Wheats About?

A wander out Pilling way on Sunday saw activity of mainly egrets, pipits and Linnets along the sea wall. Two identical looking Wheatears caught my eye so I stopped for a closer inspection.

The tidal defences here keep Morecambe Bay tides at bay with a high raised earth bank, (a bund) interspersed with sections consisting of large rocks and stones. The rockery is an attraction to migrant birds where crevices and holes out of prevailing winds provide a sanctuary to insects attractive to Wheatears and other insectivores. 

Over many years I have ringed over seventy Wheatears along Pilling shore, until taking a break in recent years when human and canine disturbance made the job impossible. Having recently found a new private spot, and even in the limited possibilities of September when their numbers decline,  the desire to catch Wheatears resurfaced with the appearance of these two Wheatears. I suspect the two were siblings so closely did they resemble each other and to follow in each other’s movements. 

Luckily mealworms were at hand together with a couple of spring traps that caught one bird quite easily as the other scooted into the distance upon seeing its companion compromised inside a tent of netting. 

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

After a few days off I met up with Will and Andy on Thursday at 0630 for a go at the Linnets and anything else linked to the month of September. Thirteen birds caught/ringed -  6 Linnet, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Robin. 

We have to remind ourselves that male Linnets are normally a touch larger than females but this is never the decider between male or female. The most reliable method is the amount of white on the outer web of the primary wing feathers numbers 7 to 9.  A gap of less than 5mm from the white feather to the centre shaft tells us the bird is a male, more than 5mm a female. In other words, males have more white in the wing, a feature that is sometimes discernible with Linnets in flight, more easily picked out ina large flock rather than isolated birds.

Very often autumn males show brown/rufous rounded markings on the breast, unlike a female which is more streaked. 

Linnet male September

Linnet female September

 

Linnet male September

Linnet female September

It is not surprising that about 80/90 % of autumn Meadow Pipits we catch are first summer/juveniles as the species is able to raise two broods of youngsters in a normal summer. The juvenile below is already part way through its post-juvenile moult. 

Meadow Pipit

Other birds seen and not caught - 50+ Linnet, 50+ Meadow Pipit, 8/10 Tree Sparrow, 2 Blackbird, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine overhead.

Kingfisher

Fifteen Pink-footed Geese arrived from the north and landed on the salt marsh. The first of the Autumn.

Log in again soon everyone. 

There’s always news, views and pictures of The Real World on Another Bird Blog. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday

.

 

No Page Threes

The last ten days proved very frustrating. Since returning from Greece in the early hours of 18 May, I’ve not been able to get out ringing or do any meaningful birding. 

Skiathos, Greece - May Days 

My return to a typically British summer of wind and rain meant that gardening and other chores took priority. There’s one thing to say in favour of the good old British climate - it certainly makes things grow, as testified by our green waste bin now bursting to overspill with clippings of grass, trees and hedgerow. 

At last, I’m free so on Saturday I met up with Andy at Oakenclough at 0600 and a promised sunny morning with less than 10mph wind and the customary cold northerlies. 

As I drove on site a buck Roe Deer leapt over the wire fence ahead and disappeared into woodland. I searched in the boot for hat and warm jacket in readiness for the display of 6°, unlike the 27° of recent Skiathos. 

There were Willow Warblers and Garden Warblers in song, a foretaste of that to follow as we caught with good variety, unspectacular numbers but thankfully not a single one of the customary titmice. In fact throughout the morning, a single Coal Tit was the only representative of the tribe. 

14 birds caught – 5 Willow Warber, 2 Chiffchaff and one each of Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Bullfinch, Goldcrest, Pied Wagtail, Robin and Dunnock. 

The adult male Bullfinch was a stunner.  

Bullfinch

Both the Blackcap and the Garden Warbler proved to be adult female with full brood patch, the Pied Wagtail a second year male. 

Pied Wagtail

Garden Warbler

Blackcap

The young Dunnock an example of how soon young birds are able to leave the nest and become at least partly self-sufficient when upon release it flew strongly into the trees from whence it came. 

Dunnock

We caught adult Willow Warblers only with no examples of recently fledged ones. The cold weather of May has slowed the species’ breeding season with the emergence of young a week or more away. 

Chiffchaff

 

Willow Warbler

Birding was quiet because migration is more or less over apart from late stragglers that often surprise. Several families of Greylag, 6 Oystercatcher, 2 Lapwing, 4 Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4 Swallows, 4 Garden Warblers, 12+ Willow Warblers. 

Greylags

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

Birding Agony

That’s me stymied for a few more days, unless I can summon up a blog post for regular readers. 

“Warnings highlighting the risk of potential impacts from heavy, persistent rain are in place across parts of southern Scotland and North West England. Parts of these areas will see some large rainfall totals over the next day or two due to a slow-moving weather front with amber and yellow National Severe Weather Warnings in place. Rainfall of 100 to 150mm is likely to accumulate widely throughout parts of Cumbria, with 200 to 250mm across some of the Cumbrian fells.” 

Birding Agony

“These amounts of rainfall present a real threat of flooding and people should keep a close eye on flood warnings from the Environment Agency. There may be some disruption to transport, with difficult driving conditions and possible road closures.” 

==================

Meanwhile and in a slightly brighter vein here’s a true story that may or may not result in a happy ending. 

Agony Aunts are for the red top newspapers and glossy magazines and not the birding press - right? 

It appears not as I found a snippet in this month’s copy of Birding Monthly under the column heading - "Ask Dorothy - Birding problems – Advice about ID, Photography, Birding Gear and Personal". 

Suitably intrigued, I read more. At first reading it's an anguished tale but a cheerful ending could be in sight. 

“HELP! My partner’s lost his birding mojo.” 

"DEAR DOROTHY: I first met my partner 3 years ago on a cross country trip to Spurn to twitch a Red-flanked Bluetail. Frank was stood in a line-up of birders scanning for the bluetail. As people moved around chatting I found myself next to this good-looking guy who carried all the latest birding gear. He didn’t seem to notice little me even though I asked him lots of questions about birds, Spurn and Yorkshire in general." 

"I quizzed him about his brand new top-of-the-range-optics and his life list, but at best I received a mumble or two in grudging recognition of my presence. I was impressed though when after a minute or two Frank latched onto the target bird as all the other dudes around just gossiped away. Eventually we grilled the bluetail together as he slowly loosened up enough to chat for a while. After what seemed an eternity he let me raise his monopod and test his Optigrand Super Zoom with Wi-Fi and Smartphone Holder. That was a very impressive piece of kit, I can tell you.” 

“To cut a long story short Frank and I became best buddies, and pretty soon a pair of inseparable lovebirds. But now three years later and after many a shared tick and twitch all over the UK, Frank has mutated into a birder I don’t recognise. He no longer gazes at Birdforum, has cancelled his subscriptions to Rare Bird Alert and Birdwatch magazine and is reluctant to hit the road for new birds. Just recently he joined the RSPB." 

"Last week I had a plane chartered to fly to Shetland for a First for Britain, a Greener-green Warbler (Phylloscopus viridus viridus), but he said “No thanks chuck, I have a survey to complete, and then I need to enter my Birdtrack records on the laptop.  The final straw was yesterday when he 'came out' as being a closet member of the BTO.” 

“What has happened to my Frank? Have I lost my birding soulmate? Is there life after twitching?” “

Betty. Bootle, Merseyside. 

 

Lovebirds

"DEAR BETTY: My heart goes out to you." 

"Many of us steadfast twitchers are mortified when a valuable member of the birding community is lost to questionable pursuits you describe." 

"It sounds like your Frank is in danger of becoming something we call an 'ornithologist'. It’s a nasty illness that affects the weak-willed and the delusional. Very often such people are loners and ill-adjusted to the social and communal aspects of birding." 

"Try dialogue and compassion. Be tolerant and persuade him of the errors of his ways through displaying how much you still care for him. Try showing him pictures and videos of all the goodies he missed lately: that should bring him to his senses."  

"If all of that fails, and as a last resort I recommend Surveygone™, available from your local chemist. It’s guaranteed to erase all anti-twitching thoughts and to end the compulsion for taking part in bird surveys. It's successful 99.9 per cent of the time. Just put a few drops in his morning coffee for a week or so. He’ll be right as rain and back to normal in no time.” 

Surveygone

"Best Wishes and Good Luck. DOROTHY" 

Betty and Frank - Birders

 

So Dear Friends, you may think that birding is a fun, harmless pursuit, but there are hidden dangers. Birding can result in real tears, broken relationships, and having to seek professional advice from complete strangers.

Don't say you haven't been warned.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.

 

New Birding App

Another Bird Blog is proud to exclusively reveal a new and revolutionary birding app available from today. Birdchase® from the team at Delight Labs Design can be downloaded via Google Play Store from midnight tonight 31st March 2019. 

 Birdchase®

Through existing UK-wide business to business platforms, complex algorithms, GPS, V2V communications and cloud computing, Birdchase® is to offer a new concept to UK birders. Birdchase® will integrate existing bird messaging from UK-wide WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook Messenger and other bird-chat systems into one fast, up-to-the minute, subscription free service that offers instant access to bird news. 

From today there is no more paying for phone text messages, unreliable, obsolete and costly technology like pagers, or searching through time-wasting multiple web sites for news of the latest and best birds.  From now, such news is available in one package via a single hand-held and constantly updating app on your device. 

If preferred or even additionally, Birdchase® will download to most existing In-Car Satnavs and Infotainment Systems, primed and ready to go at the most central point of the birding action. Killing two or more birds with one stone takes on a whole new meaning. 

How does the new Birdchase® app work?

• The revolutionary technology is able to integrate, check and filter received messages for authenticity and present to the user a list of birds to target in a specified area during a stated period.
• The user, whose location, birding preferences and daily routine are previously known to Google hits the buttons to specify the geographical radius and time scale of their birding slot. This could be as small as a 10-20 mile radius from their home, combined with a two hour period, a day, a weekend, or even a full week. 
• Instantly and after pressing “go” to their desires, the user is presented with a full itinerary for the mission ahead - routes, stops-offs, suggested timings, and of course, birds to target. 
• Because the app is constantly updating through unified messaging the user can alter their agenda to that suggested by one or more recent updates - so important during peak migration time. The designers thought of everything by way of an on override button that allows the user to delete unwanted birds whereupon the app will reload a new schedule over and over until a more satisfactory list is achieved. 
• All this tech wizardry leads to less time spent on the road, a better hit rate of targets and ultimately, a saving of precious fossil fuels on wasted journeys. The latter is especially important to eco sensitive birders. 
• The app is so clever that its suggested bird hit-list for the specified period and localities will include discounted but optional meal stops at the users’ previously favoured watering holes as decided by their Smartphone or Sat Nav history, be it McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Express or Motorway Services. 
• Assimilation of Radarbot into the Birdchase® app will sound-alert travelling birders of both mobile and fixed speed cameras that operate on their chosen journey.  A potential money and licence points saver for fast moving birders.

I Skyped Rob Crook, the designer of Birdchase® at his home in Liverpool for his take on the conception and how birders would react to the ground breaking app. 

“My team spent many, many weeks and months creating this app.  They scoured the Internet  for England, Scotland Wales and Ireland, searching for pockets of birding information that would seamlessly integrate into their creation. Reports of reasonably common birds will be kept to an absolute  minimum, so I am satisfied that through trial and testing of the interface that Birdchase® will become the lead player in birding information. From research and questioning birders directly we know our app will be in huge demand."

"Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep Birdchase® running without subscription fees and whether this announcement means we have to introduce third-party ads. We're  sure that birders will expect a few ads in exchange for this life enhancing freebie, but any ads will be based around their Internet searches such as birding equipment, birding holidays and life-style goals."

Rob was absolutely clear. "Our objective remains to avoid spam and unwanted advertising within the app and to soon extend the service into Europe and North America while preserving a zero cost package."

"And let’s be clear, we are not in this for the money.” he added firmly.

Birdchase® is free to download for all iPhone and Android Smartphones. There’s a bonus to the first 50 downloaders who will be given the opportunity to buy a Birdchase® tee shirt at the reduced rate of £5.50 in S, M, XL or XXL.  

Tee Shirt - Birdchase®

Take a closer look, download the app and then give it a try via the Birdchase link.  Please tell Another Bird Blog via Blogger Comments if you like our recommendation of this product. 

Back soon with more birding news and photos. Remember, you heard it here first.

Boomerangs

September means Skiathos where Sue and I join the Boomerang Club, people who return year after year to this very special Greek Island.  Don't forget - click the pics.

Skiathos is the most popular of the Sporades, the group of islands east of Volos and north of Evia on mainland Greece. The island of Skiathos is actually an extension of wooded Mount Pelion 100 miles away on the mainland and the scenery reflects this. Skiathos is a green island with pine forests and abundant water with fig, olive, plum, and almond trees, as well as grapes. 

 Skiathos

Leaving Skopelos

Skiathos embraced tourism many years ago where on glistening beaches, wooded hillsides and in peaceful valleys are a number of the finest hotels in Greece. We stay in one such place that shall remain our secret.

Skiathos has much to offer people of all ages and nationalities from Northern climates seeking a blast of September sunshine. We find ourselves amongst fellow Brits, East Europeans, Finns, Danes, Norwegians and even the occasional German. Luckily we don’t do lying on the beach so the sunbed issue never arises, but the queue for the bus to lively Skiathos Town at 1800 hours can be problematical. 

"Every September Skiathos holds the Katsonia Festival held in memory of the submarine Lambros Katsonis sunk on 14th September 1943 close to Kastro, the former capital of Skiathos located on the northern tip of the island." 

Memorial to the sinking of Lambros Katsonis 

"Whilst trying to intercept a German troop transport during World War Two, the Lambros Katsonis was sunk by the German submarine chaser UJ-2101. This tragic event resulted in the drowning of 32 crewmen, including the ship’s captain, as well as 15 other crew captured by the Germans. 

Amazingly, three of the ship’s crew – Lt. Eleftherios Tsoukalas, the ship’s executive officer, and petty officers Antonios Antoniou and Anastasios Tsigros managed to swim to the shores of Skiathos, an epic feat which took them nine exhausting hours. They hid on the island until they eventually managed to return to Egypt and rejoin the Greek fleet.” 

For beach lovers there are over 60 sandy beaches in Skiathos, including Koukounaries rated 7th best beach in the world and best in Greece. Banana Beach just around the headland is the island's only naturist beach, perhaps because it is more remote and very sheltered. Most of the beaches are easy to reach by bus or moped as they are generally alongside the only main road on the Island and reached by following a track or dirt road. 

Ligaries or Kechria?

Jimnys

Skiathos

The remotest north-coast beaches like Ligaries, Mandraki and Ttsougria are accessible only by jeep, dirt-bike, foot or donkey. We hire a Jimny jeep for our stay even though there is an excellent bus service that plies frequently between Skiathos Town and Koukounariés resort, 7.5 miles west. The buses call at 26 numbered stops where our own is Bus Stop 16, the small resort of Agia Paraskevi at the entrance to Platanias valley.

The often crowded bus, standing room only, is an essential Skiathos experience where the aromas of a day on the beach, mozzie cream, wasp deterrent and a meal of garlic mushrooms & tzatziki make for a heady experience. 

Skiathos Bus

The Jimny is essential for exploring the more remote parts of the island where their remoteness involves often tortuous, bouncing progress over terrain badly rutted by winter storms that cascade off steep hillsides onto unmade tracks below. 

Skiathos jeep

To Evagelistria

View from Kanapitsa

The success of the first Mamma Mia filmed in 2007 around neighbouring Skopelos created a sort of mass-hysteria when people who loved the movie travel to Skiathos looking for the island depicted in the film. The cultists may not find those actual scenes, rarely meet up with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan or Donna, but are never disappointed. 

Mamma Mia

In Skiathos Town cafes, gyro joints and tavernas line the sunny boulevard where pristine yachts shine in the everlasting sun. Goldie Hawn is rumoured to be a regular in Fresh Café, hot from her $30 million yacht moored off-shore. We can vouch for the coffee and the wedge of marbled cake that arrives with each order but we have yet to meet Goldie. 

Skiathos

Eating out each evening without worrying about the washing up is something of a bonus. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Souvlakia  

Taverna Maistrali 

No Name Gyros - Skiathos Town

Skiathos is a beautiful island where the only drawback is the difficulty of arriving or leaving due to the airport's notoriously short runway and summer thunderstorms that emanate from the hot mainland. Delays and cancellations are the stuff of legend. Touch wood. We have experienced the spectacular thunderstorms that light up the night sky but not the resulting delays. 

Skiathos Landing 

The birding here is casual, an adjunct to the holiday of relaxation and the vibes of Greece. Yes, there are birds to be found, especially since I seem to be the only birder on the island. Just as we like it. 

Woodchat Shrike 

Eleonora's Falcon 

 Yellow Wagtail

Red-rumped Swallow 

Red-backed Shrike 

Spotted Flycatcher

Hobby - http://www.luontoportti.com

Honey Buzzard - http://www.luontoportti.com

Boomerangs

Come late September the island winds down from the hectic five months of tourism when many businesses close and their owners return to Volos, Thessaloniki and Athens for the winter.

Ferry to mainland Greece

Skiathos subsides into normal as those left on the island breathe a sigh of relief until it’s time to start all over in May of the following year.

Back soon in Blighty. Now watch the video for a real feeling of Skiathos.