Productive Birding

I was looking to go ringing this morning but a stiff easterly put a stop to that plan. Instead there was some good birding to be had on the local circuit. 

Heading north I stopped off at Cockerham to see the wintering flock of Linnets still very flighty over the weedy set-aside field but holding firm at 70/80 individuals. Half-a-mile away at Braides Farm there’s lots of water in the fields where I found 2 Little Egret and 30 Lapwing seriously outnumbered by a feeding and bathing flock of some 1500 Starlings and several hundred gulls. The gulls were mainly Black-headed Gulls with a couple of dozen Common Gull and one or two Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the mix. There was a Kestrel hovering over the roadside verges. 

Lapwing

I made my way to Conder Green to be greeted by a Barn Owl quartering the marsh. No sooner had I lifted the camera than the owl flew towards its daytime roost and swooped out of sight into the building. It was almost 0900, a time when Barn Owls should be tucked up for the day. 

I turned my attention to the creeks and the pool where I quite quickly found the wintering Spotted Redshank and similarly long staying Common Sandpiper. My now old “Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland”of 1986 shows that both species wintered in the UK at the time of the fieldwork I took part in during 1981 to 1984). As one might expect both were concentrated in the warmer south and west of England (and Ireland for the Common Sandpiper), but the Common Sandpiper was represented here in NW England by a number of dots on the map. 

Common Sandpiper

The pool was pretty crowded with both waders and wildfowl, albeit most of them at long distance and away from the busy, noisy road. A few of the counts and bouts of activity, especially from Oystercatchers, Shelducks and Tufted Ducks, suggested that a number of birds have arrived back with a view to taking up summer residence. Here are the counts – 95 Teal, 65 Curlew, 15 Shelduck, 12 Wigeon, 10 Lapwing, 12 Redshank, 5 Little Grebe, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Canada Goose, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron. 

Tufted Duck

 Shelduck

A single Skylark flew over and there were a few Chaffinch and a singing Greenfinch along the hedgerow. 

A quick look at Glasson found no Goldeneye on the yacht basin so I settled for 21 Tufted Duck, 24 Coot and 16 Cormorant. Of the latter, two were fishing the others lined up along the far jetty drying out from their own earlier fishing expeditions. 

Cormorant

The route back home took me past flooded fields at Pilling where I stopped awhile to count 400+ Lapwing, 350 Redshank, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Ruff and many more Black-headed Gulls. 

Dunlin

That was a pretty good morning of birding I hope everyone will agree. Look in soon for more birding, ringing or photography.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday and Anni's Birding.

Birding Around

With a cool, clammy mist and the temperature gauge showing 6⁰ the morning had a definite autumnal feel but one which promised sunshine. At Braides Farm the Buzzard sat along the fence posts waiting for the off. 

Dont forget to "click the pics" for a better birding experience.

Morning Glow - Cockerham

Buzzard

The mist cleared quickly in the strong sunlight and Conder Green was haze-free. There are good numbers of Lapwings feeding and roosting around the pool margins now, some 150 birds, part of the large numbers which commute between here and in the fields on the other side of the canal. A later drive around Jeremy Lane found a further 150+ Lapwings as well as similar numbers of Curlews. Good numbers of Brown Hares in evidence with sometimes just their ears visible in the silage fields. 

Lapwing

 

Brown Hare

Back at the pool I counted 1 Meadow Pipit, 4 Pied Wagtail, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Wigeon, 4 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. Otherwise most of the action was in the creeks with 3 Greenshank, 6 Common Sandpiper, 70 Redshank, 4 Curlew and a single Shelduck. 

Greenshank

Eight or ten Swifts hawked above the hedgerow again as a handful of Swallows and Sand Martins circuited the pool, but the morning here was mostly House Martins. Feeding around the railway bridge and the dwellings were approximately forty. Perhaps not all were from the small number of nests on the few houses here although some martins were still busy collecting building materials from the roadside. A Sparrowhawk appeared from above the houses but the martins were onto it instantly as the hawk took a few flaps and a long glide and headed off towards the pool. 

House Martin

I called at Glasson to enjoy the light and to see 20+ Swallows, 3 Swift, 3 Pied Wagtail and 1 Grey Heron. 

Grey Heron

Glasson Dock

Next I checked a couple of ringing sites for possible visits. First the quarry and 90+ Sand Martin, 20 Linnet, 15+ Tree Sparrow, 4 Pied Wagtail, 1 Curlew, 1 Oystercatcher and 1 Golden Plover. 

Then came Oakenclough, the ringing site destined for a visit pretty soon. Although it’s only early August Andy and I have put up a few feeders to see just when birds begin to use them. At the moment there is lots of natural food but there seemed to be a small number of Chaffinches, a couple of Siskin, and a single Lesser Redpoll in the area of the feeders. 

In the wider plantation to where we erect mist nets - 5 Willow Warblers, 2 Pied Wagtail and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. On the water- 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Great Crested Grebe and 120+ Greylags. 

Tufted Duck

The weather looks marginally better for the weekend so there should be more birds on Another Bird Blog. Log in soon for more birding around.

Linking today to Theresa's Ranch , Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

A Quiet Day

There wasn’t much doing at Fluke Hall. A flock of 25+ Linnets indicated at least some partial local breeding success, the group being near enough the most I’ve seen all year. The woodland seemed devoid of anything out of the ordinary with just Blackbirds, Wrens, Tree Sparrows, Goldfinches, and the usual mix of Blue and Great Tit. No warblers again and this is a very strange and apparently unproductive year for many of our “little brown jobs”. 

Although there was a stiff breeze from the North West I decided to walk the sea wall so as to check the ditches, the shore and a couple of other spots which occasionally produce a bird or two. Two Whimbrel were feeding along the shore but quickly departed south with their customary rippling whistles when they spotted yours truly coming along. Near the end of the 19th century hunting on the Whimbrel migration routes took a heavy toll on numbers and although the population has since recovered, they retain their fear of man.

These migrant Whimbrels are done with breeding now and heading back to the coast of Africa where they spend the winter. 

Whimbrel

There was a Green Sandpiper along the ditch plus a couple of Little Egrets and just 2 Lapwings on a muddy stretch. 

Driving past Gulf Lane I spotted a distant Buzzard on a fence post but the road too busy to stop. When I pulled into the gateway at Braides Farm there was another Buzzard on a yet another distant post. Buzzards live in a nearby wood where the farmer doesn’t mind me taking a look occasionally as long as I don’t damage his fences. A young Buzzard was calling for food from high in the trees as the adults circled above and protested about me being around. I took a few shots and departed the trees before heading for the stillness of a Glasson Dock morning. 

Buzzard

Buzzard

Three Tufted Ducks have made it back to the deep waters of Glasson. They are young birds, their appearance a  sign of more tufties to follow in the months ahead when their numbers build to 40 or 50 or maybe 70 or 80 in a colder but unfreezing winter when they can dive for food. A handful of Coots, a few Moorhen and a family party of 9 Mute Swans completed the waterbirds. 

Glasson Dock

Tufted Duck

Three Pied Wagtails commuted between the bowling green and the towpath while across the water a lone Grey Heron stalked along the old jetty as it watched the water below for signs of a meal. Swifts have mainly departed these shores and it’s just ones and twos I see now especially here at Glasson which has tall old buildings where Swifts can enter. A handful of Swallows lined the rails of the lock gates but I think and hope that the adults are on with a second brood on the ledges below. 

Grey Heron

juvenile Swallow

A walk along the canal towpath produced little more than a solitary Blackcap, a Song Thrush, and several Tree Sparrows. But my birding pass had expired with not even enough time for Conder Green. 

Not to worry, there’s always tomorrow or another day on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Weekend Reflections and Theresa's Run A Round Ranch .

Birding Rerun

The Common Terns at Conder Green had me well and truly fooled on Wednesday when all seemed silent and deserted on their nesting island and around about. There was no sign or sound of the pair for the thirty or so minutes I was there and neither was the male at Glasson Dock, one of his regular fishing spots last year. 

The female must have been hunkered down against the cold wind and out of sight of prying eyes because when I looked again on Thursday morning there she was as large as life, stood just a metre or so from where clutch of eggs lie. Two minutes later the male flew in and joined his mate. I guess things are OK after all, especially if the weather improves as promised. 

Common Tern

On the pool things were much the same with most of the noise and action coming from the several pairs of Oystercatchers and Redshanks. By contrast the few pairs of Tufted Ducks here are less obvious in their low-key courtship and breeding rituals. The males are in fine condition at the moment with splendid pony-tails of feathers falling from their crowns of glossy purple. I watched as one called quietly to a nearby female which had floated off from the shore; I swear he was trying to coax her back to a nest.

 

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

There was a Grey Heron along one bank, a displaying Meadow Pipit and a single Stock Dove, a dove which seems to be a summer visitor only here but a species which breeds in tree holes and woodland close-by. In contrast to the day before there was just a handful of Swifts and House Martins. 

A walk along the canal proved fruitful for warblers by way of 3 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff and not quite a warbler but a “brown job” in the shape of male and female Reed Buntings.

Mute Swans breed here every year, this year at least two pairs along the canal. 

Mute Swan

Swallows are nesting under the road bridge again this year, a dark and dismal place with a steady flow of traffic trundling a few feet above the hidden nests. The Swallows are still at the construction stage, collecting nesting material from the nearby car park where there are muddy edged puddles-a-plenty. A few House Martins joined in harvesting the mud, the martins flying back to houses in Glasson village 50 yards away. 

House Martin

Barn Swallow

The Swallow in the picture below is an adult male singing and not a juvenile begging for food. There will be no fledglings for about 3 weeks if all goes to the Swallows’ normal timetable. 

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

On the way home through Pilling and Cockerham were a Buzzard and 2 Kestrels plus a male and a female Sparrowhawk flying close together and on the same heading. The male carried food but from the road it was impossible to see where they were bound.

I was headed home, my limited time up, but there’s more news and views soon from Another Bird Blog.

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

Staying Cool But A Nest Or Two

This morning was spent looking for migrant birds but some of those I found were not the normal species associated with late April. 

There was another frost and a layer of ice on the car, not ideal conditions for early morning warblers or little brown jobs so I decided to leave the bush bashing until the air warmed and motored to Conder Green instead. Later I learnt that snow fell in Blackburn, not a million miles from here.

The high tides of winter and spring have filled the pool again so that there’s still very little mud and too much water to attract any numbers of waders. So most if not all of the morning’s waders and wildfowl were in the tidal channels or on the marsh. 

There was a good selection without an enormous number by way of 4 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 2 Snipe, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Teal, 1 Wigeon, 10 Tufted Duck and 1 Little Egret. Through April there has been something of a passage of Tufted Ducks at Conder Green but now many have departed until Autumn. 

Tufted Duck

At Fluke Hall car park were 3 Whitethroats, 2 males in song and a much quieter female, the female already the object of attention in being chased around the hedgerow by one the males. Just then a Corn Bunting called but when I looked across a party of Corn Buntings had sat up on bramble and tall grass stems. In fact there were 14 or 15 of them but within a few seconds they departed north over the sea wall and lost to view, an unusual bit of Corn Bunting migration so late in April. But then it has been a cool, slow and rather delayed start to summer with yet more wind and rain to come we are told. 

There was also a noticeable increase in Wood Pigeons compared to recent days, in particular a huge flock of about 550+ feeding enthusiastically in a few recently ploughed fields. When once or twice they all took flight the scene resembled one of wintertime and not Spring. Woodpigeons are known to move around in large flocks in winter in search of food and it’s probably fair to say that these were migrants of sorts but wherever they’re going they will be somewhat late in setting up home. 

Woodpigeon

The pair of Mistle Thrush at Fluke Hall have been around all winter but now I’ve found the nest - high on the bough of a beech tree where the female sits on the eggs while the male mostly keeps out of the way. 

Mistle Thrush

Also in or about the wood, 2 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Greeenfinch, 2 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 2 Stock Dove, 1 Jay, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker and lots of Blackbirds. Two Greylags continue to frequent the pool within the wood where they conduct themselves in a very quiet and unobtrusive manner, and I’m sure they are “at it”. 

Blackbird

A walk along the sea wall required a jacket in the cool, some might say cold westerly breeze, where a single Wheatear, a few Linnets and singing Skylarks proved to be the only passerines. I tracked down one of the pairs of Skylarks and found their nest of three eggs. 

Skylark

Skylark nest

There are more cool birds soon from Another Bird Blog. Don’t miss them.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Friday Fun

The weather finally relented a little and there was no need to travel far to see the first birds this morning. 

In Thursday’s howling gale I’d seen Pink-footed Geese flying over the house and dropping into fields about half-a-mile away at Staynall, an area the geese have used lately. The geese use the Staynall fields every winter in varying degrees but the meadows are very undulating in addition to having few access points or roadside stops from which to view the geese or obtain accurate counts. On Friday morning I settled for “several hundred” and promised myself another try in a day or two. 

Pink-footed Goose

All was not lost with sightings of both Kestrel and Barn Owl, the owl another distant one to go with the many of late. It’s the time of year when Barn Owls and Kestrels face difficulty in locating enough of their favoured small mammal food, and hence a time when both species are forced to spend more time hunting. 

Barn Owl

Kestrel

I came across a Brown Hare trying to blend in with the landscape. A passing glance might see a large clomp of earth in the middle of a rough grass field until closer inspection revealed a brown furry animal, the sleeked back ears and the large orange eye of a Brown Hare. 

Brown Hare

The European Hare (Lepus europaeus), known in the UK as Brown Hare, is a species of hare native to Europe and western Asia. It is related to and looks very similar to the European Rabbit, which is in the same family but in a different genus. Hares are considerably larger than the European Rabbit, have longer ears and hind legs and breed on the ground rather than in a burrow. 

The Brown Hare is predominantly nocturnal, spending most of the day in small depressions in the grass known as forms. At night the hare ventures out, grazing on the young shoots of grasses and herbs as well as agricultural crops. Quite early in Spring the animals become increasingly active and hence more visible, especially when they indulge in courtship behaviour which inspired the English idiom “mad as a March hare.” 

Heading north I stopped near Fluke Hall and again near Lane Ends where fields saturated by recent rains were awash with waders almost as far as the eye could see. Best estimates came in at 1100 Lapwing, 900 Golden Plover, 850 Curlew, 450 Redshank, 22 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Dunlin and 200 Black-headed Gull, but not forgetting a single Ruff. 

Golden Plover and Lapwing

I stopped at Braides to note another Kestrel, a Little Egret and a flight of about 18 Teal, while behind the distant sea wall hundreds more Golden Plover and Curlews. 

By now there was snow with hail and rain showers, the bursts sudden and dramatic enough to cause an accident near Conder Green where a car had left the bendy road and ended up a bank and half way through a hedge. 

I spent the next hour dodging the weather, taking pictures at ISO1600 of the wildfowl at Glasson Dock, the 43 Goldeneye, 40 Tufted Duck and 1 Red-breasted Merganser. This week’s gales had blown the Goldeneye in from the estuary, but as soon as a canal boat started up for a circuit of the yacht basin the shy Goldeneyes whistled off overhead and back to the sanctuary of the wide River Lune. 

Tufted Duck

Goldeneye - juvenile male and adult male 

Goldeneye - adult male and juvenile male

 Goldeneye - adult female and juvenile female

Goldeneyes

Red-breasted Merganser

I was back home in time for lunch after a good morning’s birding - at last.

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

Picture A Year

The New Year, and as is customary here’s a selection of favourite pictures which best depict the four seasons of birds and birding on Another Bird Blog during 2014. This is my entry to Jim M Goldstein's Best Photos 2014, a project with over 300 participants from all over the world in 2013.

It was quite difficult to choose a single representative picture taken in the actual month concerned, the problem being that some of those 30 day periods lacked much photography action. Often the birds chose not to join in with my camera quest and I went without pictures for weeks at a time. Here goes with the photographs and I hope that the few words accompanying each picture might help others who wish to photograph birds, that most difficult of subjects. Don't forget to "click the pics" for a light box show.

January. A picture of a Little Egret from my Lanzarote sunshine holiday, away from the cold, grey days of a Lancashire winter. Photographing white birds is to me quite perplexing. Often the bird’s image ends up looking either washed out with no detail in the white feathers or drastically under-exposed, making the bird appear grey instead of white. While not perfect this picture is about as good as I can get until I resolve the mysteries of my Canon camera’s exposure values. 

Little Egret

 

February provided opportunities for taking pictures of Goldeneye, a shy diving duck which visits the UK in the winter months only. The golden eye and the two-tone bill of this female remain in focus as the camera captured the water droplets on her plumage as she emerged from a lengthy dive in the depths below. The picture was taken from a car window following a careful approach as a truly wild Goldeneye is highly unlikely to stay around if approached directly. 

Goldeneye

March hints at Spring but more often than not it feels like the depths of Winter. The arrival of Wheatears from Africa tells us not to worry, Summer isn’t too far away. Finding the first Wheatear of the season is something of a ritual for most birders. The yearly custom is often subject to mockery from others who claim to be above such trivial pursuits. But there’s nothing quite like close contact with a Wheatear newly arrived from Africa to make one appreciate the phenomenon of bird migration. Below, a fine looking male, the first of a number caught during the year. 

Wheatear

April and there was a stroke of luck with a Black-tailed Godwit intent on feeding, so not noticing my presence. Like most waders Black-tailed Godwits are normally shy, so I rattled off dozens of similar pictures to clog up the hard drive and then chose just one that captures the bird with its bill open.

Black-tailed Godwit

May’s photo is easy to pick from the many sunshine shots of Menorca, a Mediterranean island which beckons each year. A colony of Bee Eaters is hard to resist. The birds live in an unlikely looking spot where they burrow into the sandy soil to lay their eggs and raise a family. Staying in the car and waiting for a Bee Eater to perch close by is far more successful than trying to approach this shy bird on foot. 

Bee Eater

June is a good month for early morning starts where even the shy Grey Heron might feel unthreatened by a single person in a slowly approaching car. This heron used a boat from which to watch the shallow water below but quickly flew off at the first person approaching on foot. 

Grey Heron

July rarely goes by without a chance of photographing Swallows. An adult’s summer plumage makes for the most photogenic but juveniles are much more willing to stay around for a picture. 

Barn Swallow

August.  A young Tufted Duck has yet to learn the ways of man. The expression in the bird’s eye combined with its body language said that while it was happy with the initial approach, if I moved closer it would depart the scene, taking the accompanying Tufted Ducks with it.

Tufted Duck

September in Skiathos where a Red-backed Shrike resident in the hotel gardens was somewhat unapproachable but had a regular beat, as many species do. After a week or more of relaxing in the garden while at the same time noting the bird’s habits, I used the cover provided by a chain link fence to obtain a number of reasonable shots without scaring the bird away. 

Red-backed Shrike

October is the month that Whooper Swans fresh in from a non-stop flight from Iceland settle on a traditional part of our coastal marsh. It’s best to try for pictures before the swans get uneasy from the regular wildfowl shoots which start in October, activities which increase their wariness. Take a close look at the picture and how each swan is looking in a different direction in case of predators, a 360° early warning system. It’s part of the reason that birds form flocks - many pairs of eyes and ears are better than one and at the first sign of trouble the herd will have the earliest possible warning. 

Whooper Swans

November seemed to involve a good number of sightings of Buzzards, a hopeful sign perhaps? The trials and tribulations of our UK Buzzards at the hands of the less responsible devotees of shooting became a regular feature throughout the year on Another Bird Blog. It culminated in November with the conviction of a gamekeeper for the intentional killing of nine Buzzards; the court issued a suspended sentence but no financial penalty other than to pay court costs of £930 plus a “victim surcharge” of £80. In the eyes of our UK justice system the value of a single Buzzard is less than £10.

As if Buzzards hadn’t enough to contend with in being constantly harassed by the ever expanding corvid population?

Buzzard and Carrion Crows

December. A far from perfect picture of a Kestrel displaying “fuzzy” focus, into the light of a watery morning, parts of the bird hidden by the fence line on which it sat. I like this picture because there is something of a detached look about this bird’s expression as it ignores the camera and concentrates on finding that essential early breakfast. 

Kestrel

It just remains for me to thank everyone who visited the blog in 2014. Happy New Year to all.

I hope to meet up with everyone again in 2015.

Linking today to id-rather-b-birdin.,  Dawn's Critters and Eileen's Saturday Blog.