For The Record

After yesterday’s exertion of a ringing session out on the moss today’s stroll and undemanding birding along the sea wall at Pilling proved something of a doddle, the biggest challenge being the search for new photographs to keep blog readers satisfied. After a couple of hours I’d seen a handy selection of species and even managed a couple of pictures. 

The last week has seen a tremendous push south of Willow Warblers, both big arrivals, lesser parties and ones and twos dotted all along the Lancashire and Cheshire coastline, so as I set off walking from Lane Ends I wasn’t surprised to add to the tally with 2 in the immediate trees. There was then nothing to see until Pilling Water where a female Sparrowhawk circled briefly over the wildfowler’s pools before heading off in the direction of Lane Ends. I noted a single Wheatear atop a direction sign and then a couple of Linnets along the shore. This Wheatear wasn't interested in a free mealworm in exchange for a shiny new ring.

Wheatear

Sat down I watched as the tide rolled in from the west, pushing waders, wildfowl and miscellaneous ahead of it: 440 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 1 Greenshank, 60 Lapwing, 1 Golden Plover, 2 Snipe, 8 Dunlin, 4 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 8 Wigeon, 190 Teal, 44 Shelduck, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 9 Cormorant, 3 Little Egret and 3 Grey Heron. One of the herons obliged with a fly past just within camera range but in the main everything keeps a safe distance from any pedestrians on the wall, most of all the resident Peregrine which stays near the incoming tide where opportunities for lunch constantly arise. 

 Grey Heron

As the tide turned I heard a croaking but distant Raven and turned to see not one, but two of them heading over and west towards Fluke Hall, dwarfing the Carrion Crows as they went. There’d been a number of Swallows hawking over the tide, some moving west, others seemingly still locals, and I jotted 30+ in my notebook, plus a Kestrel now hovering over the full-in tide. 

The tide had pushed hundreds of gulls onto the fields of Backsands Lane and Damside so I promised myself a quick look on the way back through the village. The count was 400 Black-headed Gull, 20+ Common Gull and a single Mediterranean Gull, the birds constantly moving as cyclists and vehicles passed slowly by. The distant Med needed a heavy crop and as they say, it’s “a record shot”.

 Mediterranean Gull

Tune in soon for more news from Another Bird Blog. This week I’m linking with Stewart's World Bird Wednesday http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.co.uk - take a look. Stewart is a fellow bird ringer but lives a few miles away in Australia.

A Win For Willy

With the disastrous summer we’ve struggled for a decent catch of birds all year but our luck changed this morning with an excellent mixed catch of warblers at Out Rawcliffe. Will and I met at 6am and by 1030 we’d managed a catch of 28 new birds following what appeared to be an overnight arrival of mainly Willow Warblers, possibly birds from Scotland, especially since we were hearing and seeing Tree Pipits too. 

Species and numbers caught: 16 Willow Warbler (3 adult and 13 juvenile), 2 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Tree Pipit, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff , 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Reed Bunting. Approximately 35/40 Willow Warblers were about the immediate area this morning, some of them visibly heading south when they left the plantation. 

Willow Warbler

With just a single Chiffchaff the morning clearly belonged to the Willys. 

Chiffchaff

We counted 6+ Tree Pipits over this morning, a figure which includes the two juveniles caught. 

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

The two Lesser Whitethroats were immaculate juveniles, the Common Whitethroat a juvenile in moult. 

Lesser Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat

Common Whitethroat

It’s always instructive to catch a Reed Warbler in the trees, so reminding ourselves that birds don’t necessarily do what it says on the label. 

Reed Warbler

As the species isn’t proven to breed too locally and also scarce in the summertime we normally catch Lesser Redpolls in just spring or fairly late autumn and so do not see their moult patterns. This year I suspect a pair or two have bred very locally indeed, therefore catching a female in heavy moult reinforced the notion. 

 Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

A juvenile Reed Bunting in post-juvenile moult. 

Reed Bunting

Other birds this morning: Evidence of migration with 24 Snipe and 14 Golden Plover, otherwise less than five each of Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and Chaffinch over, so no great finch movements as yet. Small number of Swallows in the area c40, but very little noticeable movement south. No raptors or owls this morning - most unusual, but then we were busy counting or watching Willys. 

Never Give Up On A Good Thing

Eno didn’t give much hope of decent weather this morning. In fact I nearly didn’t go to Pilling except that about 0930 the spots of rain gave up and sun came out instead. 

 Eno's Warning

"Don't go birding"

At last, a guest appearance by Wheatear with just a single juvenile along the sea wall so chance to give the meal worms a day out in the sunshine, and ten minutes later the bird was literally in the bag, then ringed and measured at 93mm wing length. 

Wheatear - juvenile

Wheatear - juvenile

The wildfowlers' pools held a good number of duck today with more than 150 Teal, 4 Wigeon and many Mallards, most of the latter ex-layers now put out to grass. The Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper of late are still about, unlikely to be seen in the deep ditches unless startled into flight by spooked Teal. A number of the Teal flew back and forth to the marsh where 2 Peregrine awaited them, and I watched one of the pegs return to the edge of the sand after taking a half-hearted dash at a group of the duck. Teal have such tremendous flying ability, fast, twisting and unpredictable changes of direction that for photographs it’s a case of point and shoot then hope for the best. 

Teal

Peregrine

 Little else to report: 15 Shelduck, 450 Curlew, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Skylark, 4 Linnet, 10 Goldfinch, 30 Swallow heading south. 

It proved a short outing because to be fair to Eno and the BBC, the rain came back, enough to wet me through on the return walk to Lane Ends where I finished on Little Grebe, another Sparrowhawk and 2 Pied Wagtail.

Oyks Galore

Before the babysitting I grabbed a few hours birding at Knott End this morning with the highlights being a high-for-August count of Oystercatchers followed by a smattering of newly arrived Willow Warblers deposited by last night’s thunder and lightning. 

As the tide came in and filled the mussel beds the waders split in different directions, when 1100 Oystercatchers stayed roosting on the beach with about 40 Curlew and just 2 Shelduck and an increase to 14 Eider and 9 Cormorant. When the tide filled 8 Sandwich Terns arrived, choosing not to stay around but instead heading up-river in a southerly direction. There was also a steady but small movement of Swallows in the same direction, about 30 in two hours. 

Oystercatcher

More than 110 Redshanks flew out of sight, upstream towards Arm Hill and when I walked alongside the golf course to the sailing jetty I found 4 Common Sandpipers, a single Turnstone and 2 Grey Heron. The golf course held 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Greenfinch, 15 Linnet and 4 Goldfinch and 2 calling Willow Warblers - Later on at home I was to see a Willow Warbler in the garden with a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, and looking on a few web sites and blogs I see a number of other sightings of Willow Warblers this morning. 

Willow Warbler

Common Sandpiper

In the car park at Knott End I noticed a Lesser Black-backed Gull, one of the regulars which targets car arrivals hoping for hand-outs and leftovers, but when I looked closer it had the remains of beach or landfill detritus firmly wrapped around its bill. Nothing much to do for the animal except think that it seemed in good condition and had arrived looking for another meal despite the handicap inflicted upon it by the human race.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull 

 

Another quiet day so let’s hope thing pick up soon on Another Bird Blog. Tomorrow’s forecast is “a bright morning, followed by rain from midday”. We’ll see, but in the meantime I changed the header to a Spotted Flycatcher to bring more luck,.so thanks to all those who enjoyed the Bee Eaters.

Another Day, Another Buzzard

I spent the breezy morning at Knott End looking along the tideline for waders and checking the golf course for passerines before the lure of Pilling Water and Lane Ends drew me back yet again. 

Although due high tide the actual level would be quite low with the distant channel of the incoming water leaving a huge expanse of sand for birds to spread out from Knott End then across to Fleetwood on the other side of the river, and north towards far-off Heysham. A good selection and decent count of birds with 400+ Oystercatcher, 220 Redshank, 60 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Turnstone, 8 Dunlin, 6 Cormorant, 7 Eider and a single Sandwich Tern. I’ve been carrying around a little compact camera rather than constantly swapping lenses on the SLR between 35-50mm for landscape and 400mm for birds. The Panasonic is OK but I hate not having a viewfinder and it’s hard to beat the quality of SLR. The landscape below is compact camera, the birds SLR, the Redshank a distant dot towards the river, the Oystercatcher and Turnstone archives from a sunnier day and the Dunlin from earlier in the week here at Knott End. 

Redshank

Oystercatcher

Dunlin

Turnstone

From Knott End across to Fleetwood

Alongside the golf course produced a Chiffchaff in the conifers, a Pied Wagtail on the fairway of the first hole and then 15 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet and 2 Greenfinch in the bushes of the fairway rough. A small movement of Swallows, 15 + arriving from the North West and then leaving south. I was back at the car when the ever present gulls alerted me to a raptor flying in from a north westerly direction, and when I looked up it turned out to be a Buzzard. It continued up river and over the golf course, gathering more gulls as it went. Buzzards aren’t common at coastal Knott End but much more easily seen a few miles upriver at Out Rawcliffe, as they are all over the Fylde and North West England now. The camera was set for waders, not overhead raptors but I clicked away for a not very good record shot as the Buzzard flew over, but there’s a better shot from Pilling on Thursday last. 

Buzzard

Buzzard

The books tell us that UK Buzzards are essentially sedentary with adults remaining in the home range and youngsters of the year dispersing from their natal areas. Here in the Fylde and with the increase in the local Buzzard population it has become obvious in recent years that some sort of autumn dispersal/migration takes place with a corresponding return/increase in numbers during the spring. The movement is nothing like the migrations that occur in other, colder parts of the Buzzard’s range with for instance a passage of over 20,000 individuals in a typical Falsterbo, Sweden autumn. 

  

By the way, and for some US readers for whom my use of the word “buzzard” causes some difficulty; in the US “buzzard” can mean a vulture, particularly the American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture, or as a general term for vultures or for hawks of the buzzard Buteo family which occur in the US e.g. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) or Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). In the UK our Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is known as “Buzzard” with the word “Common” usually omitted. If in doubt, consider the Latin name of the species and/or read “buzzards” on Wiki. This birding stuff is as technical or as unscientific as you want it to be, but the main thing is to enjoy it. 

A useful digression I hope. Pilling proved very quiet, the most notable thing being the continuing Swallow movement with a number of small groups totalling approximately 60 birds heading along the sea wall into now gusty south easterly. Otherwise, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Grey Heron, 6 Goldfinch and 4 Linnet. Still no Wheatears. 

More unscientific stuff and pictures on Another Bird Blog soon.

Mainly Buzzards With A Few Questions

I can’t decide which is harder at the moment, finding birds to ring or finding birds to watch, as both activities are decidedly difficult. Following a slow morning’s ringing on Wednesday, this morning I decided to have a walk out Pilling Way in the hope of seeing a few birds, so stocked up with a new supply of meal worms hoping even a Wheatear or two might appear. 

But no Wheatears again when there should be a more than a few around, so maybe our UK birds suffered the same fate as most low down nesting birds this year. In about a month’s time the geese will arrive from Iceland and it will be interesting to see if more Wheatears appear then. 

Enough waffle – here’s the short list and a couple of photographs compiled from a few hours slog along the sea wall. Little Grebe, Chiffchaff, Grey Heron and Sparrowhawk at Lane Ends. A number of Swallows, about 70 feeding at Pilling Water, with a single Sand Martin, but no Swifts in evidence. 

 Barn Swallow

A single Common Sandpiper around the wildfowler’s pools plus return of the Teal with 8 flighty birds. Passerines: 2 Pied Wagtail, 24 Linnet, 15 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch and 2 Skylark. Two Buzzards over Fluke Hall put on a bit of a show, circling and calling in the bright sunshine. 

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

After watching the Buzzards, and then a day or two ago seeing Grey Partridges being reared for “sport” it set me thinking of a number of questions for The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), a government department which earlier this year wished to spend £300,000 of taxpayers’ money on looking into ways of controlling the Buzzard population. 

 Grey Partridge

Here are few questions to be going on with, I’m sure readers can come up with more. 

What research has DEFRA funded into why the UK population of Grey Partridge has plummeted until the species is now listed as of RED Conservation Concern? 

Why does the Government of the UK allow millions of non-native Red-legged Partridge to be released willy-nilly into the wild? 

Before we release any captive bred partridge species into the countryside should there be research into the possible effect on any remaining wild Grey Partridge populations? 

Stay tuned, more soon on Another Bird Blog.

More Of The Same

Will and I turned out for a 6am ringing session at Rawcliffe Moss this morning hoping for a better catch than of recent weeks. During our 4 hour session we achieved a decent variety of species we expect in August but once again the catch proved short of the hoped for numbers. Just 16 birds of 10 species, a figure which included 3 recaptures. 

New birds: 3 Robin, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Chaffinch and 1 each of Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Wren. Recaptures; 1 each of Wren, Blue Tit and Willow Warbler. Except for the recaptured Blue Tit, every other bird proved to be a juvenile. 

Chiffchaff

 

 Willow Warbler

Coal Tit

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Whitethroat

The Garden Warbler had very pronounced fault bars in the tail. Fault bars are transparent bands in the feathers of birds which are produced and grown under the stressful conditions induced by poor weather/lack of food. 

Garden Warbler

Fault bars - Garden Warbler

Birding today: 8+ Siskin, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Little Owl, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Golden Plover, 170+ Lapwing. A rather distant flock of circa 160 finches contained both Goldfinches and Linnets, the majority of the flock probably the former. 

Tune into Another Bird Blog soon for more birding, ringing or photographs.