miles across Morecambe Bay. 

A mile or less along the sea wall are fields swarming with released Red-legged Partridges courtesy of the local shooters but the local Buzzards are too lazy to go chasing partridges which fly fast and close to the ground. Instead the Buzzards mostly prefer a “watch and wait” approach from a tree or fence, mainly for earthworms, amphibians and large insects plus the odd bit of carrion like road kill. 

Buzzard

What’s that old adage? “Give a dog a bad name and hang him” comes to mind. There’s another Buzzard photo later in this post for folk who appreciate this much maligned raptor. 

There was a Kestrel at Braides too, but little else to excite. 

I stopped at Conder Green where on the pool I found 18 Little Grebe, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Goldeneye and 2 Grey Heron. In the creeks - 1 Kingfisher, 160 Teal, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Ruff, 1 Little Egret and 1 Goosander. 

At Glasson Dock there was a Black-headed Gull with a Darvic ring inscribed “6CY”. Anyone out there wishing to claim ownership please contact me, but in any case I will submit the record to the appropriate place. 

Black-headed Gull - 6CY

It wasn’t long after 9:15 am but both Conder Green and Glasson started to resemble a combined Bradley Wiggins Festival and Cruft’s Dog Show, so I drove to Pilling looking for peace and quiet. 

On the tideline a Pink-footed Goose flapped to escape me but with one wing smashed beyond repair it couldn't do so. I lacked the heart or the means to kill the poor bird, so shame to say left it to its own devices and hopefully quick death. How did this happen? Probably an unclean shot by a sportsman which left the bird ”winged” to later drift on the tide and eventually find its way ashore. 

Pink-footed Goose

On and around the pools, flooded fields and maize - 2 Ruff, 40+ Shelduck, 8 Oystercatcher, 3 Redshank, 2 Reed Bunting and 5+ Skylark. 

In the sunny wood there was a little activity around a few of the Tree Sparrow boxes, the autumnal display in evidence whereby this species is known to indulge in sexual activity and sometimes construct nests. 

Tree Sparrow

I was side-tracked by a party of tits moving through the trees, a good number of Long-tailed Tits, a Nuthatch, a Goldcrest and several Great Tits. Just then two more distractions arrived with a Grey Wagtail flying over followed by a Kingfisher flying across the woodland pool and landing in a tree situated in front of two Mallards and a pair of Teal. It’s very unusual to see Teal here so deep in the woodland.

Fluke Hall, Pilling

A Buzzard flew over the wood, the raptor pursued by Carrion Crows eager to see the bird out of their patch. It’s weird how Buzzards can sit around on fence posts for ages unmolested by other birds but as soon as they begin to resemble a hawk they attract unwanted attention. 

Carrion Crows and Buzzard

I'm out of action tomorrow but tune in soon for more large and small brown jobs.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Almost Weekend Birding

It’s been a truly awful week of weather and a struggle to get meaningful birding in. This morning promised a window of half decent weather before more rain arrived so I set off for Pilling. 

There was a Buzzard flying alongside Head Dyke Lane and near to two small copses again, a regular location for a pair. And then the usual Buzzard at Fluke Hall disturbed by someone or something unseen, the hawk calling in protest as it flew inland a couple of hundred yards or more to its alternative daytime roost. I watched a Sparrowhawk flap glide high across the stubble and off towards Lane Ends to try its luck. 

After the week of rain the stubble field now has a number of good looking flashes of water, puddles that held a hundred or so Black-headed Gulls, a dozen or more Skylarks but no waders as yet. The woodland seemed very quiet with the usual mixed tit flock, a calling Nuthatch and several Chaffinches. The Chaffinches were nowhere near the number of a week ago and there was no sight or sound of Bramblings today. Seven or eight Tree Sparrows hid in the hedgerow. Tree Sparrows are good at playing inconspicuous and it’s often their chippy call alone which betrays their presence. 

Tree Sparrow

Beyond the car park and a couple of fields back from the road many hundreds of Pink-footed Geese fed on the remains of the spud harvest, groups of the geese coming and going from the nearby marsh and shore. The farmer won’t mid too much as he gets his soil turned over and knows where he can bag a goose or two for Sunday lunch by way of an early morning shotgun. 

Pink-footed Geese

I walked towards Lane Ends to find 41 Whooper Swans on the marsh in their usual spot, joined today by a Ruff, a few Redshanks, two dozen Pink-footed Geese and 30+ Shelduck. Any geese, Shelduck and waders always fly off whereas the swans are more tolerant of a human being walking very slowly and not looking directly at them. Once past the group of swans a peep over the sea wall and a backward glance might get a photograph. 

Whooper Swans

There was little doing along the sea wall except for a single Snipe, an array of 7 Little Egrets on the marsh and a distant Peregrine in wait for high tide. 

At Conder Green the incoming tide was just beginning to fill the creek, leaving enough time to find a single Ruff, 2 Goosander, 60+ Teal, 40+ Redshank and 7+ Curlew. Yes, it’s a poor record shot of the Ruff but a handy one for displaying the long-legged jizz of a Ruff to blog readers who rarely see this handsome wader. The two Goosanders sailed serenely upstream and a Curlew played ball with the camera.

Ruff

Goosander

Curlew

In the garden and searching around the flower pots I found a Hedgehog. Maybe it was on its way to a nearby dense hedge which has been a traditional winter hideout ever since we came to live here 14 years ago.  

The name hedgehog came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English heyghoge, from heyg, hegge ("hedge"), because it frequents hedgerows, and hoge, hogge ("hog"), from its pig like snout. The collective noun for a group of hedgehogs is array or prickle.

 Hedgehog

Not a bad morning's birding and with luck there will be more news and views via Another Bird Blog at the weekend.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

It’s Wagtime

There seemed to be wagtails everywhere I went this morning, mainly the black & white variety, but also the grey one and even the scarce yellow variety. There was an early autumn Merlin too. 

I started off at Glasson Dock where the Swallow numbers have been tied to the ups and downs of the weather. After the rain and wind of early week and a few blankish Swallow days there was an increase to circa130 on this fine but not entirely sunny morning. There were about 10 House Martins in with the Swallows, all feeding around the moored boats as usual. Also feeding over the water was a single Common Tern, the one I noted as flying back towards Conder Green again and also arriving at the island with fishy food some twenty minutes later. 

Around the moored boats and along the towpath I counted 8 Pied Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail and 1 Grey Heron with 70+ House Sparrows and a flock of 30 Goldfinch near the bowling green. 

Grey Wagtail

After a series of high tides there’s lots of water in Conder Pool now, the muddy margins all but swamped just as the water level was looking ideal to attract autumn waders. A Kingfisher showed by flying to the sluice wall and then back along the edge of the pool on two occasions but was so reluctant to stay around that I didn’t get a single picture. 

Also on the water were 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon and 1 Cormorant. Also the previously mentioned 2 Common Terns at the island which have clearly nested this time to become the first pair for a number of years in the Lancaster area. 

Apart from 110 Lapwings roosting on the islands the remaining waders were in the roadside creeks, 4 Curlew, 1 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Snipe and 1 Black-tailed Godwit, with wildfowl at 1 Shelduck, 2 Teal and 5 Goosander. 

Curlew

Another 4 Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail on the road to the car park with House Martins much in in evidence near the existing nests and supplemented today by presumed migrants to give a count in excess of 40 excitable birds. 

On the way to Cockersands there were a good number of Swallows and Swifts feeding over the fields. With car window down as ever my attention was diverted to a group of Swallows harassing a slightly larger bird, a male Merlin. The Merlin was flying in that peculiar way they do sometimes by mimicking the Swallows’ flight jizz , a hunting technique which allows it to get close to its prey. I couldn’t stop the car on the single track road but noted the Merlin carrying on towards the coast and then lost it. 

I found 18 or more Pied Wagtails in the horse paddock at Cockersands, together with a single Yellow Wagtail. With the numbers around of late there is no doubt that Pied Wagtails have enjoyed a productive breeding season with even now in August youngsters in in quite juvenile plumage. Conversely the Yellow Wagtail is now so scarce in this part of Lancashire that it has become a “twitch” bird, a species which bird watchers make a beeline to see. 

It’s the only Yellow Wagtail I’ve seen in the UK this year although I do see them in Menorca each year as they pass through the island on their way to Northern Europe. By coincidence or perhaps by a Yellow Wagtail’s preference the Yellow Wagtails in Menorca are generally feeding almost under horses hooves, just as the one today did. Seems like horse manure is good for attracting Yellow Wagtails as well as growing rhubarb.

I took a couple of poor and distant pictures from the car for fear of sending the bird flying off and incurring the wrath of the inevitable weekend twitchers. 

Yellow Wagtail

 

 Yellow Wagtail

Good numbers of Tree Sparrows and Goldfinches here with 45+ of each. A Pied Wagtail and Tree Sparrow were more obliging by coming closer to the car. 

Tree Sparrow

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

 Please log in soon for more wagtime with Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Camera Critters and  Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Wood You Believe It?

After Wednesday’s Wood Sandpiper today provided another one this time at Conder Green.

By 0600 I was  headed for Conder, Glasson and Cockersands, a trio of pretty good birding sites that are close together and share many species, but I started at Conder Green. A Wood Sandpiper was feeding on one of the islands, perhaps easy to miss at long distance or when it decided to feed around the side of the island hidden from view and where it could remain for many minutes at a time. 

There were the usual and consistent wader counts of 120 Redshank, 35 Lapwing, 2 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 14 Oystercatcher, 4 Snipe and 6 Curlew. And of course, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 3 Little Grebe, 4 Teal and 1 Cormorant. 

Common Sandpiper

A Kingfisher showed briefly and didn’t hang around for a decent view or a picture so I made do with a more obliging and dependable Pied Wagtail, one of three around. 

Pied Wagtail

I made for Glasson where the Swallow numbers were much reduced from recent days with just 30+ feeding over the waters today but overhead 9 Swifts. As the Canal Trust workers readied the lock gates a service boat for the rigs waited to exit the basin on its way to the river and then the open sea. Two Grey Wagtails on the far side of the yacht basin again.

Glasson Dock

Glasson Dock

The Tufted Ducks were fairly obliging this morning unlike some days when they just head for the deeps as soon as anyone looks at them. A standard count of 16 containing no males, just females and juveniles. Ducks manage to preen themselves without leaving the water by turning partly over and doing the necessary then repeating the process on the other side. This seems especially true for Tufted Ducks, a species loathe to leave the safety of water. 

Tufted Duck

 Tufted Duck

It was a beautifully quiet morning for a saunter along the canal, an undisturbed walk where I picked up on another 30+ Swallows, 1 Grey Heron, 8 Tree Sparrow, 5 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Lesser Whitethroat. I couldn’t help but feel that I missed many more birds skulking silently in the still dense reeds and impenetrable hedgerows. 

Reed Warbler

Speckled Wood

Cockersands was serene in the morning sun, no cars, no dog walkers, no birders, just birds. Along the shore and in the close fields I found 18 Linnet and made a magnificent count of 110 Tree Sparrows and 400+ Starlings. 

Tree Sparrow

Starling

Along the shore and in the shallows I counted 26 Eider, 7 Whimbrel, 300+ Oystercatcher, 22 Redshank, 2 Grey Heron and 1 Little Egret. 

The ancient abbey above Cockersands shore was founded about 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to Leicester Abbey. It later became a Premonstratensian priory and was eventually elevated to abbey status in 1192. 

In the background to the picture below distant Heysham Power Station dates from the mid 1980s.

Cockersands Abbey and Heysham

The tumbledown walls of the abbey provided good feeding and vantage points for 3 Pied Wagtails and 2 Wheatears, sitting stones where I took a rest and tried to imagine how many Wheatears had passed through here in more than 800 Springs and 800 Autumns. 

Wheatear

 

What a splendid morning of being out in the big wide world and enjoying it to the full. Better still, there’s more bird news and views on Another Bird Blog UK very soon.

Linking to Eileens's Saturday Blog and   Weekend Reflections.

A Sporting Saturday

Sport is great, especially on TV, and at the moment there’s lots of it. I’m really looking forward to The World Cup, Wimbledon Tennis, The Commonwealth Games, The Open Golf, Royal Ascot, Test Match Cricket and the myriad sports events which fill the TV schedules. 

You guessed my reason for loving sport. All this essential viewing means that more people are about to spend extra time glued to a TV rather than relish the great outdoors where their trivial pursuits always interfere with my birding. Yes, birding is a very selfish pastime best enjoyed when Joe Public is elsewhere, preferably indoors staring at a TV screen, so I intend to enjoy this summer’s Festival of Sport and do birding and blogging as much as possible. 

Meanwhile I hope that the present all-pervading discussion and media coverage of sport does not infect me or Another Bird Blog, so if at any time I inadvertently lapse into sporting jargon please forgive me. 

So forget sport for now, here’s a blow-by-blow account of Saturday’s birding. 

There was no game plan but I was quick out of the gate, kicking off with a straight drive along the A585 to Conder Green. I took a few seconds out at Pilling, getting the ball rolling with a knockout Barn Owl, a pretty safe bet along here at 5am. I was off to a flying start! 

Barn Owl

At Conder Green the ducking and diving wildfowl totalled 1 Little Grebe, 3 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 10 Tufted Duck, 12 Shelduck, all par for the course in June, plus 17 Canada Goose. At the shallow end wading birds obliged with 55 Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew and 1 Common Sandpiper. 

Shelduck

At this stage of the game many Redshanks are on the return leg as are Common Sandpipers. A  number of the 55 Redshanks are clearly juveniles from elsewhere, the breeding pair here with still unfledged young. The Oystercatcher count includes 5 juveniles of two broods, the largest brood a stunning hat-trick, all there off and running at a fair old pace and sure to go the full distance to adulthood. 

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

 Oystercatcher chicks

 Oystercatcher chick

Oystercatcher

It’s a hard call. Do Grey Herons and Little Egrets fit into the category of “wader” or “wildfowl”? Maybe the 3 Grey Heron and single Little Egret should be classed as “also ran”? If so, I clocked 10 more herons at Cockersands later, together with 44 Eider, a healthy tally which included 12 youngsters which knew the score by sticking close to mom. 

 Little Egret

Meanwhile, and back to the second half at Conder Green. Suddenly there were lots of Starlings, a flock of 200+ containing many youngsters jockeying for position on the farm buildings and fences opposite the marsh. The juvenile Starlings shouted the odds, some begging for food from parents nearby as in the car I played a blinder with the camera. A Woodpigeon decided to play the game too and sat posing for a portrait.

Starling

Woodpigeon

I’m on the final lap now, just the little brown jobs to tally and then I can throw in the towel - 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 4 Reed Bunting, 4 Linnet, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, and then a single Tree Sparrow on the rails. 

Tree Sparrow

Yet again a good number of 30+ Swift hawked insects at early doors with only a handful of Swallows doing the same; probably because many females are still confined to nests and I've yet to see many  juveniles. And in any contest for a beautiful bird an adult Swallow would surely be first past the post? 

Barn Swallow

It’s into the home straight now and the A588 again where a roadside Kestrel played ball, but soon it was the chequered flag of home where I was hot favourite for a few chores. 

But no worries, in a contest between watching sport or watching birds, birding wins hands down. 

Please join Another Bird Blog’s team again soon. You might be onto a winner.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog.