I’d Sooner Be Birding

Almost a week without a post on Another Bird Blog whereby the weather has been unfit for birding, ringing or photography and the month of June heading for records highs of wind and rain. So this Sunday morning I vowed to get out birding and let the weather do its worst. 

It started off the same, heavy threatening cloud and windy, but just good enough for birding. I set off early for Pilling and immediately noticed a Police helicopter circling overhead, then just down the lane I came upon the boys-in-blue examining an abandoned car which blocked the road ahead. Seemingly the joyriders had escaped to vanish somewhere over the horizon, no doubt to then spend the morning playing hide and seek with the cops. Me, I’d sooner be birding. 

I turned the car around and made a detour over Stalmine Moss then across Union Lane towards Pilling, a route which proved fortuitous when alongside Union Lane I saw Kestrel, Buzzard and then a breakfasting Barn Owl. The cold, miserable morning didn’t help any Swallows to find food and I photographed one on a roadside fence where I employed ISO1600. 

 Barn Owl

Swallow

Eventually I reached Fluke Hall Lane and Lane Ends for my usual circuit just as the clouds began to part, the light improved and I switched to ISO400. Lane Ends to Pilling Water: Blackcap, Reed Warbler, 3 Grey Heron, Reed Bunting, 3 Corn Bunting, 5 Greenfinch, 6 Linnet, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Sparrowhawk. 

Whitethroats were out in force with 14 singing males between Lane Ends and Ridge Farm to the south of Fluke Hall. A pair of roadside Lapwings had 2 large chicks, from their size probable flyers. Some of the Lapwings which suddenly appear with young have brought them from fields just inland so as to gradually make their way out to the marsh. 

Whitethroat

Lapwing - Juvenile

Along Fluke Hall Lane Tuesday’s Oystercatcher stood sentinel on the same roadside telegraph pole where it but not I had a good view of youngsters in the next field. 

Oystercatcher

Burned House Lane now, not far from home, where the police, the helicopter, the smashed-up car and the bad boys had long gone but a Lesser Whitethroat in song provided a fitting end to my few hours of birding.

Watching Brief

Here’s a short update from a quiet walk over Pilling way today. It’s brief again because of the season of the year, when nothing much seems to happen on the migration front while birds go about their summer business. 

At Lane Ends there are still 2+ Little Grebe, 2 singing Reed Warbler, one singing Blackcap and a secretive Jay in the plantation, with singing Reed Bunting and Willow Warbler now at Pilling Water, almost certainly not the Lane Ends birds of late. Corn Buntings are now represented by 3+ birds showing all the signs of territorial behaviour which could be a blunder if the farmer cuts his silage any day soon. Other passerines noted, Lane Ends to Fluke via Pilling Water: 18 Skylark including fledged but scattered youngsters being fed by adults, 8 Goldfinch, 3 Pied Wagtail, 5 Meadow Pipit, 4 Whitethroat, 6 Greenfinch. 

Meadow Pipit

I took a stab at counting the post breeding waders, including any obvious and frequently distant youngsters; 18 Oystercatcher, 45 Lapwing, 22 Redshank, 6 Curlew. 

Scientists say we shouldn’t write about birds in an anthropomorphic way, but when in the breeding season I watch the adults of wading birds, Lapwings, but particularly Redshank and Oystercatcher, I am struck by behaviour that we humans recognise as good parenting skills: keeping a permanent watch on their offspring, immediately warning the minors of potential danger, and if necessary intervening on the youngsters behalf if they are in danger. Before “bringing up baby” there are the less obvious things to consider, meeting up with a good partner and then finding a safe place to build a nest and hatch their eggs, so as to be able to raise their young to the point of independence. Of course, most bird species only need look out for their offspring for a week or two, unlike us humans where the timescale is now more like twenty-five or thirty years.

The adult Oystercatcher yelled to the couple of chicks not far away when it saw me peering from the car window. I’ll allow readers to imagine what the Oystercatcher might be shouting. 

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

The guardian Redshank is less frantic but still watchful, the picture spoiled by the sun directly behind, illuminating right through the bird’s legs. 

Redshank

Lapwings, which breed a little earlier than Redshanks and Oystercatchers have now mostly given up on parenting and instead joined in with post-breeding groups of birds. There’s just an occasional bird warning now large young to stay hidden, even though the youngsters are well able to fly. 

  Lapwing

Stay tuned, more soon on Another Bird Blog.

Bits And Bobs

I decided to go to Out Rawcliffe for a spot of mist netting this morning so set off early about 6am, still a good two hours after first light. At this late hour I didn’t expect to find 2 Roe Deer just 500 yards from home, crossing the main A588 road at Stalmine and then running off towards the river when they saw the car. 

When I got to the farm it was the turn of a Tawny Owl and then a Little Owl to flee at the sight of my car, so no pictures there either. Both owls were in regular spots so they might be more cooperative next time. 

The ringing was quiet, as expected in June when lots of birds are still in the throes of breeding, either sat on or laying eggs where they stick close to home action without venturing into ringer’s nets. I caught a few bits and pieces, 2 Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 1 Robin and 1 Lesser Redpoll. 

The Lesser Redpoll proved to be especially interesting when I found it to be a female in breeding condition, with a well-defined and extensive brood patch. Whilst Lesser Redpolls breed extensively some miles inland, generally to the east of the A6 they are not known to nest as close to the Fylde coast as Out Rawcliffe. During the morning I heard other Lesser Redpolls flying over. Now, and following several such sightings last year I suspect the species is re-establishing itself towards coastal Fylde where its range contracted in the 1970s and 1980s to become nowadays just a spring and autumn migrant. 

Lesser Redpoll

Two male Blackcaps caught today with no sign of females or youngsters yet. 

Blackcap

At one point I stood watching birds flitting through the plantation, oblivious to a sitting female Whitethroat inches from my right leg, the bird flying off only when I had obviously stood near her too long. The nest had three eggs, a normal Whitethroat clutch being 5 eggs.

Whitethroat nest

Whitethroat

Blackbird

Willow Warbler

At first glance a Robin may appear to be an adult, but the loose feathering and remnants of a yellow gape show how it is a youngster, now several weeks old but from an early season nest. 

 Robin

Robin

Other birds today: 2 Buzzard, 4 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 15 Tree Sparrow, 12 Goldfinch, 3 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Lapwing, 4 Linnet, 2 Skylark, 2 Corn Bunting.  

Update And Diary Date

With the BBC’s dire forecast still fresh in mind I set out to find the reality was marginally better, managing to fit in a few hours birding before the rain arrived yet again. Here’s a brief summary. 

The usual fare at Lane Ends/Pilling Water included 20 House Martin, Blackcap, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Little Grebe and still 2 Corn Bunting plus 3 Meadow Pipits today. The June oddities today were a fresh in and singing Whitethroat on the edge of the plantation, plus a Ringed Plover on the shore. 

Ringed Plover 

I found yet another Skylark feeding young in a silage field, that’s at least 5 pairs along here which are at a similar stage. The nests will contain small young for a few more days yet, and hopefully survive the farmer’s cutting regime, probably due once the rain stops and the grass crop dries out. As far as I can tell there no pairs nesting on the sea wall just yet but the birds may choose to have their second broods there once the silage is laid bare. 

With the impending rain, I drove to Pilling Moss to check out a Sparrowhawk nest of late. Although ladderless and unable to climb to the nest, I found both adult’s behaviour suggestive of hatched eggs. Back home I checked Fylde Ringing Group’s IPMR database for previous dates of ringing Sparrowhawk chicks and found our earliest date to be 22 June, with the majority of the c40 chicks normally ringed in the first week of July. A note in the diary now marks July 1st 2012. 

Sparrowhawk

Looks like it will be Sunday before the weather improves.

Sunday Weather

After The Jubilee

It was “cool” start today, but here I’m not referring to Cool Brittania, my state of mind, behaviour or general feeling of well-being, but as usual on Another Bird Blog, the poverty of the British weather. It was so unwarm this morning I reverted to a bobble hat and three layers on the top half of my body’s rapidly fading ex-Mediterranean tan. 

Thirty plus House Martins at Lane Ends kicked off the morning as they fed in the lee of the plantation and over the sea wall where they had found a glut of insects. Maybe the insects were leftovers from last night, where the creatures found themselves drawn to the flame of a beacon lit by the people of Pilling for Her Majesty. 60 years of travelling the globe to exotic destinations; what a bird list she could have by now if only she had taken her bins and a good set of field guides: as usual I digress to matters less important than birding, but 4 days without proper news on TV is enough, without the added affront of 30 minutes of Paul McCartney. 

June is when the Starlings begin to flock, and there must have been 170+ of a herd of those brown, unlovely things, squawking for food from parents too slow to send their kids off to fend for themselves. Two Reed Warblers singing this morning, with a Blackcap and now silence from the Willow Warbler. More squawking came from the Jays busying themselves in making trouble for the nesting birds. 

Up towards Pilling Water I got a trio of surprises in the shapes of 2 singing Corn Buntings and an unseasonal Grey Wagtail. In other Junes I’ve seen singing Corn Buntings along here and I reckon they are loser males from elsewhere that either failed to find a girl, or refugees from nests destroyed in early cut silage fields; trouble is they don’t seem to get a lot of joy along here and pretty soon they move on. Can’t explain the appearance of a Grey Wagtail but nice to see all the same, as was a singing Meadow Pipit, the first here since the migrants sang briefly in April. 

Grey Wagtail

Corn Bunting

This was as good as it got, so I made my way up to Cockerham, Braides Farm and the high tide. Lots of Skylarks here, with at least 8 singing males with 3 birds seen feeding young, unfortunately for me all of those in rough, cattle-filled fields where ringers fear to tread. 

 Skylark

 

Many of the young Lapwings are now large enough to run and even break into flight, with the first signs of post-breeding flocking being a gang of 15-20 birds doing so. A good count of Curlew here with a count of 45 birds, probably all adults as any young will still be on the fells or fields. A couple of oddities here too with a single Wigeon on the sea and 2 drake Teal hiding in the ditches until the tide moved them. I hardly ever count the Shelduck here, but looking through them in the distance revealed the Wigeon and also a posse of Eider, 2 males and 4 females, the colourful males displaying to more brown, unlovely things. 

Eider 

After the celebrations most folk go back to work tomorrow. I’m afraid that for me for me it’s just more birding, but someone has to do it.

Rainy Day Post

For today’s rainy day post I’m using up the photographs from May’s Menorca holiday which produced 19 days of sunshine. I’m then binning the remainder of the pictures before everyone complains about Menorca overkill.

Es Grau just 4 miles from the capital of Mahon, is a typical Menorcan fishing village, where 85% of the population are true Menorcans. Close to and part of the village is the Nature Reserve of S’Albufera, an area ideal for walkers and where a typical selection of May birds can be found if you try hard enough. Here’s a selection of pictures from Es Grau with minimal comment from me.

Carrer D'Es Pescadors, Fisherman's Street - Es Grau

There were masses of Spotted Flycatchers in early May, one decided to fly off just as I clicked the shutter button, making for a weird shot.

Spotted Flycatcher

Spotted Flycatcher

Audouin’s Gulls are fairly commonplace in coastal locations like Es Grau while Yellow-legged Gulls are more numerous both on the coast and inland.

Yellow-legged Gull

Audouin's Gull

Audouin's Gull

 I think the creature below is known as a Beautiful Damselfly.

Beautiful Damselfly 

Es Grau, Menorca

Like many of the heron family Purple Herons can be very shy, usually taking off long before you spot them skulking in the reeds where their stripy appearance makes them blend in. Little Egrets can often be more confiding.

Purple Heron

 

Little Egret

There’s a viewpoint just outside the village where birds of prey circle on the thermals and Bee Eaters feed on high, so high that sometimes they can barely be seen but their liquid calls make you look up for their whereabouts. Click on the xeno-canto button to be transported to the Mediterranean.

Bee Eater

Red Kite

Booted Eagle

Coots and many other species were feeding young in early May.

Coot

Es Grau

Es Grau 

That's all for today folks, let's hope the weather improves soon to something like that of the Mediterranean. 

News And A Scops

I got to Pilling this morning for a few hours, and here’s a summary of birds noted: Pairs of Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Reed Bunting and Kestrel, the latter at Damside where I noted a Buzzard thermalling over the village. Lane Ends plantation: singing Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Reed Warbler plus 2 villainous Jays doing the rounds.

At Pilling Water/Fluke Hall I struggled to make headway with the 8/10 Skylark pairs, the only ones feeding young were in a rather dense silage crop which the farmer won’t thank me for flattening. Two pairs of Redshank with unseen young, likewise one pair of Oystercatcher and a few unringed Lapwing chicks on the too-public wildfowler’s pool. Otherwise, 1 Greenfinch, 5 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Grey Heron.

That’s not too much reward as spring disappears into June, and it’s nearly time to hang up the bins for a couple of months - just joking.

So to fill out the remainder of the post here’s a few pictures of Scops Owl from this year’s Menorca.

Just like in previous years a pair of resident Scops Owls visited the grounds of our hotel to hunt for moths and insects every evening. Some evenings the owls were more visible than others, but always announced they were due to arrive by soft calling about 9pm from their roost site in trees across the road. Louder calling indicated the pair warming up for a feed and were on their way, with the first bird usually landing by the room balcony or in a nearby palm tree about 2130. One evening as I sat with camera ready one of the pair landed so close I couldn’t get a full frame shot and by the time I slid the chair backwards the owl had flown to another vantage point.

Scops Owl

Scops Owls are widespread across Europe with most of the population migratory, however those on the Balearic Islands including Menorca are thought to be mainly non-migratory. The Balearic race Otus scops mallorcae is also said to be slightly smaller than other races, with less bulk and a smaller wing length, the latter probably as a result of becoming less migratory over many, many years: mallorcae is also said to show less colour variation than the more widespread nominate race. Without direct comparison this is difficult to judge from the pictures here, more so as the photographs were taken under different light conditions then later subjected to removing red-eye and other alteration through Photoshop.

Scops Owl

Some evenings and in between flitting between various hunting perches, the pair mated at the top of the garden canopies. At other times they flew back and forth to their nest site, but all the time their calling to each other was constant and often a means of telling how far away they had moved to hunt. Scops Owls have a very direct, fast unwavering flight, quite unlike the undulating flight of the 10% larger Little Owl. 

Scops Owl

On one or two evenings there were three birds, and while the pair could by early May have bred successfully, I thought it more likely an intruder was about. I was getting stupendous views of the owls so never even looked for their daytime roost somewhere in the grounds of holiday villas nearby. I didn’t hear this pair call in the daytime but occasionally when out walking in Menorca it is possible to hear a Scops calling from a piece of dense woodland. Best not to worry, just set the alarm clock for 9pm every evening, camera in one hand glass of wine in the other. Now that's what I call birding.