Patience Is A Virtue

I held fire through the constant rain of Saturday, lasted out this morning’s downpour, and then ate lunch in the conservatory to the torture of more rainfall on the glass roof. Finally at 1330 the rain eased a little, the battleship sky turned a lighter shade of grey and I got out birding for an hour or two. I suppose I could have gone out in the rain, birding of sorts, driving around likely spots with all the other dudes looking for the “stakeouts”, the Bradshaw Lane buntings, the grebe in genteel St Annes, the diver diving in the dock, the Preston Gull, the plastic goose, etc., etc., but what’s the point of that?. It’s much better to do your own thing, that’s my philosophy: or as Thomas Edison is reputed to have said as he waited patiently for his electric light bulb to shine out – “Everything comes to he who waits”.

I got to Rawcliffe Moss via several flooded dips in the road but nothing too dramatic, except that near both Town End and Cartford Bridge the level of the River Wyre looked on the high side. The farm road was also pretty wet but nothing the Suzuki couldn’t handle.

Already the Little Owl had broken cover and sat in the usual spot even though the rain still spat out its final drops. Then almost immediately I got onto a little party of 5 Grey Partridge walking alongside the road towards the car, only to be frightened off by a Merc hurtling through the spray towards them, but just time to grab a photo of one in the grass.

Grey Partridge
Little Owl

Down the main track through the flooded potholes there wasn’t much to see but I parked up, donned wellies and struck out. Across the fields and over the wood Jackdaws battled it out with a Buzzard, and together they put to flight 70 Fieldfare, 5 Stock Dove and about 130 Woodpigeon. Down the track and 90+ Tree Sparrows, 5 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Buntings, 2 Blackbirds and perhaps 10 or 12 Chaffinch, so difficult when they all fly off more or less together, but the soft flight call of the yellow bunting stands out from chippy calls of the finches and sparrows or the wheeze of the Reed Bunting.

Yellowhammer

At the big field I found the flock of Chaffinch that have used the same spot through the winter, but only 45 today, plus a couple of Linnets and one more Reed Bunting. Over towards the houses I located a Mistle Thrush, in the holly tree they always commandeer despite it now bearing almost no fruit – maybe they will build a nest in it in a week or two like the early nesters they are. I hadn’t seen the next Buzzard sat on the distant trackside post, not until it lifted off and flew west towards Pilling Moss and the safety of its regular wood and unvarying tree. The little plantation was quiet with a couple of Chaffinch and 4 Magpies, then 4 Roe Deer startled into action by me when they shot off at great speed, through the tree cover then over the adjacent field.

Magpie
Roe Deer

It wasn’t a bad couple of hours birding, a bit of a bonus while having withdrawal symptoms for a day or two and suffering in silence, just as blokes do.

Through The Glass Darkly

I really thought there would be no blog today what with being stuck indoors by the rain, wind and dark skies with little to report from a brief trip out yesterday. Then my better half came up trumps and I thought “What the heck”.

Sue was washing pots in the kitchen, and please no jokes about sinks, when she asked if I could tear myself away from my PC, did I want to take a look at the bird on the fence just a yard or two away? There sat an adult male Sparrowhawk for about 30 seconds, taking a look around both mine and a neighbour’s garden before it dropped down and out of sight. But I can’t recommend taking photographs through rain-spattered glass on a dark January day.

Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk

This is one of the ways a Sparrowhawk hunts, waiting hidden for birds to come near then breaking cover before it flies out fast and low. A chase may follow, with the hawk even flipping upside-down to grab the victim from below or following it on foot through vegetation.

In the UK, research into the effect of Sparrowhawks on bird populations has been contentious, with conflict between the interests of nature conservationists and those involved in game shooting. However, declines in the populations of some British songbirds since the 1960s coincided with considerable changes in agricultural practices and also large increases in the numbers of Sparrowhawks, but when the Sparrowhawk population declined because of organochlorine use, there was no great increase in the populations of songbirds.

Both earlier and contemporary studies have found no effect on songbird populations caused by predatory birds such as Sparrowhawks, and analysis of long-term, large-scale national data from the Common Bird Census shows the decline in farmland songbird populations since the 1960s is unlikely to have been caused by increased predation by Sparrowhawks. The results of the study indicated that patterns of year-to-year songbird population change were the same at different sites, whether predators were present or not.

Here’s a better picture of a Sparrowhawk. The eye colour of Sparrowhawks deepens and intensifies with age, and in contrast to the almost orange/yellow of the male on the fence, note the paler yellow eye of this juvenile female.

Sparrowhawk

My trip out yesterday was unfruitful, with little to report from a bright sunny day: A distant Peregrine at Lane Ends stood out from the equally far-off white blobs of 900 Shelduck and 6 Whoopers. Down at Braides Farm a Buzzard atop the sea wall looked out on wet fields crammed with 2500 Starlings and 200+ Curlew. From the top of Moss Lane that overlooks Lower Thurnham I saw my little count of Curlew eclipsed with upwards of 1000 of them spread across the miles of saturated and partly flooded fields.

Curlew

From Bodie Hill many hundreds of faraway Wigeon and Lapwing grazed the marsh but I was content with a picture from a bright sunny day.

Bodie Hill
Let's hope for a better, brighter view tomorrow.

How Do They Do That?

It’s only January 13th but this morning I saw a Collared Dove carrying nest material, a small twig, into a tall, dense roadside conifer. Just yesterday I swear a female Blackbird was weighing up the possibilities near the top of a garden conifer, a spot where Blackbirds built last year until a spring gale toppled the nest sideways. We know birds have in-built compasses that help them migrate, but they must also recognise the lengthening days as the North Pole tilts closer to the sun, then use their 365 day clock as a prompt to when they should begin the beguine with the opposite sex?

And I must admit, temperatures have climbed a bit in the last day or two, sufficient to activate the sap to rise perhaps, and definitely enough to finally thaw the pools at Lane Ends, even if that’s left us instead grey, gloomy and rain sodden. The pools held 3 Goldeneye today, the first I have seen there for some months, today a male and two females. I never ever see Goldeneye arrive or leave here, and if danger arrives they simply dive then surface further away, and they must come and go during darkness or near dark only.

Goldeneye

From the sea wall I counted 26 Whooper Swans heading off inland, and on the inland, now very wet field, 90+ Greylag and half a dozen Pink-footed Geese, several Curlew and 2 Black-tailed Godwits. A short walk along the wall revealed 2 Little Egret, 2 Reed Bunting and a single Meadow Pipit.

Greylag

I spent more time at Fluke Hall this morning, looking in the wet fields, the wood and the hedgerows and got pretty healthy counts, helped by the local Buzzard that flew a couple of sorties around its patch. As the Buzzard soared over, pursued by a posse of Jackdaws, even the ground hugging Red-legged Partridge panicked to such a degree that I managed to count 90+ heading for the safety of the Fluke Hall trees. Also here in the wet and partially flooded stubble, and flushed off during the Buzzard/Jackdaw fracas were 380 Lapwing, 70 Redshank, 450 Jackdaw, 135 Woodpigeon and 4 Stock Dove, with 2 Redwing and 3 Tree Sparrows pushed out from the roadside hedge. Rather strangely a single drake Wigeon sat on the Fluke Hall pool with the Mallards, but this may be the same injured bird I saw on the marsh a week or so ago that dived into the creeks to escape my rescue attempts.

Buzzard
Stock Dove

The fields behind Fluke Hall and up to and including Ridge Farm were awash with Pink-footed Geese, still finding old spuds down in the furrows where Lapwings hung about waiting for the geese to unearth animal goodies. I reckoned on something like 2000+ geese keeping out of range of guns and cameras, but with their comings and goings and general noise, it was the normal visual spectacle and aural treat.

Well I hope the weather picks up and allows a spot of ringing, but the BBC forecast for the next three days is dire, truly awful. But then last night’s prediction wasn’t too good, nor the one as late as 8am this morning, but in fact the morning was pretty bright with a hint of sun and not nearly as bad as the experts predicted. How do they do that?

What’s The Total?

It’s the question ringers ask at the end of each year of a ringing group secretary when all the year’s efforts come together. So here is a summary I put together of the Ringing Group results in 2010.

Our ringing group i.e Fylde RG totals equate to 3674 new birds ringed of of 69 species, with 520 of this overall number being pulli/nestlings and the remaining 3154 full grown.

The Top Ten species and individual totals for the year:

1. Chaffinch 674
2. Greenfinch 337
3. Blue Tit 238
4. Goldfinch 236
5. Blackbird 152
6. Tree Sparrow 146
7. Great Tit 142
8. Reed Bunting 139
9. Whitethroat 137
10. Swallow 128

During the year we particularly targeted finches, so the fact that finches figure in the first four shows we were successful to a large degree. Of the 674 Chaffinch captures, 506 were from the month of August through to December when migration is at its peak and when continental immigrants spread west as the winter progresses. Since its formation in 1985, the Fylde Ringing Group has ringed 13,900 Chaffinches, and in the process collected a phenomenal amount of data. Group members sponsored the Chaffinch pages in the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) Migration Atlas, a superlative book first published in 2002, a book that is still available for any bird watcher unfortunate enough not to own a copy.

Chaffinch

Out of the 337 Greenfinch captures in the year, 305 occurred from September to November, a time when many birds make fairly local post-juvenile movements up and down the west coast but when others move longer distances. We know this from previous year’s studies, as the group’s overall total of Greenfinches ringed is almost 7,000 birds, the data from which has provided much information on their movements and longevity.

Greenfinch

Our Goldfinch catches show three distinct peaks, between Feb to April when birds return north, June and July when many young birds are in evidence, and then October to December when Goldfinches undertake partial migration and local numbers are swelled by birds from the north of us.

Goldfinch

The ultra-clever and wary Tree Sparrows often defy us at the netting sites but we ringed 119 nestlings, a worthy effort to gather data for a still threatened species.

Tree Sparrow

It was especially pleasing to see healthy Whitethroat and Reed Bunting totals. Of the 139 Reed Buntings captured, 129 came from the migration period of September to November, Reed Buntings making rather late autumn movements. In contrast, our Whitethroat totals reflect netting efforts in mainly breeding localities with 120 birds out of 137 caught as mainly juvenile birds between June and August.

Whitethroat
Reed Bunting

These results represent a lot of hard work by our few members, and a special mention must be given to young Craig who made singular and heroic efforts to ring Coot in often severe winter weather but just missed the Top Ten with 89 Coot ringed. Well done Craig, we’ll have a whip around and get the jacket dry cleaned.

Coot

Thanks also to Seumus who spends much time and effort in liaising with the BTO and maintaining our IPMR database of 108,504 records!

Back To Earth

After the excitement and interest of Saturday’s several Brambling and tubby Blackbirds today was something of an anti-climax when the strong wind put paid to hopes of more ringing. However as always I signed in Blogger to report about my gentle jog around a couple of spots which ended when the fine Sunday morning hordes sent me scurrying back home for a bit of peace and quiet.

At Fluke Hall Lane the darkest of the stubbly fields was favoured this morning by Redshanks, with at least 120 taking advantage of the recent thaw, but lesser numbers of 30 or so Lapwing, a species which prefers the flatter fields towards Cockerham, where I didn’t venture today.

Alongside the lane and into the near wood my car disturbed at least 7 Redwing, 8 Blackbird and a little party of Chaffinch, less than 10 in fact.

Redwing

Beyond Fluke Hall in the Ridge Farm fields were thousands of Pink-footed Goose and the now regular crowd of several hundred Jackdaws, but I didn’t approach the geese for fear of flushing them from their feeding. I needn’t have worried because no sooner had I decided to stay put than someone else, walking too close to the hedge, sent the geese swarming up and over the sea wall to the relative safety of the shore. There were at least 1500, with a hundred or so left in the peaty field near to me, plus 15 Lapwing and another 30+ Redshank, all partly hidden by the furrows of soil.

Pink-footed Geese

At Damside I watched at least 170 Woodpigeon come out of the game cover as Hi-fly quad-man came piled-up with feed for the ducks, the pigeons and the crows. This shooting lark is an expensive and time consuming business when the quad bike does daily drops with several sacks of best wheat; no wonder then that Quad Man switched into Environment Agency Lambing Season Man mode and did his best to deter people from using the footpath that goes alongside the shoot but is supposedly closed until Easter – try telling that to those who have already vandalised a new sign at Lane Ends and have a god given right to walk their pooches wherever they fancy.

Both pools at Lane Ends remain bird less and mostly frozen but I spent a little time there watching 18 Blackbirds and about 15 Redwings turning over the leaf litter to search the earth below, initially picking out each new Redwing by the flurry of leaves, so well do their brown tones merge into the ground cover. A single Song Thrush looked on, with 15 Chaffinch, 2 Reed Bunting, male & female, plus the now regular Treecreeper, Robins and Dunnocks, a single Pied Wagtail and 40 or more Woodpigeons. The Woodpigeons now roost in the same wooded island spot that the Little Egrets used until the cold weather drove them out.

Reed Bunting
Woodpigeon

From the sea wall the tide due in three or four hours lay distant, and out there I counted up to 60 large, white, mostly I guess the regular Whooper Swans, with more hidden in the far off channel. A quick and rough count of the also distant Shelduck came to 750+, while our little Merlin friend sat on Big Log, also waiting for the tide and something to happen.

Prospects for the week ahead look reasonable with Will reporting Siskins, Goldfinches and the odd Redpoll coming back to his garden. All we need now is a kind spell of weather and my hopeful header may become prophetic.

How To Stay Positive……………

and go birding again. Yes, it has been a little problematical in the last week or so after constant grey days and the wintry sameness of the birding. Then after last night’s dire weather forecast there’s always the temptation to stay in with a cup of coffee and spend a few seconds reading The Sun from back to front. But you can’t keep a good birder down, using of course “good” in its meaning of virtue rather than skilled birding excellence, as anyone who knows me would agree. So I arranged with Will to meet at our site near Lancaster, have a look around, put food out for the birds, and if the promised snow, rain and 20mph winds didn’t materialise, put up a net or two.

The site is sheltered from the wind blowing from certain directions, and after a quick look around we put up two nets, one in the “icebox” and one through the beech saplings where the Bramblings have hung about in recent weeks. The icebox is so called because it is down in the depths of the trees but wide open to the often easterly wind that gusts viciously across the railway line. But it wasn’t snowing, and there was even a little sunshine – wow!

To sum up we had a successful couple of hours catching a reasonable number of birds of valued species. We caught 18 new birds with 3 recaptures: 7 Brambling, 2 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Dunnock, 1 Chaffinch and 6 Blackbird. Recaptures were 1 Brambling, 1 Great Tit and 1 Blackbird. This brought the ringing group's total of Bramblings caught this winter to 59 individuals.

Brambling
Brambling - juvenile male with contrasting coverts
Brambling - juvenile male
Great Tit

A recent email message from a blog reader told of almost 30 Bramblings in a Lancashire garden, all of which were males, a very unusual and surprising majority of the unfair sex. However I responded to the writer to say that in the field the differences between males and females may not be always clear cut, especially with adult winter birds where the male shows black-blue crown feathers and the female blackish crown feathers. However the difference is not always as clear cut as the two individuals below.

Brambling

The 7 Blackbirds caught this morning brought the ringing group’s total of the species this year to 24 individuals. When entering ringing data on IPMR a day ago the system “bleeped” me for a Blackbird entry to say that 140grams is the maximum weight for that species; but it is interesting that so far in 2011 every single one of 24 Blackbirds has carried fat reserves, with weights varying between 111 and 141 grams, with several in the high 130s and an overall average of 123.17 grams.

Other birds seen this morning on our feeding, birding and in-between net round rounds: 2 Bullfinch, 2 Jay, 2 Nuthatch, Treecreeper and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, one of which drummed away on a hollow tree in a very positive and optimistic manner. Just like us really.

What A Choice

A problem for me at 9am: 1) go shopping with Sue to M&S and her Christmas Vouchers, joining the other poor souls at the man-chairs feigning interest at their better half’s latest pair of shoes, or 2) go birding.

As I drove through Stalmine and Pilling, along Burned House Lane, Head Dyke and then Lambs Lane it was obvious that more than a few waders had found their way back to the post-thaw fields so unusually quiet in recent weeks. At Lambs Lane I had counted 160 Curlew, 45 Lapwing and countless gulls on the now wet fields. Blackbirds scattered from the roadside at Wheel Lane and Fluke Hall Lane, continuing the theme of recent days, and by the time I reached the wood my Blackbird count reached a rough and ready 25. I tried counting the masses of Jackdaws near the wood and the nearby fields but gave up at 600+.

The somewhat elusive Whooper Swans on the Fluke Hall stubble were indeed hard to fathom this morning as one lone bird hung around the flood, and during the morning I managed to count only 11 birds in total. At Damside and Backsands Lane I found 2 Pied Wagtails, 6 Meadow Pipits and a very good selection of waders on the flooded field: 64 Black-tailed Godwit, 90 Dunlin, 160 Lapwing, 24 Redshank and even a few Oystercatchers, now able to probe the wet rather than frozen fields. The light was poor again this morning, as the “noise” in the Pied Wagtail picture at ISO400 confirms.

Oystercatcher
Black-tailed Godwit
Pied Wagtail

I stopped in the car park at Lane Ends where I counted 17 Redwings and 12 Blackbirds feeding on the ground close to the doggy walking path, until of course a doggy walker disturbed then scattered them into the trees. 2 more Pied Wagtails here plus 15/20 Chaffinch finding bits of food amongst the giant flower pots where it looks like someone may have strewn nyjer seed.

Chaffinch

From the sea wall I watched a Peregrine beating up the shore birds, back and forth a few times, until it landed preyless on the log. There were a number of Skylarks flying about, flushed by the incoming tide, and between here and Pilling Water I counted more than 30 of them. Just 1 Little Egret in the ditch today, but I am sure they will be back in numbers if the weather stays kind.

At Pilling Water I found a Rock Pipit and 10 Linnets along the shore, with a tight flock of 1000+ Dunlin, more Redshank, and as the tide ran in a Brown Hare loped from the filling marsh.

Brown Hare
Dunlin

It was Number 2 but now I have to pay for my sins by making a Spaghetti Bolognese and opening a bottle of red, therefore excuse me, I must sign off.