It’s A Hard Life

Will and I met at Our Rawcliffe for our first ringing session since September 8th. The intervening period had seen poor weather synopses with periods of rain and wind, the twin enemies that frustrated our eagerness to continue the good results we obtained through the summer and early autumn. It was a hesitant start at 0630 under threatening rain clouds, but both the weather and our mood improved enough to say that by 1100 when we packed up, we had enjoyed a brilliant morning full of birds.

In total we caught 51 birds of 8 species, 48 new birds, 2 recaptures and 1 bird previously ringed elsewhere, a “control” in ringer’s terminology.

New birds: 21 Chaffinch, 18 Meadow Pipit, 4 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Robin, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 1 Dunnock. We recaptured a Chiffchaff and a Dunnock from previous visits, and the control bird was a Long-tailed Tit; Ring number 6O9704 anyone?

Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Lesser Whitethroat
Dunnock
Chiffchaff

Capturing a number of Meadow Pipits for the first time since last autumn allowed us to “get our eye in” again with separating adult and juvenile autumn Meadow Pipits. In general adults have all tertials, greater coverts and median coverts of the same age with the pattern of the greater and median coverts having a rather evenly broad olive-toned buff tip with only a slight “tooth” and well defined and indented buff margin to the greater coverts. In contrast, first year birds have a pronounced “tooth” on the median coverts and rather pale buff tips to these, and the outer webs of the greater coverts are edged paler and more whitish. So in general the wing of an adult appears darker and more evenly olive toned whereas a juvenile wing looks more variable by virtue of most of its buff and pale tipped coverts or the contrast between its juvenile coverts and any newer, replaced “adult” type coverts. What we also have to bear in mind when ageing Meadow Pipits is that early broods may have been out of the nest from mid or late May, four months ago, whereas birds from later in the season may have plumage characteristics dating from several weeks ago only.

Meadow Pipit - Adult
Meadow Pipit - Juvenile

After a series of mornings in August and early September whereby we reported little or no visible migration, in contrast the difference today was quite striking, perhaps helped by the very light south easterly wind that blew from 0630 until about 10am when it swung round to the predicted north westerly direction. There were noticeable, mainly south or south westerly movements of 200+ Meadow Pipit, 250 Swallow, 20 House Martin and 50+ Skylarks which arrived from a true north or even north easterly direction

Other birds seen this morning included 190 Pink-footed Goose over in various directions, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, several Goldfinch, 1 Jay and 1 Grey Wagtail. As on the last few occasions, the movement of Chaffinch was not especially marked or obvious, but as we caught 21 we can only assume this was small percentage of those moving through the site for the four hours we remained there.

We were so busy with ringing, listening and watching that we barely had time to sit down, have a coffee or eat our second breakfasts whilst our luxurious chairs remained mostly redundant this morning. It’s a hard life being a birder.

Redundant

Iceland Delivers

The weather of the past week or so brought in a wind-blown juvenile Red-necked Phalarope to Lytham St Annes today, which wasn’t a complete surprise or without precedent, although it’s a good few years that I saw both a Grey Phalarope and a Red-necked Phalarope together on Fairhaven Lake in similar circumstances. Wherever I went today I looked in suitable locations for a phalarope but didn’t find another, especially a Red-necked Phalarope in breeding plumage.

Red-necked Phalarope

When I got to Lane Ends I was surprised by the overnight arrival of huge numbers of Pink-footed Geese. So ringers weren’t the only ones waiting for the winds to subside, and as the low pressure moved across to Scandinavia it allowed the geese a nice window of opportunity to head south from Iceland. Initially I counted what I thought to be about 700 birds out on the marsh, and then two microlight aircraft came by, one seemingly buzzing the geese and panicking them into the air twice, as the other craft landed heavily out on the sands. The only beneficiary of this was me being able to get a more accurate count of 1200 birds, a large increase on the parties of 8 and 40 I had seen earlier in the week.

Pink-footed Geese
Bird Scarer

The goose frighteners also put to flight 9 Little Egrets that had been feeding in the ditches and out towards the tideline; in addition they alarmed 3 similarly hidden Greenshank that then flew off to find somewhere quieter. The disturbance also caused a couple of parties of Teal to fly back towards the wildfowler’s pools, just 30 in total.

Teal

I turned my attention to passerine hunting, but could find low numbers only, less than 10 each of Linnet, Goldfinch and 2 Skylark, with 12 Meadow Pipit, the latter species yet to appear in anything like the numbers it should by mid-September. There were 6 Wheatears about so I tried my luck, weighing up where the birds fed and how they might react to my movements and the traps themselves. I had one success, an adult female, but had my second trap not broke a vital part at a crucial time I would almost certainly have bagged another as when I approached the trap, two other Wheatears were closely watching the already caught bird.

The bird turned out to have a wing length of 96mm, just outside the range of any “Greenland” types and was almost certainly of Icelandic origin, given the time of year and the incidence of geese and phalaropes.

Wheatear - Adult Female
Wheatear - Adult Female

There was nothing much else about so I wound my way to Cockersands and a check on the set aside with a view to ringing some finches soon. Zero, not a bird, such is the life of a ringer, but checking what birds are up to is the name of the game. I did see the local Kestrel, maybe that explains it. On my way back I found a single Ruff on a private field, and on a private pool of its own so left it in peace.

Year Ticking

I got out early to try and catch up with Leach’s Petrels at Knott End where the early morning dropping tide might harbour a few stragglers coming out of the bay after the overnight storm.

The light was poor and the rain threatened but I got a Leach’s for my non-existent year list as one followed the tideline towards the jetty then crossed the river to Fleetwood. I got a second year tick in the form of a Bonxie, a Great Skua, that steamed across the water much faster than the petrel did, but luckily the petrel journeyed a few minutes before the Bonxie, otherwise there may have been a meal in the offing for the bigger bird. It seems that the word Bonxie comes from the Norse Bunksi, meaning an untidy old woman. I found this great web site for fans of this super aggressive animal.

Great Skua - Bonxie

With the atrocious forecast of more wind and rain that looked every bit like coming to a wild and wet fruition, I decided that it is possible to have too much of a good thing but also that discretion was the better part of valour, so headed north to spend some time at Leighton before my appointment in Kendal. What’s more there was a chance for my incredible third year tick in the shape of Black Tern as three juvenile birds had been there yesterday. Leighton Moss looked bleak as the rain, the wind and dark clouds hurled in from the west without any respite. I set my camera to ISO800 and it stayed there until I left about 2pm.

Black Tern

I had time to walk the public footpath of the causeway where 3 Black Terns moved between the areas of open water but they didn’t come close and often disappeared from view at the far end of the reserve or melted into the grey of continuous heavy showers. As the showers came and went the hirundines did the same with at one point hundreds of House Martins, hundreds of Sand Martins and dozens of Swallows feeding over the open water. Roosting on the reserve were hundreds of Redshank, dozens of Black-tailed Godwit and at least 10 Greenshank, but impossible to count with much certainty as they were distant, bunched tight and huddled down against the wind and driving rain.

I also got a few photographs of common or garden stuff but it wasn’t the best morning for a camera.

Shoveler
Cormorant
Snipe
Snipe
Red Deer

That’s enough year ticks for a year, next I need to do some serious birding and ringing.

Whistle In The Wind

I was thankful to get out at all after a poor weekend’s weather, a lost day yesterday then more wind and rain before lunch today. There were Leach’s Petrel off the coast today, at Cleveleys and Cockersands, but I didn’t see any from Pilling where the tide was too low, the edge of the tide beyond the green marsh. I did see a few bits and pieces even though I read the tide table wrong and arrived at Pilling far too early. It wasn’t a problem when the sun came out for a while and although it was very windy, I was reasonably comfortable tucked down a hollow in the sea wall. Much better anyway than standing in a raging wind at Starr Gate or Cleveleys looking for petrels and having grockles say “ Are there many ships today?”

Leach’s Petrel

I wasn’t totally surprised when 8 Pink-footed Geese appeared from the north, flying quickly south over the wall and inland, bang on cue as harbingers of winter I suppose on September 14th. I was making a count of the Curlew when a single Whimbrel appeared, whistling as it flew overhead in the same direction as the pinkies. The Whimbrel often known as the “Seven Whistler”, is often associated with a Celtic superstition of the 'seven-whistlers', supposedly a group of six birds looking for a seventh - hearing the call augured death or other disaster. I hope it was just a coincidence that soon after the bright yellow Air Ambulance helicopter flew across the bay towards Cockersands.

Whimbrel

The Curlew numbered their usual 700+ and Lapwing 130, but the smaller waders were too far out, keeping low in the wind and hidden by the green marsh. I did note 2 fairly close Greenshank, 2 Snipe and a single overflying Golden Plover. The wildfowl were more easily counted, with 4 Wigeon, 2 Greylag, 45 Pintail, 180 Shelduck, 3 Great-crested Grebe and 500+ Teal, some of which made their way to the wildfowler’s pools for an easy meal. The Kingfisher appeared from behind me once more, then shot out along the channel towards the tide, and I didn’t see it again, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t cross the bay to distant Heysham.

Teal

There were a few Linnets about today, less than 10 but I did note 8 new in Wheatears, and as is often the case with Wheatears, they arrive in windy conditions from the west or North West sector.

Wheatear

It looks to be more wind tomorrow with Leach’s on the cards and maybe a few North American passerines in Scilly and Ireland. In fact if Ireland didn’t get in our way, they might well landfall at Lane Ends.

Wednesday’s Chart

Wild At Heart

Another cloudy, windy, showery, north-westerly morning with no chance of a ringing session led me to Conder Green where there is always a good selection of birds with not too many Sunday Morning grockles for the first hour or two. The alternative was a bout of bush bashing in search of little brown or green jobs, if I could find a sheltered warm spot on our eternally windy coast. I suppose that is the only downside of living so close to the sea, the isobars not only pack a bit closer, they often pack a punch on even the most innocuous looking morning.

It was the normal situation at CG, it seemed quiet with not a lot of birds immediately apparent, but I gave it time for the birds to show and a while for me to find them. The 7 Little Grebes were a bit more obliging this morning near the closest island with no need for me to go to the far end of the pool where they usually hang out, disinclined to venture very far. The 3 Wigeon were also reasonably close initially, but drifted off once they realised cameras and ‘scopes were about again; half a dozen Teal in the shallows also sloped off to a safer distance, but I had my doubts about how wild were the 4 Mallards.

Mallard
Little Grebe
Teal

I made the observation once before, but maybe it’s worth repeating. To wildfowl, and probably to waders with whom they frequently mix, a human pointing a telescope must look remarkably like one wielding a shotgun, a scenario which they remember and to which their instincts are attuned for an immediate response. Therefore we shouldn’t be surprised when at the first sight of the human form or noises associated with us, such birds flee from our presence. All the more reason then if we wish to observe and photograph birds is for us to learn and adopt fieldcraft, something so obviously lacking in many of the newer untutored birders who arrive hot foot from pager messages with expensive top of the range equipment but without an apprenticeship or the essential skills to acquire the best from their recent purchases.

Also on the pool, 1 Little Egret, 15 Lapwing, a Grey Heron and the Kingfisher doing a circuit of the pool before it disappeared to the furthest bank and out of sight. From the platform I watched a Wheatear that took a liking to the posts that mark the road during high tides, as it perched up on several of them in turn as passing cars made it favour one after the other. It’s not a bird I’ve ever seen much of just here, and they are much more likely to appear just up the road at Glasson.

In the creeks I counted 4 Greenshank, 3 Spotted Redshank, 6 Snipe, 2 Common Sandpiper, 7 Curlew, 18 Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, another Little Egret, 26 Teal and unusually, a Ringed Plover. I took some distance shots at ISO 800 in the poor light, but what a fine selection of waders all at close quarters and I asked myself why would anyone go elsewhere to see such birds?

Ruff and Spotted Redshank
Common Sandpiper

From the roadside I could see lots of Goldfinch in the hawthorns near the bridge so I drove round and checked them out. There was actually a flock of 120 birds flying between the marsh and the hedgerows near the viaduct, spooked a couple of times that I could see, by on the second occasion an overflying Sparrowhawk that obviously took a close interest in such a plentiful, easily caught supply of food.

I drove up to John’s set aside for a check on the finches using the plot. If it wasn’t so close to the road and passing traffic I am sure the numbers would increase from the 40 Greenfinch, 8 Chaffinch and 4 Linnet I saw today, but for now I am hoping there is a bit of a settled spell that builds up the flock followed by a windless, mist net suitable day.

Goldfinch
Chaffinch

To Blog Or Not To Blog?

That was the question when I got back home after a couple of overcast, grey, showery, windswept hours at Pilling Water at lunchtime with a pretty full set of notes but a blank card in my camera and not much time on my hands.

There’s been big tides this week but I’ve been busy elsewhere so didn’t even get to Lane Ends and take advantage of the tides to get in a spot of wader watching. Not that the waders here are particularly watchable at close quarters, it’s just the spectacle of thousands of waders and wildfowl that is compelling, not to mention the almost guaranteed raptors. When tides are high they also run in very fast, as today. So speedy does the water advance and birds fly in all directions that a thorough count of all species becomes a two or three person job with counters assigned to particular species or groups of birds. If that sounds like an excuse I guess it’s an explanation that I know my count was not comprehensive but a snapshot of what was about with approximates of birds.

Wildfowl numbers are building quickly with my first token 28 Wigeon of the autumn out on the tide, vastly outnumbered by enormous numbers of Teal, upwards of 750. There were more Pintail today with c80 birds, and just fantastic to see them back in numbers as they fly across the marsh their elongated, elegant shape and silvery sheen so easy to pick out. Shelduck numbers have increased now with at least 230 birds on the roosts of the marsh or the ebbing tide. 3 Eider and 5 Great-crested Grebe made up the numbers of the wildfowl, but I didn’t count the Mallard.

Pintail
Shelduck
Wigeon

The easy waders counted were the oddities, conspicuous by their calls, 3 Greenshank, 4 Snipe, 2 Black-tailed Godwit and a single Spotted Redshank that called very loudly as it flew past and on towards Lane Ends. Plovers came in at 22 Grey Plover, 35 Golden Plover, 180 Lapwing and 40 Ringed Plover. There were large numbers of Oystercatcher pushed off lower roosts with many headed towards Cockerham where they roosted on the sea wall with yet others flying beyond the wall to the immediate fields. I reckoned at least 2500 birds today. My approximate counts of Redshank, Dunlin and Knot were 40, 60 and 30 respectively but tremendous numbers of Curlew at c700.

Redshank
Curlew
Dunlin

It wasn’t surprising in the windy and rainy conditions that I could find only small numbers of passerines with 1 Wheatear, 10 Goldfinch, 2 Skylark, 1 Meadow Pipit and 5 Linnet. Little Egrets today numbered 13.

Wheatear

The forecast for tomorrow gives only marginal conditions for a ringing session but fingers are crossed that the wind subsides.

Sanity Prevails

After my inglorious trip to Fleetwood yesterday I regained my sanity this morning after an uneventful but peaceful ringing session on the moss whereby the only person Will and I met during the couple of hours was George the gamekeeper. We all had a laugh together about a local chap who got married and changed his name to that of his new bride who just happens to come from a wealthy family. We all agreed that the chance would be a fine thing but that we’d rather be poor and happy, as George drove off in his ancient, creaking Daihatsu and Will and I settled down on our plastic chairs then tucked into our breakfast of lukewarm Thermos coffee with cheese & tomato and peanut butter sarnies respectively.

We took a chance on last night’s weather forecast that suggested marginal ringing speeds of 10mph and met at 6am to a clear, breathless morning. Once again visible migration was quiet with birds high overhead. Moving wagtails numbered one or two albas and 3 Grey Wagtails, with a noticeable but meagre movement of about 35 Meadow Pipits heading south. Tree Pipits featured again with at least 5 overflying birds, one or two dropping in to the netting area but today we failed to catch any.

Once again Chaffinches proved the most numerous but somewhat inconspicuous migrant as reflected in our catch. We think that many drop into the north end of the plantation before working their way through to our nets, and whilst their origins are something of a mystery at the moment, they appear to be birds of the British race with a preponderance of females. We have now caught 70 Chaffinches here in the last 30 days, a movement of Chaffinches a little earlier and stronger than expected. Here’s a picture of a Chaffinch that didn’t want to leave us.

Chaffinch

We caught 39 birds today, 35 new of 25 Chaffinch, 2 Wren, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 male Blackcaps, 1 Dunnock, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Garden Warbler. We had 4 recaptures with 1 Dunnock, 2 Whitethroat both adult males with completed moult and a female Blackcap that was first captured on 22 August.

Willow Warbler
Blackcap
Garden Warbler

Other birds seen this morning: at least 4 Grey Partridge, 1 Kestrel, 10 Linnet, 18 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Bunting, 6 Tree Sparrow and 3 Skylark, the first for some weeks and maybe the beginning of the true autumn birds.

Tree Sparrow
Skylark
Here's a good quote for all ringers and patch workers: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein.