What A Lark

Lots of the UK bird blogs bemoan the fact that it’s now summer and birds are hard to find. I know some birders even hang up their bins for a while and go into a mid summer torpor waiting for migration to start up again. I’m fortunate in that if birding is quiet I can do a bit of ringing even though that is quiet too, or a bit of photography if the inactive or hiding away birds allow me.

So I set off on the well worn path Lane Ends to Pilling Water with a set of pliers and rings, “A” for Meadow Pipits, “B” for Skylarks, and “D2” for Redshank and Lapwing in the side pocket of my camera bag. Bins at the ready I ditched my ‘scope for the morning, already weighed down with equipment enough, the heavy thought that I might not see or do a lot, plus the burden of a jacket worn against the cool northerly.

Lane Ends had the usual mix of stuff, a couple of singing Chaffinch with singles of Blackcap, Reed Warbler and a Whitethroat alongside the west fence. I didn’t hear any Willow Warblers, even the contact calls of adults feeding young, so maybe they have been unsuccessful here this year.

Chaffinch
Blackcap
Reed Warbler
On the pools I counted 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and the resident Grey Heron. Things were so quiet I even took time out to take a picture of a clump of an orchid in the plantation. I think its Early Purple Orchid but I’m not really a plant man so I dedicate this picture to my friends from Menorca – Jane and Alan, together with Nigel and Elizabeth who all tried to educate me recently and who would easily confirm my Internet assisted identification.

Early Purple Orchid
There was a similar amount of bird inactivity towards Pilling Water, where out on the marsh several Redshank and Lapwing warned their young of my presence but they were safe enough from me if they stuck to the distant ditches. I counted several hirundines feeding along the sheltered back of the wall, and also 8 Swift, notable this year, which seemed to move quickly west in the direction of Fluke Hall.

I took time out to try and photograph a Skylark or two in less than ideal conditions of the wind and a sometimes bright but not blue sky. The Skylarks should have young by now but I couldn’t see any evidence with the half a dozen birds I found still engrossed in displaying, singing and courtship rather than collecting food.

Skylark
Skylark
Skylark
Skylark
In recent times the Skylark population plummeted so that today the population is about one-third of the numbers 30 years ago. The decline is most likely caused by the move to winter sowing of cereals, which deters late-season nesting attempts and may reduce winter survival because there is less stubble, such as barley and wheat, and also the use of pesticides, which kills the insects needed to feed the young. Consequently, it is on the Red List as a bird of high conservation concern.

The Skylark is the subject of much poetry, "To a Skylark" by William Wordsworth is perhaps one of the better known:
Up with me! up with me into the clouds!
For thy song, Lark, is strong;
Up with me, up with me into the clouds!
Singing, singing,
With clouds and sky about thee ringing,
Lift me, guide me till I find
That spot which seems so to thy mind!

Well the weather forecast looks much better for weekend so my prediction is for a ringing session or two and a catch of recently fledged youngsters and moulting adult birds.

Head for The Hills

After a full day of rain yesterday I just had to get out somewhere today. Because Will lives up near the hills we decided a run around in a vehicle looking over walls and hedgerows into wader fields might be fruitful. Most of the upland Lapwings have large chicks now but we hoped that the slightly later Oystercatchers and Curlews could have ringable chicks as long as they weren’t too big and able to run faster than our two pairs of much older, slightly dodgy legs.

Up beyond Calder Vale and towards the Bleasdale fells we found a couple of suitable fields where Curlew normally breed; where the ever watchful adults give the game away by flying around excitedly overhead and giving out warning calls to the young at the approach of predators like gulls, crows or humans.

Curlew
Curlew
Curlew Country
We found two broods of young, each of four, and managed to find 7 out of 8 as the young scattered and ran. Some had to wait their turn for ringing or to be reunited with parents and siblings, out of harms way from inquisitive dairy cows. It’s hard to believe that these little bundles grow into large Curlews, but then looking at those gigantic feet, maybe not.

Curlew Chick
Curlew Chick
One of the broods had one chick distinctly paler than its siblings, and also it didn’t seem quite as strong or healthy so we chose not to ring this bird before we released them all.

Curlew Chicks
I had checked my nest records on IPMR last night to see that the Whitethroat nest at Rawcliffe Moss should be ready, so we called at the farm to hopefully ring the five young. There were five chicks with wing feathers just poking from the sheaths with their legs nicely developed to adult dimensions, an ideal size at which to ring chicks. The photograph shows just three of them.

Whitethroat Chicks
A Willow Warbler nest last checked on 3rd June still contained warm eggs and a Swallow nest had 5 naked and blind young about 2 days old, so a double visit in 5 days time sounds about right.

Looking west, rain threatened for the afternoon as a flock of about 70 Lapwings took to the air: at this rate it will soon be autumn.

Lapwing
I changed the last header photo of the blog from Scops Owl to a Sparrowhawk portrait, hope you like it.

Six Of The Best

Mist netting is a little quiet at the moment whilst birds sit tight brooding eggs or young and the males stay on their territory without straying through new parts of the ringing site where the nets might catch them. But there is nest checking and ringing of the nestlings to follow up and that’s what I did this morning when I checked out 9 Swallow nests at Hambleton and Out Rawcliffe. At the first nest I had thought last week there were five young but when I actually took them out for ringing, there were six, all desperate for a feed as the morning’s cleaning out of dogs, horses and chickens kept the parent Swallows from visiting the nest as often as they wanted. When the cockerels finished squaring up there would be more feathers for the Swallows.

Swallow Chicks
Swallow
Swallow
Squaring Up
Of the remaining nests one had not moved on from last week’s lining stage, five nests remain at egg stage of either four or five eggs but I suspect one had been abandoned. A new nest containing two eggs has appeared in an old door-less garage and this may be the pair from the deserted nest. I now go weekly to keep tabs on any changes and ascertain exactly how advanced are the nests with eggs.

At Rawcliffe I ringed four young from a nest where they were at the same stage as the Hambleton birds, with wing feathers still “in pin”, not yet merging from the wing sheaths, or “IP” as the Integrated Population Monitoring and Recording (IPMR) Nest Record code dictates. Another pair on 4 eggs I will check in seven days.

Other birds I saw out here included singing Yellowhammer, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Goldfinch and a daytime calling Little Owl from a location I know.

Little Owl
Yellowhammer
On the subject of owls, it seems that several people have been told “in confidence” about a recent breeding pair of Long-eared Owl. Some of the individuals trusted with this information are about the least discreet people imaginable so we can be sure that the secret is now well and truly in the public domain. The nesting Long-eared Owls have had their cover blown at Marton where for the last several weeks they remained undisturbed by the curious, the listers, the pager devotees, the unscrupulous photographers or the simply ignorant, all of whom would target the birds. Perhaps it’s best that one site becomes known in order to spare other locations from endless lines of people gouging paths through the vegetation in order to needlessly gawp. You see, if there’s one pair there are others out there, honest.

Long-eared Owl

Lapwings Etc.

I went to Lane Ends and Pilling Water for a walk this morning, still hoping to find and ring a Lapwing or two as well as check out my Redshank nest from last week. As I thought, the Redshank didn’t stand a chance with no sign of the nest or either of the adults in what was a hopeless situation for them a yard or two from the top of the sea wall with all its passing traffic of humans, sheep and Environment Agency vehicles.

Near the entrance to Lane Ends I spotted the pair of Grey Partridge that have been in the area for some weeks now almost incongruous in the bare fields overgrazed by the numerous sheep. The plantation was pretty quiet, with both the Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler of recent weeks seemingly absent. Still singing were 3 Willow Warblers and the ever present Reed Bunting, giving out that monotonous but highly distinctive song from the overgrown ditch below the car park. On the pools I counted 7 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Grebe with 2 Oystercatcher flying in to perch briefly on the fence posts and a Grey Heron that flew off squawking loudly when I appeared. From the top of the sea wall I watched a party of Long-tailed Tits containing recently fledged young move through the tree tops as they called to each other constantly.

Reed Bunting
Grey Heron

I passed the spot where the Redshank used to be where just a little further on I walked into the territory of the Meadow Pipit pair. The male was on the mandatory fence post sending out a quiet tinkling warning call to the female sat somewhere close, but they weren’t collecting food just yet. At Pilling Water I was surprised to find 5 drake Teal, that flew off and around on my arrival, but landed back on the water. I supposed they could be failed or non breeders returning to a familiar autumn and winter haunt.

Meadow Pipit
Teal

Out on the marsh I realised there were quite a lot of Lapwings, certainly upwards of 60, scattered to the left, right and further out towards the sands. It is a familiar sight enough once June is under way, and these Lapwings comprise all of the failed and non breeding local birds of the year together with the small numbers of young produced.

Up towards Fluke Hall warning cries of an overhead Lapwing told me that there were young birds close by, in fact probably within catching distance if I was quick. Finding crouching, motionless, cryptic Lapwing chicks is never easy, but I located and ringed 2 chicks, my first and possibly last of the year at Pilling.

Lapwing
Lapwing Chick
Lapwing Chicks
Even further on I studied two more well grown chicks; sometimes they fly, sometimes they don't, and just crouch hoping their plumage will hide them against the background. If they stay put it’s another ring fitted and more information gained on the declining Lapwing. Well if they are "fliers" it's too bad, you can’t win them all.

A Juvenile Lapwing
A Lapwing “Flier”
And talking of overgrazing, these sheep did well munching this grass to such a fine finish. But sometimes all is not as it seems!

Look Out

I always had reasonable success in the past near Barnacre Reservoir when I looked for Willow Warbler nests, in some years finding 10 or 12 nests in a fairly small area, where the openness of the habitat allowed me to easily watch birds from a distance back to their nests. Over the last ten years or so the habitat has gradullay changed from the original fell side full of heather and bilberry with scattered hawthorn, willow and the odd tiny Rhododendron, into what is now burgeoning woodland where the latter invasive species now threatens to engulf the whole area. Species like Tree Pipit and Yellowhammer that nested there in the early days no longer do so, and although Bullfinches and Willow Warblers still breed, their numbers are much reduced as the open areas of low growth and grassy areas disappear under the purple and bright green of the unchecked Rhododendron growth

This morning I spent about three hours beside the reservoir looking for Willow Warbler nests and ended up finding one, with at least two other pairs feeding young and four or five more singing birds, but because of my restricted vision through the overgrown vegetation, or perhaps my early season rustiness, my nest finding wasn’t too successful. The nest I found had five well grown young, one at the front peering out of the nest, with all of them just on the upper limit of the ideal age to ring nestlings, but they went back in the nest perfectly with a hand over the entrance to for a minute or so to settle them down in the dark.

Willow Warbler
Willow Warbler
I got my first ever Lesser Redpoll nest when I watched a female bring nest lining material to a Rhododendron before I found the nest about 2 metres up in the heart of the bush. It should make an interesting and informative Nest Record Card with several entries from start to finish if the nest is successful. There is a very healthy population of Lesser Redpoll here, and I saw at least 25 birds there this morning; whether they will stay around in future years when the Rhododendron takes over completely I can not say.

Lesser Redpoll
Rhododendron – Taking Over, Look Out
Barnacre is a useful place for reviewing the difference between the similar Blackcap and Garden Warbler songs because the vegetation is at the stage where Garden Warblers like it but Blackcaps apparently don’t. I counted at least 7 Garden Warblers singing their faster more raucous than Blackcap song, fine until I encounter both at somewhere like Thurnham where both occur and confusion sets in again.

On the way back home I stopped off at Calder Vale to check progress on the 2 Tawny Owls ringed on May 26th and to make sure one or more hadn’t gone on a walkabout again. There was one there, perched on the edge of the hole, looking out on the world but it quickly ducked down when I drew up, hence the rather poor initial and only photograph. Let’s hope that both birds are in there waiting for the time they really can leave home.

Tawny Owl

Tidy Up

I was stuck in the house all day with rain beating down so I tidied up my pictures in Photoshop, sent many to the hard drive archive then found a few to share, mainly from Menorca. So for all my friends both there and here in the UK that share my passion for the island, its people, flora and fauna and the landscape, here are a few more pictures.

I think I said how Spotted Flycatchers were just everywhere, I never tire of watching them home or abroad.

Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
The Egyptian Vulture is also called Pharoah’s Chicken after it’s very lengthy association with men and drawings of it have been found inside the tombs of Egypt. There's a good population of them on Menorca.

Egyptian Vulture
The pool water wasn’t just for swimming in, the gulls came for a drink.

Audouin’s Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Here are some Menorcan specialities, all very easy to see.

Tawny Pipit
Hoopoe’s Lunch
Blue Rock Thrush
And to rest up from birding, some Menorcan places to linger.

Sa Placeta, Ciutadella-Great Coffee
Plaza de Es Born, Ciutadella
The Town Of Ferreries