More From Lanzarote

I’m still catching up with emails, family and friends; it is still too windy for any ringing or much sensible birding so here are more pictures and stories from the recent holiday to Lanzarote.

With an average of 17 days of rainfall a year Lanzarote is a dry island, where the desalination industry provide most of the island’s water, a situation which provides for very little standing water for freshwater waders. One of the few places to look for wading birds is the working salt pans, Salinas de Janubio on the south coast of the island. As a trade-off with Sue for visiting the shopping resort of Playa Blanca I spent half a breezy day wandering over the paths of the salinas where I notched up a couple of species for the trip. In the strong breeze lots of birds hid behind the low walls of the salt beds, with others staying on the less windy side of the inland lagoon.

I found some familiar species, Dunlin, Sanderling, Redshank, Grey Plover, Greenshank and Common Sandpiper, with less frequent UK visitors like Kentish Plover, together with the impossibly bright pink, long-legged Black-winged Stilts. Also here were single digit numbers of Swallow, House Martin and Common Swift, with a few Cattle Egrets nearby plus a single Little Egret.

Black-winged Stilt
Turnstone
Sanderling
Black-winged Stilt and Kentish Plover
Common Sandpiper
Salinas de Janubio

At the mirador café visitors can sit and gaze out over the salt pans as Berthelot’s Pipits wander through the car park.

View from The Mirador Cafe, Salinas de Janubio
Berthelot’s Pipit

Near Janubio is the green lagoon of El Golfo, where subterranean sea water seeps through the volcanic Lanzarote rock, the process turning the water bright green from the minerals the water meets. Lanzarote has anywhere between 100 and 300 extinct volcanoes, the number depending upon which tour guide you consult. I parked the Astra hire car under a volcanic precipice hoping a bit more of the jagged cliff edge might fall and finish off the old wreck.

Green Lagoon, El Golfo
Volcano’s Edge
Volcano’s Edge

El Golfo is a pretty sea-side resort where fish restaurants gut their fish on the beach whilst the gulls wait expectantly. Yellow-legged Gull was pretty much the only gull I saw in two weeks in Lanzarote, with just the occasional Great Black-backed Gull or Sandwich Terns fishing offshore.

Yellow-legged Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Little House - El Golfo
El Golfo

Back at the hotel was a quiet bar for a glass or two of Lanzarote wine after a thirsty day’s birding, or shopping.

Hotel Costa Calero
Stay tuned folks for more from Lanzarote or local birding soon.

Back to Blog

“Welcome back to Manchester.” said the pilot’s voice as the 'plane taxied across the airport tarmac. “Please remain in your seats until the aircraft has stopped and the seat belt light is switched off.” the voice intoned. “The temperature outside is seven degrees, and it’s raining.” he advised, with just a hint of mischief and to the collective groans of 340 passengers. Effective come-uppance then for our daring to leave the January cold and spend two weeks in the 22 degrees sunshine of Lanzarote. I dozed in the back of the taxi to the swish of windscreen wipers, the blur of the rain spattered traffic of the M61, M62, M55 and then finally the calmer roads of the Fylde, until we unloaded the suitcases and back to reality.

After breakfast I’d taken a final stroll around the streets of Puerto Calero to the calls of Collared Doves, chattering Spanish Sparrows and the unmusical songs of Southern Grey Shrikes, making full use of the street lamps to proclaim their territories.

Southern Grey Shrike
Collared Dove
Spanish Sparrow
Lanzarote cactus
Lanzarote flowers

So home again, back to blogging and a quick post. I’ll catch up with friends and followers soon with more pictures and words from Lanzarote and try to get back into the real winter birding.

Getting Better

It was only this morning that my new shiny notebook received the first entry for 2012, so that means I’ve already lost one day’s birding – must do better. The weather hasn’t improved though, with strong winds and rain forecast for several more days which looks like limiting my activity to birding only, consigning the pliers to recent history.

Today’s visit to Rawcliffe Moss was enhanced by a flock of Fieldfares, the first ones I have seen in any numbers since November. The summer and autumn of 2011 produced a poor harvest of hawthorn berries, leaving none on the winter hedgerows for thrushes, Blackbirds or marauding Fieldfares from elsewhere, turning up for the feast that never was. Although we associate flocks of Fieldfares with stripping our hedgerows of autumn berries they have a very catholic taste in food, taking a wide range of invertebrates as well as flying insects and they switch easily between feeding on berries, fallen fruit or like today, probing the sodden fields on the lookout for earthworms and beetles. At this time of year Fieldfares also associate with Starlings, a species which is just as adept at probing wet fields. For the record the mixed flock I found contained 60 Fieldfare, 200+ Starling and just 3 Redwing, the latter as scarce as Fieldfares since the autumn.

Fieldfare
Fieldfare

Despite the showers and blustery wind my walk north, west and south turned up good numbers of passerines, with 130+ Tree Sparrow, 30 Reed Bunting, 4 Yellowhammer, 120 Chaffinch, 40 Skylark, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1 Song Thrush, 5 Yellowhammer and 15 Corn Bunting. More distant and over towards Pilling I reckoned on over 1500 Lapwing, 400 Woodpigeon and hundreds more Starlings in almost constant flight back and forth over the moss.

Yellowhammer

But brief sunny intervals helped me find 2 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard and 2 Grey Partridge, and then on the way home I finished off with a pm Barn Owl perched alongside Union Lane.

Barn Owl

The day seemed longer, with a little light remaining at 1630. Now that’s what I call progress.

Where Did A Year Go?

It’s time for recalling the past year’s highlights of birding, ringing and photography. Now is the moment when we choose to forget the low points, the empty pages in a sodden notebook, netting a handful of birds on a seemingly perfect spring morning, or discovering that you set the aperture wrong after all. So here we go in rough chronological order with a selection of photos and personal highlights of 2011.

In the early part of the year we holidayed in Egypt at a time when the country was undergoing a revolution, but the confiding birds hadn’t joined in the turmoil and just behaved naturally for a visiting Brit. Egypt proved to be a wonderful place for bird photography and so difficult to select just a few pictures, apart from the Kingfisher which is just about my favourite photo of the year, taken with a decent choice of aperture for once.

Kingfisher - Egypt
Cattle Egret - Egypt

I’d left Will counting Siskins building up by the hundreds in his garden, together with a dozen or two Brambling and Lesser Redpoll. Within days of returning from Egypt I joined him for some memorable ringing sessions and notable breakfasts.

Brambling - Garstang
Lesser Redpoll - Garstang
Siskin - Garstang
Bacon Butty

Spring and autumn were great for catching and photographing Wheatears at Pilling. With the help of sacrificial meal worms I caught fourteen “Wheats” and clicked the shutter button a couple of hundred times on the beautiful chat, passing Meadow Pipits or the occasional Linnet.

Wheatear - Pilling
Meadow Pipit - Pilling
Linnet - Pilling

The annual ritual came along, May in Menorca, the island where birds are hard to find but fortunately more numerous than birders. This year a ringed Audouin’s Gull at the poolside gave me an excuse to find that extreme rarity, a Menorcan ringer.

Audouin’s Gull - Menorca
Audouin’s Gull - Menorca

Summer was warm and wonderful, ringing Swallow chicks, finding Skylark nests and stumbling upon young Lapwings or breeding Redshank.

Skylark - Pilling
Swallow - Pilling
Redshank - Pilling
Lapwing - Pilling

Then at the end of summer came a chance to take photographs of a species rapidly becoming a rarity, the unfortunately named “Common” Cuckoo.

Cuckoo - Nateby

Autumn and early winter was given over to ringing pipits, buntings, finches and thrushes “on the moss”, the satisfaction of working a regular patch with a job well done.

Reed Bunting – Out Rawcliffe
Tree Pipit - Out Rawcliffe
Yellowhammer - Out Rawcliffe

Many Thanks to Another Bird Blog followers and visitors for looking in throughout 2011 - here’s wishing you a Happy and Bird-Filled New Year.

Soggy Session

At last, a long-awaited ringing session when the BBC promised a drop in wind speed with a tiny window of dry weather, the first time Will and I had managed to get to Lee Farm since 20 November, when we caught 49 birds. In the meantime Will kept up the food drops for the local Tree Sparrows and for the Chaffinches which roost half a mile away.

The morning wasn’t nearly as good as promised, with heavy cloud from the off and little bouts of drizzle which turned to rain and then aborted the session at 10am. We caught just 14 birds, 11 new and 3 recaptures from 20 November. New birds: 8 Chaffinch, 2 Tree Sparrow and 1 Great Tit. Recaptures: 2 Chaffinch and a Blue Tit.

Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch

After the rain of recent weeks the track proved heavy going, even in wellies.

Wellies Recommended

On the way home I found 2 Buzzards sitting in the rain atop telegraph poles, so fired off a few shots - at ISO1600 again. One of the Buzzards had a comment about the less than ideal morning.

Buzzard
Buzzard

Sue tells me our friendly neighbourhood Sparrowhawk was back in the garden this morning, no wonder there are no small birds about.

Sparrowhawk

Saved By A Sparrowhawk

No birding or ringing for me in the continuing bad weather but the local Sparrowhawk returned to the garden today. It must have caught prey in a neighbour’s garden and then still holding the meal, flown down onto our winter lawn to finish off the job. The prey wasn’t visible in the leaf strewn long grass but the hawk stood holding its lunch for a good five minutes, time enough for me to open the kitchen window and take a few pictures. Unfortunately the hawk was in the gloomiest corner of the garden, and the day so very dark that most shots are on ISO1600, the best available.

Sparrowhawk – adult male
Sparrowhawk – adult male
Sparrowhawk – adult male
I think the hawk was waiting for its prey to fully expire, and after a while it took off, carrying the victim, a by now lifeless Starling.

I last saw this carroty eyed adult male Sparrowhawk on 23rd and 24th November when it allowed me to walk down the garden towards it, most unlike a normally shy Sparrowhawk. At the time I assumed it wasn’t too well, especially with its plumage all fluffed up and the way it sat with one leg raised. I guess it must have been OK though and perhaps just having a bad day or a senior moment.

Sparrowhawk – adult male

The Sparrowhawk saved a potentially blog free day and if the wind ever drops I’ll get a net up and with luck catch the hawk as well as a few other birds.

Sparrowhawk – juvenile male
Sparrowhawk – juvenile male

Famous Footsteps

I’m still busy with family things this week and birding naturally takes second place, but on a rough old morning Sue and I took some fresh air up at Knott End, with a walk along the Esplanade and up river.

There was no sign of the recent Black Redstart, however in its place at the slipway and near the Bourne Arms I found 6 Twite, 1 Rock Pipit and 1 Pied Wagtail. Shore birds: 220 Dunlin, 11 Turnstone, 20 Redshank and 1 Little Egret. Lots of Eider duck in the estuary, 41 in all, plus 3 Red-breasted Merganser braving the swell.

Eider
Pied Wagtail

Not everyone who reads the blog may know the following piece of trivia. The artist L S Lowry often visited Knott End and probably stayed in one of the boarding houses on the Esplanade, houses now turned into flats or private dwellings. There are paintings in existence which show that his favourite location for painting was a spot near the top of the ferry slipway, just where the Black Redstart hung about. It was from this spot Lowry produced typical scenes of crowds of matchstick people hurrying along the jetty to and from the ferry boat.

No more than a few of these paintings have ever been found but there must be more. If anyone has one of these canvases tucked away in the attic I am happy to swop it for a bird photograph of mine.

No crowds of matchstick people today, it was almost too windy to stand up.

Not “A Lowry”