The One That Got Away

Monday was a fine morning with lots of bird activity round about but I was stuck at home waiting for the plumber to arrive, so I decided to do a little garden mist netting. It’s the first suitable day there’s been for many months, either in terms of birds in the vicinity or a wind and rain-free day. 

But this morning there seemed to be lots of bird song, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Song Thrush, Robin, Dunnock and Great Tit. At the big house across the way a pair of Jackdaws busied themselves by inspecting the double chimneys as Collared Doves and Woodpigeons closely watched the action. Maybe the doves were hoping to pick up some of the sticks the Jackdaws let drop to the floor? 

Below is picture of all the only evidence of the first bird I caught, one measly feather, all that was left on the grass below where a bird lay in the net for a few brief seconds. Full marks to anyone who stops to puzzle but then correctly identifies the species from the feather before reading on - go to the top of the class. 

It’s not a species generally associated with gardens but does occur in them more than one might imagine, especially during cold and frosty weather. I was in the house and through the window saw the large brown bird lying in the net but as I sped outside in one short move, the Woodcock lifted itself from the pocket and flew over the fence and far away. The second picture is as they say, “One I did earlier”, a year or two ago, so infrequent are sturdy and strong-flying Woodcocks found in mist nets. 

Woodcock feather

Woodcock

So I had to content myself with Goldfinches on a date which may prove to be the start of the species’ Spring movement north. Another sure sign of Spring was the sight and sound of Siskins in next door’s Sycamore tree, but the few birds there were not visiting my niger feeders today. 

Siskin

I caught 6 Goldfinch, not many but a better total than of recent inactive months - 5 females and a single male. Below is a female born last year, identified as a female by the grey nasal hairs, red not extending beyond the eye and aged as last season's bird by a combination of the mixed age tail feathers and the brown edging to lesser coverts. 

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Another young female below, this one retaining some of its brownish juvenile head feathers. The red on the face reaches the end of the eye but does not extend beyond it. 

Goldfinch

Below is a male where for comparison with a female, the red on the face reaches a good way beyond the eye.

Goldfinch

There’s more to come later from Another Bird Blog, just as soon as the plumber’s gone and we can return to a normal existence. 

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Windy But Birding

Mindful of the BBC’s bad weather warnings for the next five days, I decided to brave the elements again for a spot of birding, but with rain and strong winds again, the watching would be mostly from the car.

I hadn’t been to Conder and Glasson for a while so gave those spots a try first. The wind howled across Conder Pool, the lake turned into a swelling sea where 20 Mallards sheltered on the island and 3 Little Grebe braved the rollers. Maybe the lunchtime tide was already moving in to fill the creek where the only birds I found were 4 more Little Grebe, 45 Teal, 1 Curlew and 1 Spotted Redshank, both the Teal and grebes tucked into the lee of the deep creek.

It was similar at Glasson Dock with 55 Tufted Duck and 30+ Coot congregating at the sheltered far side of the marina, 2 Goldeneye and the Black-headed Gulls dodging the breakers in the centre of the swell.

Spotted Redshank
Tufted Duck

Trying desperately to think of somewhere that might be at least partially sheltered I drove up to Thurnham where I was able to take a walk through the wood below the churchyard. It proved quite fruitful, if still a little breezy and also wet underfoot, but I found 2 Treecreeper, 2 Woodcock and 1 Tawny Owl. The owl sat in the middle of a dense holly tree, and as they do, both Woodcock flushed from close by before I could spot either. In the last two winters we caught one or two Woodcock, but none this year so far, and if the winds don’t drop there will be no birds of any species caught, never mind the buzz of finding a Woodcock in the net.

Woodcock
Woodcock

The tide was in at Lane Ends where I logged a few bits and pieces of 3 Little Egret, 55 Pintail, 80 Wigeon, 2000+ Lapwing, 155 Curlew, 340 Shelduck, 150 Starling, 3 Skylark, and 1 Merlin battling west into the headwind.

Pintail
I watched a Great Black-backed Gull check out a Little Egret which struggled against the wind, the gull waiting for a chance to pounce. Just a few weeks ago it was here that I watched a black-back kill and eat a Wigeon. It's a poor rushed shot I took, but the gull clearly shows evil intent.

Little Egret and Great Black-backed Gull

A quick check near Fluke Hall produced a good count of 93 Whooper Swan and 1500 Pink-footed Goose still on the potato field.

Whooper Swan

Overdue

Will and I were due some ringing after the recent weeks of frustrated intent and weather related cancellations. So with a good forecast we met at 0730 at our woodland site south of Lancaster town centre whilst other team members went off to Stanley Park in pursuit of wildfowl.

The wood and parkland on the site of an old hospital is very much a thrush site as confirmed by the first couple of net rounds when we quickly caught 19 Blackbird in the four mist nets erected. Of the 19 caught only three had no visible fat, the rest with scores between 1 and 5 but the heaviest a first winter male that tipped the scale at 130 grams and three birds in the high 120’s.

Blackbird

The woodland was noticeably quiet in respect of Chaffinch and we caught only two, very unusual. But inevitably we added those woodland favourites, Wren, Robin and single Blue and Great Tit.

Despite being quite close to the city centre the habitat is obviously attractive to roosting Woodcock and this being a Woodcock “year” we had a walk through the woodland to weigh up the numbers here. We flushed at least eight that headed off in various directions but one ended up in a net. This is the first one the ringing group has ringed since 1998, the last of a run in the 1990’s when we caught several at woodland roosts; so this one today was well overdue. With reference to “Ageing of Holarctic Waders” we think this bird a first winter male but stand to be corrected by anyone with more recent experience than the 1990’s!

Woodcock

Woodcock

We don’t catch many Treecreepers either. In fact they are now pretty scarce in the Fylde. So finding two in a net together was also past the due date.

Treecreeper

Other birds seen but not caught included 4 Nuthatch, 2 Jay, 1 Mistle Thrush plus 1 Goldcrest, a couple of Goldfinch plus sundry titmice.

The session was over fairly quickly as the birds dried up but allowing a little time to call in at Conder Green before heading home. The pool itself has almost thawed but held little, with most of the interest being on the creek and surrounds with 3 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Spotted Redshank and the wintering Common Sandpiper, a good January tick, 90 Teal and a couple of Wigeon. There were several hundred Pink-footed Geese overflying from the Pilling direction and heading towards the Lune marshes.

Half Term

A funny time of year this, autumn migration just about finished, not many thrushes left behind after the big rush and no winter finch flocks yet, all a bit humdrum until or if the weather gets a little colder elsewhere. Those were my thoughts this morning when I was half way across Rawcliffe Moss without seeing anything truly exciting or even large numbers of a species.

Back to the beginning then by collecting a bucket of seed for the feeding station where I bumped into the gamekeeper who recently told me the shoot costs several thousand pounds each year to maintain whereby each member of the syndicate contributes hundreds of pounds. If only birders were so generous towards ensuring their hobby can exist.

At least the Grey Wagtail was in the area of the barn but not so accommodating that it hung around for pictures, therefore the picture below is from a week ago of probably/possibly the same bird. If there is one thing that ringing has taught me it is never to assume that the bird I see today is the same one as yesterday or the one I will see tomorrow.



I parked at the track where in the distance I could see Carrion Crows and Pheasants helping themselves to plenty of expensive Winter Picnic Mix, but the sight of my car door opening was enough to scare them away. The actual food drop point is about two hundred yards from the car so the noise or lack of from the assembled Tree Sparrows is a hint to how many there are; today they were obviously there in numbers. They scattered in groups as I walked the length of the pathway until my count of the combined gangs was a minimum 130, maybe a bit down on recent counts which do vary to a degree. Let’s hope we get to ring some soon and find out the turnover of individual birds.



Also scattered from the hedge by my walk were a dozen Blackbird, a Song Thrush and four Redwing but I didn’t see a single Fieldfare today in my walk. My hopes and prediction of a second wave didn’t happen yet.

It can be difficult to count the Chaffinch at the feeding station as they mix in then fly off with the sparrows in all directions but safe to say at least 15, but by no means the beginning of a winter flock.



I drove up the saturated, muddy moss road to park down in a field entrance, maybe a bit risky after the recent rain, but after a little wheel slippage the old Honda didn’t let me down.

Alongside the road I disturbed a little flock of 30 Goldfinch that twittered off over the plantation, and then over in the same place as weekend, I heard a couple of Grey Partridge rasping away. I walked through Fir Wood, hoping to see some evidence of the weekend’s Tawny Owls and although the Chaffinch “pinked” here and there they didn’t seem to mob anything. Then over at the north side I flushed a Woodcock from the floor which flew directly from the wood to an adjoining wood on the next farm. Here is an old picture of a Woodcock from Singleton Hall in the 1990s.



I walked back to my car through the deserted plantation, just a few Blackbirds and here in the middle of the cool and by now windy moss, a party of 10 -12 Long-tailed Tits searching through the alders. I also searched through some of the denser parts of the new but thriving plantation in the hope of finding one or more of the owls, but all I got was wet socks through my waterproof boots. I found the road again to stand at the car and watch a party of 150ish pinkfeet over as they headed towards St Michaels. Over at Nateby the gathering of crows has now reached several hundred, mostly Carrion Crow with perhaps 10% Jackdaws, where they all seem to spend an awful lot of their time just flying around over the wood calling excitedly, unlike the one below.



I set off back south to park half way along the moss, where my car could act as a hide. Most of the Skylarks from a few weeks ago have gone, just leaving a few to rise from cover now and again, and although I added a single Stonechat and 2 Reed Bunting to the morning tally, it was a pretty quiet session. Then to the south I could see the promised rain clouds heading towards me again. But what a nice way to finish with a super Reed Bunting.

Action Replay

A six thirty start may not seem that early but it does mean getting up at 0530 in time to load the car with poles, nets, ringing box, wellies and other essentials, not to mention fill the flask with coffee. At least I still have a thermos this year despite my long standing history of destroying them by either dropping from a great height onto a hard surface or filling them with very boiling water. The latter proves quite an interesting half awake early morning experiment on the laws of physics but doesn’t make for a very good cup of coffee.

Anyway the mental check list was duly ticked to meet Will at the prescribed time at Rawcliffe Moss again in order to erect nets in darkness in preparation for the dawn thrushes. The fog was there, more or less as promised by Diane on North West Tonight and sundry web sites, but undeterred we had gambled on a quick warm up dispersing the clouds.

Through the mist Will heard the first Redwings at 0735, then soon after we caught the first of two from a little party of six. Redwing groups arrived on and off until 1030 when we packed in, by which time we had counted a total of 85 that arrived from all compass directions after being disorientated by the fog. Other migrant thrushes were 2 Fieldfare and 1 Song Thrush plus several Blackbirds.

It was the first Redwing that made me realise I had forgotten my camera; so much for the carefully planned routine and infallible preparation as I tried to recall suitable expletives. So whilst the photos aren’t exactly today’s, the species are applicable.

The overhead murk almost cleared once or twice with just the occasional hint of blue promising better things as through it all we counted as much as we could see and hear, but no doubt missed a lot with such poor visibility:

Snipe, 18 over in various directions
Woodpigeon, 200+ over and around
Tree Sparrow, 3 over as distinct from the 90 or so at the feeding station further down the farm
Chaffinch, 40+ with 4 new ringed
Goldfinch, 3 over
Albas, 6 over
Meadow Pipit, 35+ over
Golden Plover 2 over
Starling 600+ over and around
Long-tailed Tit, 6 ringed
Kestrel, 2 locals still searching the maize



Tawny Owl, one calling again
Stonechat, 1 unringed one along the track i.e. not the one caught two days ago
Dunnock, 2 ringed
Wrigglearse, 2 ringed and one retrapped
Reed Bunting, 18+ with 5 new ones ringed



There were lots of Pink-footed Geese this morning, both flying around in the mist to avoid local shooters but also arriving continually from the general direction of Pilling. We estimated 3500+, and then on my way off the moss I saw many settled feeding on a field of maize stubble nearby.

Non bird events this morning were 2 Roe Deer in the misty distance and a Weasel that briefly bounced across the track close to us before diving into some low herbage.

Not quite the highlight of the morning but an interesting sighting as I drove home was seeing a Woodcock at Preesall fly across the main road ahead of me then hedgehop to land just inside a roadside field. Woodcock, one of those species that finds you rather than you find it?