It Only Takes One

ALZ8035, the single Sedge Warbler we caught on 3 August 2024 at Cockerham had been ringed elsewhere. The morning was one of excruciating slowness with just 3 birds trapped. Fortunately ALZ8035 now reminds us that catching even low numbers of birds can produce interesting results. 

Birds are such creatures of habit that ALZ8035 was first ringed at Icklesham, Sussex on 1 August 2023, a juvenile of that year, and then recaptured by us almost exactly a year to the day and now an adult. 

Sedge Warbler - Icklesham and Cockerham

 

Sedge Warbler

Icklesham is a coastal migration hot spot where many species migrate from and to France in autumn and spring with April, May and then August/September the peak times when migratory birds cross the English Channel to winter further south. 

Sedge Warbler

The Sedge Warbler is a summer visitor to Britain and spends winters in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert, a long journey in both directions. We are pretty sure that ALZ8035 had not bred at our Cockerham ringing site but almost certainly travelled there from north Morecambe Bay or further afield. 

We did not catch this individual either before or after 3 August, nor would we expect to do so, such is the rapid onward migration of Sedge Warblers. 

There has been a considerable amount of work done on the feeding ecology of the Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus as well as on the related Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus. Bibby et al (1976) studied the feeding behaviour of Sedge Warblers in Dorset UK prior to migration. 

Available food in the places frequented by the birds consisted almost entirely of the reed aphid Hyalopterus pruni, also known as the mealy plum aphid, or plum-reed aphid which frequently occurred in hundreds per leaf or per flower. 

Mealy plum aphid on phragmites reed

The weight gains of birds feeding on these aphids varied greatly, both amongst individuals and between years. Many of the birds stayed for very short periods. Most left after just two days. 

Bibby & Green (1981) went on to compare the patterns of migration of Reed and Sedge Warblers, both of which migrate between Britain and Africa, to see how food supply distribution might influence migration. Most Sedge Warblers fattened in southern England or northern France, and overflew Iberia, while Reed Warblers paused and fattened in Portugal. The occurrence, duration of stay and rate of weight gain of Sedge Warblers depended on the abundance of Hyalopterus pruni whose seasonality and distribution was broadly sufficient to predict the migration pattern. 

Reed Warbler

Reed Warblers showed no similar restrictions of diet, did not respond to aphid abundance and were able to achieve a similar rate of weight gain any time in September or October in Portugal. 

Back soon folks. Take care, it's a dangerous world out there.

There's rain for a day or two but Saturday is pencilled in for being outdoors.

 

Making Hay

Our nearby fields are awash with cut grass drying out in readiness for winter storage. Summer finally arrived for now. Hay and silage are two common methods of preserving grass for livestock feed. Hay is made by cutting and drying grass while silage is made by fermenting the gather cuttings in an airtight container. 

Tractors fly across local fields as local farmers enjoy a long spell of warm sunny weather after the tortuous winter and equally wet spring that stopped their work for days at a time and caused a redrawing of plans. At last, fields of stunted maize gain height towards their 8/10 feet goal. Temperature is paramount for maize where the seed needs soil temperatures above 10°C to grow, temperatures that we rarely reached throughout a long, cold spring. 

Silage field

 

Maize

This is a quiet time for ringing but since my last post I too have been out and about in the sunshine, camera, long lens and bins at the ready. 

Ready Steady, Go!

 

Another Marsh Harrier came along, a silent dip and dive across the fields, looking for that elusive prize, a mammal scurrying through layered green. On its way it went, almost reluctantly in a south westerly direction as if drawn by some unknown force of nature. 

Marsh Harrier

 

Mid week saw the first of the returning Yellow Wagtails, a single juvenile amongst the dozens of Pied Wagtails. 

Yellow Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

And now I wait for comments about the grey wagtail, a Yellow Wagtail that is quite grey but assuredly a Western Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava, a scarce breeding species of the Fylde area that is so scarce it cannot decline further but simply disappear into the annals of history. But, always good to see, hear and recall that soft “seep seep”.  

Water at the feeding station attracted Starlings in their juvenile variations, a mixed coat of pinky grey softness with a layer of spotted insulation that for all the world looked as if it had been stuck on a belly as an afterthought.  For students of bird moult a Starling is one to tax a ringer’s entry of “age” on the BTO's DemOn database. Good subjects for a camera lens but thank goodness we don’t catch any of the noisy, forever squawking things. 

Starling

Starling

Little Egrets begin to build in autumn numbers while Grey Herons subside into single sightings, two species which one might think can sustain their respective populations but seemingly not when the heron is now “scarce” and the egret “common”. 

Grey Heron 

The feeding station is well situated to exploit the bokeh of the telephoto lens, where shades of vegetation green, brown and ochre compete with a spot of blue sky for an out of focus backdrop. 

Meadow Pipit

Linnet

That’s me for a day or two. Thursday Friday we have Brett in to paint our kitchen diner - spend some dosh before our new Government,  “party of the workers” take it all from us. 

Politicians tell lies to win over gullible fools so as to win elections. Who Knew? 

See you soon folks. 

 

Olympics Free Zone

The forecasts didn’t agree; now there’s a surprise, not. Maybe rain, maybe dry. So we decided to give it a go and I met up with Andy at 0700, far from the crack of dawn but best we could manage. 

Earlier in the week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had seen small arrivals of the usual early birds, the species that breed fairly early and now more or less finished - Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits, plus small parties of Linnets numbering 10-20 individuals. Goldfinches at the feeders too, where many in their gingery brown plumage lacked the outnumbered colourful adults. Around the feeding station there is water that attracts the pipits and wagtails in their ever interesting autumnal plumage variations. Even hares stop by for a piece of the action.  

Click the pics for TV size views.

Pied Wagtail

Linnet

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Brown Hare

Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Goldfinch

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Woodpigeon

Pied Wagtail

In the week I saw the first autumnal returning Marsh Harrier, a male arriving from the east - dipping and diving, disappearing from view and then reappearing, eyes fixed on the ground in case of a slow moving target below. 

Marsh Harrier

 

He carried on flying west giving just a couple of chances for a picture before he was gone. 

The route is one that the Marsh Harriers always take. We spot them with increasing regularity from July and into November, as they meet the sea wall and the ditches, dykes and farmland of North Fylde after their journey from north and/or east of Morecambe bay. The harriers proceed mainly west , sometimes directly south before taking an inland scenic mostly farmland route south so as to avoid flying over the conurbations of Fleetwood, Poulton le Fylde or Blackpool. 

They are not looking for Big Macs, fish & chips or discarded sarnies, just fresh meat, a variety of prey including birds like Coot or Moorhen, frogs and mammals, especially rabbits. 

Eventually the harriers will meet the coast again around the River Ribble, all the while avoiding Preston City. 

Saturday morning ringing was uneventful, cool with spits & spots of rain and just 15 birds caught - 7 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Warbler, 2 Willow Warbler and 1 Sedge Warbler. 

Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

The end of an absorbing week. And, dare I say, the weather forecast for the week ahead and into August looks very promising with warm, windless days to spend outdoors. 

Irritable Owl Syndrome

Back soon folks. I'd rather be birding than watching the telly. 

 

No Merlins Thank You

On Friday the catching and ringing of Sand Martins didn’t go too well; but then in 10 years of working this quarry site, a morning often doesn’t go to plan when Sand Martins have alternative ideas to combine with their instincts for survival. Before this latest visit and since 2015 we had caught 997 Sand Martins here, not a huge number considering that in most years the colony can hold up to 400 individuals on any given day at peak periods  April to August. 

The quarry and its exposed face is of varying degrees of often loose material – sand, gravel and stones of all shapes and sizes where the returning Sand Martins excavate in situations that suit their own requirements rather than those of bird ringers. Mostly the birds choose a high elevation to minimise disturbance and to deter predators. This year’s nesting chambers are high on the quarry face. The positioning of the holes is such that the ground yards below and upon which we have to erect nets is treacherous underfoot and not ideally placed to catch many of the 250+ martins returning to or leaving the nest holes some 20 yards above. Sand Martins also have incredible eyesight that combines with their unerring accuracy to fly above, below or parallel to a mist net placed to intercept a flight path. 

Sand Martin

Sand Martin

Sand Martin

 

After three hours we called it a day but delighted in just 5 new Sand Martins to take us over 1000 captures here. Hard work but someone has to do it. The bonus is a few photos when the martins rest up between bouts of hawking insects from the surrounding farmland. 

Sand Martin

 

We had visits from both Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel, the Kestrel hovering directly above the quarry face so as to spot unwary birds around entrance holes and thus vulnerable to attack rather than hiding in the darkness. The martins saw both raptors off by a noisy rush of wings and in the case of the hawk, chasing it into the near distance whilst giving out warning calls. 

Kestrel

Other birds seen consisted of Buzzard, 4 Common Tern, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Tree Sparrow. 

Buzzard

 

Grey Heron

In other news and thought for the day I am told that the popular magic eye/ear of the Merlin App for lazy birders is not all it is cracked up to be. This piece of whizz-bang technology struggles to ID the quiet squeaky birds like Robins, Flycatchers, the Regulus family and probably others too. 

Earlier this year the app caused a local frenzy by telling a user that a Blackbird was a much rarer Golden Oriole. The AI software will surely struggle with bird mimicry from species like the Common Starling, thrashers, catbirds and the aptly named mockingbirds (family Mimidae, Latin for mimic). I also doubt that the technology is advanced enough to analyse a song/call in conjunction with the relevant season of the year and/or a location's habitat  so as to give useful advice or reach meaningful conclusions.  

The “magical” Merlin app requires access to a user’s location and to a phone's microphone where the software employed may be more advanced than the listening device already installed, rarely turned to "off" on most Smartphones. 

I know of people who take their Smartphones literally everywhere, allowing the machine to track and listen in to their sometimes very personal daily activities and conversations wherever they may be. Go to “Settings” and click your buttons to “off”, preferably "FO". 

Rather than signing up to more of Google’s Big Brotherly love it may be better for budding birders to learn their birds another way. Find the bird then ID it through watching & listening in conjunction and comparison with the entries in a book? 

Books, remember those? 

Back Soon. Don't go away. I will be tracking you.

 

Slowly Does It

The ringing squad aka The Old Crocks could not make it this time. Too much beer/wine, baby sitting and/or too many aches & pains left me alone to seek birds. Better luck Friday when we hope to tackle the Cockerham Sand Martin colony for the first time this year. 

A sunny morning beckoned as I set off north along the notorious A588 through Stalmine, Pilling and Cockerham, FY, PR and LA respectively, not as far apart as those differing post codes might imply. The tortuous road is less dangerous since at great cost and much protest from late-to-work boy racers a large number of average speed cameras made everyone slow down; we are told the bright yellow devices work in the dark, can detect drivers using mobile phones and record a driver’s eye colour. 

A little late but 1984 is definitely here with Tory Boy followed seamlessly on by Starmergeddon; more taxation and then The Magic Money Tree to stoke inflation. More surveillance, nanny statism and nationalised services about to make everything worse. Wait until 80,000 new windmills sit proudly across every rural constituency in the cause of Joke Zero. What a coalition that will create - anarchists, useful idiots and environmental swampies, as middle class retirees fight for their property value with lumps of newly laid concrete. Sit back with the popcorn and enjoy the show. Only five years to go. 

Mind you, the A road is still dicing with death as I found out when slowing to an almost stop at double white lines and then a sharp bend at the sight of Barn Owls, first at Pilling and then at Cockerham. Some fool almost took my door mirror off! Hanging around for more pics was definitely dodgy so luckily the blog archive of circa 90/100 Barn Owls pics saved the day. 

Barn Owl

After a slow start with flooded fields and dykes in early 2024 it’s clear that the local and ever adaptable Barn Owls are now feeding young in a number of scattered locations. 

Barn Owl

A flash, a putative pool, some 60/70 yards distant at Cockerham held three brown Shoveler ducks, the species now quite scarce, distinctly wary & unfriendly to those bearing a camera (or a gun). Some weeks ago I saw the male alone on a different flash of water from where he flew in the direction of this latest sighting, thus making a record of likely breeding for this overlooked species. 

Shovelers

Shoveler

Nearby were a couple of Golden Plover, a colourful adult and a spangled individual; a rather unusual time of year but a species which may still breed on high ground inland not  too many miles away in the Pennine Hills. 

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Lapwings are beginning their autumn gatherings with 40/60 on Conder Pool, the once peaceful area of water loved by birders, now transformed by experts and renamed Gull Hell in homage to the several hundred Black-headed Gulls that now call it home. 

To be fair the gulls give protection to a number of Common Terns that nest on rafts where no raptor worth its salt would want an onslaught of hundreds of Black-headed Gulls.  

Common Tern

We gained a cacophony of noise - gulls, terns and Avocets while losing breeding Lapwings, Redshank and Tufted Duck but left Oystercatchers hanging by a thread. Such is progress. 

Oystercatcher

 

I drove to a quiet spot and took a few pictures of common birds in the bright light of morning. 

Linnet

Woodpigeon

Reed Bunting

Pied Wagtail

The forecast looks good for Friday and Sand Martins. Take a look soon and see how The Old Crocks performed. It may not be pretty or at a fast pace but we try hard.