Merlins And Moles

I squeezed a few hours birding in despite the cold, grey, breezy start, a brighter middle and then more drizzle to end on, so there’s not a lot to report – again. 

As I drove along Burned House Lane I glanced sideways at a Buzzard descending amongst corvids where I guessed a dead rabbit was about to be claimed, but the double white lines here preclude any stopping to bird watch. Between Lambs Lane and Fluke hall Lane I added 4 Kestrels to the note book, two separate pairs hunting their territories, then along Fluke Hall Lane I thought there was another Kestrel atop a telegraph pole. On closer inspection it turned out to be a Merlin; a pity about the grey light, the necessary overexposure and ISO 800 followed by Photoshop. Stop making excuses! 

Merlin

I know one or two of my blog readers have an aversion to Merlins and perhaps birds of prey in general, but a Merlin is my favourite bird of prey, so completely fearless, dashing and spectacular is it when hunting. Some regard the North American and Eurasian Falco columbarius populations as two distinct species, a bird with a long-standing presence on both sides of the Atlantic, as demonstrated by the degree of genetic differences between Eurasian and North American populations. Right now the splitters, in particular the Scilly tickers (or is that Silly Tickers?), argue the Merlin might be considered two distinct species, with gene exchanges probably having ceased at least a million years ago. 

The Merlin sped off across Hi-Fly’s now partly ploughed fields, setting to flight the several Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Skylarks. 

In the village Woodpigeons, Collared Doves and Jackdaws prowled around the Golden Ball’s beer tables looking for crumbs of Golden Wonder or Uncle Albert’s Pork Scratchings. Funny how normally shy birds are less fearful when there may be food about. Now there’s a tricky exposure – black and grey bird, half of it against the grey slate roof, the other half against a grey sky – well done Canon. 

  Jackdaw

The Pilling Water/Fluke walk proved to be mainly that, a walk, with no sign of fresh springtime birds just winter ones or recent arrivals: 2 Little Egret, 2 Little Grebe, 3 Tufted Duck, 3 Jay, 14 Chaffinch, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Meadow Pipit, 3 Skylark, 7 Teal, 1 Greenshank. 1 more Kestrel and now 250 Pink-footed Goose. 

 Kestrel

I came across a trophy wire of freshly killed moles – European Mole Talpa europaea. 

 European Mole Talpa europaea.

A mole's diet is mostly earthworms and other small invertebrates found in the soil. Mole runs are in reality 'worm traps', the mole sensing when a worm falls into the tunnel then quickly running along to kill and eat it. Moles cause damage and alarm to gardeners and green keepers when they appear unexpectedly leaving a trail of mole hills in their wakes. 

Killing and then displaying the pathetic little corpses is a throwback from the days when gamekeepers had to display dead "vermin" to justify their employment and show how efficient they were. Surely In this day and age it is both unjustified and inexcusable that anyone still does this?

Back To Winter Questions

It was back to a couple of hours birding at Pilling this morning complete with bobble hat, gloves and a woolly scarf to ward off the cold. And if any birds made it up here against the unfriendly north westerly winds and through the obstructive high pressure then I didn’t find any of them this morning, and here on April 6th I’ve yet to see a Swallow or a Willow Warbler.

The trees at Fluke Hall were devoid of any warbler melodies, with just the sounds of Blackbird, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin, and all four of the titmice family. At the west end of the wood I came across a flock of 22 Linnets, a single Meadow Pipit and the pair of hedgerow dwelling Reed Buntings. 

 

Robin 

Blue Tit

My Lane Ends/Pilling Water walk produced a few of the usual bits and pieces with on the pools 2 Little Grebe, 2 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Egret sheltering in the lee of the bank. There seemed to be a few Meadow Pipits heading out across the bay, and as I watched them struggle into the wind I heard a Siskin overhead. When I looked up there were 5 of them, seemingly headed in the same direction as the pipits but within a few seconds they turned, circled and then dropped back into the trees. I could hear the Jays again noisily making their way through the trees and when I found them I saw there were three.

The walk to Pilling Water turned up little, the highlight being a single spring Wheatear, contrasting with the remnants of the wintering Pink-footed Geese, still about 350 birds. On the wildfowler’s pools 13 Teal still linger with approximately 25 Redshank for company, in a group, just waiting to head north to Iceland. Small birds were hard to come by here with a single Meadow Pipit and 4 Skylark, and after their bursts of song in recent times the local Skylarks went silent with the cold winds, with now just the noise of their territorial squabbles confirming they are still about. 

 Wheatear

As I journeyed back to Lane Ends I disturbed a Kestrel from the fence posts and then noted a sentinel Peregrine out on the marsh, whilst above the plantation a Buzzard circled and mewed.


A couple of questions sprang to mind: When a Buzzard calls from a great height, to what distance does the call travel? Are Buzzards breeding in Pilling village now?

Goldfinch News

Today we pay the price for the week or two of fine weather as cold northerly winds with snow hit Cumbria, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, north, south and east of this coastal location. This April surprise brought down the curtain on any springtime birds likely to head this far north and so put paid to any birding or ringing for me today. 

We received yet another Goldfinch recovery in the south of the UK. L863394, a fresh juvenile bird of the year caught on 2nd September 2011 during one of many ringing sessions at Rawcliffe Moss. It was recaptured at Cadborough, East Sussex just 44 days later on 16 October 2011. On 2nd September Will and I caught a total of 19 Goldfinches, a number which made up the majority of the catch of 31 new birds, so we probably hit an autumn movement of Goldfinches that day. 

During 2011 we ringed 280 Goldfinches at this site and this latest recovery is similar to ones notified in the past which show how Goldfinches from the north of England travel south in the autumn to spend the winter near the south coast and then return north in the spring. Yet others may hop across the English Channel to France, Belgium or Holland and we await a record of this type. I plotted the most recent example on the map below together with others involving the Fylde area of Lancashire. Three of those shown involve birds from Rawcliffe Moss, two individuals from mine and Will’s gardens respectively and the final one a road casualty. Interestingly five examples involve sub-adult females, the road casualty of unknown age. Juvenile and females Goldfinches are known to migrate further than males. 

In recent years the population of Goldfinches has increased tremendously in this part of Lancashire whereby they are now a very common garden bird plus a bird of farmland and woodland edge, all of which makes it possible to catch numbers only dreamt of ten years ago. So all you ringers there in the south of England, keep catching those winter Goldfinches, there’s a good chance one will be recaptured up here or you will find one originally ringed in the Fylde. 

 Goldfinch

Goldfinch movements

 

Those lottis of mine just completed the nest before the cold winds came. The feathers should keep the eggs warm. 

Long-tailed Tit

It’s No Joke

We met up at 0630 on the frosted moss again for another crack at dawn ringing. With it being April 1st I wasn’t sure if Will was pulling my leg when he said he’d caught and ringed a Snipe on Saturday night instead of staying in and watching the telly. 

The nets went up and then whilst having a warming coffee he showed me the pictures of the Snipe, one of several we’d seen on a tiny flash of water on Saturday when trying to locate the Ring Ouzel. Nice one Will, it is several years since the ringing group had a Snipe on the yearly totals. 

 Snipe

Snipe

Snipe

We turned to the more immediate matters in hand; Sunday morning’s ringing which turned out to be quiet once again, unlike Portland Bill on the south coast of England where on Saturday thousands of migrant birds made landfall. Saturday - “all but impossible to get to a best guesstimate of the numbers but 3000 Willow Warbler/Chiffchaff, 500 Blackcaps, 75 Wheatears and 12 Redstarts seems reasonable at the Observatory where the day’s ringing total reached 615 birds!!” 

Unfortunately none of the thousands of that wave of migrants appeared to have travelled north overnight to the postage stamp of land that is Rawcliffe Moss, Lancashire, so we settled for the somewhat less impressive total of 11 birds, 9 new and 2 recaptures. We did get another 4 Lesser Redpoll together with 4 Goldfinch and 1 Reed Bunting. The 2 recaptures were 1 each of Goldfinch and Dunnock. 

  

 Lesser Redpoll

 Dunnock

Reed Bunting

During the morning there was a small but evident arrival of Lesser Redpolls with probably 25/30 birds overhead during 4 hours. Little other noticeable migration except for a couple of Siskin, 10/12 Meadow Pipit and 2 flights of Golden Plover amounting to circa 50 birds. Other bird watching resulted in 1 Merlin, 1 Little Owl, 1 Kestrel, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 4+ Skylark, 2 Jay, 3 Buzzard, 6 Yellowhammer, 4 Reed Bunting, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4 Grey Partridge.

Less Lessers

Will and I met up on the moss again today hoping the past week’s abundance of Lesser Redpolls might continue so we could attain the magic 100, but it wasn’t to be. The continuing northerly wind didn’t help our cause with just a small catch of new birds to reward 4+ hours in the field. 

We may have to wait for a change in wind direction before the next wave of redpolls, and at March 31st surely there will be more on the move during April? This morning we managed just 15 birds, 11 new and 4 recaptures. The new birds comprised 8 Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinch and a single Lesser Redpoll. Recaptures: 3 recent Goldfinch and 1 Chaffinch from 2010. 

 Lesser Redpoll

If it hadn’t been for the Niger feeders doing their stuff in attracting Goldfinches and ground feeding Chaffinches our catch would have been abysmal, with very little in the way of visible migration. In comparison to earlier in the week redpolls were conspicuous by their absence with less than 10 birds noted. Meadow Pipit movement was similarly negligible with 10+ birds heading north in 4 hours. 

“Otherwise” sightings: 6 Yellowhammer, 5 Linnet, 1 Corn Bunting, 4 Grey Partridge, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 5 Snipe, 65 Golden Plover flying south, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Ring Ouzel briefly. Mammals: 1 Stoat, 20 + Brown Hares. 

 Brown Hare

 Yellowhammer

Stoat

The BBC promised a change in wind direction overnight together with a less than 5mph wind, so the results tomorrow could be different again. And as we always remind ourselves “You don’t know until you try”. 

The Lone Ringer And A Kite

No trusty companion for me today when the four letter word beginning “W” reared its ugly head for the other lads. Alone I went to Rawcliffe Moss hoping to find out more about the substantial Lesser Repoll passage which started last week and continues unabated. 

Another successful session saw a catch of 29 birds of just two species, 27 Lesser Redpoll and 2 Goldfinch, with once again nil recaptures. Today’s catch brings the total number of Lesser Redpoll ringed here to 81 individuals since 24th March, a tiny proportion of the several hundred which have passed over or through the site in the morning hours. 

A change today saw the redpolls arriving from a westerly, even north westerly direction, with a number of them leaving the site on the same axis by heading into the very slight south easterly breeze. In all I estimated 100+ redpolls this morning between 0700 and 1030 when I had to leave early for an appointment. Noticeable again today was the lack of males in the catch, just a single adult male from the 27, the remaining 26 either adult female or juvenile. Of these 81 Lesser Redpoll caught in less than a week, only 11 can definitely be allocated as males. 

The above makes me wonder if Lesser Redpolls adopt a similar wintering/migration strategy as other species and some finches in particular, i.e. young birds and especially young females migrate further south than adult males, and we are catching a number of birds leaving the south of England, France or Belgium and heading up to Scotland or Northern Ireland? None of the Lesser Redpoll caught this spring have carried noticeable fat deposits, and as diurnal migrants, even if travelling good distances, they are able to stop off and feed up quickly if required. 

Lesser Redpoll

Processing birds alone kept me pretty busy and so limiting any bird watching, but of note were 6 Yellowhammer, 2 Buzzard, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Grey Partridge, 4 Linnet, 1 Corn Bunting, 2 Reed Bunting.

Chiffchaff 

 I was fairly well occupied with ringing so couldn’t find much time to take photographs today, and in any case they would only be more Lesser Redpolls wouldn’t they? The Roe Deer appeared in the half light of dawn when I switched to ISO3200. 

Roe Deer

Will tells me that after he got back home from ringing yesterday he watched a Red Kite over his house battling with both a Kestrel and a Buzzard. 

Red Kite

More Redpoll, Chiff, And Lotti

More settled weather meant Will and I could try for more migrants on Rawcliffe Moss today. There was no mist this morning, even with the clear skies overnight. The 0630 start gave little sign of overnight migration in the quiet plantation with the only hint of newly arrived birds a single Chiffchaff on the first round of the nets at 0715. Once again most of the action began soon after dawn with birds overhead, the major players being a count of 65 +Lesser Redpoll heading north in four hours. Smaller numbers of Siskin today with, less than 12 and a stifled Meadow Pipit passage of 6 single birds noted.

Our catch today was 19 birds, another 17 Lesser Redpoll to add to the 30 of Sunday and 5 of Saturday. Other new birds today: 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Goldfinch. As we expect, there are no recaptures of Lesser Redpolls with all the birds moving rapidly from the site and continuing their journey north. An interesting aspect this morning was the lack of male birds, with just one definite and the remainder of the 17 redpolls first year birds or adult females. It is not always possible to be 100% certain of the sex of brown first year lessers unless they show the beginnings of red admixed with brown breast or rump feathering. Wing length gives a clue but there is overlap between males and females.

Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll
Chiffchaff

I'm still waiting to see if anyone claims Lesser Redpoll L977497, not one of our birds but one we caught on Sunday.

Birding was subdued again this morning with some familiar counts and observations: 1 Corn Bunting, 4 Yellowhammer, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Hen Harrier, 5 Buzzard, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 60+ Curlew, 1 Pink-footed Goose, 5 Roe Deer. Still a single lingering Fieldfare in the same field as recent days.

When I got back home the Long-tailed Tits were busy lining the nest with feathers in preparation for egg laying. Both of the adults’ tails are beginning to show wear as they spend more time in the confines of the tiny nest.

Long-tailed Tit
Long-tailed Tit