Scarce Or What?

It was our first opportunity for ringing for a while at Out Rawcliffe and the mornings are a bit easier to bear now with a 0545 start for Will and me.

Just on the perimeter of the farm I was reacquainted with a Little Owl at a previously regular spot from which they disappeared during the severe winter weather and then to not show at all through the spring and summer. Perhaps it’s a new bird, a juvenile moved into a vacant territory or one of the old birds that has actually been around all the time? If we catch it we will know.

Little Owl
Little Owl

Walking through the plantation in the half-light with our gear produced a Tawny Owl which flew up the centre track and then out of sight to roost up elsewhere. We don’t catch many Tawnies unless we work winter roosts when the owls get active as soon as it’s dark. Our mist netting proved uneventful with not much evidence of many new birds on site or moving through as warbler migration dries up a little. We caught 14 birds of 9 species, 10 new and 4 recaptures.

New: 1 each of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Whitethroat and Goldfinch, the latter a fairly recent probably second or even third brood juvenile; also 4 Willow Warblers.

Recaptures: 1 each of Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, the latter two were both adults in heavy complete moult.

Whitethroat
Goldfinch
Birds in the plantation that we didn’t catch included a Jay, a couple of Chaffinch, several Goldfinches, plus a family party of late brood Whitethroats.

Whitethroat
Chaffinch

Birding was also pretty quiet, the rarest bird being Grey Partridge that called from the wheat crop. We had new sightings of a Marsh Harrier as it hunted distant fields, but this species is now almost more common in the last few years in the Fylde than the poor Grey Partridge, especially since the harrier moved from being a scarce visitor to the area 20 odd years ago to become nowadays a local breeding species. Here is yet another very poor photograph of a very distant harrier but from this morning.

Marsh Harrier

“Others” seen this morning were 2 Tree Sparrow, 2 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 50+ Swallows, 10 House Martin, 1 Skylark and 2 Reed Bunting.

Wheatears

I went to The Reptile Room this morning to buy some meal worms so that I could catch and ring some autumn Wheatears while the weather remains too windy for mist netting. The shop didn’t have any wrigglies left, even though they have a delivery every day. All I can say is there must be an awful lot of people with hungry exotic pets around here, let’s hope they don’t all escape at the same time (the pets that is).

So I set out hoping to photograph a few Wheatears instead while there are a few around. I think there were four different birds but I haven’t had time to examine each picture to see how many individuals I snapped.











Wheatear
I didn’t get much time for birding whilst sitting in the rocks but I did note 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 1 Snipe and 130 Teal.

Teal

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