Where Shall We Go Today?

What to do on another non-birding, non-ringing, windy, dismal, grey, drizzly morning and afternoon?

I turned my attention to sorting through the folders in Photoshop, where I dumped a number of inferior images in favour of some newer, sharper, and brighter versions. It’s much like the world of birding, where grumpy old birders droning on about “common” birds are best ignored, ditched in favour of superior, up-to-date versions with all the essentials for birding street cred – a permanently switched on pager and a Western Palearctic list containing Atlantic island endemics.

Here is a very significant list.

“August 2011 - The Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme has compiled population figures for 145 common and widespread bird species in 25 European countries between 1980 and 2009. Amongst those species covered, farmland birds are the most threatened group, with 20 out of 36 species in decline, and overall numbers at an all-time low, down by 48% since 1980. Some of the species that have declined the most over the last three decades include familiar farmland birds like Grey Partridge Perdix perdix (–82%), Skylark Alauda arvensis (–46%), Linnet Carduelis cannabina (–62%) and Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra (–66%).”

Here are a couple of images Photoshopped from this morning’s task.

Linnet
Corn Bunting
Skylark

“The results of the European bird population survey suggest that after missing its 2010 biodiversity conservation target, the EU will go on to miss the 2020 biodiversity conservation target unless decisive and urgent action is taken.”

And again. ”According to the State of Europe's Common Birds report, the European Turtle Dove population in Europe fell by 62% in recent times. This is partly because changed farming practices mean that the weed seeds and shoots on which the dove feeds, especially Fumitory, are more scarce, and also partly due to shooting of birds in Mediterranean countries during their migration.”

Turtle Dove

From the BTO, October 2011 – “It is six years since the inception of Environmental Stewardship (ES), England’s second generation agri-environment scheme. Although the formal target to reverse the declines was abolished by the present Government, the commitment to agri-environment funding remains. However the CAP which funds such schemes in Europe faces renewal in 2013, at a time of growing competing demands for land and agricultural production. Agri-environment policy in Europe is therefore at a crossroads. Sound evidence for the efficacy (or otherwise) of AES provision, coupled with the need to provide value for taxpayer’s money is more important than ever before. Across Europe, policy- makers will ask whether farmland bio diversity conservation is worth the expense and whether AESs are the best way to spend the money”.

Yellowhammers in Europe
Yellowhammer
Where shall we go tomorrow?

More Food For Thought

Readers of Another Bird Blog will know of the intermittent mention of culinary things, bacon butties, fish and chips, even the occasional reference to curry. So dear reader, stay tuned for more gastronomic delights and even a history lesson sandwiched between today’s meagre bird news.

With rubbish forecasts for the next five days I headed into the face of today’s wind at Knott End determined to do a little birding, even though the tide at 0730 was only medium height and the wind too north westerly.

A mass of grey told me of Red Knot huddled together against the biting wind, and it was only when the tide turned that the Knot started to move around a little, before they went for a flying circuit and then settling again. I estimated 1700 of them, with 14 Redshank, 3 Turnstone, a few wind battered Curlew and 18 Shelduck. Out on the distant water I came up with 11 Eider, 4 Cormorant and 9 Red-breasted Merganser. The latter species always appear in the bay as if by magic after a blowy spell.

Knot
Turnstone

John James Audubon, in The Birds of America, began his description of the Knot this way: “The Knot, good reader, is a handsome and interesting species, whether in its spring or in its winter plumage, and provided it be young and fat, is always welcome to the palate of the connoisseur in dainties. As to its habits, however, during the breeding season, I am sorry to inform you that I know nothing at all, for in Labrador whither I went to examine them, I did not find a single individual.” The Knot’s nest went undiscovered to science until June, 1909, when Admiral Peary photographed one in the high arctic after his dash to the North Pole.

But Audubon was a man of his time, and even scientists studied wildlife for their “usefulness” to society - in the Knot’s case, as a delicacy. Its taste on a plate may even explain its name. One account of the Knot’s name has the Danish King Canute, or Knut, dining on a strange coastal bird. His compliments to his chef led his courtiers to dub the bird, Knuts, or Knots.

An alternative account of the origin of the Knot’s name also features King Canute. This one notes that the Knot often feeds in the water, even as the tide is coming in. Where the Sanderling chases the waves, running to and fro with the coming and going of the tide, the Knot seems to hold its ground, as though trying to hold back the tide itself. A legend associated with King Canute has the Danish monarch futilely attempting to hold back the tide, hence the association of the Knot and Knut.

I thought to take a look at Lane Ends again where in the last few days I’d seen lots of egrets in the plantation sheltering from the incessant winds. There were 12 today, huddled into a small area hidden from general view but where they could take a break from just ducking down in the salt marsh ditches as a way of avoiding the blustery weather.

Little Egret

I came across this information on good old Wiki – “The Little Egret was once present, and probably common, in Great Britain, but became extinct there through a combination of over-hunting in the late mediaeval period and climate change at the start of the Little Ice Age. The inclusion of 1,000 egrets (among numerous other birds) in the banquet to celebrate the enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York at Cawood Castle in 1465 indicates the presence of a sizable population in northern England at the time, and they are also listed in the coronation feast of King Henry VI in 1429”.

Little Egrets had disappeared by the mid-16th century when the court chef had to “send further south" for more egrets.

Little Egret

“Further declines occurred throughout Europe as the plumes of the Little Egret and other egrets were in demand for decorating hats. They had been used for this purpose since at least the 17th century but in the 19th century it became a major craze and the number of egret skins passing through dealers reached into the millions. Egret farms were set up where the birds could be plucked without being killed but most of the supply was obtained by hunting, which reduced the population of the species to dangerously low levels and stimulated the establishment of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889. By the 1950s, the Little Egret had become restricted to southern Europe, and conservation laws protecting the species were introduced. This allowed the population to rebound strongly; over the next few decades it became increasingly common in western France and later on the north coast. It bred in the Netherlands in 1979 with further breeding from the 1990s onward.

In Britain it was a rare vagrant from its 16th century disappearance until the late twentieth century, and did not breed. It recently became a regular breeding species and is now common, often in large numbers at favoured coastal sites. The first recent breeding record in England was on Brownsea Island in Dorset in 1996, and the species bred in Wales for the first time in 2002. The population increase has been rapid subsequently, with over 750 pairs breeding in nearly 70 colonies in 2008, and a post-breeding total of 4,540 birds in September 2008. In Ireland the species bred for the first time in 1997 at a site in County Cork and the population has also expanded rapidly since, breeding in most Irish counties by 2010. The population is now spreading through English and Welsh counties.”

I took another look, and the forecast is much the same, so stand by for more archive photos and other menu delicacies in the next day or two.

Breezy Birding

The stiff westerly wind meant any ringing was definitely off the cards this morning, but I needed to top up the bird feeders at Out Rawcliffe so took a drive out there to do a spot of birding as well.

The Goldfinch haven’t taken much seed lately, mainly because there’s still plenty of natural food about, but today I disturbed 10 or 12 Goldfinches and a Lesser Redpoll from the 6 feeders before topping up with more than a litre of Nyger. Another 30 or more Goldfinches, 7 Linnets and 2 Reed Buntings were feeding in the nearby maize patch so maybe soon we’ll begin to find a few more finches and others in the nets.

As I continued down the farm track the perpetual Marsh Harrier flew across the road in front of me but by the time I stopped the car in a gateway and took hold of the camera, the bird had become distant above the drying hay bales.

Marsh Harrier
A Moss Morning

The overcast, windy morning probably wasn’t the best sort of weather for Buzzards but for whatever reason I saw seven in a short time and without really looking for them. Maybe the freshly harvested but now wet fields had exposed lots of suitable foods, as I noticed a couple of birds hovering rather than their habitual soaring and riding the thermals of sunnier days. A Kestrel was doing the same, spending what seemed ages just hovering above one area before its dive to the floor produced nothing and so it sped off elsewhere. From the wood I heard the raucous Jays and the “chick” calls of Great-spotted Woodpeckers, but didn’t linger to actually see how many of each.

Buzzard

A walk to the big wet field produced a good selection of birds with 18 Tree Sparrow, 3 Meadow Pipit, 5 Linnet, 20+ Snipe and over 150 Skylark scattered across the barley stubble, the latter a good September count but also a tremendous sight and sound when they all took to the air. So were the 400+ Pink-footed Geese which when they spotted me took to the air but then wheeled around and then landed again but further away.

Skylark
Pink-footed Goose
Snipe

From the area of the farm buildings I spotted another 2 Buzzard, 2 Pied Wagtail, a Grey Heron, counted 120 nearby Woodpigeons and then watched as 2 Swallows flew quickly though before continuing on their southerly path. They could well be the last Swallows I see this year, especially if the latest weather forecast is correct, but despite the blowy morning it was an enjoyable couple of hours with a good selection of birds.

Doing Solitary

This morning there were spits of rain on the conservatory roof. But optimistic as ever I headed to Out Rawcliffe for another solitary ringing session and hopes of a decent catch. On the moss it wasn’t quite raining, just very cloudy, so I put up three nets and kept fingers crossed for early morning migrants.

Meanwhile just a mile or so away at Nateby a birder I know had found a longer distant migrant, a Solitary Sandpiper which had traveled a bit further than any Meadow Pipits I might catch. It’s not my photograph of Solitary Sandpiper, and it’s a number of years since I saw lots of them in pre-digital camera Canada. Thanks to Dario Sanches for the picture taken in Brazil, the country where the Solitary Sandpiper should be right now.

Solitary Sandpiper by Dario Sanches (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/(CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Drizzle came in fits and starts but within an hour I had to abandon ship having caught just 6 birds, 3 Meadow Pipit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Goldcrest. The pipits were on the move this morning, coming in from the west and north-west then heading off south and I counted 60+ in the hour. Meadow Pipits may have been still on the go from yesterday’s huge movement but Chaffinches were not, with less than 20 birds perhaps due to visible cloud cloud to the north that would impede their progress.

Goldcrest
Chaffinch

But now for a more disturbing topic about birds. I saw Colin the gamekeeper this morning who gave me yet another ring taken from a dead Greenfinch in his St Michael’s garden, the third casualty in recent weeks; this latest bird was picked up from directly under the garden feeder. I have emailed the BTO with the information as it is another ringer’s set of rings.

Greenfinch

It is sad to see our Greenfinches or indeed any wild bird dying in this way, but since summer 2005, trichomonosis, a disease caused by a microscopic parasite has been reported in finches in gardens. Since then, outbreaks have been seen every year during the late summer and autumn. Greenfinch populations have been recorded dropping by a third, and Chaffinch populations by a fifth in those parts of the country that suffer the most serious outbreaks, Because of the lack of Greenfinches locally it appears that the North West of the UK and the Fylde may be one of the seriously affected areas. Chaffinches appear to visit gardens less than Greenfinches around here, a fact which may have spared their local population from suffering the same fate as Greenfinches.

Chaffinch

The trichomonad parasite lives in the upper digestive tract of the bird, and its actions progressively block the bird’s throat, making it unable to swallow food and the bird dies from starvation. Also, birds with the disease show signs of general illness, for example lethargy and fluffed-up plumage, but affected birds may also drool saliva, regurgitate food, have difficulty in swallowing or show laboured breathing.

Transmission of infection between birds happens when they feed one another with regurgitated food during the breeding season, and through food or drinking water contaminated with recently regurgitated saliva. If trichomonosis is suspected, it is recommended to temporarily stop putting out food, and leave bird baths dry until sick or dead birds are no longer found in the garden. This discourages birds from congregating together, which although a natural enough phenomena may actually increase the potential for the disease to spread between individuals.

Greenfinch

Good hygiene practice, specifically the regular cleaning of all feeders, bird baths and feeding surfaces, is an essential part of looking after garden birds and will help to lower the risk to birds of diseases in general.

Going It Alone

With Will in Scotland I had to go it alone for this morning’s ringing session on the moss. So I dropped one of the net rides to save the leg work and as a safeguard against a rush of finches hitting the nets all at once as they sometimes do. It’s not necessarily the taking the birds out of nets that takes the time, but the processing and documentation of each bird’s age, sex, wing, weight and fat score.

It worked out fine as steady catching kept me busy but not rushed. My session lasted 5 hours by the end of which I had caught 39 birds of just 5 species, 38 new and 1 recapture. New birds: 25 Chaffinch, 10 Meadow Pipit, 2 Blackbird and 1 Chiffchaff with 1 Goldfinch recapture.

The overhead Chaffinch passage was quite strong this morning but the Meadow Pipit numbers less than earlier in the week, or the week before. There seemed to be banks of cloud to the west and north but the moss was bright and sunny if a bit breezy this morning, with wispy clouds early on which made it again difficult to see high-up birds. “Vis Mig” numbers 0645 to 1130: 400+ Chaffinch, 45 + Lesser Redpoll, 30 Siskin, 8 Greenfinch, 10 Reed Bunting, 200+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Swallow, 3 Song Thrush, 30+ Alba wagtail.

Chiffchaff
Meadow Pipit

The juvenile female Goldfinch below is now attaining colour and beginning to resemble an adult Goldfinch.

Goldfinch

Ringers tuning in to the blog will note the large proportion of juveniles (age code 3) today, not unusual of course in autumn. Also today, of the 25 Chaffinch ringed, 15 were juvenile females, another not uncommon occurrence in September/October a time when UK Chaffinches from northern regions head south and west.

Field Sheet - today
Chaffinch

Other birds today: 2 Tawny Owl calling from nearby woods at dawn, 10 Snipe, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Peregrine, 2 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Jay.

Tawny Owl

Haddock, Chips and Mushy Peas

Another bright and breezy birding morning started with a quick look at Knott End where I killed the 20 minutes or so before Damien’s fish shop opened with a spot of birding. In the car park I took a few pictures of a Pied Wagtail with a gammy leg whilst the other 12 wagtails flew off towards the golf club before I could grill them; they also took 2 Grey Wagtails along with them. On the shore were 35 Goldfinch and as I walked up river alongside the golf course, several Chaffinch and at least two Siskin called from high overhead.

It was a very bright sky so I decided to save the my “vis migging” for the next ringing session on the moss on Saturday, with today’s sun demanding instead a bit of “no excuses” camera work.

Pied Wagtail

I detoured home then chucked the fish in the fridge before setting off for the Pilling tide again.

And this is going to sound like a re-run of yesterday’s birds at Pilling, but the Fluke Hall count was much the same: 450 Lapwing, 55 Redshank, 12 Skylark, 15 Meadow Pipit, 17 Linnet and 6 Goldfinch, but several Chaffinch in the wood today and a party of 10 Swallows heading east. A gang of 17 Magpies heading off from Ridge Farm was rather scary as well as unexpected, given that much of the land around Ridge Farm is well shot.

Lapwing

My count of birds from the sea wall was similar to Wednesday, so I’ll ditch the latest list of more wildfowl and wader counts, the exception being today’s count of approximately 1200 Lapwing. But I found time for the few pictures below, and less words means there’s more time to get stuck into that Haddock, chips and mushy peas.

Linnet
Wheatear
Little Egret
Wigeon
Pink-footed Goose
Redshank
Lapwing
Very tasty, I enjoyed that.

The Other Patch

The bright and breezy morning dictated a birding morning on the other patch at Pilling, a spot neglected of late, when several decent, wind-free mornings meant we could catch finches and pipits out on Rawcliffe Moss. I began at Fluke Hall looking and listening out for overhead birds but where little was happening, perhaps odd Chaffinches, Meadow Pipits, and Skylarks, but no obvious or substantial movement. If there is a morning diurnal migration taking place at Fluke it is usually quickly apparent, and in a south-easterly like today can sometimes involves a heavy movement of birds flying west to east along the sea wall.

Out on the marsh I counted over 400 Lapwing, 40+ Linnet and a Little Egret but the woodland was pretty quiet apart from a Great-spotted Woodpecker and a party of titmice. The Carrion Crows found a couple of Buzzards in the tops of the trees and they proceeded to harry the raptors until they left the woodland to head off towards the sea wall but still pursued by the persistent crows.

Buzzard
Buzzard and Carrion Crow

The walk from Lane Ends then back towards Fluke Hall began quietly, picking up as I persevered and then improving as the tide ran in. From the stile I counted 11 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Kestrel, 140+ Linnet, 60 Goldfinch, c2500 Pink-footed Geese, 2 Wheatear, 1 Peregrine and 2 Sparrowhawks.

Sparrowhawk
Pink-footed Goose

The incoming tide shifted lots of pipits and Skylarks from the by now flooded marsh, and I ended up with counts of 70 Meadow Pipit and 32 Skylark, many finding their way onto the inland fields via the countless fence posts along here.

Meadow Pipit

High water revealed more waders and wildfowl: 900 Shelduck, 40 Redshank, 70 Pintail, 600+ Teal, 2 Snipe, 40 Golden Plover and 35 Dunlin, with 17 Swallows also arriving with the tide and then heading quickly south-east.

Swallow

On the subject of Swallows, we have only just heard of a Swallow recovered during the early part of 2010. Ring number V971589 was first captured on Rawcliffe Moss as a juvenile bird of the year on 8th August 2009. On April 27th 2010 the Swallow, now sexed as a female by the length of its tail streamers, was caught by other ringers in Canton Magistris, in the Alpine region of Italy; the young bird had managed to journey to Africa and was now on its way back to the UK.

While British Swallows migrate to and from Africa through the area of the Mediterranean Sea in both autumn and spring, many take a more easterly route for the April/May journey, a direction which can take some through the Alpine regions of Italy. The interval between ringing and finding in Italy was 262 days and the distance involved 1198 kms.

Out Rawcliffe to Italy

There looks to be more breezy days ahead but amazingly it’s almost a shirt sleeves Indian Summer for a few days more.