Between You Me And The Gatepost

Today I wanted to catch up with the jobs that holidays let you forget about, like 100+ emails and dozens of items of post, not to mention two weeks of growth on the lawn.

To hell with it then when my farmer friends at Cockerham gave me a ring to say they had an interesting Oystercatcher nest so I called in and took a look, and there it was in the hollow top of a gate post. Such a nest is not without precedent of course but it is a clever strategy of the birds to nest off the ground and avoid land based predators at the egg stage. The birds, mainly the female in Oystercatchers, have been sitting for about two weeks now so I’ll give it about fourteen more days before looking to ring the young.

Sitting Oystercatcher

Three Egg Stage
Oystercatcher
Pushed for time I took a quick look around the rest of the farm and noted 3 pairs of Lapwing, 2 still on eggs and the other with small young, another pair of Oystercatchers, and a Buzzard in a nearby wood together with a couple of pairs of Swallows in the farm buildings and a Willow Warbler singing from a small copse.

I bumped into PW at Conder green but apart from a quick chat about spring being virtually over, I had time only to check out the receding water levels that now look so good for the returning waders of July. So for PW and because I know how much he likes them, I'm posting a photo of a Little Ringed Plover from last week at Tirant, Menorca.

Lille Ringed Plover
I usually like to have a look in Thurnham Hall in May, mainly in search of Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Chiffchaff. I wasn’t disappointed today when I saw a single Spotted Flycatcher but at least 3 Garden Warblers, singing and hard “tacking”, plus 2 singing Chiffchaffs with a likely nest locality memorised for a follow up when I have more time.

In Menorca Spotted Flycatchers moved through in very large numbers during 1st to 15 May and I did get more than one photograph. So here is just one of those plus a photograph of an Audouin’s Gull taking a gulp of pool water and yet another Hoopoe, all pictures from the confines of a sunbed – happy days!

Spotted Flycatcher
Audouin’s Gull
Hoopoe

Now please excuse me, I really must tackle those emails.

Back

We finally got back after Manchester closed and our flight was volcanoed to Luton Airport. That's a story all in itself best saved for another day.

So until I can get my 500 pictures downloaded and doctored here's a few Menorcan birds to be going on with.

Hoopoe
Cattle Egret
Squacco Heron

Back to normal in a day or two with some local birding.

Postcard From Menorca

Greetings all from Menorca.

A quick update from the Med on life and birding in the sun. Arrivals this week included lots of Whinchat, Spotted and Pied Flycatchers, Wheatears, Swifts and Alpine Swifts. Hotel birds entertained us daily Audouins Gull, Hoopoe, Scops Owls and a Kestrel that keeps the House Sparrows in check.

Raptors included Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, Booted Eagle, Hobby and Egyptian Vulture.Herons represented by Cattle Egret, Little Egret and Purple Heron.

There is good old fashioned farming here with plenty of Cettis Warbler, Nightingale with both Cirl Bunting and Corn Bunting plus Woodchat Shrikes everywhere.

In the last few days I caught up with with Roller, Red backed Shrike and Whiskered Tern.

I have lots of photos to post when I get home including amazing shots of Scops Owl, Tawny Pipit, Bee Eater and Cattle Egret to name but a few. See you soon.

Piedy Fly

I’m rapidly running out of time now with all the loose ends to tidy before the holiday, so finding a time slot to bird gets more difficult. With just a couple of hours spare I looked in at Fluke Hall followed by a jaunt from Lane Ends to Pilling Water.

Fluke Hall started well with a Tree Pipit at the end of Wheel Lane that called twice as it flew up to the overhead telephone wires but briefly only before it continued further east down Fluke Hall Lane. The trees and hedge in the sheltered garden here at the junction often turn up one or two birds, nothing spectacular of course, but I added 2 Whitethroats and a singing Willow Warbler to my first notebook page. Remiss of me perhaps but I don’t count the many Tree Sparrows “chip-chipping” away from the hedgerow and nest boxes along here in the little copse and the start of Fluke Hall wood as I know BD has the figures at his fingertips. I saw a Great-spotted Woodpecker going about its business on some of the rotten looking trees and watched a Kestrel skirt the woodland edge towards the sea wall before it perched up on the obligatory fence post.

Great-spotted Woodpecker
Kestrel
I hoped to walk the Ridge Farm track so parked up at my spot near the field entrance west of Fluke. Looking towards Ridge Farm I could see I had been beaten there several times over by non birders with rampaging four legged friends so cut my losses early by watching both another Willow Warbler and a Whitethroat close to the car and listening to a Blackcap somewhere in the nearby gardens.

The wildfowler’s pools were quiet without the big gang of Redshank that favoured them lately, with four only today, a Grey Heron, a Little Egret and a single Common Sandpiper. Singing Reed Bunting and Willow Warbler represented the smaller birds within the confines of the willows but a single Mistle Thrush is not common there and is almost certainly one of the resident Broadfleet birds. Along the tide line I found a little party of 4 Wheatears and a larger gang of 18 Meadow Pipits, plus 3 of the now regular Skylark.

I spent some worthwhile time at Lane Ends. Warbler wise I counted 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Willow Warbler, a Blackcap and not before time, a returned Reed Warbler singing from the reeds nearest the road. There’s nothing quite like a Reed Warbler song – unless it’s a Great Reed Warbler of course, which sounds and looks like a Reed Warbler on steroids.

Reed Warbler
I was on the sea wall near the gate when I heard the Pied Flycatcher singing; It took me a second or two to realise what the song was because it’s one of those birds that comes around every nine months; go around the nest boxes, listen to the Piedy Fly's song and calls, ring the young, then forget about the species until next May comes around with no guarantee of seeing one on the coast beforehand. Anyway it flit through a warming spot in the canopy a couple of times before disappearing over towards the pool again. There were no other birders to tell for their lists, so I left the bird alone.

Pied Flycatcher
For a few weeks I had suspicions of 2 pairs of Little Grebe, confirmed today, as was breeding Reed Bunting when I watched the male return to a nest. I watched a pair of Long-tailed Tit quietly to and fro along the tree line but apart from their relative silence they didn’t give much away.

Reed Bunting
Surprise of the morning was probably the pair of Grey Partridge I disturbed in the edge of the wood behind the mound, as they then flew to hide down near the roadway, croaking as they fled. Overhead I saw my first Swifts of the year, 2 of them higher than the few perhaps migrant Swallows that seemed to be flying south into the wind this morning.

Swift
The incoming tide produced a little interest in the shape of small numbers of Dunlin and Ringed Plover, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 8 Whimbrel that lingered on the shore for a while to give excellent views.

Where’s My Better Half?

The usual early start today, but what a beautiful sunrise. It was a fine morning to be up and about.

Misty Sunrise
Will and I asked the leading question not of ourselves but of the 3 Whitethroats and 4 Willow Warblers we caught this morning when they all turned out to be males. This year we have yet to catch a female Willow Warbler or Whitethroat in our ringing plot on Rawcliffe Moss. Whitethroats do arrive later than Willow Warblers, so we are not too concerned there, but it looks as though female Willow Warblers haven’t arrived yet to claim a summer partner. A four hour ringing session should have shown up any females present.

There was an awful lot of song from the plantation, mainly Common Whitethroats who also indulged in some chasing around of potential territories. We counted at least 10 singing males near us with others further down the moss. It was a similar tale with the Willow Warblers, when the four we caught were retraps from not only previous years but had also previous ringing sessions this year. Other birds netted today were 2 Lesser Redpoll and a Blackbird, so the redpoll migration continued but our overall count of this species was of 8 or 10 only chattering high overhead and flying north.

Willow Warbler
Whitethroat
Lesser Redpoll
The earlier morning started on a bird high when I drove up the moss track to see a Barn Owl sitting in a glassless window frame of a half completed house extension. What a photo opportunity, just begging for a suitable caption, but as I slowed to look closer and pick up the ever ready camera, the owl turned its back on me and dropped down back into the half completed shell of the room. But the one below may be the same bird from weeks ago in the same vicinity.

Barn Owl
Just as we completed putting up mist nets, we had both picked up on a Common Cuckoo calling from up near the conifers. It called a couple of times before going quiet and we guessed it headed quickly north. Now there is a misnomer, “Common Cuckoo”, maybe we should now rename the species “Seriously Threatened Cuckoo”?

The Conifers
Cuckoo
Just to the left of the conifers a party of Greenland Wheatears again stood out as dots of colour on the black peat canvas of the recently drilled field, with a Kestrel just sat there for a while after we supposed a failed attempt at a ground morsel; as we walked around the edge of the field it took off back to higher elevations but the Wheatears continued patrolling the soil way out of our reach today.

Other birds seen today included the resident Buzzard in the same old tree, Corn Buntings, Linnets, Reed Buntings and Goldfinches, but we both remarked separately on the apparent lack of Skylark song. Is it the effect of the cold winter and another species to worry over in the coming weeks?

I caught a Dunnock in the garden today. Male and female Dunnocks are difficult to tell apart, except in the breeding season. So I looked carefully at this bird in the parts that matter and I could tell it had clearly found a better half (or maybe more than one, as Dunnocks do), unlike the lonesome warblers on the moss singing for sight of a mate.

Adult Male Dunnock

Update

The weather is so good at the moment it’s almost difficult to not go birding as often as possible, so I snatched a couple of hours again this morning for the usual sortie even though I was “helping” with the babysitting.

First was Lane Ends where 2 Willow Warblers, a Sedge Warbler and a Blackcap again serenaded anyone that cared to listen. Out on the marsh Mr PP, the pale Peregrine sat waiting, I supposed for the tide due at a few minutes after 10am, but something made it move, perhaps the sight of the other Peregrine, hundreds of yards west which obviously posed a threat to the bigger bird which wasted no time in seeing off the intruder. Two Peregrines! It isn’t that many years ago when seeing a Peregrine made for a brilliant day out, now they are rather common place, even on our summer coasts.

Peregrine
I also wasted no time in walking west as recently I have found that the wildfowler’s pools and Pilling Water hold more than or an equal number of migrants than my older ex-ringing site and birding haunt at Lane Ends. Undoubtedly it has to do with The Environment Agency “management” policy, ably assisted by the employees of Wyre Borough Council who pick up litter, over tidy the woodland and otherwise do little to help migrant or resident birds. If anyone doubts either of these publicly funded organisation’s commitment to nature conservation, then take a look at the giant flowerpots in the lower car park, the appalling mess left by brush cutters, the Tesco plastic bags full of rubbish next to the car park or the litter strewn all over the vicinity after each weekend of mayhem.

There were more Wheatear this morning, not to be confused with birds that stay overnight, as this simply isn’t happening; it is spring with all birds keen to reach all parts others can't reach and so join in the action quickly. So I watched 4 Wheatears to and fro along the wall before the doggy walkers pushed them too far away for further investigation. On the seaward side 8 White Wagtails were joined on the marsh by a single Yellow Wagtail with half a dozen Meadow Pipits adding variety to the wagtail mix. Over the immediate part of the creek 5 House Martins stopped to inspect the muddy margins and a Common Sandpiper just hurried along it.

Further out, the tide ran in and filled the creek with small groups of Dunlin, maybe 40 and smaller numbers of Ringed Plover circling at the outer reaches.
A little while before I watched 3 Eider head east, but pretty soon the same three birds flew back west out towards the more open waters of the bay. Most of the Oystercatcher and Curlew have now left the outer marsh, which makes it easier to find the spring waders such as Whimbrel, with 2 this morning.

The Pink-footed Geese have definitely gone north, only 50 or so today, likewise the Icelandic Redshank with less than 20 on the landside pools. On the pools I could see the pair of Teal, a single Little Egret once again and a Grey Heron, with a single Kestrel circling and hovering over the pools and the inland creek.

White Wagtail
”Greenland” Wheatear
Teal
It was a quick visit but with luck I should be out tomorrow too and get a few decent pictures.

No Sweat, No Tears

It wasn’t a difficult decision for me this morning. At the height of spring migration time with a bit of overnight rain that cleared early combined with breaking skies and southerly winds, exactly as the BBC forecast for once, it doesn’t take much imagination to know what to do and where to do it. I headed for some coastal cover that just happened to be Lane Ends and Pilling Water where I hoped to locate a few bits and pieces. For luck I threw in Ridge Farm hedgerows and the line of east to west gorse and hoped for a result.

There were yet more new Greenland Wheatears near Pilling Water where I counted 6, all of which quickly flew east in the direction I had just walked. Or at least I thought that’s what happened whilst I laid the traps and hoped the "white arses" would return, but one female lingered long enough to locate the meal worms and I caught my sixth Wheatear of the spring. They are just amazing how they locate a single wriggling meal worm amongst the tide line debris, grass and rocks: the needle in a haystack syndrome I think. But they must have incredible eyesight not to mention inconceivable powers of navigation to undertake the journeys they make.

Greenland Wheatears make one of the longest transoceanic crossings of any passerine. In spring most migrate along a route (commonly used by waders and waterfowl) from Africa via continental Europe, the British Isles, and Iceland to Greenland. However, autumn sightings from ships suggest that some birds cross the North Atlantic directly from Canada and Greenland to southwest Europe. Birds breeding in eastern Canada are thought to fly from Newfoundland to the Azores before flying onwards to Africa. The Greenland Wheatear may be the only regularly breeding passerine bird of North America that migrates to wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa, crossing either the Atlantic Ocean or the continent of Eurasia.

”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear
”Greenland” Wheatear Migration Routes and Wintering Area
I found this quote on the Internet - “The Greenland Wheatear arrives in the later part of April. It is in a hurry to reach its breeding sites on the other side of the Atlantic, so doesn’t stay for long.” That is a slight understatement of my experience of the species this week when the rapid ongoing migration was very noticeable. Maybe it has a little to do with the fact that they were later arriving here than in most years.

Other than the Wheatears, things were quieter this morning on the wildfowler’s pool and out on the marsh. Perhaps with the change in wind direction of the last day or two both the flock of Redshank and the many hundreds of Pink-footed Geese had left for Iceland with suddenly low counts of 25 and 150 respectively today. Naturally I saw a Little Egret, but one only.

At Lane Ends the warblers treated me to a selection of song. Sedge Warbler was new in, singing in the reeds below the cark park with trilling Little Grebe nearby, and at least 2 Willow Warblers, a Blackcap and a Chiffchaff joining in the chorus. I saw 2 Jays this morning and feel sure that the villains have a nest of their own somewhere close by.

As I walked to look on the west pool I saw a Lapwing mobbing a larger fast flying bird which when I binned it turned out to be the large pale Peregrine of recent weeks, now heading quickly inland. I have no doubt the direction took it to one of a number of distant pylons, far-away to my eyes, but a flap and a glide to a Peregrine. Below is the same Peregrine, different Lapwing and a different day about a month ago, but some scenarios don’t change.

Lapwing versus Peregrine
Over Wyre I don’t expect to get the number or variety of fresh migrant birds that the peninsula of Fleetwood attracts, or even the numbers of pairs of eyes that might look for the birds, unless that is the birders choose to stare out to sea instead of searching for little brown jobs. So very often I can be the only person doing the rounds of LE, Ridge and Fluke as my notebook shorthand denotes their names, but not to worry I quite like it that way.

Vey obvious this morning was the influx of Whitethroats, with snatches of song and visible birds along the tree line of Fluke Hall Lane and the hedges of Ridge Farm, with twos and threes here and there. In fact I counted a minimum of 15 birds and imagined that if I had found that number, then Fleetwood and Heysham would at least treble my meagre total. I watched a steady stream of Swallows and House Martins follow the sea wall east, as did a couple of calling Redpoll. The local Linnets are now in some cases paired up, with territories along the gorse, but others still flock, like the party of 16 close to the sea wall. I did see an extra couple of Willow Warblers along the hedge at Ridge Farm, and another Blackcap singing along the inward track. But it looks like all the excitement was across the water at Fleetwood this morning with nice sounding birds like Cuckoo, Ring Ouzel, Redstart and even Hen Harrier added to growing lists.

Blackcap
Willow Warbler
Oh the joys of lonesome birding Over Wyre with all the fun and excitement we expect but without the tears and heartbreak of missing a few year ticks. After all, it's only a bit of fun isn't it? Oh well I’ll just have to make do with a picture this time.

Hen Harrier