The Lake District.

I bypassed Pilling this morning and made my way north to a local lake. Not quite “The Lakes” with the daffodils made famous by William Wordsworth, more the erstwhile pool at Conder Green now transformed to a deep-water lagoon by recent storm driven high tides. 

Piles of duck scattered across the water and some familiar waders in the roadside creek whereby my combined counts came to 190 Teal, 55 Wigeon, 7 Goldeneye, 7 Little Grebe, 3 Snipe, 2 Spotted Redshank, 8 Curlew, 4 Lapwing 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 1 Cormorant, 1 Canada Goose and 1 Little Egret. That’s quite a list and the old pool doesn’t disappoint, the only bird missing today being the Kingfisher. 

It’s a pretty awful picture of a Spotted Redshank, the Curlew slightly better. 

Curlew

Spotted Redshank

I walked the old railway path to Glasson Dock and for my troubles found a few passerines, not the least of which was a single Fieldfare, a scarce beast of late. The Fieldfare was feeding in the hawthorns with a few Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, 2 Reed Bunting and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

 Dunnock

There was a female Sparrowhawk over the marsh carrying quite large prey that may have been a Snipe, the hawk eventually flying into some dense trees to finish the meal. 

The rising sun made for hard work sorting the ducks against the bright light so I went around the other side of the yacht basin to examine the wildfowl on the expanse of calm water: 70 Tufted Duck, 45 Coot, 5 Goldeneye, 1 Pochard, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Wagtail. 

Glasson Dock

Tufted Duck

 Goldeneye

The view from the east made for a scenic photograph. It was so picturesque I sat down and rattled off a painting. If only! 

Glasson Dock

Glasson Dock - Painting

Grey Heron

I stopped off at Pilling to see 200+ Curlews in fields near Lane Ends and just a few fields away, 450 Pink-footed Geese. I gave the geese a good grilling but couldn’t find anything out of the rather ordinary so headed off home, job done. 

Pink-footed Geese

By the way, and for those readers who asked about the painted sheep in my last post. Local farmers mark their sheep with a series of colours so that they can later identify their own animals should the thousands of them become mixed up with an adjoining flock by wandering over field or marsh boundaries. 

There’s been many a fall out over lost sheep, counts that don’t add up, and even accusations of rustling.  Life’s never dull down Pilling Way.

On The Road Again

Last Thursday was a hell of a stormy day. As the tempest raged all around the stowed away barbecue and gas bottle blew across the patio with an almighty crash while the grandkids’ Wendy House relocated to the furthest extremes of the garden. Thankfully there was no structural or personal damage and the break in birding allowed me to complete other tasks. 

Then my back started to give me grief stopping my birding activities for a few days. So today I was determined to get out come what may, so swallowed took a few painkillers and set off for Pilling. 

There was evidence of the storm all along and the sea wall, smashed fencing, piles of debris and broken trees swept up the embankment to come to rest at the newly claimed high water mark. There’s a Whooper Swan picture centre. In fact there were 13 Whoopers, 45 Shelduck, 22 Pink-footed Geese and a couple of Jackdaws on the pools, all except the swan flying off at my arrival. 

High Water Mark - Pilling

Whooper Swan

Whooper Swans

The hedgerow, the maize and stubble field revealed more: 1 Reed Bunting, 40 Linnet, 6 Skylark, 3 Meadow Pipit, 28 Redshank, 70+ Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Little Egret. 

 Reed Bunting

Further along the sea wall I found both Skylarks and Linnets feeding in piles of tide wrack, but nothing more exotic than still 100+ Red-legged Partridge. I get the impression that more of the things have been released in recent days to restock after the fortnightly shoots took their toll. Oystercatchers are on territory along a regular stretch of shore; do they know it’s just two weeks to the shortest day and almost time to reclaim the most sought after lookout posts? 

 Oystercatcher

At Pilling Water pools were a number of Redshanks, more Egrets, 40+ Pintail, 30+ Teal and about 15 Wigeon, the wildfowl flying mostly high and out to the marsh. 

Pintail

At Fluke Hall I found several Tree Sparrows near the boxes, a Great-spotted Woodpecker, a female Sparrowhawk and a Chiffchaff. 

The old pills worked fine for a couple of hours but I may need a more traditional remedy this evening. Look in soon to Another Bird Blog soon and find out if it worked. 

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Stick In The Mud

This is a short post, mainly because there's not much to include by way of news from my quick visits to the Knott End and then Pilling patches before babysitting duties took precedence. 

I started off at Knott End where although the tide was well out and three hours to go, there were birds to see at the far-off but approaching tideline: 2000+ Oystercatchers, 55 Bar-tailed Godwits, 18 Sanderling, 22 Turnstone, 45 Redshank, 190 Lapwing, 4000 Knot and 5 Eider. 

Redshank

Judging the height and bore of tide here on the Wyre Estuary is a bit tricky, even for experienced sailors. From today’s local Blackpool Gazette: 

“Seventeen people were stranded on the Fleetwood to Knott End vessel for more than three hours on Saturday when it hit a sandbank. The Wyre Rose got into difficulty at 1.45pm during a journey to Knott End and was unable to move until the tide came in at 5pm. 

Knott End coastguard was called out to the scene to ensure the people on board, including three crew, were safe and well – and to determine any damage to the ferry. The skipper of the Wyre Rose, said high pressure weather patterns had affected the tide. He said: “The tide would normally have been over three metres but it was less than two metres. I even left Fleetwood early before it got any lower but we still got stuck.” 

However, the skipper said he kept up the spirits of the passengers by serving them tea and coffee, Quality Street chocolates and having a sing-a-long to songs on Smooth FM radio. He said: “The passengers understood and some of them said it would give them something to tell their friends and relatives about.” 

Wyre Estuary, Knott End

Despite outward appearances life is never dull at Knott End or Pilling 

Stopping at Wheel Lane/Fluke Hall junction I checked over the flooded stubble hoping to see a Curlew Sandpiper for my December list but none showed. There were the usual Black-tailed Godwits only 30 today, a solitary Whooper Swan, 1 Snipe, 22 Redshank, 1 Oystercatcher and 4 Stock Dove. From a distance and in certain landscapes a Stock Dove can look surprisingly blue always standing out from any accompanying grey Woodpigeons, although the two species don’t always mix company. Thirty plus Woodpigeons was a slight increase on recent counts. 

Stock Dove

The pools and maize crop produced 18 Wigeon, 14 Teal and 18 Shelduck, all suitably wild and keen to flee from my approach. I have discounted the 150+ reluctant-to-fly, obese and overfed Mallards whose date with destiny will arrive soon via the local sportsmen. Also 2 Reed Bunting, 3 Meadow Pipit, 40+ Linnets and 14 Skylark. 

Along the shore I counted a minimum of 12 Little Egrets, keeping an eye out for any stray Great White Egrets, a species I missed by minutes at Conder Green on Sunday. 

That Kingfisher looks like it was watching the Great White Egret sailing effortlessly above as I stuck to the task in hand, eye glued to the viewfinder hoping the sun might come out. That Kingfisher is a little like me, never trying anywhere different, hitting the same old spots, hoping something might turn up but it rarely does.

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Well you never know, maybe one day?

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday Gallery , Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday Critters .

Saturday Sandpiper

This morning’s jaunt out Pilling way provided similar fare to recent days, the exceptions being a build of the Linnet flock and the reappearance of a Curlew Sandpiper. 

I stopped at the lane and took in the waders on the stubble, 100+ Black-tailed Godwit, 120+ Lapwings, 4 Curlew, 20 or so Redshanks and a single Snipe. I gave up on the tiny and distant peep which kept disappearing into the troughs of the flooded stubble, and while I thought it was the Curlew Sandpiper I’d last seen on 15th November, I couldn’t be certain. 

 

Black-tailed Godwit

It didn’t take long to find the Peregrine at Fluke Hall as it rocketed along the shore sending everything ahead of it into a panicked frenzy. One of these days I might be sat there with a ready primed camera and get a world beating picture of a Peregrine in full flight- more likely not, so I’ll have to make do with just seeing on an almost daily basis this awe inspiring raptor. 

The combination of my approach and the Peregrine put all the crows in the air again, 300+ Jackdaws, 40+ Carrion Crows, 2 Stock Doves and 6 Woodpigeons. I’ve been missing Wood Pigeons this autumn, counting tiny numbers in comparison to the avalanche of last winter when counts of 10,000 and 20,000 could be easily had on the mossland stubbles, the skies darkened by huge flocks.  Last winter the wide scale failure of acorns in Europe brought quite incredible numbers to the UK, now this year seemingly just the opposite. It will be interesting to see what happens when the usual January and February cold weather grips Europe. 

Woodpigeon

At the sea wall I was able to count the Linnets moving between the marsh and the stubble, eventually coming to an estimate of 140+. While the Linnets increase, my Skylark numbers now rarely reach double figures, and just 12 today. Two Reed Buntings about the spent maize, together with 4 Meadow Pipit and the usual 40 or so Shelduck coming and going via the wildfowlers pools, plus 30 Whooper Swans feeding on the stubble. 

Shelduck

There wasn’t much doing in Fluke Hall, a number of Chaffinch and Goldfinch obvious in the sunny tree tops and a noisy Jay hiding somewhere in the greenery. By 1130 the warm morning sun had sent Tree Sparrows into flurries of noise and activity around nest boxes while near the car a Dunnock was in full song. 

On the way back I stopped the car for another look on the flood and clinched the now closer and unimpeded Curlew Sandpiper. A reasonable end to a good morning’s birding. 

Curlew Sandpiper - Photo credit: jvverde / Foter.com / CC BY-NC 

More soon from Another Bird Blog - keep looking.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Camera Critters .

More Snobs, Belated Phalarope

I’d been stuck indoors on Thursday morning waiting for the heating engineer and then when he came, discussing our non-functioning radiators with him. When I eventually reached Pilling to indulge in a spot of birding the afternoon proved a frustrating one with a flyover of 2 Snow Buntings, belated news of a Grey Phalarope and then a finish soon after 3pm when the almost-December light failed me. 

I set off from Fluke heading east along the usual path where a number of Redshanks and Curlews flushed from the marsh and the several hundred Jackdaws, Carrion Crows and a single Raven took to the air at my coming. 

Suddenly a Peregrine appeared from “nowhere” and briefly chased a Redshank towards the wood before doing the usual disappearing act over Ridge Farm. There were 15 Whooper Swans on the marsh, the birds now less tolerant than when they first arrived from Iceland in October and more inclined to flee from would-be observers. By 3pm I’d counted 165 Whooper Swans as they came and went between the marsh, the stubble field and an inland spot not far away. I hear tell some were killed as they hit overhead power lines near Eagland Hill - what a terrible end for such a majestic creature of the air. 

Whooper Swans

Waders on the wet stubble amounted to 44 Black-tailed Godwit, 14 Redshank, 75+ Lapwings and 1 Snipe. Passerines just 2 Skylark and 2 Linnets until I glimpsed two brown jobs lift off from Hi-Fly’s spilled wheat track, the birds showing flashes of white. As they called and flew they instantly became 2 Snow Buntings and I followed them as they continued flying over the wood, heading south and into the near distance. 

After a number of consecutive years when Snow Buntings have been rather scarce 2013 has seen a turnaround with the arctic buntings seemingly at a number of local spots. The picture is of a Snow Bunting here at Pilling on November 10th a few weeks ago. 

Snow Bunting

I watched as good numbers of Pintail and Shelduck arrived at the wildfowlers pools for their free meal, roughly 40 Pintail and 60 Shelduck, but no wary Teal just now. 

Along the sea wall came a non-birding acquaintance of mine who can put an accurate name to many birds but perhaps not to less well known ones. He told of a day some weeks ago and a small grey and white wader feeding at the surface of a pool, not a Snipe or a Jack Snipe, but smaller. The bird was so close and untroubled by his being there that my pal walked within 6 feet of it then took a picture with his mobile phone; I knew he had seen a Grey Phalarope. His pal who had also seen the bird later found something similar on the Internet and reckoned the creature might be a Grey Phalarope. 

Grey Phalarope

As my acquaintance has previously seen a winter Bittern in almost the same spot I ensured that this time he has my mobile number for future reference. 

Just a few short hours but for finding and seeing birds there’s no substitute for getting out there and actually doing it is there?

Back home the garden has been quiet for weeks on end, enlivened by a visit from a Treecreeper, a couple of sightings of a male Sparrowhawk, and the reason for the hawk, several feeding Goldfinch.

 

Goldfinch

There’s more news soon, belated or not from Another Bird Blog.

These Sporting Times

I like to think of myself as a “proper” birder. Like most dedicated bird watchers I made a contribution to the just published British Trust for Ornithology BTO Bird Atlas 2007-2011, the very latest in a long line of awe inspiring BTO publications. This is the culmination of four years of fieldwork whereby over 225 million birds of 578 species were recorded online. 

 The Bird Atlas 2007-11 -  BTO Bird Atlas

There are seriously worrying statistics in this book, many related to declining farmland species which I mention frequently on this blog in an attempt to draw attention to their plight in the part of Lancashire I live. I make no apology for returning today to a couple of those species and a topic which concerns me greatly. 

On Wednesday I discussed with a fellow birder whether he should enter into his notebook the 7 Grey Partridge he’d seen that morning. Knowing of both the serious local decline in Grey Partridge plus the fact that numerous partridges are now released for sport by the shooting fraternity, most if not all of the releases undocumented, I suggested he err on the side of caution. As recently as 2011 in the final year of the Atlas surveys, I was recording Grey Partridge, but I no longer do so locally as I believe that our native species is to all intents and purposes locally extinct. 

Grey Partridge - Photo credit: Langham Birder / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

The BTO Atlas tells me there has been a 91% population decline of Grey Partridge in the UK between 1967-2010, during the Breeding Atlas of 1968-72 and the Breeding Atlas of 1988-91. “Local extinctions may be masked in some areas by the release of captive-bred birds onto shooting estates: about 100,000 captive-reared Grey Partridges are released in Britain each year”. The Atlas gives no figures on the number of captive-bred birds subsequently shot for sport; neither does it give any indication of how any surviving birds impact upon any truly wild Grey Partridge population. Given that the species is in any case a secretive and difficult species to study, any such investigation would by now be almost impossible to conduct. 

The problem is further complicated by the release into the same environment of Red-legged Partridge, a picture I know only too well from local farms.  

"As more farms diversify into shooting, the number of Red-legged Partridges released has increased and this is illustrated by the National Gamebag Census, where numbers shot quadrupled between 1990 and 2005 (Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust 2013). It is estimated that 6.5 million partridges (Grey and Red-legged) were released across the UK in 2004, and 2.6 million were shot. There has been little research on the impacts of released birds on native species, but there is some evidence that shooting operations based on large-scale releases of Red-legged Partridges could be implicated in local extinctions of Grey Partridges.” To my unscientific but daily birding eyes that last sentence would seem to be a gross understatement. 

Red-legged Partridge

Turning to the non-native Pheasant, the Atlas tells me that the numbers of captive-bred Pheasants released into the wild has increased fivefold since the early 1960s to around 35 million birds annually. Some 15 million Pheasant are shot annually. “High densities of Pheasants potentially have negative effects on native species, but these have been poorly studied. Indirect effects possibly include modification of the structure of the field layer, the spread of disease and parasites and competition for food. Recent research indicates that infection with caecal nematodes from farm-reared Pheasants may be contributing to the decline of Grey Partridge.” When I watch hordes of young Pheasants thundering through late summer fields and woodland edge there is no doubt in my mind that their effect on the environment is wholly negative. 

Pheasant

The entire picture is a sad and sorry one worthy of proper debate but the BTO cannot be seen to take sides in this matter. 

“The BTO is an independent charitable research institute combining professional and citizen science aimed at using evidence of change in wildlife populations, particularly birds, to inform the public, opinion-formers and environmental policy and decision-makers. Our impartiality enables our data and information to be used both by Government and NGO campaigners. Our long-term monitoring data on the status of UK birds sets the standard worldwide for understanding the effects of environmental change on wildlife. Over 40,000 volunteer birdwatchers, in partnership with professional research scientists, collect high quality monitoring data on birds and other wildlife. The combination of professional ecologists, long-term datasets some in excess of 50 years, and volunteers participating all over the country gives the BTO a unique, impartial and knowledgeable voice in nature conservation.” 

I’m left trying to think of an organisation that might be willing to take on the vested interests of landowners and the sporting fraternity in ending what is a national disgrace? 

Browse sample pages and then buy a copy of the BTO Bird Atlas 2007-11 here. 

Saturday Afternoon, Sunday Morning.

On Saturday afternoon the sea was flat calm at Knott End, the sun so bright the water so tranquil that out there hundreds of yards away I could see a Great Crested Grebe, 18+ Shelduck, 14 Eider and 3 Scaup, the latter being 2 males and a female; the female took a brief flight and even at that distance the blaze above her bill showed clear and bright. Looking on other websites I see that at a similar time the Scaup were noted off Rossall Point, Fleetwood. 

The sea was incredibly smooth as can be seen in the picture below which shows passengers disembarking from the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry. It is no surprise then that on flat tides the same birds can often be seen from both sides of the estuary as they drift on incoming and outgoing tides. 

Greater Scaup - Photo credit: milesizz / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND 

Knott End to Fleetwood Ferry

The Scaup, (Aythya marila) is better known in North America as Greater Scaup, that continent also blessed with the similar Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis). Because in the UK there is only the one scaup species, most birders drop the “Greater” and simply call the bird Scaup. 

Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Knot and Redshank are dependable at Knott End and I had counts of 1900 Oystercatcher, 80 Knot, 22 Turnstone, 65 Sanderling and 75 Redshank. Also 1 Meadow Pipit and 2 Pied Wagtail. 

Sanderling

 

I rose early on Sunday. I was up and running so quick that I decided to detour over the moss and perhaps see a morning Barn Owl. No luck there, just a Kestrel in the half light and a scarce Mistle Thrush along Union Lane. At Cockerham I found my Barn Owl sat on a roadside post, but the car’s oncoming headlights spooked the bird away and over towards its barn. Not to worry, the owl made for a good start to a bird filled morning. 

I wasn’t having much luck with the camera at Conder Green when the Kingfisher didn’t want to know and the 16 Wigeon, 6 Little Grebe, 5 Goldeneye, 6 Tufted Duck and 2 Little Egret all stayed on the far side of the pool. Still 2 Spotted Redshank and 150+ Teal in the creeks. A Robin popped up on the screen to sympathise with my pathetic photography efforts but still I couldn’t get a decent portrait. 

Black-headed Gull

Robin

Maybe I’d have better luck at Pilling? At Backsands Lane were tremendous numbers of geese spread across the pasture, probably in excess of 5000 birds.

The geese seemed remarkably tolerant this morning and although they did their usual “walkaway” when a vehicle, cyclist or passer-by showed signs of stopping, mostly the birds remained in the field for a good few hours. At one point a dog walker passed within 75 yards of the nearest geese, most with heads raised from feeding but the whole lot staying put. The telephoto lens foreshortens the picture but the geese behaviour was most unusual in this the depths of the shooting season.

 Pink-footed Geese

The only interloper I could find in the pinkies was a single Barnacle Goose, and while I can’t claim to have seen every single one of 5000+ geese, I did spend a good hour looking through them.

Barnacle Goose and Pink-footed Geese

A quick dodge around the stubble fields and the inland ditch revealed 145 Lapwing, 45 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Snipe, 32 Redshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 32 Whooper Swan, 4 Reed Bunting and 3 Meadow Pipit. In the wood, 1 Sparrowhawk and a single Jay.

Whooper Swan

Then it was time for home. What a cracking morning of birding.

Linking today to  Stewart's Bird Gallery .