What’s For Breakfast?

I thought to have a change from ringing today even though Seumus and Ian were going to the Nature Park again. I didn’t relish another 5am start because these mornings invariably turn into much earlier wake ups when I can’t sleep for fear of missing an early alarm call. So I had a moderately early breakfast then set off towards Pilling and Conder Green for a little gentle birding, rather than the hard work of ringing. Driving through Stalmine and Pilling I noticed several groups of Swallows gathered on overhead wires, a sure sign of impending autumn with "hirundine mornings" or even whole days of migration.

I wasn’t the only one taking an early breakfast as near Lane Ends I spotted a Barn Owl surveying a field dyke the energy efficient way by fence hopping rather than flying along and over the ditch. It worked of course as clearly the Barn Owl knew this stretch, and within a couple of minutes of scrutinising the rank vegetation it pounced upon a Brown Rat or a vole. The owl flew off with the animal because in late July hungry young will be waiting for a meal. I was glad I’d eaten my breakfast; I certainly didn’t fancy what the owls had on offer.

Barn Owl

At Conder Green the customary list ensued with 7 Common Sandpipers, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Wigeon, 1 Tufted Duck, 45 Redshank, 3 Curlew and 1 Grey Heron, but seeing the single Ruff made a change from the usual fare. There were lots of Lapwing on the pool, spooked by something unseen more than once before settling down again on the far islands where I estimated about 95 birds, plus 15 Oystercatchers dotted around.

Lapwing
Ruff

Lane Ends proved typically Julyish, there were birds about but hard to see in the thick growth. I managed to find 2 Reed Warblers, 2 Willow Warblers and a Reed Bunting with 4 Pied Wagtails on the shore. Here I counted another 70 Lapwings scattered across the marsh plus 30 or so Curlews, with other small groups dropping in from inland fields. The pools held growing numbers of Mallards with 3 Tufted Duck.

The walk up to Pilling Water was deathly quiet with just a couple of Skylarks a single Meadow Pipit and near Pilling Water, 2 more Pied Wagtails, 6 Linnets, and over near the wildfowler’s pools, a Reed Bunting.

In the distance towards Fluke Hall I could see Swallows feeding low over the crops, difficult to count as they whizzed haphazardly over and through the fields, but I think a minimum of 120 birds. Now and then small groups gathered on the field boundaries and as the wind blew from the south it came with a distinct touch of autumn cool in the air.

Swallow
Goodness me the forecast looks OK for the week ahead, ringing tomorrow and mid week!

The Weekend Starts Here

It had been 9 days since our last ringing session, far from ideal in July when we aim to catch good numbers of local birds both adults and juveniles during their post breeding dispersal before migration proper begins. But if the weather prevents us getting out there’s not a lot to do except watch and study endless weather forecasts on TV or the Internet. After all the safety and welfare of birds is the priority and we cannot mist net in rain and/or windy conditions.

But a spot on forecast last night saw Will and me at Rawcliffe Moss again at 5am. I must say that all the members of our ringing group religiously and regularly work our sites, as testified by the group’s total over the years of more than 105,000 birds handled locally. No one could ever accuse us of being “twitch ringers”.

As I drove up the track I took my obligatory sunrise shot of a very red sky, and whilst I had driven through a few areas of drizzle I wasn’t too concerned that the old saying “Red Sky in the Morning, Shepherd’s Warning” might come true. Over distant fields a Barn Owl hunted to the calls of an equally distant Quail, but close to the ringing site alongside the overgrown drainage ditch a Grasshopper Warbler reeled, as it did on and off for the next three hours. The light was enough to see two Roe Deer, above their shoulders buried in the wheat field, but it was time to set the usual 96 metres of net, taking care first not to sink vehicles into peat saturated by the previous week’s deluges.

After The Rains
Early Doors
In total we caught 40 birds of 13 species, 32 new birds and 8 recaptures. New birds:
6 Willow Warbler. 2 juvenile and 4 adults, the adults all in main moult.
1 Robin
1 Reed Bunting
1 Reed Warbler
6 Goldfinch, all juveniles.
4 Sedge Warbler
1 Song Thrush
1 Chaffinch
2 Great Tit
1 Chiffchaff
8 Whitethroat.
At this site in 2010, including the 8 birds above, we have 83 Whitethroat captures, 56 new birds and 27 retrap records.
Recaptures today:
2 Willow Warblers, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Blackbird.

Willow Warbler
Willow Warbler-Tail Moult
Willow Warbler-Wing Moult
Reed Warbler
Chiffchaff
Blackbird

Visible migration today was virtually nil on this inland site. We noted about 25 Swallows and several House Martins heading south as distinct from local feeding birds but “otherwise” birds included 4 Buzzards, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 10 Stock Dove and 12 Linnets.

All in all a very satisfying session and it’s still only Friday.

Fleetwood Mac

I had an appointment in Fleetwood this morning so first nipped into a few of the well-worn birding spots. My first point of call was Rossall, most of which is actually part of Fleetwood, but I know from experience that some residents of the Rossall area consider they live in a more upmarket place than the very historic but perhaps not scenic port of Fleetwood. When asked, or in conversation they invariably say they live in Rossall. It’s comical really.

I set off towards Rossall Point just as a shower broke. Fortunately the coastguard tower was handy to hide in the lee of the burst, close against the wall so I didn’t get too wet.

Two Grey Seals popped out of the water, heading into the estuary or even the docks as they do occasionally. The sky brightened so heading west I scanned the shore. Wader numbers were thin with 1 Dunlin, 4 Turnstone and 3 Sanderling, their numbers swelled by 19 early returning Ringed Plover, and separate to them but between two other groynes, an adult performing a distraction display, but leading me in the direction I was already going. A fly past of 18 Dunlin and a single Whimbrel improved my counts. The Dunlin were all returning adults as we expect at this time of year. Carrion Crows hung about the beach and I couldn’t help but worry about the Ringed Plover chicks vulnerable to the corvid’s voracity and perseverance. But it’s not often a crow gets featured here,

Carrion Crow
Dunlin
Ringed Plover

The outgoing golfers disturbed four Sklarks from the fairway, whilst close to me Swallows were clearly on the move, not stopping and not many of them, but I counted 3 groups totalling 16 birds heading quickly south over the beach or above the dunes to then follow the River Wyre. Four Swifts low from the same direction as the Swallows also headed over the beach before disappearing in the same direction. Well it is almost August! 4 Pied Wagtails arrived on the beach but they too headed off towards the port. The tide was running in a little which probably helped the appearance of 6 Sandwich Terns, but the grey cloud didn’t help my photography today and the tide too low to concentrate the few waders.

I did my errand then made my way to Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park and parked up to watch a Song Thrush demolish a snail. It threatened rain again but on the pools were 42 Coot, 7 Tufted Duck and 9 Little Grebe including 3 fairly recent chicks, but all kept their distance as Little Grebes are wont to do. Waders on the “tyre pool” were 1 Lapwing, 2 Oystercatchers and a lone Black-tailed Godwit that stood around for a minute or two only before the large gulls came in from the docks to bathe and roost.

Song Thrush
Little Grebe
Little Grebe
Lesser Black-backed Gull

I counted 8 Swifts and 7 House Martins hawking over the “bridge pools” with 2 more Pied Wagtails and a Reed Warbler around the margins. I ventured towards the ringing area without exploring too deeply but on the passerine front I found 2 Sedge Warblers, 3 Reed Warblers, 2 Whitethroat, a Reed Bunting and 4 Skylarks.

Skylark

I didn’t get wet after all. The rain stayed away with no need for a Barbour or a Fleetwood Mac.

Plan C

Plan A didn’t work, it was too windy for ringing with more showers on the cards. Plan B didn’t work either; go to a Barn Owl box near Garstang and check out what breeding activity there might be after recently finding a pile of fresh pellets. The box was erected many years ago by an enthusiast who has since died, so it was the first time we had elected to go there.

Barn Owls

The problem was like Dad’s Army the ladder wasn’t long enough so we postponed Plan B also, Will dashed off to work and I went to Myerscough Quarry for some birding, a place that until a few years ago held a lovely workable Sand Martin colony.

The pools are the obvious draw there now, especially since our dry spring allowed water levels to drop and expose many muddy margins for wading birds; I counted 4 Grey Heron, 2 Little Egret, 15 Oystercatcher, 80 Lapwing, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Redshank, 1 Snipe and 6 Little Ringed Plover. There was constant calling from the LRPs, adults calling the young, but also males still displaying, trying to interest the females into another brood I guess.

The next most obvious thing to count must be the wildfowl, and here I logged 2 Pochard, 12 Tufted Duck, 71 Coot, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 8 Little Grebe and 3 Goosander.

Tufted Duck
Great-crested Grebe
Coot
Goosander
Little Ringed Plover

There was hirundine and swift activity, more obvious when a Kestrel appeared once or twice. And for the sake of the year listers who have yet to see, I don’t like to dwell on Hobbies, but if ever a place looked suitable for a marauding Hobby, it is here. I made do with the Kestrel and a Buzzard that spooked all the bigger waders into a brief flurry of activity. In the event I logged 20 House Martin, 3 Sand Martin, 20 Swallow and 7 Swift, numbers of the latter are falling everywhere now.

When I last visited here some of the smaller pools were suitable for catching Snipe, one of those jobs we tend to put off. Now those smaller pools hold good little reed beds where I counted 6 Reed Warbler, 5 Sedge Warbler and 11 Reed Buntings, no doubt an underestimate for the first two skulkers at least.

Reed Bunting
Buzzard

I saw small parties of both Linnet and Goldfinch dotted around, entering them down as 15 and 20 respectively.

A very enjoyable couple of hours at a place I would visit more often if I lived near Preston.

Balancing Act

Well as my old friend and hero Victor Meldrew might say, “I don’t believe it!”. People in the south of England swelter and turn a healthy shade of orange while us worthy folk in the North West get three solid days of rain on Sunday, Monday and now Tuesday, whereby my brown colour is more akin to the onset of rust, the car lies idle in the drive and my binoculars and camera fret away, neglected in their cases. It’s just not fair, we get months of nice weather and now we have to pay the price and withstand an equal amount of crappy weather fit for ducks only.

Meanwhile Mr Google may discontinue the blog on the grounds of inactivity if I don’t show willing and find something, anything, to write. “If in doubt look through the archives” as the BBC might say, and show some of the oldies, some repeats and hope that the viewers don’t notice the “R” in the programme schedule. The advantage of a blog is of course that it is totally free to view and to compose, apart from these stressful non-birding times which take their toll of the old grey matter. But to compensate me for this I am considering making an online charge of £1 as does News International now with the “Times”, but not I think with the “Sun”. I wonder why? And by the way, the “Sun” apparently sells 3 million copies a day - amazing.

So here are a few pictures of birds sitting or balancing on the top of plants, walls, wires, man-made objects or simply balancing in the air, all the things they do so effortlessly and which we marvel at.

Oh, they are not all repeats, maybe similar but certainly “Another Chance To See”.

Stonechat
Spotted Flycatcher
Kestrel
Woodpigeon
Booted Eagle
Spotted Flycatcher
Woodchat Shrike
Tawny Pipit
Redshank

And if all things are equal surely we will get dry weather tomorrow?

Green, Black, Red and Yellow

Maybe I should have stayed in bed this morning rather than driving up to Conder Green. It wasn’t raining when I set off but I was barely through Cockerham when the rain started.

As I drove through Pilling village I bore down upon what from a distance away I took to be a corvid in the middle of the road. Only too late as I got up to the bird did I realise it was a Sparrowhawk with prey, and as I slammed on the anchors and reached for my camera on the passenger seat, the bird flew off carrying what was left of a small passerine. I really need a couple of pictures of a Sparrowhawk not in the hand, but they are not easy to get. One shot through the garden last night and hid in a neighbour's sycamore. Then later in the day I disturbed another when I went to ring some Swallows but it shot out of sight very quickly. Boy those Sparrowhawks don’t sit about in the open much.

Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk

It rained and gusted all the time I was at Conder Green and limited my brief birding. I got a good count of Common Sandpiper, with a minimum of 18 birds but took a shot of one I noticed with two colour rings, yellow and red, and a standard BTO metal ring on the other leg. Later I reported it online through “Euring”. But I don’t think I will win any prizes with the photograph taken in a downpour.

Common Sandpiper
Other waders in the creek comprised a Little Egret and one each of Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, with 130 Redshank, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Black-tailed Godwit and 7 Dunlin, with red and black being the dominant colours of these almost full adult plumage birds.

Bar-tailed Godwit
The sleek, black Oystercatchers with their thick carrot bills went through again with their noisy, elaborate, displays and territorial disputes around the pool, so I snatched a few pictures before the rains came again and I headed home.

Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher
Later I checked out a Swallow nest and ringed 5 young but all in all my Swallows aren’t having a good year, and whilst a brood of five I ringed about 10 days ago are ready to fly, they are minus one that fell victim to the Border Terriers in the dog pen below the nest.

Swallows

What's Next

There wasn’t a lot of point birding this morning with rain lashing down and a 30mph westerly so I did some IPMR work and saved the birding until lunch time when the at least the rain stopped, even though it remained windy. There was a likely looking tide due at about 3.15pm so I went to check it out at Pilling.

After an interval of a couple of months Little Egrets put in an appearance with 2 autumn birds out on the marsh so it will be interesting to see how their numbers build up here. In recent years the autumn Little Egrets outnumber the Grey Herons, as they did today with only one of the grey variety counted. The waders came in with the tide as they always do, but now as July moves on a bit more variety ensues. The Common Sandpipers have been back since 27th June but in small numbers, 6 today. Along the outflow I spotted a bird in unfamiliar summer plumage, a Turnstone, a bird we are more accustomed to seeing in winter plumage. Unfortunately I can’t claim to have taken the picture on the Arctic tundra where they breed but from where some leave about now. There were a number of Dunlin again today and I estimated 90 birds, with a single Golden Plover and coming in from across the north of the bay, 4 Grey Plover. Curlew numbers continue rising with 600 today plus 40 Redshanks and a single Greenshank.

Turnstone
Turnstone
Common Sandpiper
Dunlin
Grey Plover
Little Egret
On the incoming tide I counted 6 Great-crested Grebe, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Mallard and 9 Eider, all brown females or juveniles. Eiders are much more common here than formerly so I guess the Walney colony has finally expanded to take in south Morecambe Bay.

Eider
Three very vocal Kestrels patrolled the sea wall and the marsh today; it was probably the two juveniles making all the noise as they looked to have very fresh plumage.

Wind-blown or sheltering passerines were hard to find but 4 very green Greenfinch, several Linnets and the still displaying Meadow Pipit were duly noted.

Of course if we get even more rain, the tide comes in too far or the birding gets a bit quiet there’s always the option of trying some extreme motoring in my Suzuki.