Put The Kettle On

Readers will be pleased to know I survived the two day “heatwave” that only last week was projected to “kill thousands”. This is all very confusing because five or six years ago scientists predicted that “Earth is 15 years away from a mini ice age" when we would all freeze to death. 

For those of a nervous disposition likely to be triggered by the daily diet of doom and gloom served up by TV and newspapers, it’s best not to worry about the latest scam. Just like buses, you can bet there’ll be another one along very soon. 

Instead, take a seat, relax, put the kettle on and contemplate the next birding day. 

Keep Calm

This preoccupation with weather watching does occasionally make for the wrong decision, as we may have for Thursday when at the last minute we cancelled Thursday in favour of ringing on Friday. 

Friday dawned but there was no point in fretting what may have been but instead concentrate on the job in hand at our ringing site out Pilling way. It was 0615 when Andy’s car negotiated the rough track, where in my inability to sleep at the prospect of a ringing session, I had already set the Linnet net. 

With mid-week reports of early migrants including Yellow Wagtails, Whitethroats, large roosts of Sand Martins plus returning waders like Ruff and Greenshank, anything was on the cards in the slight, almost non-existent easterly draft. 

An hour or two later we had our answer when cloud rolled in, the breeze sprung up and drizzly rain enveloped us. This proved very frustrating as by then we had caught just seven birds, two each of Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Linnet plus a single Wren. We saw 60/70 Linnets head our way and stop for a look as the single panel net grew increasingly balloon-like; there was no way the Linnets would fall for that. 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

Wren

A Wren or “wrigglearse” as ringers fondly name them, has a reputation as a tiny, troublesome beast, one that will wind itself into a mist net several times over or run up an unwary ringer’s open sleeved jacket. Twisty turning fidgeting Wrens are the best learning experience for a trainee ringer in how to handle small birds, lessons they never forget. 

However, Troglodytes troglodytes the cave dweller is an in interesting species and certainly more migratory than many bird watchers realise, hence the reason we catch the species. 

Click on the map below taken from the BTO’s phenomenal online migration atlas.

Eurasian Wren from -  https://migrationatlas.org/node/1822 map

We’ve hit a Wren sweet spot because today we caught another two Wrens plus 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Linnet, a Willow Warbler, a Greenfinch and the ultimate rarity, a Song Thrush. 

Song Thrush

Greenfinch

We packed in early when contractors arrived to turn the cut grass in readiness for silage stage. The noise and disturbance from the huge machines made ringing almost impossible. 

On The Farm

We saw our first autumn Marsh Harrier when a brown juvenile followed the species’ usual route north to south and then disappeared into the distance. 

Marsh Harrier

Also, 2 Little Egret, 1 Kestrel, 60+ Linnet, 40 Lapwing, 30 Curlew, 300 Starling, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 4 Pied Wagtails. 

I was home early so clicked the kettle on and dropped a tea bag into a favourite mug. Life is sweet when there’s nothing to worry about. 

There’s more news, views and photos soon from Another Bird Blog. 

 

I’m Late, Start Without Me

This is Sunday’s post, and like all posts occasionally do, it’s running a little later than it should, but hey it’s only bird news with pictures of our feathered friends, not life or death. 

Sunday was a fine old morning, cold with a slight frost, but clear and bright so an opportunity to see what might be occurring out on Rawcliffe Moss while checking the feeders. The Kestrel made me late, watching the stubble fields from a roadside pole then venturing off for a hover, a fly around and then a return to any one of a long line of poles, usually one out of camera range so as to frustrate my photographic efforts. This first year bird was one of three Kestrels seen during the morning, one on the moss and two at Stalmine/Pilling Moss later. 

Kestrel

Kestrel

Kestrel

The feeders were still quite full, not unexpected since most of the autumn Goldfinch have gone south to warmer climes, with a count of just 6 this morning. Better counts of though with 35ish Tree Sparrow and more than 40 Chaffinch, the sparrows congregated around the wildfowler’s pheasant feeders, the Chaffinches distributed more widely. A good number of Reed Buntings too, with 20+ scattered along hedgerows north, south and east. I got a couple of Reed Bunting photos today, along with a Wren, a species which always eludes me as a photographer but not as a bird ringer when they turn up in a mist net at the most undesirable times, usually dawn and dusk. Bird ringers often call Wrens “trogs” from its Latin name Troglodytes troglodytes, but they have other less complementary names for the species too. 

Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

 Chaffinch

 Tree Sparrow

Two Yellowhammers in the area of the shooter’s feeders today, another species which is extremely shy of being photographed at close quarters. It’s a brightly coloured bunting which is well able to melt away in the dappled light of a sunny hedgerow. The best I could achieve today, both cropped and un-cropped to show how an apparently obvious yellow Yellowhammer can be overlooked. 

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer

Other birds out on the moss: 6 Snipe, 25 Fieldfare, 1 Mistle Thrush, 8 Redwing, 2 Buzzard, 2 Jay, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker. On the way home via Pilling and Stalmine mosses I saw the aforementioned Kestrels,a Short-eared Owl, and on yet another wet stubble field, 70 Whooper Swans. 

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Anni who'd rather be birding anytime, and also with Stewart an ex-pat who lives in Australia - Stewart. 

More news this week, so don’t be late for Another Bird Blog.