We knew it couldn’t last. Our two week heatwave of global warming just couldn't make the grade and turned out to be the familiar autumn of wind, rain, fallen apples and russet leaves. 

Autumn apples

 

My notebook remained pretty much empty until Thursday of this week with a journey to Oakenclough, a few miles from Garstang Town, west of the Pennines. Our location is in sight & sound of the North to South M6 Motorway that runs from Scotland to Middle England. From our vantage point and on clear mornings we can see down to Morecambe Bay, the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and treacherous sand in the United Kingdom. The whole area covers a total of 120 square miles. 

Morecambe Bay - Wiki

 

Ringing site location

We are sure that the geographical location, the proximity of the brightly lit motorway plus the north to south axis of the Pennines helps us to catch migratory birds in autumn and spring. This obvious and sometimes visible bird migration doesn’t always happen and is dependent upon weather conditions, but when it does we know within an hour of our arrival on site. 

Autumn starts are later now at 0630 but soon to shift back for the darker morns ahead. I met up with Andy, Bryan and Will to zero wind and greyish skies, a near prefect morning for ringing we thought.

Nothing much happened except for visible migration of more than 120 Swallows heading west in small groups together with several House Martins and a single Sand Martin. Invisible migration/new arrivals consisted of just 11 captures - 3 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Meadow Pipit, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Goldcrest and 1 Chaffinch.

Blackcaps have been hard to come by this year until the catch today of two males and one indeterminate, the cap still brown but potentially yet to moult to the black of a male.

Blackcap

Meadow Pipit

       

Goldfinch

Juvenile Goldfinches cannot be sexed with any accuracy until they acquire their adult colours. However, the size of the bill on the above example suggests it is a male.  

There was a roving flock of Goldfinches this morning with approximately 80-100 in the area of the site. With luck we might have caught more but had to settle for the two juveniles. 

Goldcrest

The weather is set fair for the next few days and maybe into next week. I'm setting the alarm clock for Friday morning and a trip to the very edge of Morecambe Bay. I'm sure we can catch more birds next time. Now where have I heard that before?

Plucking Post

There's a Sparrowhawk plucking post in a quiet corner of our garden. I realised that earlier in the week when tidying around the edges of the grass. 

Ten or more days ago I watched a Sparrowhawk carry its snatched-nearby Collared Dove into our garden and follow up on the strike. The hawk landed immediately behind the apple tree yards from a bedroom window, perhaps too close to the house for the hawk’s comfort. The hawk quickly despatched the meal, and once the dove stopped struggling the Sparrowhawk flew low across the garden to a quiet secluded corner where it could dismember its prey. 

 

Sparrowhawk

 

The hawk finished its meal and left the garden after 30 minutes or so. It was when tidying the garden this week that I noticed the left over feathers from the earlier meal contained darker and fresher ones that I recognised as those of a Blackbird. So either the same or a different Sparrowhawk had returned to the exact same spot with its latest meal. 

 

A Quiet Corner

Plucking Post 

A “plucking post” is not necessarily a post, wooden or metal, but more simply a raised piece of ground or a tree stump used regularly by a bird of prey to dismember its prey, removing feathers and other inedible parts before eating it. The sometimes elevated nature of a post allows for a safer landing with the heavy load of the prey, as well as being a good vantage point to scan for other predators while the bird is vulnerable and involved in the relatively complex process of plucking and feeding upon its prey. 

Pellets composed of the indigestible items of the prey are often found on or around plucking posts. Plucking posts surrounded by feathers and fur may indicate that a raptor nesting site is nearby and may be mainly used during the breeding season. 

It has been suggested that faeces marks and plucking may represent a widespread method for communicating current reproduction and territory to other raptors in the same area. I do know that Sparrowhawks regularly nest a quarter of a mile away from home and that the species is frequently seen by me at least. 

I will leave the plucking post undisturbed, continue to watch for Sparrowhawks and whether one finds the quiet little corner of the garden again.  

Sparrowhawk

 

The weather is a little windy today, as it has been most of the week. 

With luck there may be a ringing session soon. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni In Texas.

Sunday Monday

Sunday morning. Even in the half-light the garden trees and bushes stood motionless against the clear sky. I grabbed a piece of toast, stuffed some fruit into a bag and set off to have a few hours out Pilling Way.

There were 50 or 60 Swallows around with possibly the remnants of an overnight roost in nearby reeds. I made a mental note to keep any eye on the possibility. The Linnet flock is always dependable and although the numbers on the move, 70/90, didn’t approach recent counts, seven more found their way into the single panel mist net in the seed plot.

That’s 30 Linnets ringed here since June, twenty nine of them juveniles of the year and just one adult. Those thirty give us a head start for the bigger numbers of later autumn and winter with better catches. We just wish that ringers nationwide would try and catch more Linnets so as to gather more data and thereby help this Red Listed farmland species.

Although the soft-focus juveniles present no problems in assigning male or female because their size, the respective plumages are different.

Linnet juvenile/first summer

Linnet male

Linnet female

The overnight clear skies and morning produced little in the way of other new birds except for singles of Robin, Wren and at last, a juvenile Reed Warbler.

Excitement came in the form of the now regular juvenile Peregrine, this time carrying small and dark prey beneath its belly, possibly a Starling.

Not to be outdone, along came a “cream top” Marsh Harrier heading purposely south towards Pilling Village and beyond in the direction of The River Wyre. It was 27 July when we recorded the first of Marsh Harrier of the autumn on the same north to south east trajectory, a route that the species seems to always follow.

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Monday was a day with grandkids M and S. We drove up to Knott End village to await the tide dependent ferry for the two hundred yards journey across the Wyre where they could sample again the delights of the ancient fishing port of Fleetwood Town - 2p slot machines followed by a picnic and ice creams. The midday high tide would stay around long enough to take the return ferry in a few hours’ time. Missing the last ferry back to Knott End would entail a tortuous 18/20 miles never ending bus journey.

There are lots of pics below with little or no commentary. Click the pics for a bigger and better trip to West Lancashire.

Follow the fun starting at Knott End, crossing the River Wyre on the ferry, a walk in Fleetwood including the two penny slot machines and then take the journey back to Knott End. The morning was grey with later drizzle and rather spoiled the photos but not the fun.

LS Lowry and Knott End Café

The jetty

Knott End slipway

Here it Comes

The Excitement Builds

Cleaning tidal mud

First Arrivals - Off to Explore Knott End on Sea

Health And Safety 

Emergency Exit

Little And Large

Fleetwood Esplanade

Kingfisher

Herring Gull

"Welcome Home" for the trawlermen

Fleetwood fish

Slots

More Slots

Even More Slots 

The Sands of South Morecambe Bay

Back on dry land

Riverside Walk - Knott End 

Riverside Walk - Knott End

Grilled Plaice with veg

What better way to finish the day with a couple of grilled Plaice fresh from those Morecambe Bay sands?

Back soon with more news vies and Lancashire treats.

Six Of The Best

The early starts aren’t too much of a problem when there’s a break with a day off to relax. Thursday became something of a lie in, sitting in the afternoon sun and then afterwards cutting the grass while recharging my solar panels in readiness for Friday’s trip to Oakenclough. 

Friday’s mist over inland mosses signified a fine day ahead as the drying bales lay in wait of the tractor day ahead. 

Morning Bales

 

Another 0630 start saw Andy, Will and Yours Truly set up the ringing shop in the shade of the Mountain Ash trees now glowing red with early berries. The berries, a source of food for autumn birds, are not especially plentiful this year, perhaps  below average and in not enough quantity to sustain hungry Redwings and Fieldfares for more than a few days.   

Rowan berries

There is a belief that a bountiful rowan crop signifies a hard winter ahead, a belief that varies from place to place, country to country. We shall see, but for now and after a terribly cold spring, we are experiencing that rarity, an English Summer like the ones I recall of years 1976 and 2003. 

It is possible that people of more recent generations than I might be nudged into thinking that this summer is alarming, frightening, even catastrophic rather than simply a display of variation and periodic weather changes to which the Earth and solar system is subject. I digress, but suffice to say that not everyone is a follower of The New Religion and its absurd doom laden offshoots. 

The morning brought goodies in the form of visible migration of pipits and over 50 Swallows. Some of the pipits we caught, the Swallows we saw. 

We caught 18 new birds of just five species - 8 Willow Warbler, 6 Tree Pipit, 2 Wren, 1 Goldcrest and 1 Robin. 

We partly expected to see and hear “trepis” with the timing right coupled to clear overhead conditions suited to a notable diurnal migrant like the Tree Pipit. 

Many migratory bird species fly mainly during the night (nocturnal migrants), others during daytime (diurnal migrants) and still others during both night and day. 

The Tree Pipit is a splendid bird with its bright pink legs and fine-streaked yellowish breast. Dare I say it is a little more beautiful than its close cousin the Meadow Pipit? 

All six trepis were juveniles of the year whereby the species’ long-distance migration to Central and Southern Africa has begun in earnest in numbers that may signify a decent breeding season north of Lancashire. 

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

In contrast, the Willow Warbler is mainly, perhaps almost exclusively a night migrant. The new ones we caught on Friday had probably arrived overnight and then settled in to feed up in readiness for the next leg of their journeys to Africa. Likewise, all eight Willow Warblers were seen to be juveniles of this season. 

Willow Warbler

Other birds noted – Sparrowhawk, 2 Raven, 6 Pied Wagtail. 

We packed in at 1130 and although we had not ringed too many birds it’s always exciting to see migration in action. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni, Birding in Texas.

Three in One

There are three updates in one here. Never let it be said that Another Bird Blog doesn’t give regular readers value for money. 

On Monday we had two trainee ringers/helpers. M & S are on school holidays so Granddad took them out Pilling way to join up with Andy & Will for a ringing session. Sue said, “Take as long as you like”. 

It was a 0630 start for Andy and Will and then 0800 for the three stragglers who saw that the nets were already set with a few birds ready for ringing. The morning was pretty quiet although M & S enjoyed seeing the ringing and then handled a number of species while learning about how to age and sex the birds we processed. 

Birds caught - 7 Linnet, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler and 1 Great Tit. 

Linnet

Greenfinch

The weather continued in good spirits on Tuesday when Andy and Bryan met up and travelled to Oakenclough. I couldn’t make it because of more school holiday duties but the guys ringed another 15 birds – 5 Willow Warbler, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Great Tit and 1 Grey Wagtail. 

My chance arrived on Wednesday when another fine morning and no disrupting breeze allowed another visit over Pilling way. We ringed 10 more new birds – 5 Linnet, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Common Whitethroat. 

Meadow Pipit

Common Whitethroat

All ten birds proved to be juveniles/first summer birds. There was something of a passage of Meadow Pipits on Wednesday morning when about 15/20 of them lined up along a stretch of fence together with 2 Grey Wagtails and 4 Pied Wagtails. We caught two of the pipits but none of the wagtails. 

Linnets continued their build in numbers and flock formation whereby we estimated 120/150 throughout the morning in flocks/groups of anything between 5 and 50 individuals. 

A juvenile Peregrine entertained us twice with dashing pursuits and at one point flew directly over our vantage point. 

Peregrine

Otherwise our birding was quiet in the blue sky morning with visible migration at nil. Friday looks another “likely” and the very uncommon possibility of four ringing sessions in one week. Bring it on.  

 

Martin News

We received information about the French ringed Sand Martin 8911708 Paris we caught at the Cockerham colony on 4 June 2022, the martin identified then as a breeding male ( 4 ♂ ). 

4 June 2022

Paris 8911708

Adult Sand Martin

At the time we assumed it had been ringed along the Atlantic coast of France but a detail that surprised us was not the place of ringing, Chenac-Saint-Seurin-d'Uzet, Charente-Maritime, but rather, the early date of the capture as 17 July 2021.  At that time it was a juvenile of the year 2021 so must have left its place of birth quite early before flying over the English Channel and then to South West France in the early part of July. 

Sand Martin 8911708

 

The BTO Migration Atlas tells us that young Sand Martins continue to roost in their birth tunnels or adjacent ones for several weeks before their gradual dispersal to other roosts and other colonies during their familiarisation period. This is a time of life that helps their return in the following year when they choose a place in which to breed, a location that is usually close to their place of birth. 

The summer of 2021 was an especially poor one of rain, below average temperatures and lack of food when the Cockerham colony, perhaps along with others colonies, appeared to abandon their nests early. We have no way of knowing for sure if the wet and cold summer contributed to the early capture of 8911708 so early in July 2021 but it almost certainly played a part. 

Juvenile Sand Martin

 

Duration: 322 days Distance: 951 km Direction: 352deg (N). 

The week has not been helpful to ringing with strong winds on most days. Saturday and all of next week are looking much more helpful. 

And the week after next will be our last visit to the Sand Martins before they all fly south again. Hopefully we can increase our total of 160 captures for 2022 and gather more information about the fascinating lifestyle of this species.

Thanks are due to the Parry Family for allowing continued access to the site and for their support in our studies.

Log in soon to Another Bird Blog for more news, views and photos. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.