Yes, That island Again

Here’s a quick update for blog readers and apologies that I do not have time to visit all my internet friends blogs and answer their comments. i will get back to you all soon. In the meantime and a week on the sun tans are taking shape and we are acclimatised once again to the Menorcan pace of life. 

After 4 days in Es Mercadal we moved on to Santo Tomas, a quiet seaside resort in May, a place to strike out for a walk east along the shore and then inland to Es Migjorn Gran or west towards the resort of Son Bou. Either way is good for a spot of immediate birding with Audouin’s and Yellow-legged Gulls providing the background chorus as we find Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Whinchat, Turtle Dove and Hoopoe before we leave the resort. 

 Yellow-legged Gull

 

 Audouin's Gull 

 As the ground opens out we scan the rocky shore and see Common Sandpipers and then bump into Blue Rock Thrush, Stonechat and late Wheatears still heading north.

Commmon Sandpiper

Upon reaching Platja de Binigaus, the nudist beach, we become a little circumspect with use of binoculars, but notch up Kestrels, Booted Eagles and Red Kite by diverting eyes left to watch the inland fields and tree line. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 

We followed the inland path to Es Migjorn, a quiet, friendly sort of place with too many cafes which serve good coffee but a town where siesta is taken seriously. There was a plan, walk back to the shore through meandering paths where we found the Nightingales, Woodchats, Corn Buntings and Golden Orioles of recent years. Nothing much changes in Menorca, except that I’d love to get a shot of a shy Golden Oriole. 

 Woodchat Shrike

More from Anothe Bird Blog in Menorca soon.

In Menorca

It’s that time of year where we find ourselves in Menorca again. We took an early flight arriving a few days before most tourists and in advance of resorts opening for the season, so booked in at a local hotel in Es Mercadal, a quiet town in the centre of the island. Es Mercadal is within easy reach of good birding spots, including the hot spots of Tirant and Cap de Cavallaria. 

Tirant is always the first spot to visit, a mix of habitats including marsh, reedbed and farmland, so we weren’t disappointed with a tally of Woodchat Shrikes, Bee Eaters, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron and Marsh Harrier, plus a few wading birds like Wood Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover. It’s easy to take the ubiquitous Sardinian Warblers for granted, as they rattle away hidden from view in every bit of cover but just occasionally showing themselves, even in a bit of a breeze on the exposed peninsula of the Cap de Cavallaria. The drive up the headland is a good place to bag Tawny Pipits and Short-toed Larks and with luck a migrating Montague’s Harrier. 

We took a welcome coffee break at the café before the headland where the open landscape makes ideal habitat for Tawny Pipits, Stonechats, Thekla Larks, Egyptian Vultures and with luck Stone Curlews. 

Sardinian Warbler

 Tawny Pipit

Soon after I engineered a few Brownie points by driving Sue up to Ciutadella. Visiting here is not a bore because the old Menorcan captal of Ciutadella is recognised as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, a place in which to have a camera at the ready. 

Ciutadella

More from menorca soon.

Quickie

A morning of showers dictated the agenda this morning, a quick tour of Pilling shore before domestic arrangements called a halt.

At Lane Ends the Willow Warblers and Blackcaps seem to have arrived in decent numbers, unlike some others yet to put in an appearance; no Reed or Sedge Warblers yet. This morning I counted 3 Willow Warblers singing plus 2 Blackcaps, and managed to get a shot of a Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla in between it flitting fast and low through the bushes while singing its head off. One of the Blackcaps wasn’t as good a songster as the one pictured here, and at first I thought I was listening to a Garden Warbler Sylvia borin until I caught glimpses of that black helmet. Eventually the second one tuned up a bit too, but I don’t mind saying that at the start of each spring, separating the two Sylvias from their songs alone can be difficult. 

Blackcap

Garden Warbler

For anyone still unsure, there’s a comparison below, useful at the start of the season until ears get reacquainted with the differences. 

 

In the trees the 2 Jays seem to come and go according to no particular schedule but which is probably dictated by the amount of food put out for the assorted duck population. Still a singing Reed Bunting, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron and the patrolling Kestrel. At Fluke Hall there was a steady passage of Swallows heading into the easterly breeze, 20 + in just 15 minutes. Along the hedgerow here 3 Willow Warblers “hooeeted” as if they had just arrived, with 2 more singing in the woodland together 2 more Blackcaps and the resident Chaffinches. Across the far side of the wood I watched a male Sparrowhawk glide through the trees, in much the same spot as last year’s pair. 

Chaffinch

Stay tuned for the next post from a place quite unlike Pilling.

Saved By A Goldfinch And Seven Whistles

In twenty five years of birding and ringing this spring has been possibly the quietest I’ve experienced, with both a lack of numbers and a shortage of species. Birders are good at theorising or coming up with excuses as to why birds don’t do as we would like, but my own humble explanation for the season’s dull migration is the constant northerly winds and cool weather which has blighted the whole of April.

This morning I went out to the moss hoping for a change of luck and stuck a couple of nets up whilst wandering about. Explorations through and around the ringing site generated 7 or 8 Willow Warblers, a single Blackcap, one singing Whitethroat, plus a small number of Goldfinches loyal to the feeders. 

The ringing total proved pitiful once again with just 4 Goldfinch and a single Willow Warbler caught. This left Goldfinch as by far the most numerous capture for April with 29 individuals with other species lagging far behind. 

 Willow Warbler

Goldfinch

Birding was similarly quiet, the highlight being 3 Whimbrel feeding in the grassy field beyond the ringing site. In some areas of the UK the Whimbrel is known as the Seven Whistler due to its distinctive tittering call, often uttered in flight.

Whimbrel

Other birds this morning: Reed Bunting, 2 Corn Bunting, 4 Linnet, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel and Little Owl on the barn roof again as I arrived on site. Soon after first light the owl disappears into the roof space of the barn to somewhere meet up with a partner.

Little Owl

The Pilling Way

Another cool, cloudy start saw me at Fluke Hall earlier than most, with just one car in the doggy walkers starting grid. The brambly hedgerow there just behind the sea wall is the best place to find the first Whitethroat, this morning’s bird obliging with a blast of scratchy song the moment the car door opened. 

Whitethroat

I set off towards Ridge Farm, and then negotiated the Pilling Puzzle, hoping for other bits and bobs along the way which heads back to the sea wall. I kept a wary eye on the menacing sky which threatened an April shower or two as I logged 4 singing Skylark, 5 Swallows dashing east, a couple of Linnets and a field with 40+ Woodpigeon and 2 Stock Dove. A Collared Dove obliged by staying on the gate post, but this was to be my best photo opportunity of the morning, hence the filler landscapes and peas on a drum later in the post. 

Collared Dove

Pilling Puzzle

Pilling Sky

Back in Fluke Hall wood I logged my first Blackcap of the year, singing as tiny Blackcaps do at a volume sufficient to be heard many, many metres away. Also here in the shelter of the woodland, 2 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff. 

Along Backsands Lane a roadside Kestrel carrying prey appeared to be hurrying towards Damside where a pair nest most years, and as I stopped to watch the Kestrel I noted a pair of Redshanks together in the wet field. 

At the car park I broke off birding to admire an old motor vehicle. In some ways out-in-the-sticks Pilling is a tad out of date, stuck in its ways even, but not when it comes to money. The owner of this Austin Seven pick-up offered to sell me the vehicle for £10,000. I told him I could buy a good Canon lens with ten grand, but he just gave me an old fashioned look. 

Pilling Transport

 It was a great morning to be out, even if I wasn’t seeing many birds along the way to Pilling Water: 1 Grey Heron, 1 Little Egret, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Meadow Pipit and 8 Skylark. At Pilling Water I stopped to count the geese as there looked more than of late and came up with 600+ Pink-footed Goose and 1 Brent Goose. Looks like there’s been an influx of geese from Norfolk where the majority of the wintering Brent Geese belong to the Dark-bellied form bernicla. The geese were distant, more so when a jogger came along the sea wall behind me to spook them further away. 

 Brent Goose with Pink-footed Goose

Not much else along here, 2 Teal and a Shoveler on the wildfowler’s pools, more Skylarks and a flock of 45 Golden Plover, attacked at one point by a Peregrine which flew off when at first it didn’t succeed. 

 Golden Plover and Lapwing

Back at the car park I took the picture below. I am a dog lover, grew up with dogs and have the scars to prove it. Nowadays some dog owners are extremely selfish and inconsiderate to the extent that the latest fashion is to discard bags of dog shit in public places where they expect volunteers or poorly paid public servants to pick it up instead of the owners taking it back home where it belongs. I’ll bet they were visitors to a local caravan park or incomers – Pilling People simply don’t do that. 

Litter Louts

Mostly Linnet and Swallow

With more cool westerly winds this morning’s birding proved to be another low key affair, the only noticeable movement at Pilling being an influx of Linnets along the shore, a single White Wagtail, and Swallows heading out over the marsh. There was also the continued push north of Meadow Pipits, with a marked trickle of birds heading off over the bay towards Heysham. The latter species has been evident on many mornings since early March and must surely be near the end of spring passage. Swallows are now on overhead wires around many farm buildings, making it harder to separate out the local feeding birds from the ones heading determinedly north. 

 Linnet

The Wheatear traps didn’t work this morning, with blame cast mainly upon the meal worms which struggled to find a good reason to wriggle around in the cold conditions. Two bright sparks hung around for a while, but perhaps as street-wise adults the netting of the traps may have deterred them from sampling the bait. I gave up trying to catch them and settled down to attempt pictures instead; even now they weren’t for coming too close. 

 Wheatear

Wheatear

I stopped near the village for a few shots of a lonely Lapwing feeding amongst the dandelions. There are a number of Lapwings between Lane Ends and Fluke Hall, mainly on the freshly ploughed ex-stubble field, where the Lapwings may stand a chance of breeding, subject to the attentions of the Carrion Crows, local Foxes and Hi-Fly tractors. 

Lapwing

 Lapwing

 Lapwing

 Lapwing

 Lapwing

 Lapwing

It’s a marginal forecast for tomorrow but I’m sure there will be a fresh post on Another Bird Blog – stay tuned. 

Slowly Does It With A Sad Song

Here in coastal Lancashire we are fortunate to have so many good birding spots, the estuarine coast and marshes bordering internationally important Morecambe Bay, the hills just inland which encompass Bowland where Hen Harriers occasionally breed, or the extensive pastures of the Fylde plain where farmland birds like Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers might still be found.

This morning I felt torn between coastal birding or checking out our ringing site at Rawcliffe Moss for new arrivals; as the car made its way from home to the end of the avenue the steering wheel spun left towards Hambleton and the inland mosses; it’s so good to have the many options for a spot of birding.

Spring has been slow to arrive this year but on 20th April I hoped for the odd Whitethroat or Blackcap to add to the few Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff caught so far. It didn’t happen again with just 12 captures from my session, 2 Willow Warbler, 7 Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinch and 1 Dunnock, without sight or sound of other warblers.

At least 6 Willow Warblers were in song, my two birds a recapture from 2011 plus a newly arrived female. While other species seem in short supply the tiny Willow Warblers seem to have grabbed any opportunity to head north.

 Willow Warbler

 Dunnock

Goldfinch

 

There was very little on the move this morning, a handful of Meadow Pipits, a single Lesser Redpoll and a single Swallow heading north. Other birds were the usual locals of 1 Little Owl, 3 Skylark, 12 Goldfinch, 8 Chaffinch, 2 Reed Bunting, 4 Linnet, 2 Corn Bunting, 2 Fieldfare still, 2 Kestrel and 2 Buzzard. I took some time out to take pictures of a Corn Bunting singing its unhurried, melancholy “bunch of keys” song. Take a listen because the sound is becoming rather scarce in the UK.

 Corn Bunting

 Corn Bunting

 Corn Bunting

The Corn Bunting is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species. It is a farmland specialist, and has suffered one of the steepest population declines in recent decades – c. 90 % since 1970. Although the precise factors are unclear, the loss of extensive mixed farming appears key to the decline with loss of winter food a probable cause of the population decline. The BTO`s winter Corn Bunting survey as long ago as 1992/93 showed that weedy stubble fields were by far the most important feeding habitat during the winter. The area of winter stubbles is greatly reduced in recent decades due to the switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown cereals, the decline in mixed farming and the disappearance of undersowing. In addition, increased herbicide and fertiliser use has reduced the abundance of wildflower seeds and intensification of farming practices with increased use of pesticides and fertilisers has reduced the availability of insects for any chicks the Corn Buntings can produce. 

Out Rawcliffe is now one of the few local areas where Corn Buntings still occur, but even here their numbers are quite low with just 2 or 3 pairs on “our” farm.