Return To Normal?

In trying to dispel the post-holiday blues this morning I took a trip to Out Rawcliffe, and not sure what I might find I first took a walk around the ringing site. The outcome was pretty unremarkable with just the normal numbers of pairs of 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Whitethroat, and single Sedge Warbler, Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting, all now settled on forthcoming territories. 

At least one pair of Whitethroats were engaged in the early stages of nest building, carrying long strands of grass to a clump of nettles. 

Common Whitethroat

Just yesterday there was notification from the BTO of a Whitethroat Y461617 ringed here at Rawcliffe Moss on 23 May 2012 and subsequently recaptured by French ringers on both 15 September and 19 September 2012 at La Maziere, Lot-et-Garonne, France, a distance of some 1082 km. It obviously spent a few days fattening up before the next leg of its huge journey. 

Common Whitethroat - Out Rawcliffe to Lot-et-Garonne

Whitethroats are known to travel through France on their autumn migration, continuing south to eventually reach beyond the Sahara Desert and into West Africa where they spend the winter months. They migrate north again in Spring, reaching Britain in late April/early May where all being well, they raise a family. 

I trapped the singing male Sedge Warbler and found it to be one first caught here in 2009 and recaptured in 2010 and 2011 but not in 2012. Failure to catch him in 2012 was due to lack of ringing visits in the appalling summer. I haven’t worked out the mileage involved in this bird making the journey between Out Rawcliffe and Africa so many times, suffice to say that the total is in the tens of thousands. 

Sedge Warbler

It seemed that no other warblers were around until the first and silent Blackcap of the year turned up in the net too. I didn't hear it singing later so maybe it was passing through.

Blackcap

While I was away in Menorca the feeders weren’t topped up with the result that few finches were evident today with only a single Chaffinch caught. The female had a brood patch and from the number of warning calls coming later from the plantation I deduced at least one Chaffinch nest wasn’t too far away from the ringing station. 

Chaffinch

Other birds noted this morning: 4 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, 1 Kestrel, 1 Little Owl, 10 Tree Sparrow, 8 Swallow, 4 House Martin and 16+ Whitethroats scattered across the farm and nearby. It appears that Whitethroats have arrived in some numbers even if other summer visitors haven’t.  

There's more from Another Bird Blog soon - keep looking in. In the meantime there's lots of birds on Anni's Blog.

Home!

As the plane splashed across the puddled runway towards the terminal building we knew it must be Manchester Airport. We were home. Two weeks of glorious Menorcan sunshine was over and normality beckoned. 

To get the blog back up and running I’m posting a few pictures from the holiday and hope to catch up with fellow bloggers soon. 

Most days were spent exploring again the rolling landscapes of the Menorca countryside, either on foot or by car. More often it would be both, stop-starting as particular spots or sightings lured us further into discovering the delights of this wonderful flower-filled island, a place where traditional farming and its associated birdlife is the norm. 

Don’t forget to “click the pics” for a Menorca experience. 

Spring flowers - Tirant, Menorca

Traditional farming - Menorca

Traditional farming - Menorca

Towards Cavallaria - Menorca

The roadside towards Cap de Cavalaria was a good place to find Tawny Pipit, Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Quail, Sardinian Warbler, Kestrels a-plenty, Short-toed Lark, Thekla Lark, Red Kites and Booted Eagles, the latter the commonest raptor of the island. Just one Red-footed Falcon seen in the two weeks, a later migrant and also one which arrives in poor weather and/or south-easterly winds. Egyptian Vultures can be seen almost anywhere on the island, especially so on the Cavallaria route but the clear skies of the two weeks kept both them and the Booted eagles high in the sky. And below is the best shot I could get of a distant Montagu’s Harrier as it sought insects above a recently cut field.

Sardinian Warbler

Corn Bunting

Tawny Pipit

 

Thekla Lark

Red Kite

Stonechat

Montagu's Harrier

In the first week of our holiday Woodchat Shrikes were very evident, particularly on roadside wires from which they searched the ground below for insect food. In the second week the shrikes were less visible with just local pairs noted rather then obvious migrants.

Woodchat Shrike

At one point we stopped the car to retrieve a Heerman’s Tortoise from the centre of the road and an approaching car. The tortoises lay their eggs in the spring so May is a time when lots of youngsters explore, so putting themselves in danger. The one below is probably some weeks old and not fully grown, but we also found some tiny individuals. 

 Heerman's Tortoise

Heermans’s Tortoise Testudo hermanni 

Generally the pace of life in Menorca is slow so the tortoises probably have time to cross the road, as do the cattle. 

Beware, Slow Cattle

All that walking and birding, leaning over gates in the dry and often dusty countryside makes for thirsty work. 

 

 Traditional Gate Menorca Style

Wash That Car

What Crisis? - Es Mercadal, Menorca

There’s more from Menorca soon and hopefully some local news when I get back in the swing of local birding. 

Linking today to Stewart in Australia.

Menorca Friday

I dropped Sue in trendy second-city Ciutadella, the jewel in Menorca’s crown. Here she could put the map away and browse the shops and the market, explore the narrow streets and mingle with the locals, wandering the pedestrianised old city with its many narrow streets of hidden sights, shops and cafe treats. 

Ciutadella - Menorca

Ciutadella - Menorca

Café Bar Es Moli- Ciutadella - Menorca

Well that was my excuse as the car stopped at Café Bar Es Moli from where I joined the ring road towards the north of the island and a few well-chosen birding spots. There’s a bit of a narrow, dodgy one lane road where giving way is test of nerves of who chickens out first. Eventually after many stops in tiny roadside spaces to bird from the car I reach the calm oasis of Punta Nati. Here there are Short-toed Larks, Thekla Larks, late Whinchats and Wheatears still heading for Europe and more of those ridiculously blue thrushes. There were raptors too enjoying the warm, lifting air and the plethora of food on offer below - Red Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel and Red-footed Falcons. 

Thekla Lark

Short-toed Lark

 

Punta Nati - Menorca

Whinchat

It’s too easy to forget the gulls in the search for passerines or raptors, but there are Yellow-legged Gulls aplenty and small numbers of Audouin’s Gull enjoying the coastal scenery even here in the remote north. 

Audouin's Gull

On the way back to Ciutadella I stop at the Cattle Egret noisy and active colony , still here after many years despite the building of holiday lets close by. 

Cattle Egret

The shopping bags appear full, and so is my notebook - It’s another successful day in Menorca for Another Bird Blog.

News from later  - Corncrake. Montagus Harrier, Whiskered Tern, Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis and European Roller. Still 25 degrees.  

Back soon from the Balearics when I promise to catch up with Blogger friends.

Not Here, Over There

As old hands to Another Bird Blog know the month of May involves Menorca, a few days when the blog takes a break from damp and dreary UK and samples instead the warm delights of the Best of the Balearics. 

A year goes quickly. It seems just weeks ago we stocked up with water and wine from the supermercado in Es Migjorn and said “hola” to our Menorcan friends. Then before we know it here we are again, a splash of sunbathing, rest and relaxation plus birding in the sunshine of picturesque Menorca. 

Like at home but here on Menorca there is also a local birding patch, a circuit which consists of stop-offs to many parts of the whole island, places where we know precisely to look and what to expect at any given time of day. 

First route this week was north and the road through Mercadal towards the coast at Fornells, eyes peeled for Red-footed Falcons, Kestrels, Peregrines, Booted Eagles and Red Kites soaring above the gentle hills and crags below El Toro, at 1175 ft. the highest point of Menorca. After a leisurely breakfast it’s surprising how early a coffee break is necessary before hitting the road again. 

 Booted Eagle

Es Mercadal 

Coffee Time Menorca

Payoff for the coffee and pastry came with a short detour from Mercadal to the local but actually quite unsmelly sewage works. Here we found both Wood and Common Sandpipers, a couple of Black-winged Stilts and lots of Swallows, Swifts and martins plus Yellow Wagtails, the latter a bird no longer common in the UK. 

Common Sandpiper

Before picturesque Fornells are the lagoons and the shore of Ses Salinas, a reliable spot for Black-winged Stilt, maybe an Avocet, Little Ringed Plover or a Curlew Sandpiper. A short walk from Fornells takes us a few hundred yards north to Cap Fornells where Blue Rock Thrush and Tawny Pipits are found amongst the rocks and paths up to the Torre itself.

Fornells - Menorca

Blue Rock Thrush

Tawny Pipit

Soon we hit the road back south and home to Sant Tomas, another tiny diversion and a quick turn to the marsh at Tirant where there are herons, egrets, shrikes, Bee Eaters, Marsh Harriers, Egyptian Vultures and lots more. Here is a great spot to spend an hour or two or three with yet more colourful Menorcan friends. 

Bee Eaters 

It's a hard life on Another Bird Blog but someone has to do it. Tune in soon and see if the misery continues.

I hope to catch up with Blogger friends soon and apologise in advance if comments remain unanswered.

Bits N Bobs

If Saturday was a day for Goldfinches then today wasn’t. Read on, but first news of a Barn Owl, the victim of a passing vehicle, the bird found dead by the roadside at Hambleton on 30th March as reported  HERE.

Barn Owl

A notification from the BTO tells me that GC29414 was first ringed 2 miles from Hambleton as a nestling on 26 July 2006, 2442 days or almost seven years before it died.The average lifespan for a Barn Owl is about 4 years, the oldest one known from bird ringing being 15 years of age. So despite GC29419 being a very experienced adult, it still fell victim to a vehicle. 

As the BTO remind us - “Each year over 900,000 birds are ringed in Britain and Ireland, by over 2,500 highly trained bird ringers, most of whom are volunteers. Ringing began over 100 years ago to study the movements of birds. While it continues to generate information about movements, it also allows study of how many young birds leave the nest and survive to breed as adults, as well as how many adults live from year to year and how many birds disperse to different breeding sites. Collection of this information helps understand why populations increase or decline - vital information for bird conservation. After over a hundred years of bird ringing in Britain and Ireland there is still much more to learn!” 

With more northerly wind this morning but after Saturday’s success I decided to try my luck again at the feeding station. When I arrived a Barn Owl was hunting the fields, even flying about my ringing station where soon I would find out there weren’t any new migrants and even the Goldfinches mostly absent.

Barn Owl

Just three Goldfinches this morning, and as if to reinforce the previous point about “still much to learn”, one of the Goldfinch bore a ring D130275 from elsewhere. I suspect it may be from across the other side of Morecambe Bay as a recent Goldfinch control here, D137544 had been ringed last autumn at Heysham some 20kms away.

 Goldfinch D137544 - Heysham 22nd Oct 2012 to Out Rawcliffe 28th Feb 2013

Goldfinch

The 7 birds caught today, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Dunnock, 1 Willow Warbler and surprise, surprise, a recapture of the Little Bunting first ringed here on 13th March. Upon examination I aged it once again as a second calendar year female. The bird now has more colouration in the face with the whitish eye ring more conspicuous. I reckon by now the poor creature is well and truly lost and therefore highly unlikely to find a route to north-east Europe or northern Asia where it should be now. Even less likely is that it will find a mate here in the wilds of the Lancahire mosses.

Little Bunting

Little Bunting

Not much doing on the migration front with a single Lesser Whitethroat singing nearby, one Lesser Redpoll over and several Swallows heading north. The 18/20 Whimbrel in the next fields have been there some days now and if only I could get as close to a Whimbrel here in Lancashire as the one I photographed in January's Fuerteventura holiday.

Whimbrel

Otherwise stuff - 4 Yellowhammer in song, 7+ Whitethroat, 6+ Willow Warbler, 15 Tree Sparrow, 8 Corn Bunting, 4 Reed Bunting, 2 Buzzard, 2 Wheatear and 2 Kestrel. 

Yellowhammer

It has been cold for weeks now but I know for sure things will warm up soon on Another Bird Blog, so log in later to see why.

Meanwhile take a look at Stewart's gallery down in Australia where it just has to be warmer than here -  http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Goldfinches Rule

Following last night’s iffy forecast of more cold, northerly winds Saturday was destined to be one of those days for an early and rapid decision about which might be the most rewarding option, birding or ringing. 

There was a slight frost on the car windscreen, the sky clear and bright with no discernible breeze so I decided to head towards Rawcliffe. Maybe I'd manage a spot of ringing if the wind held off long enough. Before I reached the moss the usual pattern ensued, a Barn Owl hunting close to the A585 at Hambleton followed by a pair of Little Owls in their customary spot not far away. 

There was quite a frost on the open aspects of the moss, so much so that I donned hat, gloves and scarf before setting nets then afterwards sought the sanctuary of the still warm car and a cup of hot coffee. 

Willow Warblers and Whitethroats were in song soon enough, with a good number of Goldfinches coming and going about the niger feeders. There were so many Goldfinches around that it soon became apparent the species would dominate the catch. The wind picked up about 1015 forcing me to pack in with a total of 29 birds - 20 Goldfinch, 4 Whitethroat, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Robin. Goldfinches have been noticeably scarce during the continuing cold weather but it looks like many are now finally on the move, the twenty caught made up of 10 new and 10 recaptures from previous occasions here, one from 2010 another from 2011. In all I estimated 70+ Goldfinches either using or passing through the area during my shortened morning. 

Goldfinch

Of the four Whitethroats, 3 were new birds, one a recapture from 2011 but not caught in 2012, perhaps due to the poor summer and reduced ringing opportunities. How wonderful to see Whitethroats return from their winter in Africa. 

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

At this time of year adult male Chaffinches look extremely bright, spick-and-span and truly immaculate.

Chaffinch

After catching more than 60 Reed Buntings here during the winter, the single bird caught today was not one of those but a newcomer to the site. 

Reed Bunting

In the cold conditions birding was very quiet, limited to a handful of Whimbrel on nearby fields, 6 Corn Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer and 1 Kestrel. Several Swallows were seen, most of those back on territory around nearby horse stabling facilities with just 2 birds heading north early doors. 

This post is linking up with Anni who would rather-b-birdin, and also Madge who hosts a Weekly Top Shot.