Power Down

It's raining - again. An hour of typing then I have to down tools. At 0930 the electricity will be switched off for fifty homes until 1430 for “essential maintenance”.  Get accustomed to it folks. When Princess Nut Nuts gets her way with Boris wind farms will stretch 200 miles along the west coast and beyond until they encircle us. 

Then along comes one of those prolonged winter high pressure systems that sits over Britain with zero wind for a week or more and there will be no electricity for us plebs. Unless of  course we build ten Hinckley Point reactors in the next ten years, starting next week. Meanwhile, be warned, “Smart Meters” are a smart way for providers to switch off your lights too. 

The week has seen no opportunity for ringing as rain and wind again hold sway over the coming weekend. But we did receive another Lesser Redpoll recovery involving our site at Oakenclough. Ring number ALJ4399 a fresh juvenile Lesser Redpoll ringed at Oakenclough on 12 August 2020 was recaptured by other ringers at Whixall & Fenn's Mosses, Shropshire on 29 September 2020. 

This is another quite typical autumn movement of Lesser Redpolls which shows a migratory pattern but yet again does not tell us the place of birth nor the bird’s final destination. 

Lesser Redpoll

  

Lesser Redpoll - Oakenclough to Shropshire

On Thursday morning I finally caught up with the elusive Long-tailed Duck at Conder Green. For a week or two the self-same bird had played hide and seek with WhatsApp twitchers by not always being on the anticipated plate. 

No need to panic. Although Long-tailed Ducks are pretty scarce, partly due to their status as an ocean-going duck with a diet of mussels, cockles, clams, crabs, and small fish, when one does appear on inland water it will often stay around for weeks. Here on Conder Pool this one may not find much shellfish hence it has probably been flying between the pool and the Lune Estuary 100 yards away. 

It had been years since I’d even seen a long-tail but the sleek lines and tiny round head were pretty unmistakable, easy to locate at the far end of Conder Pool where it ducked and dived many times. 

Long-tailed Duck

 

Other wildfowl and waders consisted of the regular 6 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, 90 Teal, 32 Wigeon 18 Tufted Duck, 12 Redshank and 8 Curlew. Passerines were few and far between with a single Meadow Pipit on the outflow looking slightly out of place. 

Teal

 

Both Moss Lane and Jeremy Lane held a few birds on the now established flash floods. Mixed, flighty and distant for the most part were hundreds of Dunlin, Golden Plover, Redshank, Lapwing and Curlew. 

There are still very few Fieldfares around with a dozen or so very flighty ones hiding in what's left of the hawthorn berries. A couple of Grey Wagtails flitted around the edge of one especially muddy patch. 

Grey Wagtail

At one point there was a Curlew in the road ahead that simply carried on walking rather than flying off as Curlews always do. I climbed from the car and found the Curlew quite easy to pick up from the roadside. Although it seemed lively enough and sported a muddy bill that showed it had been probing for food, it felt bony, thin and light in weight. I put the Curlew over a nearby fence and wished it well as it trotted off through the grassy field.

Curlew

At 4 pm and just as it began to go dark the lights returned. The leccy is back on so I hit the PC for the pictures. 

Not having the electricity on tap for a while is a little like birding - great when it’s around but you don’t half miss it when it’s unavailable. 

Linking this post to Eileens's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.

 

Still the weather stops me from birding so I'm hitting the memory trail from the warmer, drier days of Lanzarote and January 2015.

Remember to click the pics for bigger and better views of Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

We drove north and west heading for the coast at Famara hoping to find Houbara Bustard, Cream-coloured Courser, Stone Curlew and other bits & bobs along the way. After breakfast we said goodbye to the hotel’s Collared Doves and Spanish Sparrows, the two species which dominate the grounds and where the few Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs stay mostly hidden amongst the greenery. Passing Kestrels may take a brief look at what’s on offer. 

Collared Dove

Kestrel

The male Spanish Sparrow is a rather handsome chap who inevitably bears the brunt of camera clicks while the less photogenic females look on. 

Spanish Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow

We took the road via La Geria, the wine growing area with its traditional methods of cultivation. Single vines are planted in pits 4–5 m wide and 2–3 m deep, with small stone walls around each pit. This agricultural technique is designed to harvest rainfall and overnight dew and to protect the plants from prevailing winds. The vineyards are part of the World Heritage Site as well as other sites on the island. This landscape is pretty much devoid of birds although the ubiquitous Berthelot’s Pipit or a patrolling Kestrel are often encountered. 

Lanzarote

La Geria, Lanzarote

Berthelot's Pipit

We passed through farmland near the centre of the island Teguise and drove north towards the spectacular cliffs of Famara, stopping or diverting the Corsa across rough tracks to look for speciality birds of Lanzarote. Near Teguise a Stone Curlew flew across the road and landed in an uncultivated patch of land near to a half-grown chick - a nice find indeed. The chick crouched in an attempt to become invisible while the adult walked off and tried to distract me from its offspring.

Stone Curlew

Stone Curlew

Stone Curlew chick

Johnny Cash fans will know of the Boy Named Sue. In Lanzarote there is also a place named Soo, not far away from the Riscos de Famara and it’s a good area in which to look for Houbara Bustards. With just a small population in the Canary Islands, this species is mainly found in mainland North Africa west of the Nile and in the western part of the Sahara desert region in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. 

A Town Named Soo, Lanzarote

Houbara Bustard

Near Famara, Lanzarote

Looking for bustards, Lanzarote

As you might expect from a species historically hunted in large numbers the Houbara Bustard is very shy and will either hide or run from a vehicle. The cryptic plumage gives a bird the chance of escaping detection. 

Houbara Bustard

Houbara Bustard

We stopped at the windy Wild West town of Famara to survey the rugged cliffs and sandy dunes where we found Yellow-legged Gulls and a single Little Egret along the rocky shore near the jetty. We followed up with a light lunch before hitting the road back south taking detours along the many dusty trails in search of more birds. 

Little Egret

Sand dunes at Famara, Lanzarote

Lanzarote lunch

The Desert Grey Shrike was a lucky find, the bird diving into a grey, thorny bush that upon inspection held a newly built, lined nest ready for eggs, and which from the female’s behaviour were the eggs surely imminent. I took a number of shots and left the bird to her domestic duties. 

Desert Grey Shrike

Desert Grey Shrike

It had been a great day of exploration and discovery but time to head back to Peurto Calero and a well-earned rest. 

The LZ2 road Lanzarote, 2015

There’s more news, views and photos soon from Another Bird Blog. 

The Gull Next Door - A Book Review

At last, after delays caused by the coronavirus here on my desk is a brand new bird book I’ve been looking forward to read; The Gull Next Door by Marianne Taylor, a freelance writer, editor, illustrator and photographer specialising in natural history subjects. On sale now from Princeton University Press. 

The Gull Next Door - Princeton Press

The author promises that The Gull Next Door ‘will explore the natural history of gulls, their complicated relationship with humans and delve into how we might live more harmoniously with these misunderstood birds’. Marianne set herself an almost impossible task because here in Britain the gull next door became the definitive Marmite bird when gulls abandoned the ocean to become urban scavengers living in the house next door. 

I realised from the very first paragraphs of The Prologue that The Gull Next Door is a one sided love story, perhaps a Mills & Boone that could be subtitled Love Thy Neighbour? Marianne loves gulls in all their sleek, stylish shapes and forms and is willing to forgive gulls’ boisterous, bickering, noisy, messy and thieving ways. To balance the books she reminds us through many examples that gulls have perfect parenting skills and that amongst other attributes they are adaptable, intelligent, ingenious, fearless and resourceful. 

Gulls are not the creatures despised by Joyless Jobsworths of local councils who prosecute those who dare throw a chip to a “seagull’. Gulls are not the evil “seagulls” that terrorise Old Aged Pensioners and their Chihuahuas as depicted by lazy newspaper hacks. 

N.B. I digress to insert a pet hate of my own. There is no such thing as a “seagull”, a word with no fixed taxonomic meaning. But there are more than 50 distinct and separate species of gull in the world - seabirds of the family Laridae. I struggled to find Marianne using the dreaded word once other than to simply quote its misuse elsewhere. Three cheers for that Marianne! 

Back to the book where Chapter One takes the non-birder on an entertaining but brief discovery of gulls that occur in Britain. These are often highly personal recollections, descriptions and humorous observations helped along by a measure of scientific insight and research. The segments begin with the ubiquitous such as Black-headed Gull, moving on to the scarce as in the Not so-common Common, the giants like Glaucous and end with the simply mind blowing beauty of Ivory and Ross’. 

Chapter Two explores the lifestyles, the natural and unnatural history of gulls, where necessary quoting scientific research and facts rendered to an accessible format so as not to frighten off seat-of-the-pants minds like my own. For instance, research in 2015 suggested that gulls follow a series of “smell posts” as they navigate their sometimes long European journeys. In this chapter Marianne also tells the remarkable story of small Herring Gull chicks being fed and fostered by Peregrine Falcons. She describes the Kittiwake colony of Newcastle upon Tyne some 13 kilometres from the sea as an example of the adaptability of gulls. 

Chapter Three is devoted solely to the Herring Gull, the one us Brits love to hate - except Marianne. Her upbringing in an English seaside town gives her a lifelong and sympathetic admiration for the much-maligned villain of the red top newspapers. But in reality the declining Herring Gull population is just 280,000 adults sharing the nation with 68 million or more humans.  

Chapter Four, Gulls and People, follows in similar style with apocryphal, sometimes comical tales about “seagulls”, real and imaginary. Like the Daily Mirror’s “Public Enemy Number One” and similar lies, stories that strangely enough always seem to include the County of Cornwall. Those irresistible Cornish pasties and Rick Stein's chippy have a lot to answer for in promoting the myth of hordes of urban bandits. 

The next Chapter, Gulls in Word and Image is a historical and present day summary of gulls in myth and legend, literature, film and popular culture through our complicated human eyes. “Gulls are dangerous, portentous, violent, greedy irritating, foolish, wise, helpful, beautiful, curious and talented.” That is how humans see gulls - in a mirror image they fail to recognise. 

Chapter Six tackles the strange obsession of Larophilia as distinct from mainstream media’s clickbait obsession with Larophobia. Many birdwatchers, “gullers” to give them their correct title, have a specific interest in gulls. They are obsessive about gulls and will travel many a mile to see one. Gulls display a sometimes puzzling assortment of plumage - large gulls can be very difficult to identify and to age. A certain type of birder is captivated by the challenge a gull presents and seeks the kudos of successful ageing and identification. As Marianne explains that being “good at gulls” invokes a certain type of respect for a level of skill higher than that of most ordinary birders. 

Chapter Seven- Moving On reminds us that the earliest gull fossils stretch back at least 23 million years - some 13 million years before hominids. Gulls are almost certainly better equipped to survive the next extinction. 

The Gull Next Door - Princeton Press

Dear Reader, I suggest you remember the numbers and hope that gulls are around for your ancestors to enjoy in amongst the changing grand scheme of things. 

I loved the humour and the idiosyncrasy, the quirkiness of this brilliant book. There’s something for everyone here - the birder, the larophile, the curious, the uninitiated, the anti or the pro, the scholar, or simply the seeker of a good read. 

Most of all The Gull Next Door is a celebration of everything gull. Have a read and enjoy. You will not be disappointed. You may even begin to love gulls as much as Marianne.

The Gull Next Door by Princeton Press 

On sale now at $24.95 / £22.00. 

ISBN: 9780691208961 

Pages: 192 

Size: 6 x 9.25 in. 

=============================

Stay tuned friends. Back soon with news, views and photos just as soon as the weather improves.

Linking this post to Eileen's Birding in Maryland US and Anni'sTexas Birding.

 

If You Don’t Go, You Don’t Know

Friday morning was another 0600 start. I’d set off in clear conditions with the usual trouble free drive until close to Oakenclough a slight mistiness turned all too quickly into a pea-souper. 

Andy arrived and as we’d made the effort to rise early and the forecast was OK, we decided to continue. It was not until 0900 that the fog lifted to reveal a rather nice morning. 

But it was too late for much to happen. In the three hours we’d seen and heard 130+ Fieldfares, 30+ Redwings, and 90 Woodpigeons on the move south but caught very little, so processed a miserly 9 birds – 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Redwing, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Goldcrest. Some you win, some you lose. We recited to ourselves The Ringer’s Mantra - “If you don’t go, you don’t know”. 

Lesser Redpoll

Goldfinch

Redwing

Treecreeper

Saturday saw my escape from captivity with mental stimulation and physical exercise via a spot of birding up along Cockerham way. 

The pool/lake at Conder Green is full of a month of rain, so much water that leaves little mud for waders and gives a count dominated by wildfowl - 300 Teal, 34 Wigeon, 14 Tufted Duck, 10 Little Grebe, 8 Curlew, just 6 Redshank and a single Snipe. The highlight this morning was a Kingfisher which didn’t stop to fish. 

I found 90 or more Fieldfares along Jeremy Lane in their usual location amongst the hawthorn bushes. They were mixed with very flighty Starlings so when the Starlings flew, so did the Fieldfares. It’s noticeable how few hawthorn berries are left now in what has been a very poor year for berries after the hot, dry April, May and part of June. Two Jays and uncounted Tree Sparrows in the roadside trees added to the mix. 

Fieldfare

 

On a flash flood rear Cockersands were about 30 Whooper Swans with some still flying in from out on the River Lune. Most of the Whoopers here in recent weeks seem to have moved 20 miles south of here with about 250 on floods near to up-market Lytham St Annes. I rather miss the swans’ loud greeting calls that are audible from hundreds of yards away so I hope they come back this way soon. 

Whooper Swans

 

Turn the sound up loud to experience the magical calls of Whooper Swans.

At Cockersands Marsh were small flocks of Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Twite. At the farm buildings, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, and a good number of Starlings. 

Grey Wagtail.

 

Meanwhile, in the wider world of Lockdown Crazy Britain, three more weeks.

“You can shoot ducks, but you can’t feed them. You can sleep with your wife or husband, but you can’t play tennis with them.

You can buy a pint to take away using an app on your mobile phone, but can’t drink it inside or immediately outside a pub.

Marks & Sparks can sell you a prawn sandwich, but not a pair of socks. Knickers are ‘non-essential’ on the High Street, but freely available on the internet.

We are urged to exercise and keep fit to boost our immune systems but gyms and swimming pools are closed, by law.

In Greater Manchester, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins appealed for people to snitch on their neighbours if they suspect they are having friends of family over during lockdown.”

Daily Mail

Linking this post to Anni In Texas Birding.

Long Time No See

Long-time no see my friends. The less said about the October weather and lack of birding days the better. Before today our previous visit to Oakenclough was Friday 16 October, almost three weeks ago. 

We met up at 0600 this morning, an earlier start than 3 weeks ago, 0600 dictated by a move to the Winter Clock. 

Prolonged spells of bad weather tends to clear out the birds from Oakenclough. We reckon that local birds head off to places more sheltered, at lower altitude than here at 700ft above sea level. Meanwhile migrant birds like thrushes and finches that we expect to both see and catch have no rhyme or reason to stop in inclement weather but simply find alternative routes and times to continue their migration. 

And so it proved today with a catch of just 15 birds – 7 Coal Tit, 2 Redwing, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Great Tit, 1 Goldcrest, and 1 Robin. 

We caught the two Redwings at first light, the Fieldfare an hour or more later.  By some margin Fieldfares outnumbered Redwings and we thought that our count of the 180+ Fieldfares and 30 or so Redwings had exited an overnight roost rather than being fresh migrants. By now, early November, the autumn passage and visible migration of both species may well be over; our 3 weeks of inactivity cost us dearly. 

Once again the local Coal Tits found us but the Blues and Greats stayed mainly around the feeders at the nearby house - Thanks George and family for your sterling work. 

Fieldfare

Redwing

Chaffinch

Coal Tit

By coincidence on this day of Coal Tits, it’s unusual to receive a report of one of our ringed Coal Tits being found elsewhere. 

The Coal Tit is known as one of the most sedentary species of Britain and Ireland whereby ringing has shown that few Coal Tits travel far from their natal area. Strangely enough it is Coal Tits from the North West of England that travel furthest from the average of just 20km between seasons. This thought to relate to the distribution of suitable habitats between this and other regions. (BTO Migration Atlas). 

The further recovery of Coal Tit ALJ 4344 ringed here at Oakenclough on 21 July 2020 becomes one of the very few that Fylde Ringing Group has received in many years and 1120 captures of Coal Tits.  When Andy and I caught ALJ4344 bird on 21 July we confidently aged it as a juvenile born just several weeks before. The yellow cheeks alone were a dead giveaway. 

Coal Tit

 

We did not see ALJ4344 again during the summer and autumn of 2020 during many visits to Barnacre. A week ago we received notification that it had been recaptured by another ringer at Hoylake Shore, Wirral, Merseyside on 16 October 2020. This is just 67km from Oakenclough but represents quite a movement south for a Coal Tit and an example of autumnal movements that are more likely to be undertaken by first year birds than by adults. 

Coal Tit - Oakenclough to Hoylake

The south-south- west direction of travel might suggest that this Coal Tit was on its way to the extensive conifer forests of North Wales (see map) where it would join up with others of its kind and prove able to survive the winter? 

We have a good recapture rate of Coal Tits so there is every chance that during the spring and summer of 2021 we will recapture ALJ4344 when it returns to Oakenclough looking for somewhere to nest. 

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Our flip-flopping chaotic Government changed the rules again to tell us to lockdown again. Therefore today could be the first and last opportunity for a while to carry out our crucial work of monitoring bird populations. 

Meanwhile, and via the website of BASC (British Association for Shooting and Conservation) - a lobby group with a great deal of influence with the gun-toting Establishment of Britain and Ireland. 

“Rough shooting, wildfowling and deer management may continue during the lockdown period as outdoor recreational activities, as long as you comply with the guidance. This includes making short journeys to your place of exercise, where you can only exercise with people you live with, your support bubble (if you are living alone), or one person from another household”. 

Such guidelines must now include bird ringing, unpaid voluntary work that is surely more vital than “rough shooting”? If rough shooting is a “recreational activity” it is also a proven fact that participation in outdoor pursuits like birding or bird ringing relieves the strain on NHS resources through the promotion of physical and mental well being. 

In forcing people to stay indoors for another month, or more, the Government is complicit in an act of self-harm to a large proportion of the population. 

The policies of lockdown, Stay at Home/Save Lives/Protect the NHS and social distancing have cost at least as many lives as saved but with cruel consequences, callously so for the most vulnerable elderly by denying hospital treatment to many people suffering from serious, sometimes incurable illnesses. 

Two of my own family wait for hospital appointments and operations that may now be deferred or even cancelled because the government say that they do not have priority. 

That's all for now back soon. Stay focused on the truth everyone.

Linking today with https://viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com

 

Elephant Bird

Another week of rain and wind goes by with no birding or ringing. We’ve had something like 150% of the expected October rain, but still it comes. 

With few birders venturing out even WhatsApp news is devoid of bird sightings except for recent day “pings” about Cattle Egrets from three local apps - Lancaster, North West, and Fylde.  Just a day ago came news of a local record number of 16 Cattle Egrets together at Freckleton, Fylde, plus a sighting of two more in the Cockerham, Lancaster area on the same day. 

Although I have seen Cattle Egrets all over the world, it was only in 2017 that I saw my first one in the UK, early December 2017 at Cockerham a few miles from home, quickly followed by a second in the spring of 2018. 

The Cattle Egret is now following the example of two other egrets, Little Egret and Great Egret, of  expanding to the north and west of Britain. But it must be said that the Cattle Egrets that plod around muddy cattle fields in mid-winter England rarely look as striking or exotic as the ones seen on the bright sunny days of Egypt, India, Menorca or West Africa. 

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egrets - Menorca

 

Cattle Egret - Egypt

Cattle Egret - Lanzarote, Canary Islands

Strictly speaking, the Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis is not an egret, despite the similarities in plumage to the egrets of the genus Egretta. It is a member of the heron (Ardea) family, the single example of the monotypic genus Bubulcus. Some authorities regard two of its subspecies as full species, the Western Cattle Egret and the Eastern Cattle Egret. Although similarly and mostly white, where there are hints of orange and yellow the eastern version is more strikingly colourful than the western.

Originally native to parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, the Cattle Egret has undergone a rapid expansion in its distribution and successfully colonised much of the rest of the world in the last century. This is probably due in large part to due to its relationship with humans and their domesticated animals and where it acquired colloquial names such as cow crane, cow bird, cow heron, elephant bird, and even rhinoceros egret. 

Cattle Egret - Egypt

Cattle Egret - Menorca

Cattle Egret - India

Originally adapted to a relationship with large grazing and browsing animals, the Cattle Egret was easily able to switch to domesticated cattle and horses. As the keeping of livestock spread throughout the world, the Cattle Egret began began to occupy otherwise empty niches. 

Many populations of Cattle Egrets are highly migratory and dispersive, a trait that helped the species' range expansion. The Cattle Egret may be one of the few species to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the “wrong” direction by first arriving in North America in 1941, those early sightings were originally dismissed as escapees. The species bred in Florida in 1953 and spread rapidly, breeding for the first time in Canada in 1962. Cattle Egrets were first sighted in the Americas on the boundary of Guiana and Suriname in 1877, having apparently flown across the Atlantic Ocean. Cattle Egrets are now widely distributed across Brazil and other parts of South America. 

Breeding in the UK was recorded for the first time in 2008 only a year after an influx seen in the previous year. A pair bred again in 2017, and in 2008 Cattle Egrets were reported in Ireland for the first time. 

The Cattle Egret now has a niche in Britain, where it does not directly compete with other species and from where it will soon establish a viable breeding population. Unlike most herons the Cattle Egret is typically found in fields and dry grassy habitats, reflecting a greater dietary reliance on terrestrial insects and other quarry like earthworms rather than aquatic prey. With its perceived role as a bio-control of cattle parasites such as ticks and flies, the Cattle Egret should be seen as a welcome and permanent addition to British birdlife. 

Cattle Egret - Cockerham, Lancashire

Cattle Egret - Menorca

A glance at the latest local weather forecasts predicts yet more day of rain with perhaps an improvement by the middle of next week. I hope so. 

Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog or your WhatsApp birding news.    

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.