Late Off The Mark

Early rain delayed my birding start until the skies held a patch or two of blue.

I drove around Jeremy Lane, Cockerham thinking I might see the local Barn Owls but had to make do with a Buzzard that frequents a dead tree a field away. The Buzzard is yet another species which seems somewhat scarce lately, in direct contrast to recent years when the population spiked noticeably upwards. Maybe it’s just a natural cycle rather than anything untoward, a scenario that is always a possibility in this part of sporting Lancashire where long-standing ideas about Buzzards and the need to “control” them persist. 

Buzzard

There are still lots of fields of lush grass as the farmers wait for a dry spell in which to cut and dry their crop. Despite this I managed to find several Brown Hares and even a large flock of 300 + Curlews hiding in a slightly less rampant crop. 

Along a stretch of roadside ditch Sedge Warblers were feeding young and even a Reed Bunting in song, but less than 30 Swallows on the whole circuit. I noted a few Linnets and Goldfinches about today with perhaps the beginnings of small flocks feeding on the plentiful seed heads at this time of year. 

Goldfinch

 

Linnet

Along Moss Lane I found myself driving behind a Weasel in the throes of dragging a dead vole along the road. I slowed the car to halt to take a closer look, hoping the Weasel might stop but it tugged its prey into the roadside vegetation and was lost to view. 

Weasel - By Bering Land Bridge National Preserve [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The weasel (Mustela nivalis) is a fearless little killer easily confused with the larger and more frequently seen Stoat (Mustela erminea). A Weasel is about the size of a large mouse and reminds me of a skinny squirrel whereas a Stoat is closer to the size and bulk of a brown rat. A Weasel is about 15-25cm whereas a Stoat is 15-30cm. 

The lean, fast and vicious Weasel preys on small mammals like mice and voles. Stoats can manage rabbits and rats. Both kill by biting into the base of their prey's skulls. Both species are light brown with pale underside but the Stoat has an obvious black tip to its tail that the noticeably smaller Weasel lacks. This is often the only distinguishing feature gained from the normally brief views given by either species where size is difficult to judge. 

Over the years I’ve managed to get a few pictures of Stoats but never a Weasel. It’s possible to just see the black tip of the Stoat’s tail but otherwise this animal is remarkably similar to a plainer Weasel. 

Stoat

At Conder Pool there was a Little Stint but briefly before it flew off calling, over and beyond where the Avocets hang out. There’s a number of puddles and pools out of sight and behind the islands close to the canal where birds can feed undetected and undisturbed for many a long hour,. Quite unlike the roadside view point where vehicles lumber noisily past and birders poke their heads into view. 

Clearly visible Lapwings numbered some 170+, from the calls more hidden from view. Also 30+ Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher, 2 Greenshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Grebe, 3 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and 1 Goosander. 

For a week or more there have been two Avocets, one adult and the single juvenile now nearing fledging. Like many other wader species, one of the pair has already left to fly south before the other, leaving the remaining adult to care for the youngster. In many wader species it is the male which remains with the chick and the female which leaves. In this case, because both male and female Avocets are pretty much identical, so it is impossible to say with certainty which one is left, but more than likely it is the male. 

It’s also interesting that the average breeding success of Avocet pairs is just 1.1 young, so our local pair managed to more or less hit the notional average having lost at least two youngsters in the early stages. 

Avocet- Neokortex [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Here’s Charlie from the BBC with tomorrow's weather. 

Weather Forecast

Things are looking pretty grim up North again. But log in soon to see where Another Bird Blog has been on Thursday.

Linking today to Eileen's Blog and Run A Round Ranch.

Thursday’s Birding

More birding this morning as I headed over the moss road into a glorious sunrise, one eye on the lookout for early morning owls. It’s best to keep the other eye fixed on the single track road where the unwary might find their car sliding off the road into a field 15ft below should a tractor appear from nowhere. I wouldn’t see a Barn Owl until I arrived at Conder Green. After a good number of sightings throughout the early part of the year our local Barn Owls are now harder to find. 

The Moss

First I pulled into a farm gate at Crimbles to count the flock of feeding Curlews. On Tuesday I estimated more than 450 in the field. This morning, and after the torrential downpours, thunder and lightning of Wednesday, the Curlews numbered more like 700. The rain had freshened up the grass, puddled tractor tracks and no doubt brought more worms to the surface for the Curlews to take their fill. 

At Conder Green a Barn Owl hunted all over the marsh, ducking and diving into the long grass, stopping just occasionally to take a breather on a fence post. The owl had such a circuit that it disappeared from view for minutes at a time but then to reappear at times from an unexpected quarter. Unfortunately the bird didn’t come very close, hence the “rangefinder” shots. When a Barn Owl appeared from over the far side of the canal and flew around the margins of the pool I wondered if there might be two in action, but probably not. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

 Barn Owl

“Greens” appeared again with the single Greenshank and Green Sandpiper while both Redshank and Lapwing numbers are lower than of late with about 40 of each. Just 5 Common Sandpiper today, the peak of their autumn return already passed. 

Greenshank

 

The young Avocet now ventures away from the adults by exploring the further edges of the pool but looks to be a week or more from first flight. The usual wildfowl still present by way of 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon and 1 Goosander with the addition today of 4 Canada Goose. Also on the pool – 3 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. 

A piece of excellent news is that I counted 5 active House Martin nests at Café de Lune and it is obvious that the martins prefer this building to others very close by. There’s no doubt that birds in general know exactly what they require in any given situation and that second best will rarely do. 

There are mobs of noisy Starlings about now, the flocks comprised of mostly juvenile birds like the one below. Juveniles of the year soon moult many of their brown feathers and start to take on the spotted appearance of an adult like the one standing along a wooden gate.  

Starling

At Glasson I found 2 young Moorhen with no sign of an adult nearby. A Common Tern fished the water of yacht basin at Glasson with 60+ Swallows feeding over the still water and 2 Pied Wagtail feeding exploring the towpath and the moored boats. There are lots of young wagtails around at the moment and they outnumber adults by seven or eight to one. 

At Bank End, Cockerham I found 20+ Pied Wagtails, a Wheatear, 2 Stock Dove and 50+ Sand Martins. We have not been able to catch and ring any the Sand Martins this year as their nest holes are far too high up the quarry face. 

Moorhen

 

Pied Wagtail

A trip around Jeremy Lane and Moss Lane found more gangs of Starlings as well as family parties of Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting. It was time to head home, job done until next time on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Anni's Birding , Eileen's Blog and to Run A Round Ranch.

Present And Correct

This is getting to be a habit from my travels, reporting an absence of species. Last week it was a scarcity of Swallows, a blog story that struck a chord with more than one reader. Today was the absence of our UK Common Kestrel a lack of which caused me to think back to the number seen in recent months. The answer was “very few”. 

Driving over Stalmine Moss I passed a farm that is a traditional Kestrel location. Sure enough there was a single Kestrel on duty and sure enough, as this one always does, it flew off over the farm buildings as soon as the car slowed to a stop. I know of at least four or five locations in Pilling/Stalmine and Cockerham where there might be Kestrels, and at this time of the year, evidence of breeding in the form of flying youngsters. This year there are none, giving one more reason to worry about the state of our local bird populations. After all, maybe it’s important that birders should note the birds and the numbers they see but also vital to report what they don’t see when they are normally present and correct?

Kestrel

Many local farms are taking a long overdue cut of their crop of silage. Silage is made either by placing cut green vegetation in a silo or pit, by piling it in a large heap and compressing it down so as to leave as little oxygen as possible and then covering it with a plastic sheet, or by wrapping large round bales tightly in plastic film. The fermented silage is later used to feed the many sheep and cattle which crowd the fields in this area. I found a few potato fields in recent days but the rearing of sheep and cattle for supermarkets or export is widespread. This is both easier and more financially rewarding for farmers than growing labour intensive, time consuming and weather dependent spuds or carrots. In this part of Lancashire it now unusual, even rare, to see a field of crops other than grass. This all-encompassing grass monoculture has a damaging effect upon wildlife as a whole, and not just birds. 

 Silage

As I passed Crimbles I slowed to note 450+ Curlews feeding in a field cut just yesterday, the waders taking advantage of the still soft ground and short sward. Had I stopped the car rather than slowed the always shy Curlew would have flown over the sea wall and back to the marsh just 50 yards away. 

Curlew

At Conder Green the Avocet pair has a single well-grown young but the Common Terns appear to have left. The single Common Tern I later noted at Glasson Dock flew across to the River Lune rather than follow the canal back to Conder Green. 

Also on Conder Pool/creeks - a single Green Sandpiper again, 5 Common Sandpiper, 2 Stock Dove, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Teal, 2 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 15+ House Martin, 4 Swift. 

Lapwing

Little Grebe

At Glasson was evidence of a post-breeding gathering of Swallows with 70+ congregated around the assembled boats where they rested on the masts and rigging in between bouts of hawking insects over the water. 

Glasson Dock

Otherwise was a single Common Tern, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Pied Wagtail and a further 8+ Swift hawking over the dock buildings and the village itself. 

Grey Heron

Tufted Duck

 Lesser Black-backed Gull

I’d enjoyed a useful couple of hours birding but now the other “b” my life beckoned in the form of babysitting. 

More birding soon with Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday.

Sad For Swallows

Does anyone else consider that our precious Swallows are down in numbers again this year? 

The BTO tell us the UK Swallow population is stable but I’m not wholly convinced. I can see that our local population is well down on the levels of ten, even twenty years, and certainly thirty years ago with birds absent from regular and familiar spots. I’m just not seeing any Swallows around buildings and farms that I pass on an almost daily basis, places where I normally expect to see more than one or two Swallows on the wing. 

I live in a part of coastal Lancashire where traditional methods of farming have declined and where agricultural intensification has taken hold with a corresponding decline in the wildlife associated with a farmed environment. Hedge laying, rotational and diverse cropping, seasonal grazing, and leaving winter stubble and field margins are just some of the farming methods that have become less common in recent years, despite having many benefits for wildlife, the environment and food production. Many barns have been converted into dwellings or “horsey” environments where entrances have been blocked and where Swallows are no longer able to make their homes. If the Swallows do find a way in they are often made unwelcome and so fail to return in subsequent years. I believe that many horse owners dislike Swallows as the birds’ constant to-and-fro “spook” the horses, or their owners dislike the temporary untidiness that nesting Swallows inevitably bring.

In addition to localised problems there is a pattern in recent years of poor weather during the Swallows’ migration through North Africa and Southern Europe. At the same time there has been a succession of cool, even cold and wet springs in the UK at the exact time that Swallows need to establish territories, build nests and produce their early broods. Over a succession of such years the Swallow as a species struggles to recruit youngsters to sustain the necessary population levels to survive.

Swallow nestlings

I found an interesting site on the Internet where the trials and tribulation of just some of our Swallows have been documented during the early part of 2016. It makes for interesting and thought provoking reading. Here are some extracts from intuitive people who clearly take a great interest and pride in their Swallows. 

15th April 2016 – Brittany, France – 11th April I woke up to a frost, it was 2c. My single male Swallow was not on his perch (light cable in the old stable) I have not seen him for 3 days. The weather has been really mixed. Many cold nights, often no insects. I wonder what temperatures they can tolerate? Today rain and miserable. Have not seen a Swallow all day. Even my main pair, recently arrived moved into the eaves in the boiler room at night for extra warmth, they are not around. This weekend the forecast is 2c both nights, I wonder if they have gone down to the south or the coast. 

Swallow

29th April 2016 – UK – To echo other contributions, we had a very poor April for weather and this week has been particularly cold. There has been frost several nights this week and even some snow, it is actually colder than it was during some of the Winter. I have been concerned for the early arriving Swallows, Martins and Swifts and our single male Swallow who has been around for nearly a month has only made fleeting visits to the nest site so far. There seem to be more arrivals on a daily basis but insects must be in short supply and I am sure this weather has delayed the start of nesting. It looks as if it will return to at least near to average temperatures next week and I hope that will allow our birds to start pairing up to breed. 

April 2016 – France – Just to let you know how the Swallows are doing in Brittany. It has been a difficult month for them as it is so cold. They arrived and have left again several times for up to a week each time. They came back on the promise of a sunny day only to be plunged into freezing cold nights. Most nights have been 3c, slight frosts. Not much food around. Mornings staying very cold so they left yet again. Yesterday cold northerly winds arrived, freezing nights all week ahead. All due to change on 1st May when jet stream moves, so I expect to see them back then. Only my main pair stayed this last time as they live in the boiler room and it’s quite warm in there. 

Swallow

 

30th April 2016 – Yorkshire, UK – To update you on some rather unseasonable weather. This is what greeted us this morning on the 29th April, with just over 6 weeks to midsummer. 

Spring in Yorkshire

Swallows in barn have not been seen all day. I imagine the conversation is going something like this from son to father. “Dad tell me again why we left Durban 30c to fly 8800 miles to sit in a Barn at 1c on our own in Yorkshire?” Weather is to stay cold, but no more snow, until early next week, then rain and westerly winds forecast, so hopefully weather will improve. 

11th May 2016 – Latest news from Brittany, France. After leaving 3 times in April due to freezing nights and no insects, the Swallows finally came back 3rd May the very day the weather changed for the better, very warm easterly winds. Not just my Swallows but all around the area. My pair by the way just laid their eggs on 10th May, 10 days earlier than last year, probably because they decided to use last year’s nest, saving them precious time. Just as I think all is wonderful the farmer comes along and starts to spray the fields with pesticides…grim reality. 

Swallow

23rd May 2016 – Yorkshire – UK – Just a quick update on our, and our neighbours returnees. We had 4 returns in April and our closer neighbour had one. The lone Swallow sat on the wires singing day in day out, and we were all getting concerned that his family group had perished on their Trek back, however his patience was rewarded this weekend when 5 Swallows arrived, and we have had a further two. 

I was talking to a colleague on route to Hong Kong last week who had been to Africa recently. She said that they had some strong easterly winds in the Sahara on route south, and that these had extended down close to ground level and had subsequently heard there had been something in the press about this taking a toll on northbound migrants. I have not seen or heard of this, but it is not unusual to get these types of winds at this time of year as the desert heats up, and I am sure they take a steady toll on migrants. 

Swallows

27 May 2016 – France – Oh my poor Swallows….Monday 23rd the first egg hatched, the next day the other 2 hatched. I could see the shells on the floor. Tuesday night we had a very cold night of 3c, for the end of May that is very unusual. She has been sitting on them for a couple of days, but I thought something was wrong because they were not flying in and out feeding them. Today the nest was empty for quite some time so I went in and looked in the nest. It was empty. Due to the location of the nest I do not think it was predators. They started their eggs earlier than normal this year and obviously it did not pay off. 

29th May 2016 – UK – I just wanted to bring you the latest Swallow news from Wherwell. After the cold weather in April, our male Swallow was around for a few days and then disappeared before returning again. This pattern repeated throughout May and I was getting worried that he had perhaps moved territory (there are a number of farms in the vicinity with sizeable Swallow colonies and we only ever have one or two pairs with us) and we were going to be without breeding Swallows this year. Happily last Thursday the male reappeared again with female in tow. 

Swallow

13th June 2016 – France – Swallows arrived slowly at the beginning of April on a sunny day. Unfortunately most of April was freezing cold with over 10 nights at near freezing point. Most mornings were so cold and the insects did not come out until the afternoons at about 3pm. During these cold periods most of the Swallows left the area. They came back when the weather was better only to be hit by further cold spells. Even in the month of May, we had 2 evenings at 3c and nearly every morning was heavy wet mist which did not clear until after lunch. Again no insects. There are not many wild flowers this year, no butterflies. Now there are hardly any Swallows. 

My main pair bred and have 3 young almost ready to leave the nest but I normally have about 20 adults roosting on the electric line every lunchtime, this year there is just 1 Swallow. I have been asking everyone in the area what there Swallow situation is and they say the same thing. There are no Swallows. The skies are empty in the evenings, the telephone lines are empty. The month of June has improved greatly for the weather but there are still no Swallows around. I hope other areas/countries have done better. 

10th June 2016 – Ireland – Barn Swallow numbers are well below normal, first chicks hatched out on 5th June and one nest in the barn this year where we had four last year. 

Swallow

 

Take a look at Barn Swallow News.

Maybe even join in? 

Linking today to Anni's Texas Birds. 

Green Theme Birding

The last week has seemed autumnal rather than mid-July. There’s been wind, rain and then more rain and I’ve done little in the way of birding or blogging. Finally on Wednesday the skies improved and I set off birding into something of a green theme. 

The weather may feel like autumn, but many waders that breed around the Arctic Circle like Dunlin, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank are already flying south towards their winter quarters in Africa. It seems just a few weeks ago that these same birds were flying north to grab the brief Arctic summer which provides 24 hours of daylight and an abundance of food. There’s enough time to raise a family and then off they go to Africa. 

I was reminded of all this when the first bird I heard at Conder Green this morning was a Greenshank, probably fresh in from the Arctic or maybe even the wilds of the Scottish Highlands where a number of Greenshank breed. For anyone who has never read the book, I recommend “Greenshanks” by Desmond and Mamie Nethersole - Thompson, a classic Poyser book that relates the couple’s lifelong work studying Greenshanks in Scotland. 

Greenshank

 

"Greenshanks"

When disturbed by a gang of squabbling Redshanks the Greenshank flew off towards the railway bridge and the wider creeks that open out into the River Lune. Redshanks numbered 40+ and already an incoming tide pushed them off the creeks and over towards Conder Pool. 

Conder Green - Lancashire

The Redshanks joined the many Lapwings, 130+, scattered loosely around the islands and pool margins. With their dark green colouration Lapwings can be surprisingly difficult to pick out when they roost with head tucked in, motionless in a green landscape. Many of the Lapwings are birds of the year like the one below with a tiny tuft of a crown and flight feathers edged with the buff colours of a juvenile. I counted the Lapwings when a Sparrowhawk flew low along the hedgerow, turned a sharp right through the roosting waders and scattered them in all directions. 

Lapwing

Meanwhile while the ever vigilant pair of Avocets flew directly at the intruder, twisting and turning so as to have more than one go at seeing it off in defence of their single half-grown chick. Within what seemed just seconds of the Sparrowhawk departing in the direction of Glasson, everything returned to normal. Having missed the action two adult Common Terns returned with food from an expeditions out to the Lune or Glasson Dock. Although still being fed their two chicks appear to be of sufficient size to fend for themselves. 

I returned to studying the landscape where I spotted a Green Sandpiper bobbing along the far side of the pool, a tiny wader when compared to an adjacent Lapwing. 

Green Sandpiper - Ferran Pestaña from Barcelona [CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons]

The Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus is a small wader of the Old World. The genus name Tringa is the New Latin name given to the Green Sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek trungas, a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by Aristotle. It’s a bird of the coniferous forest belt or taiga of the high Northern Hemisphere. Quite remarkably it usually lays its eggs in old nests such as those of Fieldfare, Redwing and Woodpigeon, as well as in disused squirrel dreys.  On migration in Europe Green Sandpipers avoid strictly coastal waters and are almost always found on wetland habitats, very often tiny ponds or streams.

Also on the pool/creeks – 20 Oystercatcher, 5 Common Sandpiper, 4 Tufted Duck, 3 Wigeon, 1 Teal, 4 Pied Wagtail, 1 Goosander, 2 Little Egret, 15 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 15 House Martin. No Swifts today. 

Along the roadside hedgerow I counted 6 Goldfinch, 2 Reed Bunting and two family parties of Greenfinch numbering 8+ birds. Now there’s a novelty, to see the once abundant Greenfinch. 

Greenfinch

Reed Bunting

 
I note that despite the best efforts of the the cafe owners to deter House Martins making nests under the eaves of the building at the Conder bridge, the martins persevered and constructed nests anyway. The nests are at the front of the building where walkers and cyclists congregate and where they might be perceived as more troublesome to the owners than had they simply left the birds alone in the first place at the side elevation. Birds are both determined and persistent in their urge to breed, something of which these people have no understanding. 

House Martin

Now, local birders, let’s keep or eyes and ears open and make sure the nests remain where they are. To interfere with the nesting martins as they build nests and sit on eggs would be to break the Wildlife and Countryside Act.  Perpetrators should be reported to the authorities.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and  Run A Round Ranch .

Another Gull First

There’s local news below but firstly, and after my news about the Herring Gull that likes to shop, comes exciting news about another species of gull – the Little Gull Hydrocoloeus minutus. It's a species which we don't see too often here in Lancashire unless there's a major storm in mid-winter.

Little Gull - Ekaterina Chernetsova from Saint-Petersburg, [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Chicks of the world's smallest species of gull have hatched for the first time in Britain at a bird reserve in Aberdeenshire. The hatching of two Little Gulls happened at RSPB Scotland's Loch Strathbeg site near Fraserburgh. This is the first time the species had been recorded raising young in Britain. A pair nested on a small island which is home to more than 130 pairs of Common Terns. 

Richard Humpidge, RSPB Scotland sites manager, said: "We were really excited to discover that the Little Gulls had successfully hatched. It wasn't long ago that the island was home to just 10 pairs of Common Terns that struggled to raise any chicks. Four years, hundreds of hours of help from volunteers and 10 tons of shingle later, there's more than 130 pairs of terns with lots of large tern chicks and now we've got two tiny Little Gull chicks as well - a first for Britain." 

As a contrast to the many reports of declining species it’s great to hear some positive news about a bird on the increase. 

Today I paid visits to Conder Green and Glasson Dock where I enjoyed a couple of hours of birding before the clouds rolled in. There are always birds to see at Glasson Dock where the unkempt nature of a working port coupled with the separate waters of the port itself and the adjoining yacht basin provide lots of opportunities for birds. Come the early morning quiet of late summer the vessels of all shapes and sizes provide lots of spots for Kingfishers to watch and wait.

Glasson Dock - Lancashire

Glasson Dock - Lancashire

It’s a fair stretch across the moorings where a tiny Kingfisher can be invisible against the dock sides or a dark hulled boat but where the single call or a sudden splash of water provides the evidence that a Kingfisher is around. This morning it was a tussle with a passing Swallow which drew my attention to the Kingfisher as it called in protest at a humble Swallow wishing to share the same spot. Having won the argument the Kingfisher sat for a while before flying across to sit along the rails which guard against pedestrians falling into the water after visiting the Victoria Hotel late at night.

I drove slowly to the far side of the dock from where the Kingfisher departed and to where it eventually returned - until it spotted my face and camera lens filling the car window. A Kingfisher is a genuine challenge to any budding photographer, a Swallow less so.

Kingfisher

Swallow

I found a decent selection of birds around the area, including 30+ House Sparrows, 8 Goldfinch, 1 Common Tern, 12 Swift, 4 Collared Dove, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Blackcap, 8 Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush, 8 Swallow, 4 Chaffinch, 4 Tufted Duck, 1 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Common Sandpiper. That’s pretty good entertainment for somewhere that many a birder might find uninspiring.

Goldfinch

 
As I drove towards Conder Green a Sparrowhawk performed a flap-glide across the road ahead before disappearing into the caravan site. Sparrowhawks should be more visible in the next few weeks, a typical sort of date when they have young in the nest and when adults spend more time hunting to feed a growing family.

Sparrowhawk

More Swifts were hunting above the Conder hawthorn hedgerow – about 30 or so. It seems to be a favoured morning feeding spot for the Swifts and Swallows and when insects take to the wing.

On the pool and in the creeks; 2 Common Tern + young, 3 Avocet, 7 Common Sandpiper, 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 1 Shelduck and 1 Little Grebe.

Common Sandpiper

There was a single Teal today feeding quietly and apparently harmlessly along the muddy edge of the pool when an Avocet flew noisily at the duck and chased it out into the water. Avocets in a colony are known to be aggressively defensive and chase off any other species of birds that try to nest among or near them. Clearly one of the Conder Green pair also dislikes any bird which feeds along “its” stretch of water. No wonder then that the annoyed remark "Avocet - Exocet" is often heard from some British birdwatchers where Avocets have taken over similar wetland areas.

Avocets - The Crossley Guide to Britain & Ireland

We’ll have to keep a close eye on those Avocets. We don’t want them taking over Conder Pool to the exclusion of every other species do we?

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday Blog. 

A Birding First For Britain – Greggs Gull

I usually enjoy a few hours of birding on Saturday mornings when the rush of commuters is less frenetic, allowing me to stop and stare alongside busy roads when necessary. Even other birders seem to take a day off on a Saturday to collect their brownie points by taking a spouse shopping or other such mundane responsibilities. Not me. 

Although the morning started out dry the cloud and rain of June and now July spread in quickly from the North West. This time there was a blustery feel to it, a double scenario which led to nothing much to report. 

But here goes; and there’s a bonus later by way of a true story for lovers of gulls, large or small. 

I stopped at Braides Farm to hear a Raven in full voice, a deep and majestic croak echoing across the fields. The Raven had taken exception to the resident Buzzard sat along the fence where it spends the short summer nights. I’m betting the Buzzard was in situ before the Raven chanced along that way but the huge black beast was having none of it and chased the Buzzard further away. Just 20 or so yards away proved enough to placate the Raven for now. All went quiet as the Raven occupied the spot the Buzzard vacated. 

Raven

“The intriguing Common Raven has accompanied people around the Northern Hemisphere for centuries, following their wagons, sleds, sleighs, and hunting parties in hopes of a quick meal. Ravens are among the smartest of all birds, gaining a reputation for solving ever more complicated problems invented by ever more creative scientists. These big, sooty birds thrive among humans and in the back of beyond, stretching across the sky on easy, flowing wingbeats.” All About Birds.

I could hear Skylarks calling from across the fields where post-breeding Curlews fresh from the uplands have begun to gather in numbers. A couple of fields contained 100+Curlew and small gatherings of Carrion Crows.

Conder Green often provides one or two agreeable moments such as this morning when I watched two Kingfishers hurrying by a foot or so above the choppy water. As usual it’s the unique call that alerts a birder to the presence of a Kingfisher, a shrill but short single or double whistle before the flash of a blue bird appears (or more likely disappears). I’m certain that the two today would be an adult accompanied by a juvenile. Like so many other species of birds Kingfisher families stick together to some extent until the youngsters become fully independent.

Kingfishers

The Kingfishers were the highlight of my visit but other notables included 10 Common Sandpiper, 130 Lapwing, 90+ Redshank, 16 Oystercatcher and 4 Little Egret plus the resident and breeding Avocets and Common Terns, both of which have yet to present flying young.

Common Sandpiper

Otherwise - 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Wigeon, 12 Curlew, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Linnet and 1 Blackcap. Yes, it was a quiet hour or two of birding.

But now for aficionados of the much maligned family of gulls comes news of a new skill recently acquired - going shopping. Watch the video; it’s hilarious. 




From The Metro newspaper - "A Herring Gull was spotted “swaggering” into a Greggs (a UK chain of fast food bakery shops) in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, on the morning of 30th June by customer Gordon Lindsay.

He reckoned the gull had definitely formulated a plan of attack to get some Greggs goodies. Gordon, 41, said: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. The seagull knew exactly what it was doing. I’d stopped in to get a bacon sandwich on the way to work. The gull knew how to open the automatic doors by flapping its wings and then it headed straight for the crisps. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It then wandered around and pinched a packet of crisps off the bottom shelf. It had absolutely no shame and certainly didn’t hang around once it had got what it wanted.’

Gordon added that the bird ‘flapped again to open the doors and off it went’."

What next for the opportunistic, intelligent and adaptable gull family you might ask? Well there is a Marks and Spencer just along from our local Greggs where the gulls might find some slightly more upmarket products than crisps and pasties. And the shopping baskets are handily placed at the entrance door.

Herring Gull

Well a Greggs Gull is a definite first for me even if I didn’t see it live. But stay tuned for the best and most up-to-date bird news with Another Bird Blog.

Linking this post to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday and Anni's Birding Blog.