A Raptorous Time

I tried again this morning and returned to Lane Ends now that the sportsmen moved on. A slight change of tactics today after the Yellow-browed Warbler at Heysham yesterday had me looking harder for both a YBW in the trees and a Lapland Bunting along the shore, but the anniversaryies of finding such exotica here in a mist net isn’t until the 18th October and the 24th October respectively; 1998 and 1987 were the unexpected occasions, almost a lifetime away such is the mundane nature of my everyday ringing.

I started well enough with a clear view of the pool where the Little Grebe I have been hearing for weeks turned into not one but four. A quiet walk around the bottom car park and the other pool found the resident Kingfisher that shot through the trees and over to the pool I just left, but apart from Robins and a few Blackbirds, warblers were absent.

It was going to be something of a raptor morning because I hadn’t gone far towards Pilling Water when I saw a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk and a Merlin. I think the latter two were after one of the many Skylarks around this morning, of which I counted 90+ birds, some of this attributable to the incoming tide pushing birds off the marsh and over the sea wall. I soon notched up a Peregrine too when one appeared briefly and sped over towards the stubble where there was a gang of Pink-footed Geese, just some of the 11,000+ I counted this morning. There was also a not very well bird, a left over from yesterday’s shoot, but I didn’t have the heart to put it out of its misery.

Peregrine
Sparrowhawk
Skylark
Pink-footed Goose

I made a few counts of waders and wildfowl, not in any particular order, 80 Dunlin, 65 Redshank, 1 Golden Plover, 15 Grey Plover, 11 Snipe, 300 Curlew, 13 Little Egret, and 2 Greenshank. Wildfowl - 750 Teal, 240 Wigeon, 40 Pintail, 5 Cormorant, 4 Great-crested Grebe, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 165 Shelduck and 2 Mute Swan.

I turned my attention back to the sea wall when I got distracted into photography again as 12 Meadow Pipits, 3 Wheatears and half a dozen Linnets fed almost along the tideline at the base of the sea wall close to where I sat. The Linnets evaded my camera but the others didn’t.

Meadow Pipit
Wheatear
Wheatear

Up near Worm Pool I could see 20 or so corvids harassing a Buzzard so I set off in that direction, almost treading on a Grey Partridge in the process, but by the time I got closer to Fluke Hall the Buzzard had drifted inland. Oh well, I’d just seen five raptors in the space of an hour or two, not a bad morning’s work.

A Change Of Direction

There’s not a lot in my update tonight. I got out for a couple of hours intending a walk from Lane Ends to Pilling Water, hoping to come across a Lapland Bunting along the sea wall now that a few are beginning to appear locally, but Hi-Fly had a big shoot on next to Pilling Water. It wasn’t a couple of folk taking pot shots, more like a major organised half-a-day occasion, with dozens of beaters and shooters with their attendant noise which echoed along the marsh.

So I decided to walk in the other direction, towards Cockerham, but first I got a few bits and pieces near the car park. There were plenty of Pink-footed Goose again, way out towards the sands, but only 7/8000 today and not the 20,000 or so of Sunday, and those that flew inland had adjusted their flight direction to Cockerham, away from the sound of gunfire on the flooded but baited stubble. Without much effort I counted 5 Little Egrets as they intermittently disappeared than reappeared by walking in and out of the distant tidal ditches. I could hear a trilling Little Grebe from the western pool and below the car park a Chiffchaff, but the main pool was devoid of wildfowl except for a dozen or two Mallard.

I headed off east where I came across 2 Wheatear on a stretch of rocks put down to strengthen the sea wall, a patch of ideal habitat for Wheatears, where there’s always insects down in the crevices. A bit further on, about 50 yards out on the marsh is a great lump of tree carried in by the tides months ago, a perfect spot for the wintering Merlin, or so I thought some weeks ago. I passed level with the dark mass, looking at the sticking up branch in shadow on the right hand side when something made me lift my bins just in case. It really was; the Merlin had let me walk so far, but as soon as I made to look closer, the branch lifted off and the Merlin shot off towards Braides before I could get a decent picture. At least I now know the bird is around and has found the perch. The quicksilver, fearless Merlin, one of my favourite birds.

Merlin
Wheatear

A Kestrel hovered above and along the wall, and as I walked I flushed 2 Grey Partridge from the grassy slope, but they flew back to overgrazed Sheep City where there isn’t much concealment. I continued on alongside the inland drainage, full to overflowing in places, too full for muddy margin waders but not too full for a Little Egrets or a Greenshank, both of which flew off to the marsh at my arrival. I found a third Wheatear up here, on yet another pile of stones, and also a Pied Wagtail.

Pilling Marsh and distant pinkies
Kestrel

Up this way it’s a long walk in both directions, one I used to do both ways when Lapwings and Redshank bred in the adjacent fields, before sileage, winter crops and farm improvements; but not today as I turned back towards Lane Ends There were definitely 3 Wheatears, and I didn’t see much different on the way back except for a Snipe, the Kestrel again and the constant flights of pinkies and Curlew heading inland.

It was a pleasant enough walk but there's nothing quite like the tried and trusted favourite spot is there? Better luck tomorrow I hope when the sportsmen have gone.

Home Alone

It was another Rawcliffe Moss ringing session this morning. I went alone as Will is up in Scotland standing in a river, where allegedly he will catch a salmon or two but I thought I was on pretty safe ground to say that this week I will catch more birds than he will fish.

It nearly didn’t turn out that way because the morning was a quiet one. Firstly the Meadow Pipits of the last three or four weeks dried up more than a little and we could now be past their peak migration which usually takes place in the last two weeks of September before numbers tail off through October. Even the Chaffinch didn’t appear to be in very high numbers this morning although the fine, clear sky meant that most travelled over at great height, often audible but impossible to see against the bright blue sky. On “vis mig” I counted only 20 or so Meadow Pipits and 100+ Chaffinch, all birds north to south.

But I caught all the target species with 15 new birds, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Meadow Pipit and 12 Chaffinch with zero recaptures once again.

Reed Bunting
Chaffinch

The highpoint of vis this morning was alba Wagtails again with a minimum of 15 over, all heading south, plus 2 Grey Wagtails, 3 Lesser Redpoll and 4 Tree Sparrow.

In the plantation all was fairly quiet save for the roving tit flock which thankfully kept clear of the nets, as did a couple of Jays. Another loud, fruity toned Chiffchaff was near my nets for a while but didn’t get caught today.

Other birds this morning, 2 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Grey Partridge, 50+ Skylark, 30 Goldfinch, 15 Linnet, 4 Reed Bunting and a Sparrowhawk.

There were a few animal highlights today in the shape of several Brown Hares, three Roe Deer and a Stoat which came for a peek at me as I sat in a quiet spot having a coffee.

Brown Hare
Roe Deer
Stoat

I took a peek too - at the weather forecast for the week ahead. It looks like birding only for several days ahead. If Will catches 16 salmon I’m in trouble!

Back To The Other Patch

I looked in my notebook to see that I had been so busy ringing out on the moss that I hadn’t been to Lane Ends my other home, since September 20th. It was a good decision last night to postpone more ringing, with an accurate BBC forecast that predicted after a 9mph start, that the wind would increase quickly. But I must say I was ready for a leisurely birding session after the hard slog of ringing and Sunday looks more promising for mist nets.

I was pretty much the first person at Fluke Hall, early enough to find a Snipe on the wet, roadside stubble together with 8 Meadow Pipits and 2 wagtails that flew ahead of me before I could ID them properly – more “albas” in the notebook. There didn’t seem a lot of overhead stuff, just several Chaffinch and a couple of Greenfinch, but as I walked up towards Ridge Farm I did get 5 Reed Bunting, 3 over fairly high and 3 along the hedgerow. Below the sea wall were the obligatory 2 Little Egret and a Wheatear on the boulder stones. There were masses of Pink-footed Geese out on the marsh already flighting off to the sound of gunfire, and I made a mental note to count the flocks when I got up to Lane Ends.

Pink-footed Goose

I stopped at a partially flooded field at Damside, a favoured spot where autumn Ruff sometimes join the Redshanks and Lapwings. I looked through a flock of 40 Lapwings, and yes amongst them was indeed a single Ruff, but tantalisingly too far for a picture.

At Lane Ends a tit flock moved through the wood where with the usual long and short tailed variety I found a Treecreeper doing just as the label says, creeping up the side of a silver birch before it flew off with the rest of the horde. Obviously Treecreepers are fairly unusual at this spot but I ringed one here in 1997 and an earlier one was ringed by my colleague Simon in 1989; Simon is now “down south” where he rings Dartford Warblers, Firecrests and the occasional Hobby. And no, I don’t have a fantastic memory but IPMR the BTO ringer’s database does. There were a few obvious migrant Blackbirds here, dashing, secretive and in a hurry to feed up.

Treecreeper

There were more Little Egrets out on the marsh and my combined count from here, Fluke Hall and Pilling Water came to a round ten. That doesn’t approach the counts of 30 or so birds that have roosted on the island in recent weeks, but when they leave the roost they scatter west towards Knott End and east in the direction of Cockerham, a stretch of coast where a concerted daytime count effort would surely yield thirty or more individuals.

Little Egret

Towards Pilling Water was quiet, another single Wheatear,a couple of Meadow Pipits plus 30 or so Skylarks coming off the marsh and flying gently inland, but as always with Skylarks the mystery is not only “Why?”, but also “Where and When?” My casual estimate of Pink-footed geese was 12-15,000, huge but almost uncountable numbers.

Skylark

On my way to Conder Green I detoured via Jeremy Lane where I encountered a group of 10 Grey Partridge. Now if they are truly wild that is something to write home about, but I hope they are not released birds as I hear that some shooting syndicates may have released some recently with the hope of taking them back dead later. It’s just nonsensical to shoot all the Grey Partridge, complain there aren’t any, breed birds in captivity and then release them to shoot all over again; seemingly they are better “sport” than Red-legged Partridge.

At Conder Green I heard birders complaining about the lack of birds. Alright it wasn’t busy but it helps if you spend a little time and look properly instead of dashing off, foot on the floor, to the next place on the list. I found 9 Little Grebe, 3 Wigeon, 6 Snipe, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Cormorant, 160 Goldfinch, 45 Curlew, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Meadow Pipit and 1 Kingfisher. As the group fretted amongst themselves and earnestly discussed next options I watched 2 Barnacle Geese fly over, not too high but heading south west towards the pinkies.

Also today, here and there, several lingering Swallows.

A Mixed Bag

Will and I met at Out Rawcliffe for the final ringing effort of September after the 18 hours of rain on Wednesday eventually petered out to leave us with a fine, wind free start. We got the nets up pretty quick then headed back to base camp for a coffee in the half-light, in time to see an early riser Marsh Harrier drift over the distant stubble fields, harried as ever by Carrion Crows. Not a bad start to the day, but the harrier continued south from its roost and we didn’t see it at all later.

Carrion Crow and Marsh Harrier

Initially our catching was slow, but improved as the sun came out. We caught 55 birds of 12 species, a good selection of 54 new birds, mainly finches but with the one recapture a Dunnock.

New birds: 26 Chaffinch, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch,1 Lesser Redpoll, 5 Reed Bunting, 5 Meadow Pipit, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird, 1 Dunnock, 1 Wren, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Coal Tit and 1 Willow Warbler. It’s getting fairly late now for Willow Warblers but if there’s going to be one or two “phylloscs” about they are often with a gang of “lottis”.

Overhead movement of both Chaffinch and Meadow Pipit was less pronounced this morning, with probably less than 100 pipits and possibly 200 Chaffinch, but both species were dropping in from a good height again, just as on recent clear mornings. Other obvious “vis” came in the shape of at least 10 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 alba wagtail and 8 Snipe, but our net rounds were busy, which restricted the pure birding intervals.

Song Thrush
Song Thrush - juvenile tail
Song Thrush - juvenile wing
Greenfinch
Willow Warbler
Other birds seen this morning: 7 Reed Bunting were extra to the ones caught, 5 Swallow, 2 Grey Partridge, 55 Skylark, 3 Jay, 4 Tree Sparrow, 18 Goldfinch, 8 Linnet, 1 Kestrel, 3 Buzzard, 1 Peregrine and 2 Raven.

On my way off the farm I stopped to grab a photo of one of the Buzzards enjoying the warming air.

Buzzard

Shortened Session

After a day off doing essential things such as work and family on Monday, Will and I made yet another trip to Out Rawcliffe this morning hoping to top up the ringing figures again. Although the weather was fairly bright there was a fair amount of cloud with an easterly breeze. Perhaps crucially there looked to be low cloud, drizzle and poor visibility on the lower Pennines not far away from us just beyond Garstang, as confirmed when I checked the “vis mig” Yahoo forum later.

We altered our net rides somewhat for the easterly breeze and caught birds in less numbers than we have grown accustomed to in recent days and weeks, but nevertheless we had an interesting morning. We packed up earlier than normal about 10am due to the number of birds drying up when the wind started to bluster.

We caught 28 birds, comprised of 26 new and 2 Long-tailed Tit recaptures. The new birds were 4 Meadow Pipit, 1 Blue Tit, 2 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Goldfinch and 17 Chaffinch. That takes our total of Chaffinch caught at this site in September to 237 birds, 146 females and 80 males, or expressed as a percentage, 66.2% females and 33.8% males.

Chaffinch
Long-tailed Tit

The movement of Meadow Pipits was very thin this morning, reflected in our meagre catch of 4 birds and a count of less than 50 birds on the move, mainly going south east. However the four caught today put the September catch here to 72 individuals.

Chiffchaff
Today’s Chiffchaff was also number 10 for the month, not on a par with recent counts for Spurn but a figure that pleases us because we don’t catch too many. In the last few weeks we have grown accustomed to hearing an unfamiliar call from Chiffchaffs, a richer, fruitier, almost finch like alarm call. They sound similar to this one recorded in Eastern Sweden.

A notable species on the move this morning was Pied/White Wagtail with at least 20 fly overs this morning, all from north to south, but only a couple of the related Grey Wagtail.

Pied Wagtail

Other birds “over” during our 3 hour stint included 1 Song Thrush, 4 Snipe, 2 Siskin, 120 Chaffinch, 40 Swallow, 1 Corn Bunting, 15 Linnet and 25 Goldfinch. More local birds consisted of 2 Tawny Owl, 2 Jay, 1 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard and a single Corn Bunting.

It looks like definite rain tomorrow, time to put the pliers away for a day or two and maybe get in a spot of single minded birding when the deluge stops.

Good Days

The opportunities and incentive for getting out ringing are exceptionally good at the moment with the spell of dry weather made better by the thought of intercepting very migratory species like pipits and finches. We’ve had pretty good catches in recent days and weeks, species and numbers, but that doesn’t stop us doing it all over again, even more of the action, like Will and I did this morning at Out Rawcliffe.

It was a very similar morning to Saturday, in fact almost identical, with overnight frost and a clear, fairly calm morning with just a hint of an early breeze. Our catch was less than yesterday, but we packed up a little earlier when the drafts of wind turned more blustery towards 11am.

However we did capture another 56 new birds, with no retraps from yesterday, or from the previous weeks, months or years, as in: 39 Chaffinch, 12 Meadow Pipit, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll and 3 Reed Bunting. So our glut of Chaffinch from further north continues, with the sexes split 23 to 16 and once more in favour of females. Again today we thought the numbers caught were just a small proportion of birds involved in active migration, those moving unseen through the large plantation or others flying overhead, audible but often unseen by virtue of their height in the bright sky. We estimated 260 Chaffinch today, mostly north to south.

The passage of Meadow Pipits was less marked today, and after an initial flurry of 40 or so birds arriving from the south east soon after dawn when we caught seven birds together, their passage thinned, and we picked up only a further five birds throughout the rest of the morning. In all we totalled about 200 Meadow Pipits, mainly heading south west. The first two pictures show an adult Meadow Pipit from today, with what is an example of adult autumn plumage.

Meadow Pipit - Adult
Adult Meadow Pipit
Lesser Redpoll
Reed Bunting

Other birds seen this morning: 1 Tawny Owl, 2+ Grey Partridge, 2 Grey Wagtail, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 1 Nuthatch, 2 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 40 Skylark, 3 Buzzard, 6 Reed Bunting, 1500+ Pink-footed Goose and less than 10 Swallows.

Pink-footed Goose

It looks like most of the Swallows have gone for this year so I changed the header photo to something more akin to the autumn and this year’s in particular, with a species that may just appear in larger numbers soon.