Trickling Through

After the Redwing movement on Monday we hoped there might be a rerun again today whereby we might catch a few of this special thrush together with other species on the move.

Overnight it was clear and starry, neither Will nor me heard any Redwings going over in the dark so when we arrived at Rawcliffe Moss to a white ground frost we weren’t too hopeful of catching many birds or seeing much visible movement at this inland location. Having said that, a raised track crosses the moss that allows a 360 degrees view and it is extremely quiet when listening for overhead birds.



I would describe migration this morning as a “steady trickle” of most species we saw which started at about 0800 then more or less stopped at 10am as the cloud cover increased to 100%. All counts south unless described as other:

Redwing, small parties of tens and teens, total 120
Fieldfare, 2
Jay, 2
Yellowhammer, 3
Linnet, 3
Woodpigeon, tight flock of 80 south west, plus 300/400 in near woods
Albas, 15
Goldfinch, 3
Blackbird, 9
Song Thrush, 3
Meadow Pipit, 20
Skylark, 18 plus 200 in stubble fields
Chaffinch, 40
Snipe, 6
Stonechat, 1
Pink-footed Goose, 150ish arriving from Pilling direction
Tawny Owl, 2 calling before dawn
Buzzard, 2 locals
Kestrel, 2 locals
Lapwing, 1000 further west on Pilling Moss

Pictures below of some of the birds ringed this morning, top to bottom: Redwing, adult female Fieldfare, juvenile Stonechat, and juvenile male Reed Bunting.

Reddy for Action

Monday mornings are babysitting. So there I was about 0730, not long after first decent birding light nowadays, waiting outside the door for the latecomers whilst simultaneously watching and looking skywards just in case. I half expected Redwings as there have been reports from the Pennines for a few days with odd ones reaching the coast.

Within a few minutes I saw a loose flock of birds coming from a westerly direction of Staynall and the Wyre. I thought they might be Redwings because they always fly a little looser, a bit further apart than Starlings of the similar size; the old “jizz” recognition still works. The flock got closer with the familiar calls overhead so I started counting with 80/90 in that first flock as they went over in a north-easterly direction, disappearing over Stalmine village. Within the next hour and a half I counted further flocks and small groups all going in the same direction towards the Pennines, reaching a grand total of 250+. Looking at other blogs and websites it seems that this may have been a very localised occurrence.

Redwing photo courtesy of Andreas Trepte http://www.photo-natur.de/

Whilst all this Redwing activity was going on, the usual early morning rush of bird activity even thrushes, Goldfinch and Chaffinch persuaded me to put up a garden net. All in the course of educating Olivia about birds you understand.

The first bird I caught was a Song Thrush, a species that I don’t necessarily see in my garden for months at a time so scarce are they. It was a pretty immaculate specimen, in peak looks and condition as fresh migrant thrushes often are.



I also caught a couple of Blackbirds, a protesting Starling, Blue and Great Tit together with 3 Coal Tit.









Oh, the babysitting went fine and Olivia wants to be a birder but she’s not quite four at the moment.

A good week of weather is forecast, fingers crossed that the rest of October is just the best ever.

Fogged Off

Obviously the wind dropped a little more than anticipated, the fall in temperature and the moisture in the air played their part and bingo – fog. I set off because I just knew I could see a hint of sunshine up there to burn off the damp air quickly, optimistic fool.

At 8am the only birds I saw through the gloom were the ghostly shapes of crows and gulls, up early whatever the weather. Similarly the Robins ticked and called through the murk and surprisingly, somewhere out there a Buzzard called from the treetops or flew around on radar.

I struck out along Motorbike Mile thinking that by the time I got to Conder, the pool would be bathed in early sunshine, perfect photography light. I must have been the first vehicle along the road for a while because sat on a roadside post near Gulf Lane was a bright, orangey, male Merlin which glanced at me in the car, but as I slowed to look closer, flew off towards Moss Edge. I guess that this is the male we see regularly at Braides.

It was too much to hope that I could get a picture of a Merlin but the image below is by the famous ornithologist John Gould (1804-1881) who played an important part in the identification of Darwin’s finches.

The light was pretty gloomy at Conder, in fact it was a light fog but I convinced myself, perhaps marginally better than before. The light was good enough to make out the grey shapes of Redshank across the pool, as the bills of Snipe became the key to identification. A Spotted Redshank fed with common Redshank below the road and I heard the other fly overhead then probably around the pool when some of the birds spooked away for a while.

The mist hung around for what seemed ages, with intermittent but sunless bright spells where a trickle of Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and albas went over. About 40 Pink-footed Goose, now all grey in the overhead mist, reoriented west and back towards Pilling after their brief flight towards the Lune. The Kingfisher appeared briefly on the overflow wall and also flew across the road into the creek but the light was too poor to take more pictures hence the one from August below.

I stuck it out until 10 when I turned back along the A588 and down towards Bank End where the hopeful parachutists had watched the same weather forecast as me and were parked up surveying their non flying morning. I always look in the gorse along there, and as usual there was an assortment of Blackbirds on the old blackberries and my friend the Kestrel worked the hedgerow but from a tree today. At least the spiders had been busy, making patterns through the damp gorse.

Sod’s Law they call it because as I neared Lane Ends towards home and a warming coffee the sky noticeably cleared and the sun appeared, burning away the remnants of mist.

Along Backsands Lane several Meadow Pipit clung to the barbed wire fence ahead of me as the clearing air allowed the combined calls of many Pink-footed Goose to reach me. Along Fluke Hall Lane in the stubble field the geese were as densely packed as can be, upwards of 3000 I thought as I dare not leave the car so close to the road were they; just on the other side of the tree screen at the edge of the field, so near that the murmuring, the humming of the flock was very loud. By going further east I also moved from too close proximity which allowed a better scan of the pinkie flock to locate nine Barnacle Geese with them.

In the wood I heard Long-tailed Tits calling, then again at the end of the wood at the car park where I saw a handful, but it looks like there are a couple of flocks at least. There were more Meadow Pipits here, just before Ridge Farm where the failed potato crop lies on the ground with several grounded and ones or twos flying without any obvious direction in mind.

I counted more than 30 Skylarks here and in the stubbly field south of it, but as usual it is difficult to quantify what Skylarks are actually “up to”.

Below the sea wall a couple of Wheatears stuck together as they hopped back and forth through the rocks according to the passage of people walking above them.

Sometimes it just has to be done - Shopping that is. But I don’t just stand outside I do actually go in, mainly to make sure the wine bears the correct label. But at least at Knott End it is possible to grab a few birds, as in 3 Little Egrets on the shore this afternoon plus one on the mussel beds, 15 Eider and a Great Crested Grebe off shore together with a couple of Pied Wagtails opposite the Thai takeaway.

Alright then, the Eider isn’t my picture but the egret and wagtail are.

A Bit of The Med

A fine sunny morning is a good enough reason to go out. And even though it’s a stiff north westerly with not much promise of new birds around, there’s always something to look at and the jobs can wait until later in the day.

Fluke Hall was the first port of call. I parked at the foot of the sea wall where I noticed there were lots of Jackdaws and Carrion Crows flying noisily around the few pines then out on to the immediate marsh. I think they have begun congregating here because of the food put out for pheasants, which isn’t necessarily a good idea of theirs as some will end up trapped in the pens. Some of the crows fed on the recently drilled field along with Black-headed Gulls and Woodpigeons. I quickly looked through the black heads and found an adult Mediterranean Gull which chose that moment to have a fly around, whereupon I lost it among the crowd of black heads as they all went behind the still standing maize.

It was not very Mediterranean weather as I walked to the sea wall wearing winter coat, hat and gloves to see more warm water species in the shape of 4 Little Egrets out on the near sand. One of them was harassed by the crows; jackdaws in particular as the egret flew up then gained height over Ridge Farm towards Knott End.

There were a few Chaffinch “pinking” in the nearest trees and the hedgerow and I could hear Long-tailed Tits calling then found a little group of fifteen or sixteen.



I didn’t assign these birds to any sign of migration as they are often just in the same spot with odd Robins and Dunnocks. I walked a good deal of Ridge Farm but apart from a couple of excitedly calling Reed Buntings, I detected little other sign of morning or overnight movement. I saw the little crowd of Tree Sparrows with a dozen or two Linnet and a couple of resident Blackbirds, not scaly grey migrants. Sometimes it really is “Grim up North” I thought as I took the gate back to the sea wall then made my way to the car thinking how different this would be if I could transport the time of year, the location, the habitat and myself to the east coast.



I stopped off in the wood to look at the tree tops and listen. Often the recently arrived finches feed quietly and unobtrusively in the tops of the beech, with just the occasional soft call to give away their presence. Very few Chaffinch this morning and no Brambling either.

The Pink-feet are always good value for money so I drove slowly along Fluke Hall Lane to see how many were in the stubble but got there to see many still arriving from the marsh.



I took a few pictures from the open window as usual just before they took fright at a Peregrine that came low over them towards the wildfowler’s pool and the flock of Teal that haunt it. The Teal about 80, flushed by the panicking geese, formed a tight flock and headed over the sea wall towards the marsh ditches as the Peregrine hurtled through them but then on the other side of the wall out of my sight. Maybe this is the Peregrine I saw last week that also attacked Teal in virtually this same spot.

Just a little further along the lane a Sparrowhawk crossed ahead of me from the roadside fence post, then flew low across the stubble, but like the previous raptor disappeared from view near the sea wall.

I spent a few minutes at Lane Ends car park but there was very little to see or hear apart from a Little Egret, a flock of about 1100 Lapwings on the marsh and the distant pinkies.

A stop in Braides gateway is now compulsory, a new part of the circuit, especially since the Merlin took up residence. It didn’t disappoint again today as it sat distant but scopable on the trackside fence where I took a few minutes to watch it waiting.

So north again, this time to Conder. I spoke to another birder yesterday who complained about Conder. OK, it’s not Titchwell or even the Allen Pools but it’s all we’ve got in what is a fairly much built up part of the west coast so we had better make the most of it, work for our birds and enjoy what’s there.

The Spotted Redshanks hid this morning so I searched for them a little but found them around the bend towards The Stork where the Teal and Snipe merged into the creek vegetation and rocks.

The Kingfisher flew towards the inflow wall but saw me behind the inadequate screen then veered away but compensation came in the form of more four Snipe on the island, three Little Grebe, two Goosander and two Grey Herons.





I took a picture of a Cormorant on the pebbly island, little archaeopteryx if ever I saw it.

Better Late Than Never?

A mixture of laziness and other things to do meant that yesterday I just didn’t get around to updating the blog. Those are my excuses, but today our old friend Mr Rain allowed me to devote an hour to “playing on that computer” as Sue puts it, whilst in the conservatory she laptops away to find ways of spending money on holiday places I don’t want to go i.e. no birds.

There was a plan to go ringing at Rossall yesterday, ably explained by Seumus http://fleetwoodbirder.blogspot.com/,when after the early morning abort phone call I admit to going back to bed. With hindsight, and especially in the light of today’s weather, it was a mistake as I probably missed one of the better recent mornings.

I decided on a leisurely afternoon stroll around Rawcliffe Moss to check on the feeding station and whatever else might be lurking with or near to the Tree Sparrows and Chaffinch that so quickly find the food.

There are some pretty big fields at the farm, even Philip and his lads call one of them “the big field” probably as a tribute to the time and effort it takes each year in making it productive. As the barley was recently cut I walked part of it, mainly to see how many Skylark I could actually find as distinct from seeing small groups or individuals taking sorties from the stubble whenever I visit.

I had barely set off across the field before a Sparrowhawk came from my left to fly very low, fairly slowly across the complete width of the field. It clearly also expected to flush Skylark but didn’t manage to do so because it had actually chosen a course that had no Skylark, so it finished up by gliding into the line of trees overlooking the field from where I lost sight of it.

In the distance towards St Michaels I could see a couple of high Buzzards, then in the next field a hunting Kestrel alternately circling then hovering, before moving several yards to repeat the process all over again. The Kestrel below is from Bank End last week.

I changed tack slightly across the field to find the Skylark but I didn’t move that many, it was only as I sat down in the field for a few minutes and waited that for whatever reason, the Skylark showed themselves. In fact they were scattered across all three of the top fields, rising, falling, calling and circling, without any encouragement from me but enough to count upwards of 150. That coincides nicely with Seumus’s precise count of 164 the day before, but as he says, there could be more. At times, counting birds is an imprecise science but experience of doing so must help?

At the edge of the field two Linnets rose from the game cover, then in the nearby grassy ditch below the trees I saw a couple of Reed Buntings, the inevitable Wren and a ticking Robin. I watched as a single Mistle Thrush bounded across from a distance to also disappear into some trees. Mistle Thrush, another one of those species that appears to be losing out from the modern world.

By now I was near to the feeding station but without the task of a food drop I could carefully approach from a distance then watch at my leisure. We say it so many times but Tree Sparrows are just so wary, so independent, so cute, as in clever cute that they can be difficult to count never mind catch. As they hugged the hedge or flew behind it to avoid me I made a count of 50+ Tree Sparrows together with less than a dozen Chaffinch.

My being around disturbed a Buzzard from the trees overhead that called quite softly but sped away with a flat profile towards the next wood, not allowing me to take a photograph.

Up at the barn there were plenty of albas to look through, I counted 16 but not at once as they all moved between a spoil tip, the barn roofs and roadside puddles that held insect food continually stirred up by passing farm vehicles. I was torn between photographs and just watching them, sorting pied from whites as all ages and sexes seemed represented.

Below are a White Wagtail in a muddy pool and a Pied Wagtail in a reflected farm machinery red pool.

Left Overs

After yesterday’s thrill of a Knott End jetty tick, a Leach’s Petrel, it was a case of getting up early to see what birds were around this morning. By late last night the wind had dropped off, eventually swinging around to the north therefore I didn’t expect a repeat show of Leach’s and Bonxies so planned my usual foray north.

At Fluke Hall Lane the pinkfeet were already flighting in to the cut barley field but very skittish and unsettled. I left them alone to take a look at the marsh from Lane Ends where I could better judge how many there were before they scattered far and wide. Looking left from the car park I counted 2000, maybe 2500 packed tightly on the green marsh where Pilling Water joined the sea. Two Barnacle Geese hid amongst the crowd of pinkies.





Further out to the left but quite close to the geese were the eight white beacons of Whooper Swans, just moving around a little, but even as I watched from that distance I heard their familiar deep trumpeting. Not today's birds below.



Overhead a single crow harassed a little Sparrowhawk as it flew to the east and over the plantation before disappearing from view. I heard a couple of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks come over but I really wanted to get to Conder Green early, which after a wander around, would still allow me time to return and “do” the incoming tide at Lane Ends.

Quiet at Conder, but I rarely see anyone there early morning. I thought birders got up early? Maybe they were all exhausted after the Leach’s day or maybe they had all gone to look for them today?

I could almost have filled in my notebook before I got there, at least for the regulars: 75+ Teal, 2 Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, 7 Snipe in the creek and a Common Sandpiper. For variation I found a single Bar-tailed Godwit, and then walked the cycle path for a while, where a party of about 40 Goldfinch flitted about the hedge tops and the usual tit party roved up and down. There were definitely a few extra vocal Reed Buntings this morning, with a couple near the pool screen and another three together along the cycle path. I took a not very good picture of one as it sat on the hawthorn tops.



Noticeable this morning was a flock of about 30 Skylarks disturbed from the marsh just north of the path, as they rose as one then gradually dropped back into the grasses to remain unseen. I had a couple of Swallows here, quite high and going south east.

A quick look at Braides still very dry, gave me upwards of 200 Lapwing, probably 20 Golden Plover and 30 Curlew in the closest fields. Curlews always amuse me by the way they start to walk away from a moving car if it so much as slows down; they obviously associate us humans and/or vehicles with something unpleasant.

My timing for the midday tide at Lane Ends was good and I walked to Pilling Water, taking up my usual spot at 1015, plenty of time. The bonxie was pretty much the first bird but it wasn’t obviously a bonxie, just a large black blob sitting on the sand in the distance, half way to Heysham. A bit of “is, or isn’t it” followed until the creature moved, even flexed its wings to reveal the flashes. The local Peregrine, usually top dog of the tide line took a dislike to the skua, dive bombing it a couple of times before flying off itself towards Fluke and over the sea wall. A couple of Carrion Crows didn’t rate the intruder either as they stood next to it, one even trying to nip the bonxie’s tail end. Eventually the bonxie flew out to sit on the incoming tide for a while, then after some minutes flew in a determined manner towards the tide line where it scattered wildfowl, waders and even geese before flying east towards Bank End. Such excitement, but it’s not everyday we see a bonxie, especially at Lane Ends so far into the bay.



At least the lull gave chance to look around, time to see a bright but pale northern type Wheatear amongst the stones and a few Linnets and grounded Meadow Pipits. Three Little Egrets today.



Duck numbers were much as last week with several hundred of both Teal, Pintail and Wigeon but really the tide was again a little low to push the birds closer for a proper count.

Wader numbers were similarly low with single digits of Dunlin, Golden Plover and Snipe but a few more Redshank today, probably 120 +.

A nice morning out, again.

Brilliant

Not much to report this morning due to my delayed start caused by a quick trip to the shops at Knott End. I tried to get where all the birds are at Rossall Point via the Knott End ferry but arrived just as the boat was leaving. Oh well, there’s always another day. At least it gave me an opportunity to take a shot of Little just leaving and Large just waiting plus allowing me to count the Eider at 40+, even if a really close female drifted serenely into the distance while I fiddled to change lenses.

At Ridge Farm I helped out with a bit of ringing. There have been 100 or so Linnets there for a while but what is the age and sex composition of the flock, are they even the same birds, or is there a daily turnover, why and where too? How many will winter and what will be the survival rate of each category or individual? There are just so many questions to answer about a threatened species. Anyway here’s a picture of a young male to be going on with (amount of white on the outer webs of 7-9th primaries and worn tips).



The Linnets there hang around with about 30 Goldfinch, a similar number of Tree Sparrows and several Reed Buntings as they all move between the set aside of the maize field and the remains of a potato crop that may or may not have been harvested; looking between the rows it’s hard to tell, but there’s certainly plenty of varied seed heads for now or later in the month.

I had just missed a Green Sandpiper flying over but at least I saw the Yellow Wagtail that put in a brief appearance on the stubble and a Wheatear that did the same. Sadly the Yellow Wagtail call is one that used to be so familiar, now we almost have to relearn it each spring we hear it so infrequently. At least the ringing group managed to collect a little data on this species in the 1990s when we used to catch a number in the old Swallow roost at Fleetwood Marsh. Somewhere in the annals of the BTO there is also a faded nest record card of mine (hopefully now on the database) from close to Lane Ends in the early 90s.



There wasn’t a large Meadow Pipit passage at Ridge Farm this morning, more like a trickle of water that was difficult to put into a measuring jug as birds came and went, most of them seeing the nets in the bright sunshine of a beautiful morning. But count we did, arriving at about 50+ grounded in a couple of hours but unable to count the number moving high overhead on this dazzling, cloudless morning.

Talking of bright and beautiful, how about this young Robin caught here, but please don’t say aah!



Let’s finish with my bird of this and last week, another obliging Kestrel. So intent on watching the intended meal below, it allowed me to take a few pics.

A Little Ringing

Just a little open window of opportunity this morning was the only invitation we needed to get a little ringing done somewhere, but nothing too ambitious that might tempt the weather devils of wind and rain.

Will’s garden then. Not so much a page from a Gardener’s World catalogue, more like a birder’s ideal garden with ornamental and fruit trees, a hedgerow interspersed with mature trees and small holly, then beyond that, a farmer’s maize field as a neighbour. Add in the rural wooded location near Garstang within a stone’s throw of Bowland and we have a pretty good mix of things where it’s possible to catch a few target species. The proximity to the Pennines means it’s a pretty good location to “vis mig” if the weather is suitable but not this morning as despite the dry start with a couple of Swallows overhead, it remained cloudy with intermittent drizzle.

We reached a fairly respectable total of 28 birds caught which included 1 Great Tit first ringed in 2008. “New” birds as follows: Dunnock 3, Robin 2, Nuthatch 1, Collared Dove 1, Chaffinch 17, and Blue Tit 3.

The locality has a healthy population of Chaffinch all year round, but at this time of year we would expect to begin to catch larger, brighter birds of continental origin and birds from Scotland or the higher Pennines. Very good then that we caught two corking adult males with wing lengths of 92mm & 94mm, and although there is also an element of older birds also having longer wings, the first bird is a “probable” continental, the latter almost certainly from mainland Europe.



There were at least a couple of Jays hanging around the garden today but fortunately we didn’t catch one. I use the word “fortunate” because whilst they are fine to look at through binoculars, I do my best to avoid handling them as even a momentary lack of concentration might allow them to give a nasty, sometimes painful nip from their bill. It’s a trainee’s bird really, builds up the experience and confidence of carefully taking mystery birds out of bags.

Also in the garden today were a gang of about 20 Greenfinch sticking to the feeders near the house together with plenty of Greats and Blues. It was just a pity that the Grey Wagtails decided to mainly stay on the roof, flitting off occasionally to disappear from view for a while.

We caught a fine male Nuthatch which caused us to open up “Svensson” to help ageing and sexing it because in the normal course of events down in the Fylde lowlands we catch very few.

Likewise, catching a Collared Dove called for opening up “Non-Passerines Guide” that spends most of its life in the glove compartment. What an eye colour that dove has!






On the way back home at midday I noticed a Buzzard near Rawcliffe Hall, about 15 Swallows at Town End, Out Rawcliffe then four more in Hambleton.

There's No Alternative

That’s now two and a half days without getting out birding but probably double that of “nothing” weather, as everyone describes what has taken place last week, over the weekend and now at the start of this week. No good for birding, no good for ringing, no good for bird photography.

So I thought about a few other hobbies that I might take up if this continues, ones that other blokes seem to participate in even enjoy, but there are negatives to most:

Fishing-far too inactive, and have you ever seen an angler actually catch a fish?
Train, Plane or Bus Spotting - I’m 63 for heavens sake.
Sailing Model Boats or Flying Model Planes at Fleetwood - the plastic surgery would be too expensive.
Glamour Photography - not allowed.
Shooting - much too dangerous, especially as an armed ex bird watcher frustrated by continual bad weather.
Golf - It’s just balls.
Video Gaming - sat at a desk often (SADO).
Standing Outside Shops (SOS) - precisely.
Listening to Rock Music - I can’t hear Goldcrest now.

Other suggestions are welcome, please email me.

So I thought about it a bit more then decided that maybe birding is not so bad after all, plus the weather improved a bit, for a while anyway. Enough for me to get this photo of a Kestrel, a species that normally flies away all too readily. This picture allows me to pass on today’s birding tip – Fit a sunroof to your car, but more important make sure it’s open before taking photographs.



In the interests of keeping the blog going I have posted a few previously discarded photos, firstly a picture of a garden Coal Tit in August, a juvenile. Boy I must have been bored that day, putting a net up to catch a Wren, Blackbird and a Coal Tit. Coal Tit, such a frustrating species to photograph as they come and go to the garden feeder to nick some seed or peanut in double quick time, then immediately fly off to hoard it out of sight before the shutter has even thought about closing.



Autumn Blackbirds pose other problems, mainly the indelicate subject of purple poo and how to slip stained bird bags into the washing machine unnoticed. But explaining away similarly coloured wine stains isn’t normally a problem in our house which gives some leeway for the imagination. There’s a photo of the garden Blackbird, almost in focus. Now it’s obvious why I need to practice more on my photography.



Finally a photo of a pair of Tufted Duck that sums up some digital problems; water reflections, exposure, field of view, depth of view, telephoto lenses. Things can only get better.




A quick glance at Met Office for tomorrow shows wind and rain. Oh dear, where’s my stamp album?