Autumn Stars

It was a touch breezy but clear and starry overhead last night as I stepped outside the back door at 8.30 and then 9.00pm pm listening for Redwings, because Will and I had arranged to try and catch a few at Rawcliffe Moss this morning. I didn’t hear the high pitched “seep, seep” of Redwings, but after the last few days of both Redwings and Fieldfares turning up in most places I wasn’t too worried there wouldn’t be at least a few around come 6.30am. The first birds we heard were in fact noisy Blackbirds and Song Thrushes arriving from the blackness, but within ten or fifteen minutes the Redwings appeared from the north, and we caught our first one of the autumn.

Redwing
Redwing

For any readers unfamiliar with the thrill of hearing the flight calls of these long distance migrants through the darkness of an October night or arriving overhead at dawn, here’s an example.

From 0630 to 1130am we enjoyed a totally absorbing morning of both birding and ringing and caught birds steadily. At the same time we witnessed a fairly continuous stream of visible migration, even if at times the clearness of the sky frustrated our attempts to actually see many of the birds that called overhead.

We caught 28 new birds of 11 species, recaptured a Robin from some weeks ago, but also controlled a Reed Bunting, i.e. not our ring - X982264 anyone?

New birds - 6 Redwing, 4 Chaffinch, 7 Reed Bunting, 2 Robin, 2 Great Tit, 2 Wren, and 1 each of Blackbird, Song Thrush, Lesser Redpoll, Jay and Dunnock.

Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll
Jay
Reed Bunting

Redwing were the most numerous migrant this morning with a total of approximately 300 birds arriving from the north in mixed groups numbering from less than 4 birds, into tens and twenties and the highest number a flock of approximately 70 birds. Our Fieldfare count was 14 birds only, plus 7 Song Thrush and 10 Blackbird.

The other migration stars this morning were the finch family and Reed Buntings. While we caught 7 Reed Buntings we counted at least 20 birds overhead or close to us along the ditch, in the potato field or simply flying over calling. In addition there was a single Corn Bunting. Our visible migration of finches totalled 50 Chaffinch, 20 Siskin, 10 Redpoll, 8 Greenfinch and 1 Brambling, all these counts certainly underestimates in the clear conditions.

Unlike in past weeks we didn’t set out to catch Meadow Pipits today, our target species changed of necessity into Redwing, Fieldfare and Reed Bunting, so in that sense we partly succeeded. Had we sought Meadow Pipits we may have caught several since the overhead north to south count for this species was 70 birds.

Other birds seen this morning; 1 female Sparrowhawk, 175 Lapwing, 2 Golden Plover, 1 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 60+ Skylark.

Of course Will was in Scotland last week and I had said I would bag more birds while he was away than he would land salmon. He got lucky and I got seriously unlucky - fifty-three salmon caught between four of them! Now that is a proper catch. My excuse was the week of unfriendly ringing weather that let me out once whilst he and Sue obviously made the best of ideal salmon fishing weather. Anyway thanks for the piece of salmon Will and Sue, I left it to defrost and it will definitely taste better than humble pie.

Tonight’s Meal

The weather looks perfect for tomorrow too. We might just have to do it all over again.

Back To It

It was Lane Ends for me this morning, straight to the action with no messing about at Patch 2 Ridge Farm like yesterday. A good night’s kip and staying off the common cold medicines left me feeling a lot better.

It’s impossible to go down Wheel Lane at the moment and not take a peek at how the Pink-footed Geese are doing; the sheer noise from the throng draws you in, never mind the spectacle of 20,000 geese going about their early morning business of leaving the roost in search of daytime food then heading back out again en masse at the merest hint of trouble.

Pilling Marsh - Pink-footed Goose
Pink-footed Goose
Pink-footed Goose

On the way to Lane Ends I stopped along Backsands Lane and looked on the partly flooded field where I counted about 250 Lapwings and just 2 Golden Plover amongst them but no sign of the Ruff or Black-tailed Godwits from last week.

Lapwing

It was another clear morning, a touch of haze and a stiff wind again from east to west. So whilst easterlies are good for bringing the odd scarcity, the direction doesn’t necessarily bring huge numbers of birds. As I walked to Pilling Water so it was, with overhead a number of just visible but audible Chaffinch, a single Reed Bunting, 2 or more Siskin close to the plantation plus 3 alba Wagtail a little way out from the wall. Towards Pilling Water I pushed 8 Skylarks from the dense grass of the sea wall, with more Meadow Pipits than of late maybe 30 in total, together with 14 Goldfinch, 8 Linnets and the inevitable Wheatear, but only one today. Also inevitable were the 5 Little Egrets, but not the single Grey Heron a species which has been remarkably low in numbers around here lately.

Grey Heron

There was a little activity in area of the wildfowler’s pools as in turn 18 Teal and 15 Pintail flew off the shooter’s ditches and out to the marsh. I also watched a large female Sparrowhawk fly fast and low across the inland field, hugging the ground before it followed the contour of the sea wall up then over the other side where it no doubt surprised some hapless pipit or lark.

Back home I hoped I would be doing the last grass cut of the year, and as I took a breather in the afternoon sun I heard both Coal Tit and that rarity Goldcrest in next door’s garden. It was December 2008 that I last ringed a Goldcrest, so scarce have they become following two cold winters then a dearth even of spring and autumn migrants. So I finished the garden tidy-up and caught a couple of birds. Now I’m really in the mood for Tuesday when the wind will both drop and turn a touch more northerly allowing Redwings to arrive in force.

Goldcrest
Coal Tit

Battling

There’s not a lot to report from this morning but I either set to with blogging and get inventive or watch X Factor, or Dross Disaster as I call it. You see I knew last night a Common Cold was on the way with the tickly throat and the shivers. As my old ma would have said were she still alive, “That’s what you get for not wearing a vest” or ”I told you not to sit on the those cold, wet stones at Pilling”. So I emptied one of those bitter, powdery things into “hot but not boiling water”, which guarantee to fight a cold but also turn you into a just living zombie, and then set off to Pilling to sit on the stones again.

Ridge Farm seemed a good bet for migrants and vis, especially since someone had seen a Lapland Bunting there yesterday, but being a lazy dude I didn’t even make enquiries as to the who, when, where and how so couldn’t follow it up much. There was plenty of cloud cover and the wind blew easterly, a bit too strong maybe for much vis but a few finches and others battled east into the wind to land then disappear into the Fluke Hall trees or the nearby hedges, with little parties of Chaffinches totalling 45 birds, 2 x 2 Siskin, 2 Reed Buntings and 5 Greenfinch.

Along the hedgerow west the resident Tree Sparrows dominated my notebook with at least 30 of them, 4 Dunnocks, not unusual, 2 Pied Wagtails on the stubble and six or seven Meadow Pipits which probably weren’t migrants. I counted 7 Skylark, a few Linnets and Goldfinch, and found the lone Wheatear again sheltered in the boulders of the sea wall.

Over towards Hi-Fly’s hatchery I watched as a gang of 30 or more corvids gave stick to a Buzzard, gamely trying to hunt over the stubble, and it wasn’t until the Buzzard found cover in the trees at Fluke Hall that the corvids let up. Who’d be a No Mates Buzzard? I watched 2 Little Egrets feeding on a marshy pond then made a stab at the numbers of Pinkies, 5 or 6000 that I could see from here but lots more towards Lane Ends and/or flying onto the stubble of Fluke Hall Lane.

Tree Sparrow
Buzzard

I later learnt that there were “2+ Lapland Buntings” down near Pilling Water this morning, one of the few mornings in recent weeks I haven’t been there. That’s what you get for throwing a sicky.

And these strong easterlies might be good for turning up the odd “good” bird but it means my mist nets stay packed away, although there’s hope on Tuesday and Wednesday by which time infallible Famous Grouse medicine should have done the trick better than witches brew. So I didn’t get to sit on the stones after all, and anyway the birds don’t always perform as people might think. Sometimes they fly off or turn round at the vital moment. It’s often a battle of wits.

It Was There A Second Ago
Be Awkward Then
That’s More Like It

Mainly Pics

Another bright sunny morning saw me at Lane Ends, not so much pure birding but taking advantage of the conditions and the obliging 20 or so Meadow Pipits and the 3 Wheatears in order to get a few pictures. In any case today’s tide at 32.5 feet was a bit too high. When it’s so high not only does the tide rush in almost too quick to keep tabs on what is happening or to make proper counts but all the birds tend to fly up towards the higher marsh at Bank End, Cockerham or they cross the bay to the Morecambe area.

So that’s the excuse for taking 311 photographs this morning, but it is what it says on the blog label, Bird Watching, Bird Ringing and Bird Photography. As I walked from the car park towards Pilling Water I heard a Reed Bunting fly over plus couple of Siskin and a number of Chaffinches, the latter all very high but just audible. A male Sparrowhawk chased by Carrion Crows shot through the plantation and out of sight.

I just found a likely spot and settled in with the camera. One of the Wheatears took a bath in the tidal puddles before eventually drying itself out on the stones warmed by the sun.

Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear

The Meadow Pipits just hung around near the tideline and the rocks where there was food.

Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit

A dozen or two Redshank also came along the tide line.

Redshank
Redshank

There were plenty of geese about, out on the marsh and dropping into the stubble field before they all spooked off again when someone stopped a car in the gateway then climbed out of it in full view of the wilder than wild creatures.

Pink-footed Goose
Pink-footed Goose
Pink-footed Goose

On the way back I called at Damien’s fish shop in Knott End for some Silver Hake for our evening meal, but stopped off for a pic or two of a Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

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!