Catching The Villains

When I went to top up the feeding station again, the moss was very quiet. The morning started on a high with a dawn-hunting Barn Owl at Town End and a Little Owl sat motionless in one of its regular spots. 

The niger feeders were still full from my last visit and Goldfinches generally absent, although the ground feed had mostly disappeared. I caught one of the scoundrels responsible for hoovering up the seed, a second year Woodpigeon. Just five other birds captured - singles of Robin, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Great Tit and Blue Tit until I packed up out of sheer boredom. 

Woodpigeon

The birding on the farm was slightly better, and in no particular order, 40+ Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 4 Goldfinch, 40 Tree Sparrow, 9 Skylark, 1 Mistle Thrush, 6 Reed Bunting, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 400+ Woodpigeon, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Yellowhammer, 5 Corn Bunting, 2 Kestrel and 1 Buzzard. Animals: 5 Roe Deer and 5 Brown Hare. 

The Kestrel was a bit distant in today’s grey light. Standing on a source of light might make the job easier - the Kestrel, not me. 

Kestrel

Kestrel

On a less happy note, and I’ve mentioned this on the blog before, when I check the stats and sources of blog visits, Another Bird Blog is still receiving occasional viewings from people who are either involved in the illegal catching of wild birds or seeking the whys and wherefores of how to take part. In particular the searches generally include the word “Goldfinch”, as in a recent Google search using the words “cage to trap goldfinch” or one of a few weeks ago “best places to catch goldfinch”. 

Because my blog uses “tag” words, and “Goldfinch” features regularly in the course of my posts, the searches include my blog in the results and these people then visit my blog thinking it may contain the information they seek. Of course the information on Another Bird Blog or any other UK birding and ringing blogs will not help them in any way, but these would-be wildlife criminals will continue to view all the results of their search until they eventually find the bits of information they seek. I have reported the IP address of the latest miscreant, and I urge other blog owners to do the same should they be troubled by similar things.

Goldfinch

I comment on this again so as to make bird lovers aware that the illegal catching and selling of wild birds takes place in many parts of the UK, often among the immigrant communities. If anyone should encounter the catching, selling, buying or breeding of birds which they suspect to be of wild origin, and this can be Goldfinch, Redpoll, Chaffinch, Linnet and Bullfinch plus others, they should report it to the Police and/or the RSPB/RSPCA immediately. 

More lawful news and views on Another Bird Blog soon - stay tuned.

What’s The Excuse Today?

It’s getting to be a bad habit, this posting news a day late. So here is Sunday’s post with no justification unless a pre-Christmas haircut is a good enough reason? 

While I didn’t see a great number of species yesterday I did see many birds, if that makes sense. The job in hand was Out Rawcliffe, and where hoping for a dry and less windy spell of weather fit for ringing soon, I topped up the bird feeders and scattered a little mixed seed so as to keep the birds interested. All this wet weather has severely limited any opportunities to catch Bramblings as I did almost two weeks ago - And There's More  or Beasts From The East. 

The most interesting sighting on Sunday consisted of two large Chaffinch flocks, one of 300+ birds, the other of more than 200, the two flocks some three quarters of a mile apart. It could be that the huge flock of 700/800 Chaffinches I saw on 5th December had split up, both groups going their separate ways for now. In with the first flock were a minimum of 15 Brambling, and a further 8/10 Brambling in the smaller flock, but it is very difficult to get close to these big mixed flocks with so many pairs of eyes watching for danger. 

Chaffinch

Brambling

There’s still a flock of circa 30 Goldfinches, often in a nearby garden, sometimes on my few Nyger feeders, whereas I haven’t seen or heard a Linnet for months. The same garden holds a couple of Reed Buntings, several Tree Sparrows, a regular Mistle Thrush and always a Great-spotted Woodpecker - not your average garden selection. Counting the garden birds and other sighting led to a total of 18 Reed Bunting and 40+ Tree Sparrow. 

Goldfinch

Reed Bunting

The huge flocks of Woodpigeons were still around, scattered far and wide through the woods and mosses, constantly on the move and just like the finch flocks, there are many pairs of eyes watching out for danger, especially with yesterday's 8,000+ birds.

Woodpigeon

A walk through and around a couple of woodland plots found a Woodcock, 2 Jay, 4 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 3 Buzzard and 2 Kestrel, and in a really badly flooded field, 300+ Lapwings. 

Leaving the wood and on the way back to the car, and seconds before it disappeared behind a wood, I caught sight of the elusive and well-travelled Hen Harrier of recent weeks. It is a hard bird to pin down to one spot but appears to be the same as the Pilling Moss bird, and if so has a regular hunting circuit of some miles north, south, east and west of Lancaster Road. 

It’s 24th December, so that’s mine and I guess many other folks' birding done for a day or two? Never fear, Another Bird Blog will be back as soon as possible - join me then.

No Time Like The Present

There was too little time this morning, no chance of a spot of ringing, just a quick topping up of the bird feeders at Out Rawcliffe, followed by a hurried scoot around the birding block of the farm before the domestics of grandchildren drew me back home. 

Shame I didn’t have a couple of hours to spare as there was a good selection of birds in the wood and/or near the bird seed: 60+ Chaffinch, 10+ Brambling, 30+ Goldfinch, 4 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 3 Redwing, 4 Fieldfare, 1 Yellowhammer, 15+ Skylark, 40+ Tree Sparrow, 2 Jay and 25+ Reed Bunting. In fields more distant in the direction of Pilling Moss were 200+ Lapwing and several thousand Pink-footed Goose.

The Reed Buntings here can be quite inquisitive, sitting up in the roadside hawthorns.

Reed Bunting

 

Reed Bunting

A recurring feature of the last month or two on the inland mosses has been the huge flocks of roving Woodpigeons, pointed out on this blog on a couple of occasions, but barely mentioned in the rest of the blogosphere.

Very recently the number of Woodpigeons appeared to drop, but this morning they were about in their many thousands again, moving in droves between a number of woods and fields in their search for food, the flocks of hundreds and thousands turning the tree tops to a mass of grey. I entered a figure of 15,000 in my notebook but the actual number could be double or more, but whether these are newly arrived birds or part of the original influx is anyone’s guess. No prizes for counting the number of woodies in the shot below, just some of the birds in a single part of just one of many woods the birds used this morning.

A reminder here to anyone new to Blogger, clicking on the pictures gives a light box and slide show, much better than the pictures on the page. 

Woodpigeons

On the way off the farm I saw the resident pair of Kestrels, the wintering Pied Wagtail and the inevitable Little Owl, same time, same place.

 Pied Wagtail

Kestrel

Little Owl

The weather doesn’t look too clever for a day or two, a humungous low pressure over the Atlantic Ocean, heading this way with wind and rain for three or four days, resulting in few opportunities to catch those Reed Buntings or Bramblings. Never fear, if there’s half a chance Another Bird Blog will be out there somewhere looking for a bird or two to report. 

  Look Out!

This post is linking to Weekly Top Shot , take a look soon.

And There’s More…

Bramblings that is, but only two new ones today. After the wind suddenly dropped at lunchtime I went to Out Rawcliffe where I checked and topped up the feeders, chucked more mixed seed on the ground and put up a couple of nets. 

At the moment the short days mean that with a midday start and birds heading off to roost soon after 3pm it leaves just a couple of hours catching time. Birds caught 1230-1430, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin, 1 Great Tit. 

Although it’s just a small sample of 11 birds, 8 of this week’s Bramblings have been first year males, the remainder three females. 

Brambling

Brambling - first calendar year male

One of the male Chaffinches was especially “adult” with very squared off and dark tail feathers. 

Chaffinch

Chaffinch - adult male

The Reed Bunting was a tiny first year female, wing length 73mm only. 

Reed Bunting

Other birds seen, in no particular order: 4000+ Woodpigeon, 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Jay, 1 Buzzard, 1 Merlin, 1 Kestrel, 8 Skylark, 30+ Goldfinch, 10+ Reed Bunting, 4 Brambling, 1 Snipe, 2 Woodcock, 18 Chaffinch. 

Woodpigeons

Jay

Tonight there’s babysitting, hence the rushed post. Never fear, Another Bird Blog will be up with the lark tomorrow looking for more birds to report. Stay tuned. 

This post is linking to Anni's I'd Rather Be Birding blog. 

No Work On Wednesday?

At last, a touch of sun, a dry morning and chance for a spot of birding, with Rawcliffe Moss the destination where with luck there was an hour or two before the shoot arrived and all hell broke loose. 

Another person asked me the same question earlier in the week. “Why in this modern day and age do we tolerate the shooting of our declining and therefore increasingly precious wildlife, and this coupled with wilful persecution of our raptors?” It’s not as if people rely upon a brace of duck, a couple of partridge or a wader or two to feed hungry mouths is it?” I agreed, long gone too are the days when Hen Harriers or “hawks” really did steal a few hens from our subsistence farmsteads. 

From the British Association for Shooting and Conservation BASC, (now there’s a complete contradiction in terminology), is a list of so called “quarry species” in the UK - “Gadwall, Goldeneye, Mallard, Pintail, Pochard, Scaup, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Pink-footed Goose, White-fronted Goose, Snipe, Golden Plover, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Coot and Moorhen”. In addition “The Woodpigeon is both the UK’s major agricultural bird pest and one of the most popular species providing sporting shooting. It is legal to shoot the bird all the year round under the current general licence arangements (sic). The Woodpigeon makes good eating and provides nourishing cheap food, and appears on the menus of top restaurants.”  

Maybe it’s time all the diverse elements of the UK’s far too many conservation movements joined together and made a concerted effort to put a halt to the killing through politicking, while at the same time exploding the many myths and untruths around the “economic benefits” and “conservation value” of shooting? Moan over for now. 

At the farm were plenty of the aforementioned Woodpigeons turning the tree tops grey with a count/estimate of 4000+ in just a couple of woods. It looks like many of last week’s huge numbers reported on Another Bird Blog may have moved to south west Lancashire, with enormous flocks seen near Martin Mere, Ormskirk. - 20th November “The huge flock of Woodpigeons which has been building up just beyond the edge of the reserve was estimated to contain around 50,000 birds this morning – a remarkable sight!” 

Watching the tree tops made for a sighting of 2 Buzzards flying in from the east, calling as they came and scattering the pigeons in all directions and setting the Jays off screeching. 

Buzzard 

Woodpigeon

Good numbers of passerines today, impossible to get precise counts for all when they scatter along the hedgerows, but 60+ Chaffinch, 50+ Tree Sparrow, 5 Corn Bunting 2 Yellowhammer, 7 Goldfinch and c15 Reed Bunting. 

Tree Sparrow

Thankfully we haven’t suffered the floods of elsewhere in the UK, the fields here are just remarkably wet for now and the foreseeable future, so a good place to find gulls, Lapwings and Snipe, plus the odd Buzzard waiting patiently. There’s a Buzzard on the distant fence, and out of shot 90+ Lapwing, 120 Black-headed Gulls, a couple of Snipe and a passing Kestrel. 

Buzzard

Lapwing

When the gunslingers arrived I made for the car and a drive across the Pilling Moss to Lane Ends. Over the moss road I counted 3 bird watchers lying in wait for assorted owls, 2 Kestrel, 10 Tree Sparrow, 15 Chaffinch, 1 Buzzard, 2 Redwing, 18 Fieldfare and 6 Meadow Pipit. 

Kestrel

When I got to Pilling there was another shoot all along the marsh road - Wednesday again, I forgot. Don’t these people have work to do? 

Thursday should be OK for a spot of birding, photography or just putting the world to rights - log in soon to Another Bird Blog and find out.

Woodys All Over

Woodpigeons don’t often steal the show but they did this morning. There’s been an influx in the last week or two, with noticeably large flocks building up on the mosses in particular where the poor summer has left a number of spoilt and unharvested crops for both birds and mammals. 

This morning as I drove across Stalmine Moss and then Pilling Moss towards Out Rawcliffe I noticed there seemed to be even more than the usual hundreds of Woodpigeons about. As I stopped to watch many thousands of them were flying over, pausing to look for food in the hedgerows and fields, all the time their numbers swelling into huge, massed and urgent flocks which continued south and east until many were out of sight. After a while I had estimated several thousand woodys, upwards of 10,000 in all. 

While the Woodpigeon is an essentially sedentary species in the UK, it has a very large range in most of Europe, especially in the north and east where it is largely migratory, responding to both cold weather and food shortages by travelling huge distances. Some individuals reach Spain where they target the woodland acorn crop So it appears that this year, and just like the more exotic and sought after Waxwing or Brambling, the unloved, mostly ignored Woodpigeon is the latest species to become a victim of the poor acorn, berry and beech crop in Europe. 

To put my meagre count into the larger perspective - in Europe, the breeding population of the Woodpigeon is estimated to number 9-17 million breeding pairs, equating to 27-51 million individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 75-94% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 30-70 million individuals. 

Woodpigeon

I stopped on Union Lane where like recent weeks, yet another Kestrel posed up for a portrait. What a shame a stray branch intervened to spoil the shot. It was almost 10am but a Barn Owl was hunting too and unlike the Kestrel, the owl didn’t want to pose up so I made do with a distant record shot. 

Kestrel

Barn Owl

Rawcliffe Moss could have made for a disappointment after such drama; however a few bits and pieces made for an entertaining hour or two. Wandering through the plantation revealed my first Woodcock of the winter as it crashed from a clump of bramble to give the usual few seconds of in-flight views. “Small stuff” count: 2 Fieldfare, 1 Goldcrest, 7 Reed Bunting, 15 Goldfinch, 20+ Chaffinch, 22 Tree Sparrow, 4 Blackbird, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Skylark, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker. Non-passerines: 1 Kestrel, 3 Jay, 1 Buzzard. 

Reed Bunting

Another unwanted branch spoiled the ‘pecker shot too. 

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Better luck next time on Another Bird Blog.  Log in soon to check. 

A Different Circus

They say a change is as good as a rest so this afternoon I set off for Pilling Moss and a walk around a farm I wander over now and again. The spot has a few sheltered fields and woods and is a useful standby when everywhere else is a more than a bit breezy, as it was today.

This year I’ve seen plenty of Marsh Harriers, both spring and autumn, but one of the first birds I saw this afternoon was a Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus, now probably the rarer of the two closely related harriers. Crows chased the harrier off towards Union Lane whereby it flew fast with the wind and I lost it against a background of trees.

Hen Harrier

The couple of hours turned into a raptor fest with 3 Kestrel, 1 Peregrine, 1 Merlin, 3 Buzzards and a Tawny Owl. I found the owl huddled up out of the wind in the densest part of an ivy covered tree, the greenery so impenetrable that I tried this way and that to get more than a half photo of the bird but couldn’t. So as they also say, “Here’s one I did earlier”.

Tawny Owl
Buzzard

There was lots of passerine food on offer for the raptors, 60+ Skylark, 70 Chaffinch, 130 Linnet, 5 Reed Bunting, 25 Goldfinch, 11 Pied Wagtail, 15 Snipe, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker and 20+ Tree Sparrow. I almost forgot, 1 Fieldfare and 2 Song Thrush, but a number of Blackbirds.

Peregrines count Columbidae into their food category and there were plenty of those today with 32 Stock Dove and 80+ Woodpigeon. Other “bits and bobs” seen, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Raven and 260 Pink-footed Geese trying to hide in a barley stubble field.

Woodpigeon
Stock Dove
Pink-footed Goose

Making The Best Of It.

With blustery winds and heavy showers blowing in from the west a ringing session was out of the question this morning.

So I took myself off to a farm near St Michael’s village where there’s a good selection of habitat and more than a few trees that offer shelter to birders and birds. There’s also lots of large, open fields of barley, silage and maize, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to see an autumn Marsh Harrier, but very distant. They always are far off when I’m around, my camera so jinxed that it never gets a good shot of a Marsh Harrier, hence the poor excuse for a photograph again, not helped by the first of many heavy showers that chose the same moment to drench me in half a minute.

Marsh Harrier

I found a good flock of about 90 Woodpigeon feeding on a recently cut grass meadow, and in the same field 4 Stock Dove, but feeding apart from the pigeons. What is it about pigeons and doves that make them unexciting to birders? The Stock Dove is actually a very subtly marked yet attractive bird, with that glossy green neck patch, its shades of grey and blue so splashed with black. Even the lacklustre old Woodpigeon has a certain charm when it fixes you with that yellow glare.

Stock Dove
Woodpigeon

Down the farm track the showers cleared enough for me to count the hirundines, 140 scattered Swallows, just 2 House Martin, but 3 Sand Martin dropped low by the rain storm I think. Just then the Swallows twittered in alarm, regrouped, and then saw off a Sparrowhawk which soon lost interest before disappearing over nearby trees.

On a recently tilled field I found a flock of 110+ purely Linnet but 5 Mistle Thrush searching through the same soil. Another thrush appeared on the trail ahead of me, this time a Song Thrush, which whacked the life out of a snail shell until the goodies inside fell to the floor. Everywhere I go I see lots of snails, slugs and bugs, all good sustenance for thrushes, but I see very few of the now scarce Song Thrush. The light was poor, the thrush was fast, but you get the general idea.

Song Thrush
Song Thrush

Looking west the sky was clearer, with patches of blue and to the north a bright rainbow against a dark grey sky, as up in the blue 3 Buzzards wheeled around, making the most of the respite. Buzzards have been largely quiet of late, but I get the feeling their autumn dispersal is taking place.

The farm has a couple of stands of trees, places for stopping, listening and looking. It was here I found a couple of Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff, the chiffy in brief but full song. A Kestrel skirted the trees then a Great-spotted Woodpecker moved along the line of trees to the one furthest away, and when there were no more trees it flew to a telegraph pole where the road began.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

The ‘pecker was my cue to hit the road too, but what a splendid morning of birding despite the dreary old British weather, the sort we like to moan about. But at least we don’t have to lookout for Irene like our friends across the pond.

That’s A Big Swallow

At last, a morning without rain. First priority this morning was checking the Hambleton Swallows where the second broods are later in the season than is normal. I knew from previous notes at least one nest would have chicks for ringing, or that is if they had managed to survive the last 3 days of rain and the resulting reduced food intake. I needn’t have worried, as although the five youngsters have proved to be slow developers, they were large enough for a ring each. Three other second nests were at full egg stage but a week or two behind their normal progress at this time of year.

Graham the land owner who follows the success and failures of his Swallows with huge interest asked me “Have you seen the nest in the old garage?” the old building that Swallows use in some years only. Off I went anticipating a new Swallow nest I had overlooked but found instead a Woodpigeon guarding a nest with a sizeable chick. That’s the first Woodpigeon chick I ever ringed in a building.

Woodpigeon
Woodpigeon

The day brightened further, enough to chance a walk down Pilling Way. The sea wall was rather quiet, even the finches down to single digit counts of Linnet, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Meadow Pipit. I came across another 3J Wheatear, an unringed bird but a similar looking individual to the one I caught on 12th July. This latest bird was also attracted to a meal worm lunch.

Wheatear - juvenile
Wheatear - juvenile
Wheatear - juvenile

Between Pilling Water and Fluke Hall my counts were of 700 Curlew, 115 Lapwing, 18 Oystercatcher, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Pied Wagtail and 3 Grey Heron. I finished my agreeable morning on a nice little high with 3 Little-ringed Plovers on the wildfowler’s pools, filling up nicely after the recent rain – It’s an ill wind etc.

Little-ringed Plover