Broccoli Soup

I scooted round a few of the regular birding spots this morning without breaking speed limits or obtaining any record counts. Once again the waders returned to the Pilling fields after snow and rain yesterday and overnight made for good feeding. Between Backsands Lane to just east of Lane Ends I counted 90 Curlew, 600 Lapwing, 125 Redshank and 65 Golden Plover with 2 Ruff amongst the Lapwing providing an agreeable, unexpected extra. A few Oystercatchers also took advantage of the newly softened fields.

Lapwing

Oystercatcher

With limited time I didn’t stop at Braides, just a passing leftwards stare as I drove past but certainly there was not a lot in the immediate fields. At Conder pool a Dunnock in the “hide” window greeted me, demanding that I take a photograph, so I duly obliged not sure if I would see much afterwards from the said window.

Dunnock

The previous day’s weather had perhaps had an effect on the numbers of Tufted Duck because I counted 50+, a substantial improvement on recent numbers. Other wildfowl came in at 7 Wigeon, 2 Coot, 84 Teal and 2 Shelduck. I watched the Teal down in the creek where they sifted through the mud for something duckily delicious.

Teal

Teal

Wigeon

A couple of Grey Heron flew the around creeks and the pool without getting near enough to photograph, as did a hovering Kestrel, a couple of Skylark, 6 Goldfinch and a few of that scarcity, Greenfinch. I didn’t see the usual Spotted Redshank or Greenshank today, even when I walked the railway bridge, but I saw the normal small numbers of Redshank and Curlew.

Near The Stork I bumped into PW religiously doing his birding thing again, but taking time out to lean into my car and exchange pleasantries and information, despite the traffic hurtling past desperate to reach their places of work. As we agreed, “Even some birders don’t bother to get out of their cars here, least of all Joe Public on the way to Ashton Garden Centre or Leighton Moss.” Oh well, not everyone desires to be a birder, thank goodness. PW gripped me with his count of 56 tufties; I never was much good with figures. But I got my own back by relating the 3 Rock Pipits I’d just seen towards the car park, picking through the debris from the recent high tides. I had also seen 4 or more Meadow Pipits in the same area, less reluctant to leave their search for grub than their rock living cousins. Also here, Pied Wagtails.

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

I headed off to Cockersands but abandoned my plan to look for the Stonechat and other tideline dwellers when I saw two removal vans and two other vehicles parked up in my spot, guessing that any comings and goings would mean there was little about other than new residents exploring new surroundings.

I then circuited Jeremy Lane without a lot of success but I did find a semi-obliging Little Egret that I took pictures of when it jumped out of a roadside ditch and sat in a field. And the sun was out, for now.

Little Egret

Little Egret

Little Egret

I couldn’t believe it, I looked at my watch.1140, time to get back and watch little Theo demolish the broccoli soup. What an unusual lad! It must be his bringing up.

Slowly Does it

After a lull the frost returned last night to remind us it’s still February, and as I write this at 5pm it’s snowing hard and settling. Just as well we fitted in a ringing session this morning even though it was another finger nipping exercise when Will and I returned to the farm site near Myerscough for an 8am start.



We caught slowly and by 1030 it was all over with the nets coming down in double quick time and a chance to warm our hands.

Birds caught:
6 Blackbirds, of which 4 were retraps from previous weeks. Also, 12 Chaffinch, 3 Reed Bunting, 1 Long-tailed Tit from a party of 6 that came along the hedgerow, 1 Dunnock and 1 Robin. After a couple of ringing sessions minus any Wrens in the cold weather of recent weeks, today we caught four new ones.

Male Reed Bunting

Female Reed Bunting

Female Chaffinch

Female Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch

Male Chaffinch

An interesting recovery came through yesterday of an adult female Goldfinch I caught in the garden on 26th October 2009. It was originally ringed in Chilworth Surrey on 27th January 2009 where it may have been spending the winter or just possibly on the way to or from the close continent. Many Goldfinches winter in Britain and whilst some remain close to their breeding areas, others undertake southerly movements. The principal overseas migration is south westerly through France into Iberia where British and Irish birds join other European Goldfinches. The Migration Atlas states that the sex ratios in Britain and Spain in winter suggest that female Goldfinches undertake more migration than males.



It’s just an excuse to show a photograph of a Goldfinch in my garden.

Goldfinch

Shore Thing

After a swim at the gym this morning I hoped to get out for some photographs for a while after lunch once I dropped Sue at the Fleetwood shops – what’s new then?

I took a quick look at pools on the Nature Park where I counted the waterfowl, 14 Tufted Duck, 28 Coot, 4 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler and 2 Little Grebe. The Gadwall stayed out of camera range but the tufties weren’t too bothered about having their picture taken. We are all guilty of it. Taking photographs of the resplendent drakes whilst ignoring the females who advertise their presence and desirability with a little more subtlety of plumage. So today to redress the balance I took a picture of the drake but also a picture of just one of the females that accompanied him everywhere he went.

Tufted Duck

Tufted Duck

Shoveler

Up at Rossall shore the weather closed in quickly with heavy windswept drizzle – nothing new there either. But I switched to ISO 400 and found some birds to picture before I returned to my car 30 minutes later where I put the heater on full blast to dry specs, bins, telephoto lens and camera. The rain blasted across from the North East so much that I didn't even get chance to walk along the shore and count the waders. At least there are a few pictures I managed to take before the drenching.

Knot

Redshank

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Turnstone

Black-headed Gull

Finch Fest

Will had maintained the bird feeding in his Garstang garden and promised us a good catch when the weather allowed the three of us, Will, Ian and I to finally make it there. The forecast was accurate but we were well prepared, paying due respect to the zero temperatures by donnning extra layers, woolly hats and thermals.

66 birds kept us fairly busy and stopped our fingers seizing up from the cold which hovered around freezing point all morning. Sue kindly provided us with copious coffee in hand warming mugs, not to mention the bacon butties that came with the compulsory brown sauce, all of which also kept the cold at bay; Garden ringing can be so civilized compared to some of the grotty situations that we ringers often find ourselves in.

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Although the Chaffinch were a bit slow arriving, the Siskin were there from the off, calling excitedly from the tops of the alders in the half light and we caught three of them on the first net round then another later on when the tardy Chaffinch arrived for a feed.

The four hour session saw us catch the following birds, of which pretty much 50% comprised finch species:
Siskin 4
Goldfinch 6
Chaffinch 21
Greenfinch 1
Blue Tit 17
Coal Tit 3
Blackbird 3
Great Tit 7
Dunnock 1
Robin 2
Nuthatch 1

We caught an interesting adult male Goldfinch that had flecks of yellow/gold in the red of the plumage around its head. I wouldn’t say we catch many Goldfinch in the course of a year but perhaps enough to say we may have seen this before, but none of us had. Picture below.

In between the ringing we noted both a male and a female Sparrowhawk that passed by separately for a brief look at what was on offer, a couple of Redwing and two Collared Dove. There are a couple of Treecreepers in Will’s garden that not only visit the bird table but also feed on the ground below the table and it was most interesting to watch them creeping across the hard standing picking up morsels of food, naturally we christened them “Groundcreepers”. The garden also has a healthy population of very clever House Sparrow who totally avoid going anywhere near our nets.

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Siskin

Greenfinch

Nuthatch

Nuthatch

Round Again

It was a much brighter start to today; with dare I say even atypical bright morning sunshine that lessened the impact of a touch of frost and the cold northerly wind.

Along the Pilling lanes towards Lane Ends there were plenty of Lapwings again, some now sporting impressive wispy crests in preparation for the breeding season, and although I couldn’t be sure, I thought I saw a distant couple tumbling around in a brief practice. But against a blue sky background the black and white of Lapwings in everyday flight is exciting enough without the added thrill of watching them display. I counted 160 Lapwings close to Fluke Hall, along with 80 Redshank whilst hundreds of Pinkfeet flew across to land within earshot but out of sight behind the inner sea wall and almost in some lucky person’s backyard in Pilling village.

Lapwing

Lapwing

Pink-footed Goose

I stopped at Lane Ends where I was early enough to see five Little Egrets flying off, scattering east and west along the marsh to their desired feeding spots. I walked to the east pool where just as I spotted it from the corner of my eye, the Kingfisher saw me and flew down from the bushes at the edge of the water and now low over the water, headed quickly along the ditch towards Cockerham. Kingfishers are such a frustrating beast, so inconspicuous for such a tiny bird, always first to see you and for ever keen to fly off where they can’t be seen. There was the normal Mallard throng on the pool waiting for handouts but the Goldeneye pair were well worth a second look, even though the male made sure they kept a more sensible distance from me than the Hovis hungry Mallard. A partial walk towards Pilling Water revealed several Snipe amongst last night’s tidal debris that like the earlier Kingfisher, saw me early then flew off without stopping to suss me out. I also counted 15 Skylark along here before reaching Pilling Water now partially frozen again but hosting a single Black-headed Gull, and out in the near distance 8 Whooper Swans and several hundred more pinkies.

Goldeneye

Driving up towards Cockerham and just past Sand Villa I could see ahead a Magpie harassing a slow flying roadside Barn Owl, but as I approached nearer the owl flipped over the hedge and out of sight where I couldn’t see it, especially as I had the usual moronic bumper hugger for company. I stopped at Braides hoping to see more of the owl but it must have gone in another direction so I counted the Lapwing, 300+ and the Golden Plover, 75.

Having done the circuit earlier in the week I wasn’t keen to do the Cockersands, Jeremy Lane, Glasson route again, particularly at the thought of bumping into weekend pagerites on the rampage for the American Wigeon, so I opted to spend an hour or two at Conder Green and watch the tide roll slowly in. Not very exciting I know, no ticks, no banter, no ringing in the ears, no tripping over half abandoned tripods, and how would I find out about the next bird on today’s must-see-list?

But I had a great time, sitting in the sun, taking a few pictures, watching some beautiful common birds just going about their business as the human world speeds by, mostly oblivious to the joys of the natural world: Shelduck 11, Tufted Duck 5, Little Grebe 2, Meadow Pipit 2, Reed Bunting 2, Snipe 8, Teal 90, Goldeneye 2, Spotted Redshank 2. Greenshank 1, Grey Plover 2, Grey Heron 1, Wigeon 4, Lapwing 32, Redshank 14, Cormorant 4

Now there’s a proper list and I found them all myself.

Teal

Shelduck


Greenshank

New On The List

The morning started with a surprise when at Knott End jetty a male Tufted Duck drifted quite close in on the incoming tide, then just as quickly floated out again towards the middle of the tidal channel. An unusual event indeed for my imaginary Knott End list, but 4 Eider, 3 drakes and a female that the tufted headed over to were more typical.

Tufted Duck

The Twite flew over a couple of times, two separate groups of 20 plus as I watched them head towards the village where they eventually joined up to form a tight flock of 45 birds. On the shore just below the jetty a couple of wary, totally grey Knot fed amongst 23 Turnstone and a half a dozen Redshank. I didn’t give the Knot its full title, which of course is actually Red Knot, the description of a plumage we hardly see them in, and then only partially; they are of course one of the circumpolar long distant migrants of the wader world.

"Red" Knot

Knot Migration

Turnstone

It was a week ago that I saw tremendous numbers of waders in a feeding frenzy on the inland fields just recovered from the weeks of frost, but this week all change again as numbers reverted to more normal levels. Only Fluke Hall Lane field held good numbers of about 120 Lapwing and 40 Redshank, even though the grass remained flooded and the few Curlew around were up to their ears in the dark stuff.

Curlew

There was little to report from Lane Ends but far off Pink-footed Geese and white swans, so distant I couldn’t be certain but I thought the usual Whooper Swan, about 25 partly hidden in the ditches and low parts of the green marsh. There were 2 Little Egret here, and later 2 at Braides then 2 near Cockersands.

I checked out Conder Green to find 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Grey Heron, 7 Tufted Duck, 3 Wigeon, a solitary Grey Plover, 10 Shelduck and 80 very mobile Teal, with 4 Snipe playing at statues on the edge of the island.

Snipe

Teal

Teal

As I drove up to Cockersands with the car window open I heard croaking Raven again in what has been my Raven Week, and then saw a pair overhead flying closely together heading inland. A quick check at the Crook Farm end saw the usual wader culprits scattered too far and near to count with any certainty but between here and the caravan park I noted huge Wigeon numbers of 1500+ and more than 300 Pintail.

Close to the caravan park about 15 Tree Sparrows sat in the hawthorns at the awkward to park spot but of course weren’t there on the way back when my camera lay primed on the seat next to me. A Stonechat searched the shoreline but insisted on keeping some distance from me, so my photograph is poor, suffering from the usual defect of too much ISO on a grey end to a sunny start, but at least it’s current.

Stonechat

“Others” seen up here included up to 1000 Lapwings, 600 Dunlin, 15 Ringed Plover, 80 Golden Plover and a fine Merlin flashing by to finish an uneventful but interesting morning.