A Waiting Game

After de-icing the car windscreen at -4⁰C again this morning I set off to Rawcliffe Moss not sure what I might do in the way of birding when it’s neither winter nor spring just that nondescript bit in between that’s just a waiting game.

Last week we put up a few niger feeders in the plantation in the hope of attracting more migrant Goldfinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll in the weeks ahead. But at first I didn’t much fancy putting up nets with icy fingers using icy poles and icy ropes in an icy landscape.

But when I walked up the centre of the trees a gang of 10 or 12 Chaffinch scattered from the base of one of the keeper’s pheasant feeder, then I heard a Goldfinch or three tinkling about, a Yellowhammer flew over, and then over towards the potato field the Corn Bunting sang from last year’s song post in last year’s territory. So with the sun up I decided to have a net and in between the checks, a wander about, play a watching brief, have a good listen in the quiet that is the middle of the deserted March mosslands.

Corn Bunting

From my walk of the plantation perimeter I counted 3 Reed Bunting, 4 Blackbird, 7 Goldfinch, 2 Buzzard and hovering Kestrel whilst overhead and in the space of an hour there was minimal visible migration in the form of 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Lesser Redpoll and 3 Siskin. From the far side of the trees 3 Roe Deer dashed off and several Brown Hare loped away from the shorter grass to longer cover. I watched a Jay flew over, the first I have seen for months, not so the still flocking Woodpigeon with 70 of them flying tightly east.

When I checked the couple of nets the feeders had worked a just little with 3 Goldfinch, a Chaffinch, a Great Tit and a recaptured Blue Tit from last autumn.

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Chaffinch
Goldfinch

Meanwhile the finches that went over didn’t join those on the niger, but I have high hopes for the next few weeks when Redpoll come through in numbers. As the morning warmed Skylarks came into good voice but very soon the wind picked up rendering my previously motionless nets to resemble sails and I hastily packed in. As I left the moss I saw the Little Owl in the lee of the ivy covered tree and usual 4 Stock Dove around another where the ivy hides the cavities.

I just looked at the weather chart and the synopsis for the next four days is not good with westerlies and rain at times. It could be a slightly longer wait for those migrants.

Looking For More

The ringing in Will’s garden has been very productive so far this year, with 140 Siskin and 85 Chaffinch ringed, not forgetting 12 Goldfinch, 8 Brambling and 4 Lesser Redpoll. With signs of everything quietening down last week we had another shot today, hoping to at least hit the 150 mark for Siskins.

It was a bit early to disturb Will’s slumber so I called at Out Rawcliffe for ten minutes or so and a quick look, where I found instead a Little Owl staring down at me. Little Owls aren’t always obliging so I stayed in the car, and not for the first time used the opening sun roof to get a picture or two. Also near the Little Owl spot were 3 Yellowhammer with one singing its dawn melody, a “little bit of bread and cheese”.

Little Owl
Little Owl

There were Siskins in the garden, maybe a dozen or so in the tops of the alders and a few on the feeders but they quickly cleared off, leaving about 60 Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, several Greenfinch, the regular Robins, Blackbirds and Greenfinch and a good number of the tit family.

The catching was slow today, in fact as slow as we have ever experienced there and we ended up with 10 new birds only, 5 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch and 2 each of Blue Tit and Great Tit.

Siskin

Our one recapture today was a resident adult Dunnock, readily sexed as a male on today’s early March date by the cloaca. The male Chaffinches are now looking particularly bright, reminding me that in parts of Scotland the Chaffinch was, and may still be known as “Blue Cap”.

Chaffinch
Goldfinch

Other birds over and about the nearby fields: 4 Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Mistle Thrush, 25 Greylag, 2 Canada Goose.

So whilst we didn’t achieve today’s objective of more Siskin, a nil result can often tell us as much as a good result. In our case we are now pretty certain that the throughput of both Siskins and Chaffinches is coming to an end and that perhaps it is time to switch our allegiance to spring and summer ringing sites in pursuit of more birds.

That’s What It’s Like

Early March can be uneventful; it’s often a case of waiting days for migrant birds that may have appeared on the south coast of England but have yet to arrive up here in the “bleak north”. So it was this morning where in the face of a less than ideal north easterly wind and grey skies, I gave the Pilling sea wall a good grilling for migratory birds but found only one or two I could say were definitely “on the move”. However, March is a good time to gather early indications of the numbers and territories of local breeding birds like Lapwing, Skylark, Oystercatcher, Shelduck and Redshank, before they all hide themselves in the rapidly growing vegetation of April and May.

Pairs of both Goldeneye and Little Grebe were on the Lane Ends pools, all of them involved in spring shenanigans, the drake Goldeneye head tossing to a seemingly uninterested female, and Little Grebes trilling away in the safety of the pool margins; the grebes will stay, the Goldeneye will soon go, maybe to become one of the 100 or so pairs breeding in Scotland, but more likely fly off to Scandinavia or Western Russia where most Goldeneye breed.

Goldenye

This has been a Siskin winter for sure, more obvious to me because of ringing lots of the little green things without necessarily seeing them whilst out birding, but a single bird this morning called as it left the Lane Ends trees and headed off strongly to the North East. Two Little Egrets were just out on the marsh, and I later saw a third one, but their numbers won’t increase now until July and post-breeding dispersal. Numbers of Pink-footed Geese Over Wyre have been quite low recently, maybe related to the continued cold with the slow growth of green shoots for them to feed on, but more were about this morning and I estimated circa 3,000, but hey who’s counting pinkies to the nth degree?

I followed the sea wall to Fluke Hall and back; there were 65 Lapwing and 2 Golden Plover on the stubble flood, with at least two pairs of the Lapwing pared off from the main group and indulging in their fantastic spring displays. A few of the males have now developed full head adornments and are just wonderful to watch as they strut and pose around their adopted patch of ground. Oystercatchers are also paired up, with at least 4 pairs between Lane Ends and Fluke, some males doing their slow flapping displays, others using fence posts so soon. I also saw several Redshanks alarm calling, the males “bobbing” on the self-same spots of ground as last and previous years.

Lapwing
Oystercatcher

Along the way I counted 5 fully singing Skylarks, i.e. rising into the sky then gradually falling, rather than the half-hearted songs from the ground or a fence post of late, but I also saw another 12 or more feeding in the edges of the green marsh. It was just here I first heard then saw 3 Meadow Pipit land on the wall ahead of me; Meadow Pipits, the true harbingers of spring up Pilling way, but maybe only if they fly purposefully over, "seep-seeping" then disappear into the distant view of Heysham?

Meadow Pipit

On Worm Pool I hoped for something more exciting than 4 Teal, 2 Shelduck, 2 Redshank, squabbling Moorhens and the aforementioned Little Egret, but sat on the sea wall I noted the far-off Peregrine waiting for the tide to bring in more birds. A patient Peregrine can outwait me most days, so I headed back.

No, it wasn’t the most action-packed hour or two of birding, but working a local patch is often about the mostly seasonal, sometimes fast, often slow and occasionally imperceptible ups and downs that are the lives of birds, and anyway I enjoy it.

Interesting

A few interesting recoveries of ringed birds came through; information on what happened to one of the four Kestrel chicks Will and I ringed at Out Rawcliffe in June last year, a further capture of a Goldfinch Will ringed in his garden in April 2010, and thirdly, interesting Chaffinch data.

Kestrel chick June 2010
Out Rawcliffe to Hathersage

We ringed four Kestrel chicks from a tree cavity nest on 20 June 2010, and one of these birds was found dead near Hathersage, Derbyshire on 17 December 2010. The first thing that springs to mind is that mid-December was a period of very cold, icy and snowy weather when perhaps an inexperienced bird might struggle to find food. Of course Kestrels with their habit of feeding and hovering along road and motorway verges are also likely to become road casualties. We have no further details of how and where Kestrel EK91584 was found other than it was freshly dead but I think my money would be on winter starvation.

Kestrel

The second recovery continued recent results from our Goldfinch ringing that shows movements of our local Goldfinches to and from the south of England. In the latest case, Goldfinch X515556 that Will ringed in his garden on April 25th 2010 was recaptured by another ringer in the south west of England in Broad Oak, Devon on 28 December 2010, clearly a case of a Goldfinch moving south during the winter. Of course unlike the Kestrel, the Goldfinch remains in circulation and as a species caught in good number may provide further information.

Garstang to Devon
Goldfinch

A third recovery more interesting from a longevity perspective was a Chaffinch first ringed near Lancaster on December 2nd 2004 by a local ringer. The bird was recaptured in Will’s garden on 15 December 2010, some 2204 days, just over 6 years later. The distance between the two ringing sites is 28 km only, showing that this particular bird is probably very much a resident of the local area and doesn’t venture far even in the winter.

Chaffinch

An Early March

There was a thick frost this morning, reminding everyone that the price of clear overnight skies in March may be a sunny day but an unwelcome cold start. So after de-icing the car for the second time this week I called in Damian’s shop at Knott End for supper time fish then I turned my attention to a little gloved and hatted birding for an hour or two.

The medium tide of about 10 am was just turning, heading into the Wyre from Fleetwood and Morecambe Bay but bringing a little mist that the weak sun could barely shift. But it wasn’t so bad that it stopped a count of sorts and even a few pictures of the assorted waders, or at least those that stick to the close shore and are more tolerant of early morning passers-by: 550 Oystercatcher, 32 Turnstone, 105 Redshank, 110 Knot, 90 Dunlin, 11 Curlew, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Grey Plover.

Knot
Turnstone

The wildfowl numbers are quite low now after a number of Shelduck and Eider departed to breeding sites, so my count of 15 Shelduck on the water and 3 Eider loafing on the jetty was not unsurprising. I’d parked in the car park where early mornings there are always 2 Pied Wagtails tottering about, and then lining the car park wall, numerous Black-headed Gulls that arrive in waves with each new car, but quickly lose interest if no food appears from wound down windows.

Eider
Black-headed Gull
Pied Wagtail

Along the promenade the Twite flock on the seed numbered approximately 30 very flighty individuals today: they took to the air at the passing of every one of the numerous pedestrians, who in the main seem not to notice the nondescript little brown birds that grace their village each winter. There were 2 more Pied Wagtails on the frosted foreshore below the railings plus 2 Rock Pipits.

Twite

I took a run up to Lane Ends where the tide was full but distant in the now partially sunny haze. From here and the trek to Pilling Water and back the best I managed were 3 Little Egrets, a distant and predictably perched Peregrine, and a bunch of about 15 Skylark, not counting the one that rose singing above the nearest field. The inland fields held about 60 Lapwing and 95 Curlew, whilst way out on the marsh the sight of 700 Pink-footed Geese told me that it it’s still only March 3rd and I’ll have to wait a week or so yet for spring migrants and the chance of catching Wheatears again.

Pluck Me!

Once the frost played out and the sky turned blue again it was a few hours on Rawcliffe Moss this morning, mainly to suss out the state of the plantation in readiness for spring ringing. As is often the case I got diverted, this time by Buzzards yet again with a count of 6 birds, three pairs over three woods. Maybe all those birds from last week sorted out their differences then sent the intruders packing, tails between their legs or whatever Buzzards do when they lose out on a good breeding site. So for the third time recently I got more less-than-ideal pictures of distant Buzzards. But if all goes to plan we might just get to catch a few of them soon when I can get close-ups.

Buzzard - Buteo buteo
Buzzard - Buteo buteo

I went into a wood where I found the Buzzard’s plucking post with evidence of more than one meal of Woodpigeon, many of which roost in the wood, day or night.

Plucking Post

Finding a plucking post surrounded by feathers and fur is often a way of finding raptor nests, indicating that a nest is close by or in this case that a bird regularly uses the spot in its winter territory. The Buzzard’s plucking post was on the upper side of a large fallen tree, the elevated nature of which allows for a safer landing with a heavy load of prey like a Woodpigeon, as well as being a good vantage point to scan for other predators while the bird is vulnerable and involved in the relatively complex process of plucking then consuming the prey.

I think the Buzzards saw me enter the wood because they weren’t in there and probably left long before I quietly walked in hoping to get closer views of them. I confirmed their secretive nature ten minutes later when from a path outside the wood I saw two Buzzards heading back to their now undisturbed territory.

Our ringing planation was pretty quiet but I did find 2 Blackbird, 3 Reed Bunting, 12 Chaffinch, 11 redpoll feeding very quietly amongst the alders, and also surprised a Woodcock which exploded from the ground cover then through one of our soon to be used net rides. Several Wood Pigeon also crashed out of the plantation at my coming and headed off towards the safety or maybe not of the dense trees in Buzzard Wood.

On the moss proper the Skylarks thin out with only 10 today, chirruping off the deck when the Lapwings and corvids flapped and called noisily over the stubble. The Tree Sparrows make as much noise as ever, but the noise has shifted somewhat to spots where there are nest boxes with holes designed just for them, along the track and at the edge of the wood. Meanwhile at the food drop about 60 of them still loitered waiting for the next bucketful, and I didn’t have the heart to explain that The Man With A Bucket may not be along for a while. Six Yellowhammers today also waited around the much better bet of a still full pheasant feeder.

Tree Sparrow

As I left the moss a flock of Lottis and Blutis sped along the track ahead of my car and then, pluck me, I took yet another picture of a Blue Tit, many a ringer’s Nemesis bird, but a favourite creature of a regular blog reader who must remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from British ringers.

Blue Tit

First Of March

There was just a slight frost this morning on the car windscreen but within half a minute of starting the car the film of ice cleared; I set off to meet Will and Craig for a ringing session in Will’s garden at Catterall with hope of the first catch of March. Along the road the morning bode well for a few birds when a Barn Owl flew ahead of me in the half light of Hambleton village then disappeared over nearby fields.

Barn Owl

By 0715 the 60 foot net was up and we began to catch finches as the Siskin arrived first, followed by the larger finches. This morning we caught 37 birds, 25 new and 12 recaptures. New birds, all but one of them finches: 16 Siskin, 6 Chaffinch, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Blue Tit. Recaptures were: 3 Siskin, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Dunnock, 4 House Sparrow and 1 Great Tit.

Our overall finch count today was of 60 Siskin, 60 Chaffinch, 6 Greenfinch, 6 Goldfinch and 2 Brambling. So the numbers of new Siskins meant a decline from recent catches of 30ish birds, as did the three recaptures of the same species; these figures plus Will’s daily observations, suggest that Siskins are still moving through and probably north but perhaps in lesser numbers. We still had low numbers of Goldfinch, with no Lesser Redpoll today, with numbers of Bramblings now unlikely to increase.

Siskin

Siskin
Blue Tit

Other birds this morning: 22 Curlew, 15 Fieldfare, 8 Cormorant over, 300 Starling, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Treecreeper, 8 Jackdaw, 2 Song Thrush, 80 Wood Pigeon.

It was a cold morning but once the sun rose and the spring air warmed up the Buteo theme of last week resumed when 6 Buzzards appeared circling together over adjacent fields and woods as they searched out thermals on which to ride.

Buzzard - Buteo buteo
Buzzard - Buteo buteo
A successful if fairly quiet session but its always nice to start the month with a few new birds.