Avian Dilemma

It was 0600 and still fairly dark. The sky was overcast, there had been a recent shower and a cold northerly rippled through the garden trees. 

Birding or ringing was the predicament. Birding takes no effort and starts as soon as the car hits the road and ends when the car is back on the driveway. A ringing session entails a 30 minute car journey followed by setting nets, checking equipment, and then slogging around the nets every 20/25 minutes to process the birds. And then at the end of the session it's time do everything again but this time in reverse order. Although rewarding the many physical tasks involved in ringing make for hard graft when compared to a spot of leisurely birding. So I postponed the ringing until a day or two when the isobars are due to open out, the sun is promised to shine and I may be more motivated. 

By the time I reached Glasson Dock the clouds had thinned and the sun was out. But the temperature felt more like November than September, even with three layers up top and a woolly hat. I parked up and waited for a Kingfisher to appear. One duly arrived from nowhere, landed on a nearby boat but didn’t hang around for more than a couple of clicks of the shutter button. 

 Kingfisher

The Swallows have increased and I counted upwards of 450 of them milling around the boats, sitting along the rails and rigging and feeding over the yacht basin. Take a close look at the picture below, where believe it or not, there are about 200 Swallows scattered across various parts of the assembled boats. 

Swallows at Glasson

Fish were literally jumping out of the water, hence the Kingfisher, Grey Heron and several Cormorants, all looking for a meal. Tufted Ducks now number nine as we await more autumn arrivals, likewise the Coots, steady at less than twenty. Along the towpath and around the bowling green I counted 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail and upwards of 60 House Sparrows. 

Cormorant

Pied Wagtail

It was time for a look at Conder Green where, yes you’ve guessed it, a Kingfisher sat in waiting. This one was not so accommodating and before I could request a “cheese” the bird was off across the pool like a rocket. Lest anyone should think our local Kingfishers are easy to photograph, they are not, it is simply that there are lots of Kingfishers about at the moment; it’s an infrequent situation which increases the chances of getting pictures of what is by common consent, a shy species. 

Conder Green

Although not numerous this morning’s waders and wildfowl revealed a good selection consisting of 32 Teal, 6 Curlew, 4 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank, 1 Ruff, 1 Snipe, 1 Oystercatcher and the first of the autumn here, 2 Spotted Redshank. 

Spotted Redshank

On the pool were 7 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret and 4 Pied Wagtails.

Dilemma over and a good morning of birding was had by all. Now where’s that alarm clock?

Linking this post to Anni's Birding Blog.

Mostly Kingfishers

It’s always a good morning’s birding when there’s a Barn Owl in view and even better when there are two. Better still to follow this up with three or four Kingfishers! 

The first surprise this morning was Pink-footed Geese, a party of 23 birds flying strongly south soon after dawn. At just the 3rd of September I’m pretty certain these are the earliest returning Icelandic “pinkies” I have ever seen. The earliest ones of the autumn often arrive in South West Lancashire a week or so before the ones seen here in West Lancashire. 

I’d driven over the quieter part of the moss to look for some recently ringed Barn Owls which should be on the wing by now. I found two youngsters along the same stretch of road and one of them let me get fairly close via the open car window. An adult bird would be most unlikely to allow such close scrutiny. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

I was on a roll because when I arrived at Conder Green there was a Kingfisher sat waiting at the usual spot on the sluice wall. Unfortunately the Kingfisher didn’t stay around for more than a few seconds so I turned my attention to other things, and although I didn't know it, more Kingfishers were to come at Glasson. 

Kingfisher

After recent high tides the water level on the pool is somewhat high. Little wonder then that apart from the Kingfisher there was just the usual 4 Little Grebe, 1 Wigeon, 1 Grey Heron and 6 Pied Wagtail. 

Grey Heron

 

The creeks proved better with good numbers of Redshanks to study, 28 Teal, 4 Common Sandpiper, 3 Little Egret, 1 Snipe and then 1 Green Sandpiper. 

A walk along the old railway track towards Glasson Dock found a flock of Goldfinch numbering 40+ and about 35 House Martins over the bridge and near the café. Along the pathway - 2 Whitethroat, 1 Chiffchaff, a number of Robins in autumn song and an overflying Kestrel. 

Robin

River Lune at Glasson

The dock at Glasson was still and quiet but I wasn’t expecting two Kingfishers to be sat there. After a while they flew off, one after the other, towards the far reeds and out of sight. 

Kingfishers

Glasson Dock

I walked up the towpath to watch and count the Swallows sat amongst the tops of a few boats. About 250 was the estimate. 

Swallows at Glasson

As I walked back to the car yet another Kingfisher flew across the water, veered off as it saw me but then landed on a nearby boat. I’m pretty sure this was a different one from the two I’d seen five minutes earlier, but can’t be certain. 

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

September is a peak month to see Kingfishers, a time when the species tends to gravitate towards coastal waters. In a disastrous season for most breeding birds let’s hope that Kingfishers at least have had a good one. 

What an exciting and productive morning of birding. And with the weather set fair and perhaps less windy for a few days there’s a good chance of a ringing session or two at weekend.

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

Siskins And Things

This morning was dominated by the sight and sound of many Siskins, but it was rather frustrating that our catch was far less than the numbers overhead.

I’d met Andy up at Oakenclough where we hoped to continue last week’s good fortune when between us we caught almost 50 birds here. There was no such luck today when our catch numbered a measly 12 birds comprising 5 Chaffinch, 3 Siskin, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Dunnock, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Coal Tit. 

The Chiffchaff had just completed its full adult moult and so looked in splendid condition.

Chiffchaff

The Chaffinch below is a first year male, possibly up to four months old, and therefore has some resemblance to a full adult.

Chaffinch

The Siskin below is an adult male which has almost completed a post-breeding moult. 

Siskin

The Ringing Office

Although we caught just 3 Siskins, all males, good numbers were flying around the immediate area but mostly sticking to feeding in the tops of nearby conifers, alders and birch and did not venture to net level. In all we estimated something like 70/90 Siskins. 

From recent reports on the Internet it does appear that European and Scandinavian Siskins may be undergoing one of their irruption years when larger numbers than normal are reported during migration times. The numbers of Siskins migrating vary greatly from year to year with more distant movements recorded during years of irruptions. The availability of seed crops on favoured trees like alder and birch are a major factor in the degree of movement away from breeding areas. It was good to see so many Siskins around after such a generally poor summer for our resident birds. 

“Otherwise birding” resulted in 2 Kestrel, 1 Nuthatch, 60+ Swallow, 1 Sparrowhawk, 5+ Lesser Redpoll, 15+ Goldfinch, 15+ Chaffinch, 3 Tufted Duck and 2 Cormorant. 

At home this week I’ve noticed a few day-flying bats, just above the house and garden for a few seconds only. Then one day I saw one fly low through the garden and land on the soil under a conifer. Curious as ever I picked the bat up and took a picture before laying it in our dense hawthorn hedge from where it soon flew off. I believe it to be a Common pipistrelle - Pipistrellus pipistrellus, but I am open to more informed identification. 

Pipistrelle

It seems that some bat species will occasionally fly during the day, but it is not common. They usually fly at night because that is when their main food sources are most active and the bat’s predators less likely to be encountered. The two commonest pipistrelle species found in the UK are the Common pipistrelle and the Soprano pipistrelle, the two identified as separate species in the 1990s. The two species look very similar and often the easiest way to tell them apart is from the frequency of their echolocation calls. 

Over the garden yesterday about 1740 I heard overhead the rattling call of a Mistle Thrush.  When I looked up it was a gang of seven flying directly south. Now there’s a true sight and sound of autumn. 

There will be more autumn birds very soon on Another Bird Blog. Log in and don’t miss them.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Escape To The Hills

Just lately my local patch has become rather crowded as folk arrive at Conder Green targeting the ever elusive Spoonbill and looking for the more recent Lesser Yellowlegs. Even the Yellow Wagtails of Cockerham Marsh have received attention from folk who no longer see the species, so rare has it become. 

I also saw a couple of twitchers at Fluke Hall, maybe looking for Green Sandpipers but surely not Tree Sparrows? One never knows for sure these days when bird watching is learnt back to front, the rarest first and the most common species last. 

 Yellow Wagtail

With a brief lull in the wind I decided to head for the hills of Oakenclough for a spot of ringing. I managed three hours before the wind arrived again, this time bringing heavy showers prompting an early finish. An interesting session saw me catch 20 birds of 7 species, one of which was a species I’d not handled for almost 30 years, the last time in 1988. 

The numbers were 5 Chaffinch, 5 Goldcrest, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chiffchaff and 1 Bullfinch. The Fylde Ringing Group has ringed only 23 (now 24) Bullfinch in its 30 years of existence. It was in 1988 that I last ringed a Bullfinch at Winmarleigh Hall, a year or two before that lovely old woodland was sold to developers to create an “educational adventure playground”. 

Yes the Bullfinch is a rarity on the coast where I live, becomes more marginally common inland but is never widespread and certainly never ever numerous. Today’s Bullfinch was a recently fledged juvenile, a "3J", and with being so late in the month of August, probably from a second brood. 

Bullfinch

Bullfinch

The first year Lesser Redpoll below is in the process of renewing its centre tail feathers, the newer ones destined to be a rounder shape and of different colouration to the outermost pointed and now worn ones of birth. 

Lesser Redpoll

Meanwhile an adult male Lesser Redpoll is renewing its flight feathers, the older and slightly bleached outer primaries markedly different to those feathers which are both new and still growing. Many birds are rather scruffy at the time of year when they are in various stages of moult. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

The adult’s tail feathers are new, fresh and rounded in comparison to the pointed tail feathers of a first year bird. The characteristic of tail shapes is very common in finches and other bird families but there are exceptions designed to trap the unwary. 

Lesser Redpoll

Chaffinch

Birding in between the ringing saw 140+ Swallows, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 15+ Siskin and 1 Buzzard. 

The current weather forecast doesn’t improve much so I may not escape to anywhere at the weekend. If I do, read about it here on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to I'd Rather Be Birding and  Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Legging It

There was excitement at Conder Green at the weekend when ringer and birder Ian Hartley, found a North American Lesser Yellowlegs feeding in the tidal creeks. Nice one Ian. 

These same creeks are home to many common migrating waders at this time of year (see recent posts on Another Bird Blog), but just occasionally a vagrant and therefore rarer wader appears. It’s a good few years since I put my name to both White-rumped Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper here so it is very enjoyable to connect again with another North American wader on a local patch. 

I wasn’t able to get to Conder until today but worked on the assumption that the bird had probably crossed the Atlantic ocean very recently so wouldn’t be inclined to go anywhere else for a while, and would at least feed up for a day or two. 

Lesser Yellowlegs - picture  courtesy of USFWS

I hear that many folk twitched the yellowlegs on Sunday although not everyone had luck when their target disappeared for a while. Today a dozen or so people were pulled up at the roadside viewing the “legs”, a slimmed down, daintier but long-legged version of our own common and widespread Redshank. Usefully, and for comparison purposes at one point, the yellowlegs fed in the loose company of 3 Ruff, a Common Sandpiper, a Greenshank and Redshanks. It was noticeable that in the pecking order of the creek the yellowlegs was equal to Common Sandpiper, Ruff and the larger Greenshank but Redshanks were able to bully the stranger away when their feeding desires clashed. 

This now lost bird may soon get the urge to continue south, but equally and on past occasions, Lesser Yellowlegs have been known to winter in Britain. 

The following is by courtesy of Birds of North America Cornell University - http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna. 

“Lesser Yellowlegs usually travel in small, loosely structured flocks, but concentrations of thousands are seen at preferred foraging sites during migration and at their main wintering areas in Suriname. The species is a widespread migrant in North America, with primary movement through the interior (spring and fall) and along the Atlantic Coast (fall). Across their wintering range and in the southern portion of their breeding range, Lesser Yellowlegs are often found in the company of their larger congener, the Greater Yellowlegs.” 

Of the two species the Lesser Yellowlegs turns up more often in the UK than its larger cousin the Greater Yellowlegs, mostly in the autumn but occasionally in spring. 

Range of Lesser Yellowlegs in North America

The following disturbing information is also from Cornell University. 

“Lesser Yellowlegs were avidly sought by sport and market hunters in the late 1800s. High harvest levels during this period were partly due to this species’ propensity to return and hover above wounded flockmates, making them easy targets for gunners. Many observers of the day speculated that populations declined during this period but subsequently recovered once hunting in the USA was outlawed. As recently as 1991, however, several thousand Lesser Yellowlegs were still being shot annually for sport in the Caribbean, and this shooting continues. Recent (2012) estimates suggest that 7,000-15,000 individuals may be shot each fall in migration at wetlands constructed by shooting clubs on Barbados; perhaps half that many may be shot each fall on Guadeloupe and Martinique, with a potentially significant take also on wintering grounds in Suriname and Guyana. See details in Clay et al. (2012). Clearly this is a significant threat to the species and requires continued monitoring.” 

There was sun above so I decided to motor back to Fluke Hall for a walk around. There was a Grey Heron fishing in the wood where it seemed to find what it was looking for. Above the wood - 3 Buzzards, a pair and a flying juvenile. 

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

Buzzard

Along the sea wall was quiet except for the usual handful of Little Egrets and Linnets but noticeable numbers of Swallows heading west along the marsh. A Kingfisher flew along the same ditch where I’d seen 3 Green Sandpipers at the weekend, but no sign of the waders today. 

Kingfisher

The guy from Hi-Fly said he’d seen the Kingfisher too and recounted again the story of last winter’s Grey Phalarope so I made sure he had my mobile number. 

He was busy filling feed bins for the already released Red-legged Partridges. Gangs of the little game birds had legged it across the fields as I approached (they don’t fly much) and I knew that pretty soon birders would be reporting high numbers of the loathsome creatures. 

  

Red-legged Partridge

There are more birds soon on Another Bird Blog - a few flying, one or two just sitting around, maybe one or two feeding but some just legging it.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Summer Time Birds

Breakfast time - Rain splattered the conservatory roof, summer breezes shook the apple tree and the TV weather forecast for the day was gloom, but not as yet the doom. That arrives at the weekend with predictions of hail, thunderstorms and even a tornado! Welcome to an English summer where it’s definitely “Grim Up North”. 

It's Grim Up North

It was now or never so I set off for a round of birding and ended up having a very respectable morning.

At Conder Green I found the usual selection of waders in the creeks dominated by 195 Redshank. Searching through the remainder of the birds found 21 Lapwing, 14 Teal, 4 Common Sandpiper, 5 Curlew, 3 Greenshank, 2 Oystercatcher, plus singles of Ruff and Snipe. On the pool - 2 Little Grebe, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

Ruff  - Photo credit: Ian N. White / Foter / CC BY-ND 

Many more wagtails were scattered across the extensive marsh of Bank End, with a minimum of 120 Pied Wagtail and feeding amongst them 7 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit, 6 Linnet and 2 Wheatear. The hundreds of sheep which graze on the flat marsh here create a bonanza of insects for both wagtails and pipits. 

Pied Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Bank End, Cockerham Marsh

I called at Chris’ farm to check out the Linnets and the Sand Martin colony. The Linnet flock was  around 30 highly mobile birds while the Sand Martins now number approximately 45. The martins  will surely be gone by this time next week, off to spend the winter in warmer climes.

The sky was bright enough to walk a circuit of Fluke Hall, through the wood, along the sea wall and then back along the hedgerows. This has been a “silent summer” and continues to be so as the only passerines I saw or heard were small handfuls of Robin, Linnet, Goldfinch and Tree Sparrow. Better was along the sea wall with 5 Stock Dove, 2 Buzzards and then a Red Fox which quickly sloped off into the undergrowth.

Red Fox

Towards Worm Pool were 3 Green Sandpipers together in the landside but still flooded ditch. The sandpipers saw me coming too and flew off at rapid speed with their characteristic loud jungle calls, flashing their white rumps like over-sized House Martins. 

Green Sandpipers are a very rare breeding bird in Britain, with just a handful of pairs nesting each year in hidden parts of the Scottish Highlands. These three are on their autumn migration, and have already travelled more than a thousand miles from the wet woodlands of Scandinavia. 

Scanning the marsh I noted a Merlin sat on a post, a favourite hunting ploy of the tiny raptor. I’d not seen or heard any Meadow Pipits but the Merlin obviously saw one and took to the skies when from the bright plumage, long wings and body size I could see that it was a juvenile female. The Merlin harried and chased the pipit, rising above the little bird and stooping at great speed a couple of times but without success. 

The pipit found safety by diving into a field of maize but the Merlin chased it all the way and didn’t give up until the pipit was deep in the growing maize. So honours even and great birding. 

Merlin

There are more birds and pictures soon from Another Bird Blog’s northern summer.

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

Martin Kingfisher

I was to meet Andy at 7am for our last ringing session of the year at the Sand Martin colony. Very soon the martins will be heading south and we won’t see them until March and April 2016.

Into August and the daylight birding hours are getting shorter which left just 50 minutes or so to check out Conder Green before meeting Andy. 

There were 2 Kingfishers flying though the creeks, one behind the other so I couldn’t be sure if the chase was territorial or family based. Two minutes later I knew for sure when both birds appeared on the sluice wall about 6ft apart with no aggression shown between the two. After a minute or two they flew off together again, this time to the western end of the pool. At 0615 the light was very poor and the resulting Photshopped picture equally as dull as the light. The second Kingfisher is just off to the right and out of sight. 

Kingfisher

There were 4 Little Grebe, a single Little Egret and a number of Redshank and Lapwings dotted around the margins plus a handful of Swallows hawking the early insects. 

Back to the tidal creeks where the good selection of birds approximated as 110+ Redshank, 20+ Lapwing, 6 Dunlin, 3 Greenshank, 4 Curlew, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Grey Heron, 2 Little Egret, 8 Teal and 2 Shelduck. 

The Sand Martin colony is now seasonally reduced with fewer holes occupied and an obvious decline in numbers from the 200+ birds around in June and July. Our count was more like 80/90 birds today. We caught just 19 Sand Martins - 6 new ones and 13 recaptures. One of the recaptures proved to be D350512, a breeding adult male first ringed in 2014 some 20 miles away at a Sand Martin colony on the River Lune.  The picture below is of a juvenile bird from today. 

Sand Martin

During one of the periodic Sand Martin “dreads” this morning we saw the cause of the temporary panic to be an overhead Merlin. The tiny raptor didn’t linger but continued on a flight path to the north and towards Conder Green. 

Also in evidence on the farm is at least one, possibly two flock of Linnets numbering 100 - 125 birds in total, plus a regular gang of 10/12 Tree Sparrows. 

Linnets

I don’t know of any birders who answer to “Martin Kingfisher” but it sure is a good name for a bird watcher don’t you think? More silly suggestions to Another Bird Blog please.