Back In The Hills

2020 was a frustrating year of stop-start ringing at our site Oakenclough, situated at the western edge of the backbone of England, the Pennine Hills.  The year was one of consistently poor weather – cold, wet and windy with a distinct lack of sunshine. The poor weather coupled with the many non-visits caused by lockdowns resulted in ringing totals below our pre-Covid projections at the beginning of the New Year. 

Despite these setbacks we managed a creditable total of 679 captures, 619 new and 60 recaptures (subsequent) birds. The most ringed species Meadow Pipit, followed by Willow Warbler and Redwing a close third. Prior to today the last visit to Oakenclough was on 26 November 2020. Below is a table of the birds caught and one that shows the range of species in a typical year, early spring to December.

 

Above - 2020 at Oakenclough

This morning and for our first time in 2021 we hoped to catch early migrant species such as Goldcrest, Chiffchaff and Meadow Pipit. (“Mipits” as they are named by students of visible migration.). Mipits have been migrating north this week - see Arnside and Silverdale Blogspot.

With luck today we might expect to also capture both Lesser Redpolls and Siskins, two species strangely absent during 2020.

I met Andy at the unearthly hour of 0600 in the half light of a dull cloudy morning. We left at 1130 after a rather slow session and 18 birds caught: 9 Goldfinch, 4 Meadow Pipit, 2 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 1 Chaffinch and 1 Long-tailed Tit.

Although we caught four Meadow Pipits their northward movement was far from obvious, best described as a “dribble” of some 15/20 individuals all morning. Meadow Pipits' diurnal migration in spring takes place from mid March through to mid April and often takes place high in the sky, out of range of human vision; almost certainly, our 15/20 was an underestimate of true numbers, even at this, the early days of their migration.

Meadow Pipit

It was good to see Goldfinches again, a species difficult to find of late. Unlike most years, Goldfinches have been absent from my own garden for months, returning only in the last week or so. So too Greenfinches, already prospecting our conifers where they nested last year.

Goldfinch

Today's Dunnock, a first winter female, still carried last year's tail. The tail bore evidence of a period of poor nutrition during the nesting period of 2020.

Dunnock's tail - March 2021

Dunnock

Even in the hand a Robin will display their red breast to best effect in case the ringer is a rival.

Robin

If Lesser Redpolls and Siskins were around today, we didn't see or hear any. Nor Chiffchaffs or Goldcrests.  All the more reason to try again soon.  

Linking today to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.

Comings And Goings

It's usual for me to spend a short time only at Braides Farm where the parking gateway allows views over a wide expanse of open fields devoted to growing grass. And more grass.  And not many birds.

After the autumn and winter of 2020/2021 there are still large areas of floods that have held a few Whooper Swans for weeks now. Imagine my surprise this morning to see those few swans suddenly transformed into an enormous herd of Whoopers that counted in the region of 450-470 individuals. The herd extended from the roadside, north to the River Cocker and then all the way across to the sea wall some 300 yards away. The count may prove to be bigger as when I later drove up to Conder Green, more Whoopers were in the roadside fields there but mostly hidden from view by hedgerows. 

Click the pics. Here's a not very good video shot with a Sony and 135mm lens. 

 

And then a couple of closer pictures with a 600mm. All of a sudden the herd erupted into a clamour of frantic calling and whooping, I suspect they will be heading off back to Iceland very soon. 

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swans

At Hillam, and where 2 Sand Martins flew across the lake, I checked the water level to see if Avocets might return. Last year's nesting island is now buried by autumn and winter downpours. A word with farmer Chris and he said he would look into making the island visible again for the spring and summer. 

I drove up to Conder Green where I soon picked out a single Avocet amongst the 10 Shelduck and 40 Black-headed Gulls. 

Conder Green

The Avocet won't be alone for long - soon joined by several more I expect.  

Avocet

The Oystercatchers here are becoming flighty. I saw a group of four in the throes of their springtime “piping” display. The piping displays in this the early breeding season allows the birds to establish a territory. They bow their heads and point their beaks at the ground, then pipe loudly while walking and flying around the area. The display often attracts other Oystercatchers so that half a dozen birds may eventually run along side by side in a line or fly around in a tight flock while calling loudly - "kleep kleep, kleep kleep." 

"Piping" Oystercatchers

Other sightings. 6 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 4 Pied Wagtail, 36 Wigeon, 65 Teal, 8 Redshank, 2 Curlew. 

I was out in the new car this morning, giving it a run because due to lockdown it has been hardly anywhere for weeks. 

Ssangyong

“What is it?” you say, just as many others have done. It's a Ssangyong Tivoli 1.2 Ventura, of much the same size and with similar performance to my old 1.6 Suzuki Vitara. The difference is an equivalent Vitara today is about four grand more than this Ssangyong. This comes with half leather heated seats and heated steering wheel for the winter days together with a few more bells & whistles like keyless entry and cruise control.  A 7 years warranty! - well recommended. 

And here's a heads up for the suppliers, Barker's of Preston . Thanks guys. 

Another heads up for my pals Wally and Gini over in Florida. They sent me a virtual coffee. Take a look at Wally's blog – blue sky, birds, bugs and alligators at Our Natural Places Florida   

Cheers guys. Enjoy all that sunshine but look out for those harmless alligators and friendly snakes. No such problems here in occasionally sunny Lancashire.

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

The weather for this weekend looks very poor. Unless something should change it seems like it will be next Tuesday or Wednesday before I can post more news on Another Bird Blog.  

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End Of The Road

We're near the end of our Linnet winter. To some, it may seem odd that wintering flocks are breaking up during the cold days of early March, but that's how it is just now. Spring starts early in the world of birds. About the same time as daffodils and crocuses poke their heads through the winter frosts. 

Daffodils

At Gulf Lane this morning the once tight Linnet flock is now down to twenty or so individuals where the gathering is loose and fluid. There are males in song too, a sure sign that spring has replaced winter and when a Linnets' thoughts turn to priorities anew. 

With the early and then late lockdowns, plus the uncooperative weather of 2020 and early 2021 our catch of birds here for the winter period stands at 78 Linnet, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Stonechat,1 Skylark and 1 Chaffinch. Those numbers include our somewhat poor showing this morning of just 4 birds ringed – 3 Linnets and 1 Reed Bunting. 

But better still, our Project Linnet total now sees 819 Linnets ringed over the last five winters commencing in October 2016. We also have assurances from Richard the farmer that his field will soon be drilled ready for the next crop in time for our winter of ringing in 2021/22. 

This morning began with a local Barn Owl, a fly past only, but a welcome sight while preparing the catching area.  

Barn Owl

 

Our task may sound easy. Hide in a a car and drop a net over a few dozy birds. A piece of cake you might say. Well no, it's a little more complicated than it may appear. 

For starters those Linnets are hot wired for an instant take off should danger threaten. After all, they spend half their tiny lives on the lookout for Sparrowhawks and Merlins, the two most deadly predators of small birds. And then there's the occasional opportunist Kestrel that passes above their head or the Magpie or Carrion Crow looking for an easy meal of Linnet chicks. Or the likelihood that their nest or night time roost may be discovered by night raiders like owls, stoats or weasels. 

A couple of bleary eyed ringers trying to literally catch them out is just another hazard of a Linnets' existence. If only they knew that we are actually trying to help? 

With so few Linnets around this week we'd already decided that we would go for small numbers rather than wait for a larger flock that would probably not materialise. And so it was, with just 2 adult male Linnets, a first year female Linnet and an adult Reed Bunting to show for our efforts. 

Reed Bunting 

Linnet

Linnet

Other birds this morning included a Kestrel, 2 Little Egret, 3 Reed Bunting, 4 Skylark, Barn Owl, 3 Stock Dove. 

Kestrel

Come back soon for more news, views and photos. 

Linking on Saturday to Anni in Texas and Eileen's Saturday Blogspot.

BOGOF

That's correct friends. This is a Blog One Get One Free offering to rival Tesco's Finest. Two posts in one at no extra cost to yourselves, even though no one has yet bought me a coffee (see RH column). 

I ran out of time to update the blog from Thursday's ringing session at Gulf Lane and because Andy and I arranged to go again on Friday, I combined the two days into one post. The direct comparison between the two mornings of similar weather conditions and each morning's birds is I hope, quite interesting. 

Thursday morning saw a a slow arrival of Linnets in ones, twos and fives until a couple of maximum counts of about forty birds. After Tuesday's catch of 14, another catch of 14 on Thursday saw no recaptures nor a single recapture from this or any other winter, a recapture rate of lots of noughts, very close to zero. 

It meant that Thursday's 14 Linnets were all new to us - 2 adult male, 2 adult female, 4 first winter female and 6 first winter male. 

Male Linnets have begun to sport some colourful if patchy colouration where their old feathers wear to reveal the ruby red that attracts a female to their patch.  

Male Linnet - February

We failed to catch either of the 2 Stonechats that appeared around 0730 and spent the rest of the morning parading along the fence line without showing more than a modicum of interest in the catching zone. 

Likewise the three or more Skylark overhead and two Reed Bunting that frequented the patch of bramble that lines the ditch. We now have the Skylark territories mapped in our heads, areas that are familiar to us and obviously to the birds. These fairly small areas are the same as last year and the one before that and the one before that .......

         

A male Sparrowhawk visited twice, drawn in by the sight of the small Linnet flock. For a while it sat on a fence post 50 yards away before it sped off across the field. It returned an hour so later where it made an unsuccessful pass at a small group of Linnets before it again examined the scene from a post some forty yards away.  If only that 600mm lens had a little more reach. 

Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

 

Sparrowhawk

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

Friday began with  another early of toast, blackberry jam and a large mug of brown tea. Just the job for the promised zero temperatures at the meeting point with Andy at Gulf Lane. Cold it was at minus 2 degrees but with a promise of warm sun once the frost cleared. 

Pretty quickly it became apparent that fewer Linnets were arriving to feed. Clear overnight weather may have led to a departure north and our best count of 20+, reflected in the catch of just 2 Linnets. 

We kept our options open and caught a few of the other species around - In addition to the two Linnets we caught 2 male Reed Buntings, a female Skylark and a first winter female Stonechat. So although we added little to our total of wintering Linnets, we enjoyed seeing other species that aren't caught too often. 

There was just the one Stonechat around this morning. The last two weeks has seen a strong migration of Stonechats at local birding sites. We suspect that the closely aligned male and female of Thursday departed overnight to be replaced by the single female we caught. 

Stonechat

 

The single Skylark caught was a female, the deciders a wing length of 101 mm and a hint of the start of a brood patch ready for the spring and summer. We counted at least five Skylarks this morning. There was both chasing and singing as the larks sort out their respective territories. 

Skylark

Reed Bunting

 

There's more news soon from Another Bird Blog. And special offers! 

Stay tuned.

Linking Saturday to Anni in Texas and Eileen's Saturday Blogspot.

 

Miss And Hit

Time's running out to catch the Linnets at Cockerham where the latest food drops show 35 to 45 birds max and where finding a break in the weather for a ringing session becomes a precise art. Very soon the Linnets will be winging their way North to Scotland; hopefully a few more will carry our rings and data gathered throughout will help the conservation of this Red Listed Species, Linaria cannabina. 

But the weather forecasts continue their torment where both ITV and BBC predictions for Tuesday morning were miserable doom laden affairs of wind and rain sweeping across the screen from left to right. These “forecasters” must be on a hundred grand a year to read out dodgy predictions gathered via satellites, balloons, radar and computer programmes that cost millions if not billions of £s. Maybe a look out of the nearest window every few hours might result in a more accurate result? 

Internet charts for Tuesday seemed to show a stiff wind yes, but no rain until midday. By midday any ringing session would be over by which time we'd be home and dry in every sense. I arranged to meet Andy at our private site of Gulf Lane at 0730. 

OK, it was a little breezy as the wind played a part in limiting our catch, but not a single drop of rain fell in four hours. 

We finished with 15 birds, 14 Linnets and 1 Chaffinch – the Chaffinch an adult male, the Linnets split as follows: 6 first winter males, 6 first winter females, 2 adult males. 

Chaffinch

 

Linnet

 

Other birds in and around the seed crop this morning - 4 Skylark, 2 Blackbird, 2 Mallard, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Chaffinch, 3 Stock Dove, 1 Little Egret  

Stock Dove

P.S. 1400 hrs still no rain.  1600 hours and it's raining, eight hours later than the prediction.

Don't miss Another Bird Blog on Thursday when there should be more news. 

One Fine Day

Hi Folks.

I'm Linking this post to Rain's Thursday Art Date and her theme this week of “Comedies”. Rain's Thursday Art Date. 

Knowing how twitchers are ultra determined and always up for a laugh a story in “The Sun” of 16 February 2020 gave me a smile. 

“Twitchers fined for Covid breach after flocking to seaside town to catch glimpse of rare bird” . 

The twitchers were collared when residents became fed up with the dozens of bird-watchers who crammed into an alley from morning to night for more than a week to see the Northern Mockingbird, a common North American bird. 

Tempers flared as one irate local threatened to smash up their cameras. Cops were called at the weekend and fined five twitchers who broke lockdown rules by travelling from outside the area. 

One bird-watcher said: “I saw photographers crammed into an alleyway for hours behind people’s houses hoping to catch a glimpse of the bird. It was crazy and as if Covid didn’t exist.” 

Northern Mockingbird

The Northern Mockingbird has been spotted in Britain only twice previously - the most recent in Essex in 1988. But when bird-lover Chris Biddle reported seeing one in his garden in Exmouth, Devon, about 100 enthusiasts swooped from as far as Perth in Scotland, Norfolk and Kent to see it. 

But locals became increasingly anxious. A bird-watcher told The Sun: “At one point, a furious resident came round and threatened to smash everybody’s cameras if they didn’t leave. "I think he was worried about people spreading the virus.” 

However, Chris Gair, 75, a local resident let dozens of twitchers into her garden to grab a picture and raised £520 in donations for the NHS. She said: “They were a bit cheeky. Some of them had travelled very far.” 

Devon and Cornwall Police later confirmed: “Fines were issued to five people for breaches of Covid regulations.”  

Chuckles The Cat

You can read the full story in Britain's most popular newspaper.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14072031/twitchers-covid-fine-seaside-rare-bird/

 

A Hard Luck Story

Andy and I had no luck with catching Linnets today. A couple of times we had two and three Linnets in the catching zone but being greedy guys we chose not to release the net but to wait for a bigger catch of five or six or more. This proved a mistake, more so when the 30/40 Linnets that had been around for a couple of hours moved on elsewhere. 

We made do with the intermittent birding which other than the usual frustration with the Linnets' shyness, proved very entertaining. A Barn Owl played “chicken” with local traffic a couple of times when it flew across the road in the face of incoming vehicles. Luckily, the probable local drivers slowed down once they saw the regular owl fence hopping ahead of their vehicle. 

Barn Owl

 

There's a pair of Stonechat which stick close together on their tour of fenceposts that line the ditch. They searched the rank grass and moved through the hedgerow alongside the field ditch where a couple of Little Egrets occasionally showed. Along the hedge were a female Reed Bunting and a single Wren. Let's hope the Stonechats stay to nest once they successfully negotiate and remaining cold weather. 

  

Stonechat

Barn Owl

 

We watched the owl dive into the grass on at least three occasions hoping to see it rise carrying a meal and although we didn't see any catch it's unlikely it would go long without a kill.  

Skylarks have been noticeable for a week or more and today we had one within inches of being in the catch zone of the whoosh net. Quite suddenly a Merlin was attracted in by the activity of the Linnet flock and Skylarks overhead as it shot like a low bullet through the area, out over the ditch and across the nearby field towards the sea wall 250 yards away. 

The Merlin is pretty scarce nowadays but a super sight of any bird watching trip and guaranteed to inject excitement into the most mundane of days. 

 

Merlin by @Greg Lavaty

Skylark

 

Almost certainly we will catch a Skylark or two in the coming weeks. 

Barn Owl

Definitely a few Linnets, and maybe a Stonechat, but we don't expect to see a Merlin or a Barn Owl in our whoosh net any time soon. 

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