Good Morning Owls

After Joanne’s Little Owl pictures of Thursday, today it’s my turn. Stay tuned for Little Owl and Barn Owl. 

The run of bright and dry weather and almost at the longest day makes for early starts, driving on quiet roads with the chance to slow down at a few locations where owls live. At 6am there was a Barn Owl flying alongside the road at Cockerham and lots of light for a photograph; but the owl flipped over the hedgerow and out of sight. I drove up and down the road a couple times, turning at convenient spots and then waiting in gateways for the owl to reappear. 

No luck, so I checked out a Little Owl farm of old. The RSPB website tells me that the Little Owl Athene noctua “can be seen in the daylight, usually perching on a tree branch, telegraph pole or rock. It will bob its head up and down when alarmed.” 

And there one was, and on a telegraph pole. The owl stole a look at my approaching car and chose not to bob its head up and down but instead continued to watch the ground below for “small mammals and birds, beetles and worms”. 

Little Owl

Little Owl

Little Owl

Little Owl

After a while the owl got bored with looking at the same bit of the ground and flew off towards the farmhouse and farm buildings. Now there’s a “good” bird to have sat on your house; makes a change from House Martins and House Sparrows. 

Little Owl

There was a Red Fox in the middle of the road but even as the car approached from 100yards the fox took fright and loped off. The camera was still set to overexpose the owl against the morning sky - "D’oh".  Red Foxes in this part of the world still mostly inhabit the true countryside and as far as I know do not frequent the Saturday night kebab shops when the drunks go home.   

Red Fox

There was another Barn Owl at Conder Green, this one hunting the embankment alongside the old railway where moored boats dot the green marsh. It was 0730, the owl was up late and heading swiftly for a daytime sleep, but not before an Oystercatcher gave it a telling off.  Two or three pairs of Oystercatchers have chicks nearby and while a Barn Owl may be "cute" it is a predator which needs to eat and to feed chicks of its own.

Barn Owl

Oystercatcher and Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Oystercatchers

Also out hunting was a Sparrowhawk, carrying prey back to a nest somewhere while at the same time lifting the prey towards its bill to take crafty nibbles. Before today I’d never ever seen this behaviour by a Sparrowhawk, just from members of the falcon family. 

After the excitement of raptors it was back to June’s unchanging birds of hedgerow, pool and creek; 2 Grey Heron, 4 Little Egret, 65 Redshank, 15 Oystercatcher, 12 Lapwing and 1 Common Sandpiper. 

Common Sandpiper

Other bits ‘n pieces totalled up to 45 Swift, 2 Stock Dove, 5 Sedge Warbler, 3 Pied Wagtail. 

Another Bird Blog is back soon, maybe with more owls but certainly with more birds.

Linking today to  Eileen's Saturday Blog.

That Elusive Owl

Regular blog readers may remember the Little Owl on the garden fence at daughter Joanne’s home. 

The owl still makes regular but unpredictable appearances except on the two or three occasions a week Sue and I go round to let Holly the black labrador outside for her essential requirements.  I’ve still to get my 400mm properly trained onto the elusive owl, with the best garden bird I could manage a Mallard. 

So Joanne borrowed my old Canon and bog standard 300mm lens then took some photographs. The owl seems to be a juvenile of the year judging by the eye colour and hint of downy feathers still visible on its breast. Looks like Joanne doesn’t need any photography lessons from Dad? 

Little Owl

Little Owl

Mallard

I was out Conder Green way this morning where the most obvious change was the increase in numbers of Little Egrets to nine birds now that their breeding season is over. Two were feeding in the roadside creek when a loose party of seven arrived from the north to drop into the area of the pool. The birds fed for a while before scattering off in various directions and over towards the Lancaster canal which is located just over the back of the pool. 

Little Egret

Two Grey Herons were about the creeks and the pool, one lording it over the marsh, stopping to preen and have a good old scratch. 

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

No variation with the waders and wildfowl - 1 Little Grebe, 2 Wigeon, 10 Tufted Duck, 12 Shelduck, 55 Redshank, 15 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew. 

The numbers of passerines varies little at the moment with 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Whitethroat and 1 Meadow Pipit still in song from the marsh and hedgerow, together with brief snatches of Chiffchaff from the car park. Otherwise, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 6 Linnet, 2 Tree Sparrow, 1 Greenfinch and more than 1 Robin. I’m pretty sure the juvenile Robin had two legs, but the photo looks like there was just one. 

Robin

At Glasson a Great Crested Grebe was new on the water to join with a handful of Coot, Mallard and Tufted Duck. I watched a Lesser Black-Backed Gull have breakfast, a dead fish left behind by the weekend anglers. Some birds just have no table manners do they?

Great Crested Grebe

 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Join Another Bird Blog very soon for more birds, elusive or not. 

Linking today with Theresa's Run A Round Ranch .

Swallows And Martins

There's no ecaping the sport today. It's granddaughter Olivia's school Sports Day and all  good innocent fun. So no birding until tomorrow for me. In the meantime here's a few pictures of Swallows and House Martins from Pilling on Monday afternoon.  

Not much to report from a quick visit. A build of post-breeding Lapwings at 60+, and similarly with Curlews at more than 40. Three Grey Plovers made an appearance over the shore where 7 Eider ducks sat out the incoming tide. The usual Kestrels now feeding quite large young and a Tawny Owl at Fluke Hall.

At Pilling Water I found a family of Swallows so spent a while with them. There were 2 adults and 4 recently fledged youngsters, the juveniles reluctant to explore while the adults kept returning with food.   

Barn Swallow

 

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

Barn Swallow

 Barn Swallow

House Martins do not often settle on the ground but have to do so when collecting material to construct their nests. The incoming tide left patches of muddy sand, an ideal buiding material for House Martins to shore up their mud dwellings. Everywhere is pretty dry at the moment with not many puddles around so the House Martins must have travelled a good 800 metres or more from their nests in Pilling village to collect the sticky stuff. 

House Martins sometimes nest on ships. A pair once nested on board a ship travelling eight times a day between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden. The crossing between the two ports was 15 miles long.  

House Martin

 

 House Martins

House Martin

Join Another Bird Blog on Wednesday for more birds.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

A Sporting Saturday

Sport is great, especially on TV, and at the moment there’s lots of it. I’m really looking forward to The World Cup, Wimbledon Tennis, The Commonwealth Games, The Open Golf, Royal Ascot, Test Match Cricket and the myriad sports events which fill the TV schedules. 

You guessed my reason for loving sport. All this essential viewing means that more people are about to spend extra time glued to a TV rather than relish the great outdoors where their trivial pursuits always interfere with my birding. Yes, birding is a very selfish pastime best enjoyed when Joe Public is elsewhere, preferably indoors staring at a TV screen, so I intend to enjoy this summer’s Festival of Sport and do birding and blogging as much as possible. 

Meanwhile I hope that the present all-pervading discussion and media coverage of sport does not infect me or Another Bird Blog, so if at any time I inadvertently lapse into sporting jargon please forgive me. 

So forget sport for now, here’s a blow-by-blow account of Saturday’s birding. 

There was no game plan but I was quick out of the gate, kicking off with a straight drive along the A585 to Conder Green. I took a few seconds out at Pilling, getting the ball rolling with a knockout Barn Owl, a pretty safe bet along here at 5am. I was off to a flying start! 

Barn Owl

At Conder Green the ducking and diving wildfowl totalled 1 Little Grebe, 3 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 10 Tufted Duck, 12 Shelduck, all par for the course in June, plus 17 Canada Goose. At the shallow end wading birds obliged with 55 Redshank, 5 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Oystercatcher, 1 Curlew and 1 Common Sandpiper. 

Shelduck

At this stage of the game many Redshanks are on the return leg as are Common Sandpipers. A  number of the 55 Redshanks are clearly juveniles from elsewhere, the breeding pair here with still unfledged young. The Oystercatcher count includes 5 juveniles of two broods, the largest brood a stunning hat-trick, all there off and running at a fair old pace and sure to go the full distance to adulthood. 

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

 Oystercatcher chicks

 Oystercatcher chick

Oystercatcher

It’s a hard call. Do Grey Herons and Little Egrets fit into the category of “wader” or “wildfowl”? Maybe the 3 Grey Heron and single Little Egret should be classed as “also ran”? If so, I clocked 10 more herons at Cockersands later, together with 44 Eider, a healthy tally which included 12 youngsters which knew the score by sticking close to mom. 

 Little Egret

Meanwhile, and back to the second half at Conder Green. Suddenly there were lots of Starlings, a flock of 200+ containing many youngsters jockeying for position on the farm buildings and fences opposite the marsh. The juvenile Starlings shouted the odds, some begging for food from parents nearby as in the car I played a blinder with the camera. A Woodpigeon decided to play the game too and sat posing for a portrait.

Starling

Woodpigeon

I’m on the final lap now, just the little brown jobs to tally and then I can throw in the towel - 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 4 Reed Bunting, 4 Linnet, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, and then a single Tree Sparrow on the rails. 

Tree Sparrow

Yet again a good number of 30+ Swift hawked insects at early doors with only a handful of Swallows doing the same; probably because many females are still confined to nests and I've yet to see many  juveniles. And in any contest for a beautiful bird an adult Swallow would surely be first past the post? 

Barn Swallow

It’s into the home straight now and the A588 again where a roadside Kestrel played ball, but soon it was the chequered flag of home where I was hot favourite for a few chores. 

But no worries, in a contest between watching sport or watching birds, birding wins hands down. 

Please join Another Bird Blog’s team again soon. You might be onto a winner.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog.

Slowly Does It

Mid-June and It’s a struggle to come up with news or pictures today. Many birds are lying low, in the throes of breeding, moulting their feathers or in some cases both. But Another Bird Blog doesn’t give up that easily and I was out Pilling way as usual even though a little later than normal. 

Imagine my surprise to see at 0930 a Red Fox strolling across the often busy lane, the animal crossing from one part of the wood towards another. I saw it early and then slowed the car hoping the fox wouldn’t notice before I stopped for a photo, but just as the car came to a halt the animal melted into the undergrowth, so no picture to show. 

As usual I was left with mixed feelings about the thrill of seeing and wanting to photograph a predator with a repuation as bad as a fox. This particular fox may be living on borrowed time if it chooses to stay around “the shoot” environs. Come the month of August thousands of Red-legged Partridges will be released in preparation for the sporting season whereby nothing should hinder its success. 

Red-legged Partridge

There were 3 Kestrels this morning, the pair at Fluke Hall and one near the nest box at Damside. I think both pairs now have young to feed so actively do they hunt at the moment. One male had leftovers of the last meal attached to his bill and was already on the lookout for another family meal. 

Kestrel

In the woodland and along the hedgerows I found 6/8 Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Great-spotted Woodpeckers and a single Buzzard. Later another Buzzard was circling over Head Dyke, for such a large raptor an effortless flap and glide from Fluke Hall. 

Needless to say, I walked the (sea) wall where I suppose that even now I’ve not abandoned all hope of finding evidence of Lapwing, Oystercatcher or Redshank chicks. It can be the case that adults lead their broods of young from inland fields to the coast where they all feed in the still wet drainage channels and ditches, but still no sign of new youngsters today, just the calls and brief attentions of the one Lapwing pair with their single chick. Half a dozen Redshanks and five or six Oystercatchers showed no signs of concern at my passing by or even to escort me off the premises as they do when youngsters are in tow.

Along the sea wall signs of post-breeding with several extra Curlews, 3 Grey Heron and 50+ Shelduck. 

Back home has seen a number of Goldfinches in the garden, up to 15 at a time, with a number of fresh juveniles learning the whys and wherefores of niger seed. It’s hard to believe that those rather dull looking juveniles will turn into our handsome UK Goldfinch. 

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Rather unexpectedly I caught a Treecreeper, an adult female which showed signs of feathering over a recent brood patch. The Treecreeper is another of those species which has suffered local declines and although there are copses and stands of trees quite near home, Treecreepers are generally much more difficult to find than ten or twenty years ago. 

 Treecreeper

There’s a full day pass tomorrow. Log in to Another Bird Blog on Friday so see if the birding moved up a gear or two.

That Kestrel on a barbed wire fence means a link to Theresa's Run A Round Ranch is in order. 

Linking Saturday to Eileen's Saturday Critters.

Not A Lot

Daughter Joanne had a surprise when for a couple of days from the kitchen window she saw a Little Owl on the garden fence. Dad had the job of finding out where the owl was living and why it suddenly took a liking to Joanne’s garden. 

Monday began with a hint of rain, but at 10am I made my way to the garden arbour waiting for the owl to appear. Little did I know the owl was on the conservatory roof behind me, not until it swooped low over the lawn pursued by a scolding Blackbird. The owl flew over the fence and off towards the rather large and unkempt garden 30 yards away where there are tumbledown sheds and greenhouses. The Little Owl perched up briefly as I grabbed a single (underexposed) picture. I’ll go back soon for another try, remembering to use the eyes in the back of my head that all dads have. 

Little Owl

On Tuesday I had a couple of hours free before the babysitting employment so snuck off down Pilling way. 

The sea wall has been really hard work this year, the breeding success of the waders the worst ever in 25+ years of surveying this stretch of coastal "wetland". This year the warning calls of adult Lapwings, Redshanks and Oystercatchers have been absent, the sky overhead unusually silent. This morning I found only my second Lapwing brood of the year and this just a single small chick; it's hardly enough to replenish the pool of new blood for coming years. The remaining pair of Oystercatchers looked to have given up since their chosen Hi-Fly field was tilled again since my visit of Sunday. 

Lapwing

Oystercatcher

There was little else of note, 2 juvenile Pied Wagtails, 2 Grey Heron, 6+ Skylark, 2 Corn Bunting, several loafing Shelduck and way out at the tideline a pair of Eider duck. 

At Lane Ends in the tree tops was a young Jay calling loudly for food. Nearby I found one that didn’t make it, a dead youngster. Jays have bred here for a few years but for a normally noisy species they remain very quiet throughout the breeding seaon. 

 Jay

On and around the pools were 4 Reed Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Little Grebe and a Kestrel suspended in mid-air. 

Little Grebe

Kestrel

That’s not a lot for a couple of hours birding is it? Have no fear, Another Bird Blog will try again tomorrow.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Good Game, Good Game

On Sunday I set off for Cockersands and Conder Green where an early tide might do the trick in bringing a few birds closer. 

Like lots of birding sites in June the area of Conder Green is proving remarkably consistent in species and counts. Regular readers or those looking for something to catch up on might notice a few “goodies” in amongst the regular “dross” of 15+ Swift, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 5 Reed Bunting, 4 Whitethroat, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Tree Sparrow, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 8 Lapwing, 1 Greenshank, 1 Grey Partridge, 2 Curlew and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

Yes, the Curlew are possibly fresh-in with the Greenshank definitely new and either “late going” or “early coming back”, depending upon someone’s understanding of the breeding cycle of northern waders. I favour the early returning scenario, especially since a number of Lapwings appeared hereabouts today. 

Whether the Grey Partridge is “real” rather than a from £13.80" sub-species is anyone’s guess.  And yes, in case anyone is wondering, even an expensive and reintroduced Grey Partridge is literally "fair game" to a shoot.

Grey Partridge

There seemed to be lots of Lapwings in the Cockersands area too, with a total count of 80+ and a single count of 35 in one field. The Lapwings easily outnumbered the 15+ Brown Hares, several Oystercatchers and 2 Red-legged Partridge with which they shared the fields. On the circuit also, 4 Sedge Warbler, 5 Whitethroat, 2 Reed Bunting and 5 Tree Sparrow. 

 Lapwing

Lapwing

Eiders have bred close to Cockersands again. From the path I could see a single pair with 5 young on the edge of the tide with other adults in attendance and ten birds in total; more youngsters could well emerge in the next days and weeks.

Breeding hereabouts is a regular occurrence now as an offshoot of the colony of 700+ pairs just across Morecambe Bay at Walney Island, until recent years the most southerly breeding colony in England. Quite where the females nest around here is anyone’s guess as not only do they possess incredibly cryptic plumage, they are renowned for sitting amazingly tight, not vacating their nest until stood upon. I recall gull ringing expeditions to the Walney Island dunes, grabbing hold of reluctant Lesser Black-back and Herring Gulls while at the same time treading carefully to avoid standing on invisible Eider ducks.

Eider

Along the shore some newly arrived Black-headed Gulls, 2 Little Egret and a small number of Ringed Plover and Dunlin mixing freely on the shore and pebble beach. These latter species have been around for a week or two, part of their strong passage north, and unlike species like Greenshank and Spotted Redshank which return early, if these loiterers don’t get a move on soon they will meet themselves coming back. 

 

Ringed Plover and Dunlin

It was 10am, the Sunny Sunday crowd out and about, so time to head home after a good morning’s birding. 

Join Another Bird Blog soon for more of the same game.