A Walk In The Park

I had an email. Lowell asked if I could post information on the blog about a series of forthcoming guided autumn bird watching walks in his local park. No problem, heck I’m all for encouraging people to get out and learn about birds and the environment. So I read on and the penny, or in this case the cent dropped, Lowell meant Central Park, New York, The Big Apple, with bird walks led by expert birders from the American Museum of Natural History.

Black and White Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Central Park

Now either Lowell hadn’t read my blog in sufficient detail to realise that I and most of my readers are in the UK or he understands the power of the Internet more than I do. But then I thought about it a bit more and looked through my statistics and saw that in actual fact I have over 1000 visitors from the US since October last year from places as far apart as San Francisco, Kentucky, Idaho and yes, even New York. Geography was never my strongest subject but I do know that it’s more than a short bus ride or subway journey from Kentucky, San Francisco or Boise to Central Park so I hope Lowell doesn’t think I can get him a few dozen extra punters at the drop of a Stetson, but I guess he’d be happy with one or two. So right now I’m giving everyone plenty of notice because the walks don’t start until Tuesday 7th September, SEE HERE

That’s time enough even for some of the more wealthy UK birders to hop on a plane and take part in support of a good cause. But Lowell you must realise UK birders are real tightwads, as many rarity collection buckets devoid of dollar bills but containing a myriad of ancient buttons and foreign coins long since obsolete can testify.

Yellow-breasted Chat
Hooded Warbler
Red-eyed Vireo
Wilson’s Warbler
Maybe I should go myself, especially since I have just given Lowell a free ad and he owes me. I will need a Virgin Atlantic return ticket please Lowell, preferably business or first class, plus a Yellow Cab to and from JFK.

September Start

Will and I kicked off the month with another ringing session at Out Rawcliffe. It was a slightly misty morning as the dull sun promised to burn off the thin layer of murk and leave us with clear conditions again.

Dawn Mist

Both the morning itself and our catch proved similar to other recent sessions, with not much on-going visible migration as the sun did its job. We had a mixed bag of birds, mainly warblers and finches, and for the second session in a row, no recaptures. We caught 23 new birds of 10 species: 1 Tree Pipit, our 7th of the year and 6th of the autumn, 10 Chaffinch, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Great Tit, and singles of Blackcap, Robin, Wren, Long-tailed Tit and Blue Tit.

Tree Pipit - juvenile
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Great Tit
Blue Tit

We kept eyes and ears open but logged little genuine migration with 4 Tree Pipits, 8 or more Meadow Pipits high overhead and 1 Alba wagtail, this paucity enlivened only by a party of 5 Sand Martins plus several Swallows heading rapidly south. Otherwise we thought even the local Swallow and House Martin numbers were down this morning with many birds having moved on following the several days of fine weather. Up high we also noted a dozen or two Chaffinch heading south, some we saw, and with others we just heard the characteristic autumn flight calls.

Other birds logged this morning were 2 or possibly 3 Jays, 1 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 15 Tree Sparrow, and the inevitable Goldfinches, with the distant but local Marsh Harrier putting in another fleeting appearance as it headed off over miles of open country.

Kestrel

Arrivals And Departures

All my birding spots are a bit like a UK airport or train station at the moment, bodies everywhere, arriving from all directions and leaving generally in a southerly direction towards the Mediterranean, or alternatively just hanging around and feeding up until it’s the time is right to go. Or, more likely in the in the current clear days and night conditions, many are on the move but fly unseen and unheard at 30 thousand feet with no reason to break their journeys.

The Swallows were clearly building up for departure this morning when I counted many parties of them on my way through Stalmine and Pilling, gathered on overhead wires as they chattered away to each other before some set off in flurries of excitement in mock departures to nowhere in particular, circling around for a while and then joining back with the rest of the assembly. It must be the continued fine weather that gets them going, both the urge to migrate and the enthusiasm they display, but there is no doubt something was in the hirundine air this morning.

Swallow
Swallow
Swallow

I had an hour or two before babysitting duties so made my way to Lane Ends to walk the wall. There were Swallows and House Martins on the move here, with birds flying low over the salt marsh, heading west but pausing occasionally to rest up on the remains of a tree left on the marsh by recent high tides. I counted at least 140 Swallows and 25 House Martins, and whilst I half expected a Hobby to appear in the warm and calm conditions, the best I could muster was the usual Peregrine sat (or is that stood) a distance out on the marsh where it remained for the next hour or so. I guess the Peregrine had already eaten because it seemed in no hurry to eat again. The pools gave me 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret late departing the sometimes roost and the now resident but elusive Kingfisher. I had a couple of Grey Wagtails over plus 3 “albas” and 2 rasping Snipe as they flew high towards Cockerham.

Along the sea wall it was a Meadow Pipit and wagtail morning with 30+ Meadow Pipits seemingly off-passage for a while, feeding in the area of Pilling Water and the UU dump. Likewise I found three Pied Wagtails here with a single Grey Wagtail and 2 more calling overhead, plus a single Wheatear on the rocks. Finches today were 25 Goldfinch and 15 Linnet, and I almost forgot, one calling but hopefully more than a single Greenfinch at Lane Ends.

Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail

A biggish count again of 11 Little Egrets here, plus the two earlier Lane Ends birds reflects the counts in North Lancashire and elsewhere this autumn as the species goes from strength to strength. Even the cold winter has not dented this bird’s growing population. I didn’t trespass to see the Greenshanks today, I didn’t fancy panicking 100 Red-legged Partridge, the numerous fattened-up Mallard and the wild and wary Teal, but even from the wall I clocked the Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Reed Buntings.

Reed Bunting

A very pleasant and productive hour or two, and even the babysitting wasn’t entirely without birds when “sans bins” I saw 3 Little Egrets on Knott End shore while waiting to treat Olivia to a ferry ride to Fleetwood. We certainly know how to live it up in these parts.

An August End

It was more ringing this morning when after another clear and windless night, Will, Ian and I met up at for Out Rawcliffe for the last session of August.

It was repetition again in the form of the first birds of the morning when Grey Partridge came off the set aside to fly into the potato field, and although we doubled our previous total by seeing 4 birds, I don’t think that miserable quantity strictly counts as a covey? As we walked up the centre track of the plantation a Tawny Owl flew ahead and back into roosting cover and we didn’t see it again.

Once again we had by our standards a quite productive morning and a mixed bag with 21 new birds of 9 species and unusually, zero recaptures: 2 Whitethroat, 11 Chaffinch, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit, 1 Blackbird, 1 Robin, 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Swallow.

Swallow
Meadow Pipit
Chaffinch

Birds we didn’t catch this morning included a Tree Pipit sat unseen under a mist net until we approached, then later another bird that landed on the farm track and fed for a short time before it continued south. Near the top of the plantation a party of Long-tailed Tits numbering at least 15 individuals thankfully avoided our nets.

It was calm and clear all morning with nil cloud once the sun rose which didn’t help spotting any visible migration taking place, and apart from a soon-after-dawn burst of albas and Grey Wagtails heading south and the afore mentioned Tree Pipits, there was little happening. We think that our second double figure catch of Chaffinch in recent days is related to local movement, but also to the fact that a small number may be roosting in the plantation itself.

Other birds seen this morning; Jay, Kestrel, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk, 3 Buzzard, Grey Heron and the Little Owl at the “horsey barn” that is so reluctant to be photographed and flies into the roof space when my car slows down. One of these days I'll catch it unawares or when it's just having a doze.

Great-spotted Woodpecker
Little Owl

Bird watchers always like to see birds in immaculate spring plumage, but at this time of year the reality is that not only do lots of adults go through a full moult, but juvenile birds also undergo moult of their body feathers. Here’s a couple of shots of juvenile birds this week, the Blackbird we caught this morning, and a Robin in my garden this week. Give them a few days more and by early September they will look a little smarter.

Robin
Blackbird

Lucky Jim

A fellow blogger and worker of his own patch MP, remarked to me last week that some of the birds I see in my own local area and mention on my blog, almost in passing sometimes, are actually scarcer elsewhere. He’s dead right of course, but perhaps occasionally after a quiet day birding or ringing I either forget or choose to ignore the fact then complain mildly about seeing only a couple of Spotted Redshanks, a handful of Greenshanks or the odd Pintail. So I’m grateful for the regular reminder that I, or anyone else for that matter, shouldn’t get blasé about certain species seen regularly in a particular locality. Birders in this part of the world are very privileged, lucky to live in such a bird rich part of the North West coast. Daily we can see a fantastic selection of waders, pop out of the house to watch Peregrine and Merlin, tour the inland mosses to see thousands of wintering geese, witness the coastal migration of passerines in both spring and autumn, have seabirds galore when the weather is right, or if we get bored with those, head just inland to the Pennine fells to see Hen Harriers, Black Grouse and breeding waders or drive 40 minutes up the main road to Leighton to see Bitterns and Marsh Harriers.

I thought about this a couple of times this morning, firstly when I arrived at Conder Green. It was a beautiful sunny morning, zero wind and there were birds everywhere that led to the welcome problem of choosing between filling my notebook very quickly with a long list and so potentially miss something that might not hang around or dodge out of sight, or alternatively doing the looking first then worrying about my notes later. It wasn’t a real choice because I have a decent memory apart from the compulsory man thing of birthdays. So I set to and looked, not in any particular order but waders and wildfowl first; 5 Snipe, 5 Curlew, 40 Redshank, 5 Greenshank. 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 90 Lapwing, 4 Oystercatcher, 4 Little Grebe, 22 Teal, 10 Mallard and 6 Mute Swan.

Lapwing
Oystercatcher

The light was rather strange this morning with a very bright and strong sun, but good for seeing the eyes of the herons, 2 Grey Heron in the creek and 7 Little Egret shared between the pool and the creek.

Little Egret
Little Egret
Grey Heron

The Kingfisher put in a brief appearance on the parapet before it spotted me hiding behind the so called hide, at which point it sped off towards the far side of the pool. Passerines noted today were 2 Meadow Pipits playing at Tree Pipits atop the hawthorn, 2 Whitethroat, 3 Tree Sparrow, 2 Pied Wagtail, 8 Goldfinch and 3 Linnet. Also, 10 House Martin and 25+ Swallows headed due south over the pool.

Meadow Pipit
Tree Sparrow
Whitethroat

At Lane Ends I bumped into a birder who lives in an inland city but was visiting his Nateby family for the weekend. To me, a biased old fart, that city is a hell on earth, a birdless conurbation of filth, crime and mostly sad people that don’t bird, but the lad gamely mentioned a few places where he escapes to when possible whilst admitting his desire to return to civilisation asap. As I watched a Peregrine dive through a flock of 70 or so Teal and return to sit on the deserted marsh I reflected on my good fortune, the simple pleasure of birding and the variety of birds I’d seen on this an average morning. Even more so when I finished off with a couple more Greenshank, a single Wheatear, 3 more egrets and a little Sparrowhawk soaring around the car park but surrounded by Swallows and House Martins. What a great morning!

Wheatear

Struggling

Not so much with a bit of local patch news but rather a dilemma to find new photographs after a torrid few hours fighting in the face of a strong westerly with a heavy shower or two thrown into the mix. So the camera stayed in the bag, my baseball hat blew off more once then headed towards Cockerham without me, whilst my notebook had wet, blotchy, blue entries instead of neat pencilled items because I am an adult and don’t use pencils.

A 2pm tide beckoned even though at just over 28ft it was almost certainly a bit of a short arse and wouldn’t reach the necessary height to concentrate any decent numbers of waders. Out from Lane Ends there wasn’t much point in ear birding, listening for birds in competition with the blustery head wind that drowned out all but the nearest sound, but I did note a couple of brave Meadow Pipits. I found a semi sheltered spot and waited, and waited, taking a break by wandering over to the pools when I heard the Green Sandpiper. It was a bit strange when I watched the Green Sandpiper chased off a pool margin by the much smaller Pied Wagtail that continued to dive bomb the wader as it sought refuge in the middle of the pool. As the wagtail continued, the sandpiper flew off further down the pool where it was left in peace. Maybe the almost black and white colouration of the sandpiper combined with its bobbing feeding action led the wagtail to think it had to chase off a very large wagtail?

Teal came in with the tide; I counted 400 flying in, rather than out from the wildfowler’s pools from where they probably spend the darker hours on the easy food menu. Also on the tide, flying about briefly were my first Pintail of the autumn, but only 10. Returning Shelduck plus birds of the year now number more than 60, still way off the eventual winter numbers of course.

I made a special effort to count the Little Egrets today but I don’t think the mediocre tide helped my mediocre count of 6 birds, with a single Grey Heron only. The incoming tide pushed in 2 Greenshank to add to the one I had already seen on the wildfowler’s water, where I won’t be welcome come 1st September unless I carry a gun rather than a telescope.

I’d sat for some time watching Swallows, every single one arriving from the east, north east or south east before they fed either over the outflow of Pilling Water or on the inland side before leaving to the west and Fluke Hall. I also counted House Martins arriving and leaving in a similar fashion with eventual migration totals of 350+ Swallows and 40 House Martins, which confirmed my on-going thought ratio of 10:1 in favour of Swallows.

Linnets abounded today with 22+ but smaller numbers of Goldfinch at 9 and a single windswept Wheatear scratching a living near the United Utilities bits and pieces, the training ground for budding earthmovers and timewasters. The Kingfisher put in an appearance when it flew from behind me, out along the channel, over the marsh and back again towards the pools, Teal City and Mallard Heaven. I think it wants to sit on the parapet at the channel but if it spots a human form, does a circuit then disappears out of sight and waits for another occasion.

So, as now becomes obvious there are too many words and not enough pictures, repetitive shite perhaps as a fellow blogger accused me of? The problem is that when someone works a local patch it can be monotonous, maybe even boring but at least I’m out there looking, not a slave to a pager or a phone call and when I do find the big one or even a teeny weeny little one on my local patch, it will give me the greatest satisfaction in the world. Maybe I’ll delete the link to his blog, deplete any readers he ever had and consign him to clicking his counter to inflate his visitor numbers, right hand man.

Pintail

Swallow and House Martin
Teal
Wheatear

The weather forecast doesn’t look much better for tomorrow so perhaps I’ll watch the GP instead of birding, but then you never know.

Four Of A Kind

It’s getting to be a bit of a habit this ringing lark with our third session at Out Rawcliffe in a week when Will and I found yet another opportunity this morning with an overnight zero wind and a forecast for another fine morning.

I woke at 0430, too late for a short doze until the alarm but early enough for leisurely breakfast number one before a relaxed drive made me first on the moss. I logged the initial birds of the day with 2 Grey Partridge calling before both birds flew across my line of sight and landed deep in the potato field. This sighting was quickly followed by the loud calls of a nearby Tawny Owl in the plantation. Will arrived soon after to tell me of a Kestrel in the half-light hawking around the field next to the barn, but I think I won our “first birds of the day” competition this morning. We set up shop then set the nets.

The Ringing Shop and Cafe

Our very first net round caught a Blackcap and a Chaffinch but as we waited for the next circuit we saw and heard Tree Pipits overhead, with at least 6 birds involved, as four of them dropped into the trees. In fact not only did four birds descend into the trees but all four of them found the same net together. It’s not often a mist net holds four Tree Pipits in these parts. When released the pipits all flew off strongly south and resumed their migration. That little interlude proved a good omen as we enjoyed a successful morning with 30 birds of 8 species caught, 29 new and 1 recapture.

New birds: 4 Tree Pipit, 3 juveniles and 1 adult, 13 Chaffinch, 1 Blackcap, 2 Great Tit, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Wren, 3 Whitethroat and 2 Willow Warbler. That takes our total of new Whitethroats for the site this year to only two short of the ton at 98 individuals; Willow Warblers to 76.

The single recapture was a Great Tit from this summer.

Tree Pipit
Blackcap
Long-tailed Tit

We almost caught 2 Sparrowhawks. As we checked along the net from the end of a ride a small male bounced off the net then flew away as almost immediately a second bird, this time a female, fell into the pocket from the other side. The larger bird freed itself as female Sparrowhawks often do because of their sheer size. Two that got away then, but we consoled ourselves with the thought that they were possibly the same birds we caught a few days ago. But in all truth they probably weren’t because of the number of small birds on or around the moss at the moment that will atract in raptors like Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and possibly Hobby.

Sparrowhawk
As well as the visible migration of Tree Pipits heading south we logged a small number of Meadow Pipits, with 10 or more high flying individuals. Associated with the pipits were 5 or more autumn calling Reed Buntings, but we didn’t catch any today.

Reed Bunting

Other birds seen this morning included 2 distant but loudly croaking Ravens, 2 Skylark, 7 Linnet, 18 Goldfinch, 3 Buzzard 2 Kestrel, 11 Tree Sparrows and 24 House Sparrows. I must say that both House Sparrows and Tree Sparrows appear to have completed a very successful breeding season and it does beg the question whether the cold winter actually suited our sparrows better than the warm winters of most recent years.

House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow

We remarked this morning how we hadn’t seen the regular Marsh Harrier of six or seven sightings in recent weeks but as I drove off the moss I saw it over to the east near the big field, its favourite hunting spot.