Three Hundred Up

More buckets of seed today but I did get a very high count of Tree Sparrows at the Rawcliffe feeding station when my early morning visit revealed at least 305 birds.

Other birds seen at the feeding spot included 30 Starlings, 15 Chaffinch, 12 Woodpigeon, 3 Reed Bunting, 9 Blackbirds and 2 Yellowhammer. The addition of old windfall apples adds to the variety of food on offer and to the range of species.









Otherwise, it was a very quiet morning with a cold easterly breeze that kept me on my toes.

Up towards Curlew Farm a flock of 12 Linnets was the first Linnet I had seen at the farm for a couple of months, whilst 40 more Chaffinch moved along the hawthorn hedge. Then a single Redwing darting in and out as I approached just about sums up their abundance at the moment. Not so Reed Buntings, which can be found in most small damp spots around the farm as I counted another seven between here and the plantation where a flock of 6 Goldfinch fed on the alder catkins.



Also in the new wood were a few more Blackbirds, Chaffinch and the inevitable Wrens that will still be there scratching a living when the snow comes. Further up I disturbed a couple of Grey Partridge from the roadside whilst 2 Kestrels quartered the stubble fields and a Stonechat searched out the flimsiest plants from which to watch what I was up to. I had a short glimpse of a female Merlin that shot dark and low behind a line of trees, to then as usual evaporate into the landscape. As it passed over the field it disturbed a gang of 15 Skylark enough for them to take to the air, but after a while they settled back to play unseen in the stubble. Here is an old digitised slide of Skylark, can’t remember where, can’t remember when, but it sure looks like a cold day with those fingerless mitts in use.



More cold to come, even snow, if those weathermen are right.

Steady

Despite a bright start it was soon steady birding but I was also fighting steady rain this morning.

The old Honda was on auto pilot as it found its own the way to Fluke Hall Lane via Wheel Lane where on a telegraph pole at Kestrel Corner the expected Kestrel surveyed the roadside. The flooded stubble and adjacent fields at Damside held plenty of birds this morning, even if it was all a bit distant; 580 Lapwing, 325 Redshank, 330 Golden Plover, 35 Curlew, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, and 200+ Jackdaw, whilst in the background beyond the sea wall, the pinkfeet flew left and right but stayed out on the marsh.





On the way to Conder Green a steady rain started then didn’t let up all morning, but I carried on the birding with limited photography in the poor light. The pool was unremarkable but I found 3 Little Grebe sharing the water with about 40 Black-headed Gulls,1 Wigeon and 1 female Goldeneye. In the creek I saw another 2 Little Grebe, 6 Redshank and a Spotted Redshank.

At Glasson Dock I splashed through the excuse for a car park and found a dryish spot from where I could look across the water: 33 Tufted Duck, 2 Pochard, 4 Goldeneye, I Great-crested Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 3 Cormorant. Two of the Goldeneye were drakes, what fantastic birds they are.



But even the common Tufted Duck is a beautiful bird that we perhaps take for granted, likewise the Pochard. Both photographs I took on a much brighter day than today.





I wanted to go up to Cockersands to look for the Snow Bunting but the rain didn’t ease so I cruised around the Jeremy Lane area where I counted 92 Mute Swan, 450 Lapwing, 55 Redshank and 22 Curlew on the wet fields as 12 Black-tailed Godwit dropped in to the flood after making black and white patterns against the grey cloud.





You can pretty much guarantee to see a few birds at Bank End, even if it rains, so it didn’t disappoint when the usual 3 Little Egret greeted me, just a bit distant for a proper shot, but here goes.



Only 4 Pied Wagtails today with 3 Meadow Pipits searching the tide wrack, then a couple of Chaffinch and 6 Tree Sparrows sticking to the gorse and hawthorn hedgerow.

Just three hours today, but I have another chance tomorrow. Let’s hope it stays dry.

In The Red

The thermometer definitely read minus this morning but the Tree Sparrows and Chaffinch also owed us a ringing session after we fed them diligently for many weeks while the wind and rain held us at bay.

I was ten minutes late for the session, not like me, but ice on the road at Out Rawcliffe slowed me down, then a stop to admire a Tawny Owl put a couple more minutes on the journey. Not to worry, what are trainees for if not to carry poles and put up nets on frosty mornings? Picture courtesy of http://www.bto.org/



You just have to hand it to those Tree Sparrows, 200 to 300 coming to the food for several weeks and how many did we catch? Eleven! They were there of course the multitude, flying up and down the hedgerow, across the field, back and forth, in and out, just generally taking the Michael out of the ringers, but it wouldn’t be any fun if they made it too easy for us would it?





The Chaffinch proved a little easier to catch with 18 new ones, proving as we thought that the turnover of feeding birds has been higher than the regular count suggests.







Other birds caught included 2 Blackbirds, 1 Coal Tit and 3 Dunnock, the remainder of the catch several each of Blue Tit and Great Tit with a single troglodyte.

Birding was fairly quiet this morning, the highlight being possibly the circa 80 Fieldfare that hung about “our” hedgerow, one of the few remaining to have any number of berries to keep thrushes interested. 3 Yellowhammers put in a brief appearance away from the nets but those are usually caught into the New Year when natural food becomes scarce.

Raptors were represented by 2 Kestrels and the now obligatory Buzzard.

A couple of Roe Deer put in a distant appearance in the stubble field opposite our cars, the same field that held a couple of hundred noisy Jackdaws and about 15 Corn Buntings.





On the way home a daytime Little Owl provided a perfect end to a fruitful and enjoyable morning.

Keep Moving

Keep moving was my mantra this morning because it was so cold; therefore brisk walking without fingers lingering unnecessarily on a wintry metal tripod was the order of the morning.

Initially I walked from Lane Ends to Pilling Water where on this frosty morning I could be fairly sure I would beat even the keenest dog walker to the first post. Less Whooper Swans than usual this morning unless I missed the earlier leavers, but I still counted 14 heading off south close over Fluke Hall wood.

Masses of Pink-footed Geese were just leaving Preesall sands heading inland, so many, so suddenly that I just watched the distant spectacle without attempting a count. But others, maybe 1200 were just out on the marsh here where I watched them for a while before a red-topped doggy jogger put them all to flight in layers of grey. Some left south, others settled further out into the Heysham backdrop whilst 3 Little Egrets took it all in their stride.







It was very quiet out here with the tide way out and a single Black-headed Gull on the immediate pool, but a party of 35 Teal came off the wildfowlers pool to head off towards the distant water.

I walked back to Lane Ends in time to see a Sparrowhawk fly around the edge of the wood, then try its luck low across the marsh before heading back towards the more distant pool and out of sight. I crashed through the plantation in the hope of a wood wader but none flew out, just the overfed brothel ducks that briefly panicked before settling down to wait for the next carrier bag of stale Hovis.

A more unusual recent sight was a Grey Heron near the roadside flood, but it reminded me that some of our Grey Herons do go off to warmer climes and it’s only when they are suddenly not around that we miss them; so much so that at this time of year I now see more Little Egrets than I do Grey Herons. Then as if to rub it in, later in the day a Grey Heron flew around the local roof tops seeing if the garden ponds were frozen too.



I drove down to Fluke Hall so as to do the Ridge Farm walk. The flood in the potato field was now a thin sheet of ice where 4 Pied Wagtails and 15 Meadow Pipits skidded over the frost whilst still searching the remaining soft earth. But catching Meadow Pipits way back in September seems a distant memory.





Along the hedgerow a Chaffinch posed in a small window of twigs for me, then further along three Reed Bunting flitted around more or less together with Dunnocks providing the normal heard but not seen “others”.





Beyond the gorse I counted 42 Curlew probing the frost, 30 Lapwing patrolling the ground and a couple more Pied Wagtails before I headed back via the sea wall where shore based Lapwings and rockhopper Wrens were the order of the day.

Not a lot doing and not a lot in my notebook but I had been out for three hours, found a bit of nonsense to fill the blog plus clicked a few more lousy pics.

Oh well, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Luney Morning

I stopped at Damside, Pilling this morning to let a wide vehicle over the bridge, quite handy really as it allowed me a glimpse of a Mistle Thrush almost overhead on a telegraph pole, then to hear a snatch of song above the traffic noise. Well it is December and I reckon I always hear a Mistle Thrush on or close to December 25th, but certainly soon after the shortest day; maybe it was the sunny start that persuaded the thrush to try a verse or two. It’s not a species that figures a lot in ringing totals, but here’s an old digitised slide from Singleton Hall in the 1990s.



I had just come along Fluke Hall Lane where strangely the stubble was devoid of birds even though the shallow floods now look perfect for waders and wildfowl – perhaps yesterday was a shoot day and the birds haven’t returned?

But the Whooper Swans were out on the marsh, where from Lane Ends car park I could see distant swans further out from Fluke Hall with 18 Whooper Swans directly opposite me which as usual flew off south in small groups. For the record, 5 Little Egrets here this morning with 4 at Braides Farm, 2 at Bank End and 4 on the Lune Estuary.





The sunny start allowed me to spend a little time at Conder and also at Glasson where in the south facing car park, it was positively balmy if not quite summer. Here’s a picture to remind us how Glasson Dock looks in summer.



I counted most of the wildfowl, i.e. 38 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Cormorant, 1 Great-crested Grebe and 1 Goldeneye, but I didn’t feel up to a Coot count.











There was no tide to concentrate birds but it was such a clear morning with phenomenal visibility that I did a quick circuit of the Lune via the Victoria, Bodie Hill and Cockersands and attempted what was I admit a not very scientific “guesstimate” count of the most obvious and numerical species. For what it’s worth, I got 3000+ Wigeon, 7500+ Lapwing, 2000 Bar-tailed Godwit and 8000 Knot with small numbers of Goldeneye, Pintail, Eider, Red-breasted Merganser and Great-crested Grebe. And that’s not including the thousands of gulls and lesser numbers of waders like Redshank and Oystercatcher. I think it’s called “scratching the surface”.

At Conder the sight of 400 Black-headed Gulls greeted me, whose noisy presence rather took over the expanse of the pool. Neither did they seem in any hurry to leave, so I had to search for the normal odds and ends, as in 2 Little Grebe and 1 Goldeneye.

Over near the Stork pub the creek held 10 Redshank, 30 Teal, 4 Curlew and just a single Snipe. I was pleased to see a Ruff, presumably the same one seen in recent weeks but not for a few days or more.



I walked part of the cycle track where a mixed group of 15 Chaffinch and Goldfinch searched through some flimsy weeds with a small party of titmice.





A couple of Redshank fed below the bridge in the strong sunlight but a Greenshank was too quick off the mark for me to get a photo of it and flew off with its customary triple alarm. PW, I think the reflections from the sand messed up the image? Digital isn't everything.



I had time for a dive down to Bank End where I saw a Kestrel with mammal prey awaiting me on a roadside post before it sped across to the marsh to a similar sized post to continue the meal. It did me a real favour because as it travelled low over the grass it put to flight at least a dozen wagtails and 15 Meadow Pipits which remained near the roadside.



There were a number of Tree Sparrows in the hedgerow, staying out of sight as usual but I counted at least 10 keeping an eye on me.



Such short days, so time waits for no man, my cue to head back. It’s all very well getting out then blogging for Britain but I really must catch up with my Bird Track records tonight.

Humdrum

Humdrum could mean one of a number of similar things. The dictionary gives meanings of dull, boring, routine, everyday, monotonous, and unexciting. But when it gets to this time of year I think I use it in the meaning of “routine” because in some circumstances, whilst birding might be predictable and everyday, it is never dull, boring or unexciting. There are bird watchers who go out only to see “quality” or ”good” birds, who don’t have a local patch and who rarely go out to bird in a humdrum manner. How strange, but each to his own.

After spending a morning at the gym to emerge into bright skies quickly followed by a dash and splash lunch I was elated by the thought of a few hours birding when the sky suggested the rain would appear as usual later than the BBC predicted. Perish any thoughts that I wouldn’t grab this little window of opportunity even if it the results might be the normal dross rather than the spectacular.

Soon I set off walking from the Nateby road to cross Rawcliffe Moss thinking that I could probably pencil some species in my notebook before I set out to save myself the effort later. But no matter I was out with the bins around my neck, camera in the bag, no one around, just me and the elements. Perfect.

Through Jim’s farm the routine Dunnocks called quietly as a Pied Wagtail walked the same old barn roof again. The unexciting Robins ticked me off for birding here again, whilst just ahead the trackside Reed Buntings wheezed as I got near, then off they went only to re-emerge a few yards up to have another look back at me.







Reed Bunting is one of those species with an unmistakable “jizz”, a little bounce of a flight, the glimpse of outer tail heading into cover, the perch up, then the look. Just show me the outline, who needs the bird?

The story goes that the word “jizz” originated from aircraft recognition practice amongst fighter pilots during World War II. The pilots were given brief glimpses of silhouetted models of enemy and friendly aircraft, and gradually developed the ability to tell friend from foe quickly and reliably. The impression of the aircraft formed became known as "General Impression of Shape and Size", abbreviated to GISS and pronounced "jizz." Unfortunately for the story, the pronunciation is actually different (why not "giss" or "jiss"?), and fighter pilots of the time deny knowledge of the acronym. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "jizz" in bird-watching use well before the war.

Lots of Woodpigeons about, 800 in grey and white clouds still behaving like it was a shooting day; maybe they just need to get some practice in, flying between the woods as they have to when the guns appear from the 4x4s. These aren’t the garden Woodpigeons, the ones that clown around on the peanut feeders or stroll unconcerned across the lawn whilst I watch through the conservatory glass. These are the wild ones, the sportsmen’s vermin fit for the butcher’s slab, but don’t the pigeons know it if you try to get too close whilst pointing something from the shoulder that looks suspiciously like a gun.



Three Buzzards played hide and seek with me again by keeping at least a wood away where we could all use our binocular vision to take a good look without coming into contact. Ok you are winning for now Mr Buzzard but one of these days a 400mm lens will have you good and proper.

It was a bit of a raptor session today because the fields held 3 Kestrels alternately hovering, circling or using the farm machinery as convenient look out posts. I was watching two Kestrels hovering fairly close when above and behind them a Peregrine appeared from the north but ignored them to continue heading south over a somewhat distant wood and the Kestrels carried on floating interminably as they do.



It was a bit of a grey day, so grey that I didn’t lift my camera in anger; therefore I’m afraid that although today’s pictures are entirely relevant to my walk, they were taken on other days but mostly in the same locality. You see that’s one advantage of monotonous, unexciting birding, you can still use old pictures to add some immediacy or to make a samey day look a bit more appetising.

I saw a good number of Grey Partridge again today – at least 14 still managing to stay safe. In places the fields don’t look particularly wet, at least from a distance. It’s only when half way across that the sinking, soggy truth reminds me that we just endured about six weeks of rain. On the positive side, I found 9 Snipe in parts I wouldn’t normally reach, then in the drier regions 13 Skylarks remained as unfathomable as ever rising and falling to no particular theme. The diminished Goldfinch flock now numbered only six, the hardy ones that stuck it out while others cleared off to somewhere drier and warmer like we all should.



I did have a stroke of luck in not seeing the repetitive Grey Wagtail today so at least everyone is spared more photos of that. And I had a lovely walk, came home carrying a Rosy Glow, a hearty appetite and a bit of a thirst, can’t be bad.

Talking of dry and warm it looks like we are about to get a High Pressure System but I hope it doesn’t last too long it could get a bit tedious.