A While Away

After a morning at the gym I had a few hours to show my new wheels around the patch. Nothing too muddy yet to spoil the newness and anyway it’s still a bit cold for buckets of water and a chamois leather.

By the time I arrived at Lane Ends the tide was well in, right up to the sea wall in fact and I had been remiss in not checking either tide heights or time for the past few days leaving myself out of sync. I decided to just walk to Pilling Water in the hope of seeing some evidence of springtime in the shape of bird behaviour or new arrivals. Firstly I walked to the east pool to check on the duck but noticed a couple of male Pied Wagtails along the tide line that I am sure were newly in. The pool was quiet, even the “mallards” were down in numbers and I counted more Goldeneye than I did bread hungry Mallard, with 4 Goldeneye drakes and 3 ducks. A male Goldeneye certainly thought it spring as I watched it display to females with a variety of comical head throwing, neck stretching plus other posturing and calling, with a female positively encouraging him at times. Now there’s a novelty chaps.

Goldeneye

Goldeneye

Goldeneye
In the trees surrounding the pool I saw a pair of Long-tailed Tit and heard a couple of Wrens, Dunnocks and Robins singing so they at least survived the winter. Heading towards Pilling Water I counted over 200 Redshank along the tide line and on the lower levels of the sea wall, plus several Oystercatcher, 1 Snipe, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Little Egret and 18 Curlew.

Up at the pool I sat in the still biting south easterly for a while where on the higher part of the marsh towards Fluke I counted more Redshank, 2 more Little Egrets, 170 Dunlin, 40 Lapwing and that elusive Ruff, still about but seemingly spending time both out here and on the inland stubble at random. On the edge of the lapping water were 2 Meadow Pipits, 1 Skylark and 1 Rock Pipit. There was a report of a Snow Bunting here about four days ago but no sign of it today.

The walk back to Lane Ends was uneventful but brisk as a means of warming up again. Back in the motor I switched on the heated seat and the blower before I headed off towards Damside and Fluke Hall Lane. I would never describe my birding as desperate but March can be a cruel unrewarding month; the winter birds thinning out when flocks break up and birds head back from whence they came some months ago. Meanwhile I wait for the first Chiffchaffs and Wheatears and the bulk arrivals a few weeks and miles away in Africa or the Med with no incentive to fly into a cold UK spring.

It must have been quiet, I even counted the gulls on the Fluke Hall stubbly wet, 135 Black-headed Gull and 40 Common Gull. There were 45 Dunlin, 70 Golden Plover and 120 Lapwing, but several Lapwing now displaying and paired up across the wider area away from the general flock. No excuses for having a picture of a Lapwing again, they really are a true sign of spring and just wonderful to watch and listen to.

Lapwing
Also on the stubble with the Lapwing and Redshank was a Stock Dove, not a species we see a lot or hear much about, but a first for my camera.

Stock Dove
I stopped at Knott End to put out Twite food following the cleansing of the recent high tides that washed all the previous food into oblivion. Better luck tomorrow.

A Little Consolation

On the way home from Will’s I stopped off at a Little Owl box to look for activity in the locality. Wonderful, the owl sat close to the box which it often does recently. But it has done the same in previous years without continuing on to actually use the box for nesting. At least I got a few shots in the sunshine and made a mental note to check the box contents in a month or two. It was something of a consolation prize for a slow morning’s ringing. Close to there was also a Yellowhammer in full voice, not at all surprising given the events in the earlier part of the morning.

Little Owl

Little Owl
After the catch of over 30 Siskins 10 days ago coupled with Will’s count of 70/80 in the garden 5 days previously we hoped for a good catch today. But even in that short period things changed so much that it was not only the numbers of Siskin that declined, but also the other finches and Blackbirds. In the last week lots of species have begun to sing as they moved from wintering localities, things pointing to the real beginning of spring.

A three hour session saw us catch 12 birds only:

1 Dunnock
1 Robin
2 Goldfinch
3 Chaffinch
1 Siskin
1 Coal Tit
2 Blackbirds
1 Blue Tit

The finches now sport brighter spring colours, particularly the 3 adult male Chaffinch that we caught with blueing heads and the bright as a button female Goldfinch.

Chaffinch

Siskin

Goldfinch
Will showed me his new Siskin feeder recycled from an old biro and the HP bottle featured on this blog recently, and whilst the Siskin like it, I personally favour the brown liquid on my butties rather than nyger seed.

HPSauce?
Other birds seen this morning included about 8 Siskin in total, 25 Woodpigeons, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, 12 Jackdaw and 2 Grey Heron.

Grey Heron
Will lives close to the Claughton heronry where an estate worker said recently he counted a dozen Grey Heron rather than the normal 40 or so at this time of year. I found a dead Grey Heron just last week which didn’t surprise me given the severity of our winter, so the news from Claughton could prove ominous for recent Grey Heron survival rates.

Twitter

No ringing for me this morning when no one else seemed available, so last night I looked forward to whatever came along. I didn’t set the alarm clock but let my natural rhythms take account of the increasing light of the spring which woke me before 0630. Not quite the 0330 start that a month or twos time promises but still a shock to the system after the long winter nights. Warm and snug under the duck down duvet did at least inspire me to think about where to go – Knott End to try and get a few pictures of the jetty loving Eider but also the regular flock of Twite. I emptied yet another can of de-icer on the car windscreen and set off.

Of course Twite twittered long before twittering became the latest and most imperative social function; after all, that’s how they came to be called Twite. I saw and heard the flock of 25, take one or two, twittering away from the roof of a block of flats where they go when disturbed by bird watchers, photographers and uncontrolled dogs. They twittered from the ridge tiles, twittered when they flew down, twittered as they fed on the marsh, then twittered all over again when they went for a fly around. And I got a few pictures even though the light was pretty poor, but I need to go back when it’s sunny.

Twite

Twite
As I hung around the jetty I think the ferry man set off from Fleetwood for my fare but then seemingly then turned around mid stream when I walked in the other direction. Hope I didn’t wreck his early brew, but my mission was more important than his first cup of tea. The tide rolled in slowly to allow my counts of 1200 Oystercatcher, 15 Turnstone, 18 Redshank, 1 Ringed Plover, 55 Knot, 2 Cormorant, 65 Shelduck, 5 Eider, 2 Pied Wagtails and 1 Meadow Pipit. The Eider were not very accommodating, waddling off into the water instead of sitting watching the world go by from the jetty end as they usually do.


Eider

Knot

Knot

Ringed Plover

Turnstone

Pied Wagtail
It’s a shocking forecast for Sunday and whilst it looks like the south of England will bear the brunt of rain, I don’t see us northerners getting out either. Then on Monday I’m off to ditch the old Honda and trade it in for another product from The Land of the Rising Sun which will at least allow me to go Lancaster way incognito for a while until PW susses me out. Tuesday is babysitting so that’s me thwarted for a day or two.

But it’s only two weeks before we see one of these fellas to cheer us up.

Picture courtesy of Bjorn Torrisen at
http://bjornfree.com/galleries.html

Wheatear

Wild Goose Chase? No Problem

Egyptian Goose
It looks like an Egyptian Goose will stir a little interest at the weekend for anyone wanting to add a bird to a list. To save a journey to the wilds of Cockerham Moss my post is a picture of an Egyptian Goose and a video of a less than obliging bird so as to make it like a real life twitch.



Egyptian Goose appears under Category C1 of “The British List”, i.e. naturalised introduced species – species that have occurred only as a result of introduction.

The Egyptian Goose breeds widely in Africa except in deserts and dense forests, and is locally abundant. It was introduced into Britain over 300 years ago as an ornamental waterfowl from where it gradually developed a feral population.

It seems the species has bred successfully since the early 2000s in the south of England and East Anglia where they nest in large holes or the ledges of mature trees or simply on the ground using the islands of gravel pits or park lakes. They have been classified as a pest species because they can displace other tree nesting birds like Kestrel, Barn Owl or Tawny Owl.

Their stronghold is Holkham Park, Norfolk where up to 200 birds congregate. Nearer the Fylde there is also a small population in Greater Manchester but overall they are now spreading so successfully from the original feral stock that it is thought there may be more than a few thousand birds in the UK in total. There are also self sustaining populations in Holland and Germany.

Look out Stanley Park!

On a more serious note the planned ringing for this morning was called off at the last minute due to Ringers Public Enemy Number 1, Excessive Wind Speed.

Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Etc.

The two wintering waders were at Conder Green today when I called in for a quick look. I had my better half with me for a joint fresh air mission, so I convinced her that a walk along the cycle track and return along the road via the Stork was the best plan, followed by a coffee in the Café de Lune. As it was the café closes on Wednesday afternoons so we ended up at The Lantern o’er Lune at Glasson Dock where the coffee was excellent. They have a few inventive names for caffs around here but I’m not sure that Conder Green bears a resemblance to anywhere in France.

From the cycle track above the creeks I saw the wintering Common Sandpiper in one of the skinny creeks that it seems to prefer. Then in the main, wider creek under the bridge was a Greenshank, one of the couple of winterers. Sorry I don’t have a picture of a Common Sandpiper, it’s one to work on this year, but the Greenshank photo is today’s. As compensation, below is a picture of the closely related Spotted Sandpiper which although very rare in the UK is always a possibility to turn up in the Autumn or maybe even the Spring. That’s a good enough reason to look at plenty of Common Sandpipers when they start to arrive in April and not wait for one to appear on the pager.

Spotted Sandpiper

Greenshank

Greenshank

In the area of Conder Pool itself were 1 Grey Plover, 8 Redshank, 30 Teal, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Tufted Duck, and a Song Thrush!

A roadside Merlin and a couple of roadside Kestrels on the way back.

I had a message from Will.

“Until this morning I would never have thought it possible that we would be awoken by siskins! The noise outside was unbelievable, the most I could count together was 24 in the silver birch, of course that's not counting all the ones in the alders, scotch pine and both sycamores. The most on the feeders at any one time was 17. Also in the garden were 130+ chaffinch and 2 bramblings”.

Chaffinch

Brambling

Siskin

Goldfinch

Guess where I am going if it’s fit for ringing tomorrow?

Getting A Buzz

I got hold of a three hour pass to use before the babysitting when Olivia arrived. We promised to take her out for lunch for “chips and beans”. Unlike Theo who will eat most things put in front of him, like lots of kids nowadays Olivia has a more limited diet that tantalises her taste buds; so on one day a week it’s difficult to wean her off her favourite junk. I don’t find it hard to believe that many kids these days can’t put a name to common fruit and vegetables. Or, as the mystified young lad working on our Tesco checkout when faced with courgettes to key into his till asked, “What are they?”. Maybe we should be grateful that they at least seem to be getting taught about environmental issues, giving them a chance to understand how previous generations messed the world up for them.

I wanted to check out Braides Farm first so headed there via Fluke Hall Lane, frozen overnight again after the umpteenth frost of this abnormal winter. A group of 25 Lapwing and a couple of Black-headed Gulls huddled in a single whitened but still damp patch, but otherwise my notebook remained empty. Near the seawall at Braides were 170 Lapwing, 65 Golden Plover and 60 Curlew, with less than 10 Skylark. I also counted 7 Little Egrets, less than the 11 last week but they certainly get around this whole area with more always further towards Cockerham Moss, Pilling, Bank End, Thurnham and the Lune.

From the track I could see the Buzzard on the sea wall, as could a patrolling Short-eared Owl that proceeded to dive bomb the larger bird. I got pictures of the Buzzard but the owl was less keen to harass me as a predator than the Buzzard. Otherwise I would have got better pictures of it. The Buzzard lifted off and circled to gain height whilst the owl kept its distance from me.

Buzzard

Buzzard

Short-eared Owl
A quick tally at Conder Green revealed the overnight duck turnover of 25 Wigeon, 33 Tufted Duck, 11 Pochard, 2 Shelduck and 35 Teal with a lone Grey Heron and several Oystercatchers, Curlew and Redshank.

Shelduck

Pochard
The tide was way out at Cockersands caravan park so counting much was out of the question but I was content to try my luck with the shy Stonechat and the other small birds along the shore, 11 Linnets, 1 Reed Bunting, 4 Chaffinch, 3 Greenfinch and a couple of Blackbirds commuting to and from the caravans.

Linnet

Stonechat
On the return journey I could see thousands of Pink-footed Geese on the fields opposite Gulf Lane but didn’t have four hours to spend going through them for a “goodie”, especially along Mortuary Mile.

Back at Lane Ends the roadside Fieldfare gradually eating through all the Sea Buckthorn berries has been a great photo opportunity for anyone who likes to take pictures of common birds. A bit “dudy” perhaps for those who only get their camera out for “good” or rare birds with which to fill up all the local bird reports? But I get a buzz out of taking photographs of any birds. I looked at a North West bird report recently and it did not contain a single photo of a common bird, just pictures of the supposed highlights of the birding year. Then everyone complains about the huge turnout at twitches, the Day After Birders, the Weekend target touts, the pagers and mobiles ringing out for fun! Well what do we expect if through local bird reports and pager systems keen beginners are introduced to a diet of rarities and “good” birds, the ”E Numbers” of bird watching, rather than shown the joys of patch watching, survey work, vis migging or taking photographs of common birds? Is it any wonder that so many become hooked on the wrong diet and have no interest in the humble spud?

Fieldfare
Fieldfare
So what’s the big attraction of Sea Buckthorn to the Fieldfare apart from the fact that other berries are now in short supply?

“Sea Buckthorn berries are a common source of nutrition for a great deal of wildlife, birds in particular, but when they are eaten by humans they tend to be very bitter and quite unpleasant and may need to be used as an additive to other types of food in the diet. The most common form of Sea Buckthorn is Hippophae Rhamnoides and the female of the species produces succulent and juicy orange berries which is becoming a popular and fast selling product. Normally found on coastal areas of many areas in Europe and some parts of Asia, the plant includes berries which are now being cultivated to sell to the general public who have discovered that these berries can be potentially very good for health. The berries contain extremely high levels of vitamin C, though vitamins A and E and amino acids have also been found in many varieties of the plant. Although definite research into their exact health benefits have not been fully carried out and evaluated, it is generally assumed that due to their high content of vitamin C that they must have some benefit to health and can be enjoyed in many products. The anti-oxidant properties may be proved to help eliminate some of the harmful chemicals found in the body that may affect the heart and its function. Sea buckthorn berries have also been found to be beneficial in preventing narrowing of the arteries caused by a build-up of cholesterol. Compounds in the berries are now being derived and used in health supplements specifically for this reason”.

Sea Buckthorn
Isn’t the Internet wonderful?

After The Fog

No early morning heroics for me this morning after the forecast predicted heavy frost with a chance of freezing fog again. Although I was up at 0715 and it was fine and sunny, the fog quickly came in, bringing freezing air to whiten the garden. So I had a walk up to the shop to buy the Telegraph, sat at home with a coffee and waited. By 1230 it was bright enough for me to head out to Rawcliffe for a walk.

Today was obviously a Wood Pigeon shoot as gunfire echoed over the moss from every wood but I am pretty sure most of our Wood Pigeon cleared off during the frost, snow and ice of weeks ago, and the fact that I didn’t see more than 20 was down to that, not the success of the shoot.

Woodpigeon
On the way down to the feeding station I stopped to look at a flock of 45 Lapwings in the roadside field which they shared with a biggish flock of Starlings. Part of the attraction was that moles had been very busy disturbing the ground, no doubt leaving plenty of items the birds could consume. A field or two away a farmer busied himself doing whatever farmers do in tractors but seemed too engrossed to stop and watch the Roe Deer not far away. Perhaps because shooters were in every wood I saw three groups of Roe Deer, two lots of four and another of three animals, 11 in total.

Lapwing

Roe Deer
From the feeding track I counted 135 Tree Sparrow, 5 Yellowhammer, 5 Reed Bunting, 7 Blackbird, 12 Chaffinch, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker and I disturbed a pair of Grey Partridge from below the hedge. I also found two other pairs of Grey Partridge when I walked up the edge of the big field close to some flooded tractor tracks where 3 Snipe hurried off at my passing.In the top fields and along the edge of the plantation I found 8 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch, 3 Corn Bunting and snatches of song, a fairly distant Buzzard and 2 Kestrels, one of which perched on the outermost branches of the trees.

Kestrel

Reed Bunting

Corn Bunting

There were another 30 Corn Bunting near the farm buildings, along with 2 Reed Buntings, 3 Collared Dove and 22 Chaffinch.

A fairly quiet and unexciting afternoon for birds but it's difficult to follow catching 34 Siskin as we did yesterday. An enjoyable walk nonetheless. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.