Action Packed

With a couple of hours to spare I ventured out from Fluke Hall. I wanted to check out the numbers of Teal and the Little Egrets as the wildfowlers had told me of good numbers of both, plus I could continue up to Pilling Water for a look see.

The Teal hide away in the maize crop and pool margins but luckily for me a wagon arrived to tip slurry near the side of Worm Pool, the smelly mess attractive to 3 Pied Wagtails, if not for me sat just downwind of it.

As the wagon tipped backwards, the noise and disturbance caused the Teal to erupt from the pool in a fabulous flying display to rival The Red Arrows. Counting birds is imprecise at the best of times but I reckon there were at least 400 Teal, not up to the wildfowler’s estimate of 500, but what’s a hundred or so ducks between friends? In the picture below I think there are about 130 Teal, please feel free to practice duck counting here. But it’s certainly a good count for mid-August and the numbers can only increase, especially with the daily sacks of wheat provided.

Teal
Teal

The flying Teal attracted in a Peregrine from out on the marsh which appeared to mean business as it circled then stooped a couple of times at the massed Teal but didn’t catch. It quickly tired of the pursuit and as quickly as it flew in, it soared back out to the marsh. Maybe the Sparrowhawk was watching the action because no sooner had the Peregrine disappeared than it too flew quickly across the pool and dead ahead of me before continuing up towards Pilling Water.

Peregrine
Peregrine
Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk

It wasn’t nearly as action packed at Pilling Water, just a single Common Sandpiper, a Green Sandpiper and a Greenshank with 11 Little Egrets along the tidal channel which disappear into the ditches of the marsh when anyone appears along the wall. Passerine numbers were low with 3 Wheatear, and in contrast with recent days, a handful each of Linnet and Goldfinch. About 60 Swallows fed low across the fields and the dyke with very few House Martins today. I’m sure it was yesterday’s Kestrel hanging about the fence posts again, maybe it hasn’t learnt to hover yet as all it seems to do is sit around waiting for an easy meal or someone to come along with a camera.

Little Egret
Kestrel

A Sunny Day

It was a bright sunny day so although I did some birding, I concentrated on getting a few pictures while the light was helpful.

At Lane Ends I heard at least two Willow Warblers calling from the trees below the car park, but there is so much cover at this time of year I can’t imagine those two are the only ones there. I also heard a Kingfisher call once from the pool that no one can see thanks to Wyre Borough and The Environment Agency failure to maintain the place; a single call means a fly past usually. All was not lost as when I walked to the east pool the Kingfisher sat on the fence in the nearest corner, but flew back to no man’s land as soon as it spotted me. There seemed to be a movement of both Swallows and House Martins as small parties arrived from the marsh, fed for a few minutes then moved on. The now resident Kestrel was pretty obliging today so I took a few shots whilst it fence hopped. The Woodpigeons here get used to the comings and goings of cars so I stopped to get one in the half sunlight as it preened the mass of feathers.

Kestrel
Kestrel
Woodpigeon

At Pilling Water the wildfowler’s pool held 200 Teal, flushed by the chap on the quad bike with his sack of duck grub; the Teal fly off to the shore, the Mallards will find how the free grub system works in two weeks’ time. The Green Sandpiper also came off the pools and settled briefly on the near pool before it skittered off with its weird melody and not a hope of a photo.

I sat on the stile and watched a couple of Little Egrets along the ditch when one decided to fly towards the wildfowler’s pools, not knowing quad man was there. The egret circled back in mid-air and re-joined the other one, so Little Egret picture number 140 coming up. There was a single Wheatear again today, which could be the one that has been around for a few days considering how it avoided me. Wheatears are harder to come by, less predictable in both numbers and dates in autumn than spring. April and May will see a rush of birds with falls on the west coast of small groups, tens and twenties, sometimes many dozens but in contrast the autumn passage is more protracted through July, August, September and October. I did catch up with the Wheatear for a fresh picture, where else but the wheatear rocks? I also snapped a Brown Hare, muddied fresh from a run through the saltmarsh.

Little Egret
Wheatear
Brown Hare

I counted more Linnets this morning, with 30 or more here and a similar number of Goldfinch. Like at Lane Ends there were parties of both Swallow, about 30 with similar numbers of House Martins.

On my way to Bank End, where I had a single Greenshank and nothing else, I called in at Hillam where I found a flock of 80 Linnets, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Buzzard, 40 House Sparrow, 9 Goldfinch, 2 Pied Wagtail, 25 House Martin and 20 Swalllow.

House Martin
House Martin

That was a nice morning, with a few pictures in the bank too.

Early Doors

This morning was the first for more than a week without rain and/or wind, so a spot of mist netting beckoned. I went to Rawcliffe alone this morning because Will has gone fishing to Scotland for a week and as punishment for being unavailable for ringing, has strict orders to bring back a large salmon.

At the beginning of the farm track a number of birds mobbed a Tawny Owl then further down near the barn my car disturbed two early rising Kestrels which took off over the fields. As the days shorten the start time remains dawn, the hour a bit more civilised, but early enough to see Roe Deer searching through the crop fields of the moss.

Roe Deer

The chore is putting up nets alone so I made do with a little less, catching reasonably well if only in a couple of bursts. I caught a total of 17 birds, 16 new with only one recapture, a Whitethroat. New birds were 4 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 5 Whitethroat, 1 Dunnock, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Wren and 1 Robin.

Chiffchaff
Wren in post breeding juvenile moult
Robin
Sedge Warbler
Willow Warbler
Reed Bunting

The morning sky was completely clear with a touch of haze and no cloud, hardly the best for visible migration and I wasn’t surprised when I recorded nil movement apart from a dawn Golden Plover and a dozen or two Swallows.

I was finishing off the last bird a Wren, definitely time to finish then, ready to take down the nets when in the distance I spotted a large raptor heading north. The Buzzards have been pretty secretive around here so I took a look through my bins to see a Marsh Harrier flying fairly purposefully, pausing briefly to hover legs dangling, over a large, isolated, distant hawthorn. I changed from my short lens and grabbed a few hazy shots, the story of my life, as the bird motored on over towards Pilling Moss.

Marsh Harrier
Marsh Harrier
A good morning and maybe it wasn't the end of the summer after all?

Tempus Fugit

There’s not a lot to report, a quick visit to Conder Green then a brief afternoon sortie to Knott End as time was of the essence today.

All the waders bar one seemed to be in the creek this morning, 2 Spotted Redshank up to their bellies, 2 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 55 Lapwing, 28 Redshank, 4 Curlew, 1 Snipe and a lone Grey Heron, whilst over at the back of the pool a single Black-tailed Godwit played hide and seek behind the island. In the hawthorns by the screen hide a Lesser Whitethroat showed briefly but preferred to stay hidden while alarm calling. The flock of Goldfinch are rapidly depleting the thistles and I counted only 10 birds this morning.

Spotted Redshank
Goldfinch
Grey Heron

Braides Farm is major disappointment this year and even though I have permission to survey the land it has been so dry until recently that I haven’t walked the track for months. I stopped in the gateway today where in the distance I could see a Wheatear and an overflying Little Egret.

A combined shopping expedition and walk along Knott End promenade at lunchtime was fairly productive with at least 1500 Oystercatchers coming off the river to head towards the high tide roost, with a small flock of 18 Dunlin, plus 4 Grey Plover, and then bobbing on the sea 25+ Eider. Watching from near the jetty it was interesting to note a diurnal movement of Swallows come from the Fleetwood direction, cross the estuary and then head east into the wind and follow the tideline towards Preesall, in all about 30 birds in 15 minutes. I didn’t count the gulls; suffice to say that there were several hundred Herring Gulls, a couple of hundred Black-headed Gulls, plus 8 Sandwich Terns.

Not much to report and not much in the way of pics today either but my fingers are crossed for some ringing in the morning because outside my office the wind doth subside a little.

Eider
I've just realised that tomorrow is my first birthday, the day I started the blog. How time flies when your having fun. This is the first post.

http://anotherbirdblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/well-i-did-easy-bit.html

Almost

I hoped to get pictures when the Marsh Harrier appeared for the fourth time in a week. I was sat in my usual spot on the sea wall at Pilling when the harrier appeared from the fields at the back of the sea wall behind, just as the commotion amongst the shoreline birds caused me to look left and spot the raptor fly over the wall. All the time it flew out towards the distant tide line, heading away and then east towards Lane Ends car park where some lucky souls with ‘scopes out probably got better views than I. The best I could do I’m afraid, nearly there.

Marsh Harrier

The high tides continue for a while which makes the birding irresistible even though it’s hardly the best weather for sitting on an exposed sea wall with continuing showers and strong wind. The page of my notebook reads much like yesterday’s entry. Curlew continue to pile in with at least 700 again, 185 Lapwing only as the majority stick to wet fields inland, 15 Redshank, but I don’t know where all their numbers are, 13 Grey Plover, 1 Greenshank, 3 Snipe, 2 Common Sandpiper, 30 Dunlin and 10 Ringed Plover. Further out were the usual miscellaneous wildfowl, 3 Great-crested Grebe, 7 Cormorant, 28 Shelduck, and 2 Grey Heron outnumbered again by 12 Little Egret.

Lapwing
Greenshank
Shelduck

A Peregrine put in a brief appearance to spook everything before heading west towards Knott End. Two Kestrels noted again today. Passerines logged today were 30 Goldfinch on a patch of thistles, 10 Linnet, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Skylark and 1 Wheatear on the wheatear rocks.

Wheatear

The high tides and rain this week caused some flooding in a low lying part of Hambleton village when the River Wyre burst its banks last night. Today I went to a higher part of the village to ring my last two broods of Swallows. I say the last because there are no birds on eggs at the moment, just a nest ready to fledge any moment plus the final one due to fledge in about ten days. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we looked forward to the arrival of Swallows. In total I have ringed 45 Swallow chicks from 13 broods at this site. This is an about average year only and it may be that the poor weather of the last four weeks played a part in there being no further egg laying.

Swallow
Swallow

I'm Positive

It’s been a tough week. I got soaked to the skin twice; a third day I received a thorough wetting as well as being almost blown into next week by the strong westerly; and then damn it, the mist nets must remain packed away until the weather improves. On three occasions the Marsh Harrier wouldn’t cooperate at the end of the lens and nor could I get photos of any other winged creature. Then yesterday to cap it all, a birder with I might say a history of dodgy records and something of a reputation, cast doubt upon my ability to count 10 Little Egrets on my regular patch of 25 years. If there are three words guaranteed to wind up a birder, they are “Are you sure?” It got so bad that last night I thought about packing in bird watching, perhaps buy a pager subscription to Birdguides, swap in the 4x4 Suzuki for something fast with a dashboard satnav and then wait for someone else to find some interesting birds for me.

But then I slept on it, read some really nice supportive comments on the blog from friends near and far that reinvigorated my enthusiasm, then this morning I set off for Pilling after calling in at Damien’s brilliant Knott End fish shop for some brain food.

At Knott End jetty there wasn’t a lot along the river with the channel being as low as I have ever seen it following this week’s high tides. There were 7 Meadow Pipits and 4 Pied Wagtails, plus a small gaggle of Redshanks, and out in the narrow channel, near the Isle of Man ferry, a couple of Sandwich Terns feeding back and forth. A rainbow hung over Fleetwood in a sky as black as my boots but behind me the sun shone and lit the ferry in a halo of optimistic light.

Redshank
Fleetwood Morning

I think Kestrels bred close to Lane Ends, there have been two or three about for a week or two, just like this morning when one fence hopped and followed me virtually to Pilling Water.

Kestrel

Six more wagtails, and 8 Meadow Pipits around the dyke, Pied I think without being able to study them too close in the still strong wind, but Meadow Pipits that are perhaps from Iceland do often arrive with wagtails that might or might not be White Wagtails from Iceland. However it certainly looks like the Meadow Pipit autumn migration has begun in earnest. There was a single Wheatear again this morning which briefly sat up on the rocks where I should really have put a spring trap. I counted 2 Common Sandpiper and several hundred Curlew with a couple of Snipe rushing from the marsh, but didn’t wait for the tide today. Instead I walked to the wildfowler’s pool near Fluke in the hope of seeing the Teal. I did indeed see Teal, probably 200, the numbers rapidly increased since the first arrivals about two weeks ago. The Teal aren’t put down by the wildfowlers, they are wild as wild can be and simply take advantage of the sacks of food put out for the shoot’s bought in Mallards.

Meadow Pipit
Wheatear
Common Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper

There seemed to be a few more House Martins around this morning, with probably 20 or so hawking around the dyke and outflow, but in contrast Swallows were thin until the temperatures rise a little.

I first heard and then saw the Green Sandpiper today, spooked with Mallards from the wildfowler’s pools before diving quickly back in. A Sparrowhawk here as well.

Little Egret? Fourteen today, I’m positive.

Little Egret

Ticking And Trying

It doesn’t get any easier filling this blog, except that is with words, the pictures are a bit harder to come by. I had lots of birds when out birding today but despite the camera to hand I couldn’t get any decent photographs. If only birds had no wings and couldn’t fly? So if one or two of these pictures look familiar they are from the archive and appear so as to illustrate the birding time. But at least the news herein is current and complete.

There was a high tide due at just midday and for once the sun shone for the time being, so I made my way towards Pilling where the rising tide concentrates the birds. At Lane Ends car park a party of titmice included at least one Willow Warbler and whilst I didn’t linger in counting the other birds, I noticed a couple of Robins give out their “tic”calls, a sure sign of autumn. Like many other birds Robins go almost completely silent during their autumn moult, only re-finding their voice as autumn arrives with their territorial or warning “tic” call and their distinctive autumn song which is softer and more melancholy than the spring one. Also a male Robin’s song is of greater duration and contains more diverse phrases then the female song.

Robin

Pilling Water and beyond towards Fluke Hall is probably the best place for watching the incoming tide, so I made my way down there on the seaward side to avoid the blustery south westerly wind. I got half way then scanned back over Cockerham Marsh and Lane Ends itself where Sod’s Law really swung into action with a Marsh Harrier that came off the marsh and flew slowly over the pools and plantation where I had stood ten minutes earlier. I think it probably went out of my sight line and east back towards Cockerham because I didn’t see it again.

First I looked for the birds always around, and counted 12 Linnet, 7 Goldfinch, 2 Common Sandpiper, 2 Kestrel and 1 Pied Wagtail. There was a single Wheatear and my first real numbers of autumn Meadow Pipits with 10 or 12 along the shore and near the outflow. I sat and counted the Swallows about, some of which were obvious migrants as they hurried through south west; I came to a count of 40+, with one Swift and 6 local House Martin.

Pied Wagtail
Common Sandpiper

I turned my attention to the tide, and after yesterday I made a determined attempt at Curlew counting; 750+ was my result, hardly unexpected or original but quite satisfying. Other waders: 15 Redshank, 45 Golden Plover, 3 Grey Plover, 40 Dunlin, 17 Ringed Plover and a Green Sandpiper over in the wildfowler’s ditches. On the incoming tide were 9 Cormorant and 4 Great-crested Grebe, with herons represented by one each of Grey Heron and Little Egret. It’s interesting that my count of 9 Little Egrets here last week was a one off for now, but they too have a post breeding dispersal which isn’t necessarily obvious to casual watchers.

Redshank

The Peregrines were about again today, a clearly juvenile bird, very fuzzy faced and brown underneath, in contrast to an adult male with clear cut facial marks. Unlike on many previous occasions when I have watched two or more Peregrines interact which I ascribed to family bonds, these two keep a distance apart, hunt separately, and head off in different directions. It was the juvenile bird that in the distance caught a rather large bird in mid-air then laboured towards the shore carrying the prey before dropping it amongst roosting gulls and Curlews. Rather strangely I though it didn’t attempt to retrieve the meal. Below there is a very bad, distant shot of the Peregrine, the best I could get in amongst the pretty good birding. I am trying, honest.

Peregrine