Pipits And Pegs

It was a cracking start this morning because when I reached the end of Wheel Lane for my customary look on the Fluke Hall Lane stubble field I could see a bit of pandemonium breaking out. It was a Peregrine, not racing or diving at full pelt but just cruising around above the field and looking for a suitable opportunity I guess. After I tried to take a couple of distant photos the event did at least give me an opportunity to get an accurate count of the Lapwings as individuals because there certainly weren’t any left on the deck after the peg flew around a few times. I apologise for the poor photo but it does show in graphic detail how big a Peregrine versus a Lapwing is.

Lapwing
Lapwing & Peregrine
Peregrine
I counted the Lapwings at 30, so give and take a few non-breeders I estimate 10 pairs at the moment, some on eggs some not. The Peregrine also disturbed a dozen or so Redshank and similar numbers of Oystercatcher, and lesser number of Skylark. The raptor flew back to the marsh and everything settled down so I drove on up to Ridge Farm.

Although it was fine this morning, unlike the afternoon rain as I type, there was a cold south easterly wind which similar to many mornings lately didn’t bode too well. I did the track/sea wall circuit without seeing or hearing an awful lot except for a Sparrowhawk as soon as I jumped from the car then soon after Meadow Pipits, which I counted at 30+ coming from the west and northwest, some grounding as they arrived, others continuing on with a few “albas” also overhead. The customary 4 Skylarks sang and on the fields just inland I saw the now regular pairs of Lapwing and Oystercatcher. The wind began to pick up to a steady 10 to 12 mph.

I motored back through the wood where on the other side I spied a Barn Owl coming towards the car but it veered off over the hedge on seeing me. The local Tree Sparrows “chip chipped” and told me the owl was still there out of my sight. This owl isn’t very accommodating; I have seen it along here on several occasions lately but it never perches up for a portrait. But it won’t be long before they can’t run away.

Barn Owl
A walk up to Pilling Water revealed more Meadow Pipits on the move as they came from the west along the wall and continued in the direction of Lane Ends; I counted 32 heading east, with little parties grounded here and there, together with 3 or 4 more albas but no Wheatears again this morning. When it finally warms up there will be a rush of Wheatears for sure.

Meadow Pipit
The Goldeneye and Little Grebe pairs are still present on the Lane Ends pools, as are the Reed Buntings, 4 Little Egrets and 8 Teal across the road. I was watching some Pink-footed Geese flighting out on the marsh when a plane disturbed them. They whiffled in to land just in front of the other Peregrine sat on the edge of the green, the bigger pale Peregrine that through a distant binoculars view looks pure white. It sat there outlasting my impatience for something to happen, but with three hours to high tide I suppose it could wait for a while and a guaranteed meal.

The wind picked up more, it grew cloudier and I packed up for the day.

An Eider Down

I knew I wouldn’t get much birding today. Overnight the wind was almost gale force from the North West and it still blew like that at 7am. Not very conducive to looking for small passerine migrants then. And ringing was out of the question.

I had to drive to Knott End where there was little to be had, even the high tide wasn’t due until after midday. But along the Esplanade a drake Eider had been grounded and disorientated by the overnight wind, rain and high tides. I took it into care, kept the poor thing in darkness in my quiet garage and released it a couple of hours later into the incoming tide. Very quickly it swam strongly out into the estuary, circled round and joined the other few Eider that were off the jetty.






The Common Eider, Somateria mollissima, is a large (50–71 cm body length) sea duck which is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and Eastern Siberia and some northern temperate regions, but winters further south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters.

Eiders build their nests close to the sea, lining them with the celebrated eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast. This soft and warm lining was for a long time harvested for filling pillows and quilts, but in more recent years largely replaced by down from domestic farm-geese and synthetic alternatives. Although true eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity, eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.

The Common Eider is characterized by its bulky shape and large, wedge-shaped bill. The male is unmistakable, with its black and white plumage and green nape. The female is a brown bird, but can still be readily distinguished from all duck, except other eider-species, on the basis of size and head shape. This duck's call is a pleasant "ah-ooo." The species is often readily approachable.

Drakes of the European, eastern North American and Asia/western North American races can be distinguished by minor differences in plumage and bill colour. Eiders dive for crustaceans and molluscs, with mussels a favoured food and eat mussels by swallowing them whole; the shells are then crushed in their stomachs and excreted. When eating a crab the Eider will remove all of its claws and legs and then eat the body in a similar fashion.

It is abundant, with populations of about 1.5-2 million birds in both North America and Europe, and also large but unknown numbers in eastern Siberia.

A particularly famous colony of eiders lives on the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England. These birds were the subject of one of the first ever bird protection laws, established by Saint Cuthbert in the year 676. About 1,000 pairs still nest there every year. Because St. Cuthbert is the patron saint of Northumberland, it was natural that the eider should be chosen as the county's emblem bird; the birds are still often called Cuddy's ducks in the area, "Cuddy" being the familiar form of "Cuthbert".

Eiders are colonial breeders. They nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size of less than 100 to upwards of 10,000-15,000 individuals. Female eiders frequently exhibit a high degree of natal philopatry, where they return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This can lead to a high degree of relatedness between individuals nesting on the same island, as well as the development of kin-based female social structures. This relatedness has likely played a role in the evolution of co-operative breeding behaviour. Examples of this behaviour include laying eggs in the nests of related individuals and crèching, where females team up and share the work of rearing ducklings.

That’s what we like. A story with a happy ending.

Wuw?

Wet, Unsettled and Windy, that’s what Heather said on BBC North West on Monday morning when she predicted the weather for this week.

So I went for a swim this morning fully expecting to be rained off birding pm. Wrong Heather, it was actually a pleasant afternoon with a balmy southerly wind and just the odd shower that at least kept me looking at the sky to later find my second Swallow of the year. At 1300 hours I hit the Pilling Lane/Lane Ends trail and saw lots of bits and pieces but no Wheatears. At and from the car park/pools I saw 1 Chiffchaff, 10 Meadow Pipit, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch and a Sparrowhawk again. Water birds came in at 3 Cormorant, 2 Gadwall, 8 Teal, 2 Goldeneye and the trilling Little Grebe that while very vocal, is actually difficult to see as it hides around the well vegetated margins of the west pool with partner and dives at the very hint of being looked at.

Gadwall
Meadow Pipit
Between Lane Ends and Pilling Water I counted 55 Shelduck, 4 Little Egret, 5 Ringed Plover, 130 Redshank and 2 Black-tailed Godwit, with only 250 Pink-footed Goose, a figure that left me wondering where the rest of them were. No worries as I found another 2,400 down at Braides Farm but I didn’t walk the track for fear of disturbing their feed or sending them all prematurely packing out to the marsh. I listened and watched from the gateway for a while but sadly saw only one Lapwing around the newly created but still dry ditches. There are a couple of Lapwings sat on eggs opposite Lane Ends entrance but I’m afraid the overall picture for the poor Lapwing doesn’t look too good again after a promising period a few weeks ago.

Ringed Plover
Lapwing
It still didn’t rain and the sun came out, the only cue I needed to try out Ridge Farm, walking along the sea wall and back through the farm track. It was quiet, with a few Linnets along the gorse, then fairly late in the afternoon a flight of about 60 Meadow Pipits heading east and a single Swallow, fairly high but heading all the while out over the bay.

I’ll see what tomorrow brings but I bet the weather isn’t as bad as predicted and if that southerly wind is still there overnight, I may find a job for those mealworms. You see, the BBC has got it wrong before and all the trees may not fall over during the night despite the Scottish blizzards I just watched on the news.

Happy Birding.

Sounds Like Spring

The Spring Equinox but it was windy this morning, probably 20mph, wrong direction as well, so rather than trudge along to Lane Ends for a battering from the elements with probably little or no fresh migration I decided to head inland to the moss where I might find shelter.

The track goes eventually through to Nateby but I parked up before that, taking care to avoid blocking gateways, the way out for parked up farm vehicles due to recommence work from Saturday. In the fields several pairs of Lapwings cavorted noisily around, likewise a few migrant Curlew bubbled across the grass with one pair playing at breeding; but lowland breeding Curlew are pretty rare so whilst the Curlew’s bit of practice doesn’t get entered as a “B” on Birdtrack, the Lapwings do carry on to do the real deal.

Lapwings
Curlew
Two Buzzards called from the wood across, and in edge of the other wood nearest to me the Tree Sparrows at the nest boxes chip-chipped at my passing. The track grew quieter as I neared the more windswept parts of the farm, birds not obvious apart from 2 singing Corn Buntings and similar Skylarks, but I had to turn my head from the wind to hear them. I found a party of 30 Meadow Pipits on the deck near the topmost field, probable left over’s from the week as none were on the move this morning apart from when I disturbed them and they seep-seeped off.

Meadow Pipit
Corn Bunting
I spent some time near the barn where little flocks of Corn Bunting and Yellowhammers still refuse to accept it is spring and continue to search around the old tailings: 15 or so Corn Buntings and 4 Yellowhammer today with the usual attendant Chaffinch, flyover Goldfinch and Linnet plus a very smart spring attired Pied Wagtail that stayed a while.

Corn Bunting
Yellowhammer
Pied Wagtail
Pied Wagtail
Chaffinch

On the way back home I saw the Stock Dove pair at the usual tree. They didn’t hang around for me but I might have expected them to be on eggs by now and perhaps for one to stay in the holey tree. I stopped for a while to look for the Little Owls, and although one was calling very loudly from somewhere I couldn’t locate it from inside my car so hung fire with the camera for another day. Maybe it looked down on me from somewhere?

Little Owl
It was a nice afternoon, dry and sunny but cool, in fact a perfect day to hear from over the garden fence the one certain sound of a British spring, yes that’s right a lawnmower. Spring has arrived.

Back to The Woolly Hat

The wind changed last evening and overnight, as it went more westerly on isobars that originated from Iceland or thereabouts. No great shakes one might say, and although it was a bright sunny start I didn’t see much in the way of obvious migration despite keeping a look out for one of the Alpine Swifts that are in the country; the only thing alpine was the temperature at 7am as I donned my woolly hat again.

Alpine Swift

I thought it too chilly to catch Wheatears with cold, lethargic meal worms so I made my way up to good old Conder Green in the hope of a few waders on the pool or in the creek. No luck, apart from the resident "shanks", 1 each of Greenshank and Spotted Redshank plus 13 common Redshank together with 24 Oystercatchers but no spring Little Ringed Plover or Avocet to vary my list.

Redshank
Greenshank
Spotted Redshank

In the way of wildfowl were still 15 Teal, 6 Tufted Duck and 4 Shelduck. Odds and sods came in at 1 Grey Heron, 2 Reed Bunting, 3 Meadow Pipits, a couple of Skylarks and a couple of Greenfinch.

As the air warmed a little I drove back to Lane Ends where I could walk my walk. Still lots of Pink-footed Goose, similar to yesterday so I estimated 2000+ and I guess they might delay a move back north just yet with the promise of April snow nest week. At Pilling Water I found a single Wheatear which may have been a left over from yesterday as it ignored my meal worm offering and scooted off towards Fluke Hall. I beat the dog walkers to be first there this morning, so early as to see about 135 Redshank roosting on the pool, together with a couple of Oystercatchers, 4 Shelduck and a passing Kestrel that stopped by briefly.

Wheatear
Kestrel

There was little in the way of passerine activity but I did note displaying, paired Meadow Pipits, three singing Skylarks, 2 “albas” and an overflying Siskin. After a while the clouds and cool returned so I packed up the spring traps for another day, perhaps towards the end of next week if the forecasters are correct.

Wheats And Chiffs

After a morning in the swimming pool and the sauna, an afternoon walk in the fresh air beckoned, particularly since overnight rain and southerly winds promised a little migration and the possibility of a few more Wheatears.

So I did my Lane Ends to Pilling Water walk where at the rocks next to Pilling Water I found 9 Wheatears, set two traps and within a few minutes caught two of the birds, an adult male and a probable adult female.

Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Tasty Mealworms
I spent more time trying to catch others but I all I got was a sprung trap with nothing in it. Sometimes the wriggling mealworm sets off the trap or a Wheatear approaching from the wrong side can trigger it without the bird being caught. As we might expect in March the Wheatears I have caught this week have all been of the nominate Eurasian race Oenanthe oenanthe with wing lengths between 92 and 97mm, bang in middle of the BWP quoted range of 90-102mm. I normally don’t expect to see any obviously bigger and brighter “Greenland” types until the middle of April.

So I turned my attention to counting what was out on the marsh and round about even though the high tide had been four hours before.

Pilling Water Out To Heysham
I had a count of 6 Little Egrets, and whilst there have been a number throughout the winter, I think I detected a little further migration of this species in the last few weeks. There was also a number of Redshank again today, maybe 110, more migrants on their way to Iceland and points north. The Peregrine was on duty today again which is a bit surprising considering it looks like an adult male and should perhaps be expected to be in the throes of breeding, unless of course it is doing so close by.

It’s a strange time of year as we wait for the spring migrants to arrive whilst still counting the winter visitors, like today when I estimated 2200 Pink-footed Geese out on the marsh; any day now they will be off to Iceland in huge groups.

Pink-footed Goose
Back at Lane Ends I sat at the picnic table that the moronic creatures of the night have begun to disassemble. It was in the hope that a Chiffchaff might just sing in the afternoon warmth, but below the bank I spied one just flitting silently through the branches of a willow; and then blow me if another further away didn’t start up singing, hesitatingly at first as they do, but then slowly breaking into that monotone but very welcome chiff–chaff, chiff-chaff. Definitely two then, and probably a male and a female.

A Swallow But Not Summer

Knott End was productive this morning when I filled down one side of my notebook page with records from there. The wind blew south easterly, and although it wasn’t cold, it was cool with full cloud cover and to the north Heysham disappeared periodically into the low and slightly drizzly cloud. I didn’t expect to get many photographs this morning in such low light conditions, but multi-tasking as blokes do, I had ready my bag of rings, pliers and spring traps for any likely looking Wheatear encounters.

From the area of the jetty I counted 800+ Oystercatchers, 45 Redshank, 5 Curlew, 2 Ringed Plover, 6 Eider, 1 Cormorant, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 1 Little Egret, with fly overs of 2 Whooper Swans heading north and 2 Greylags. There was a little noticeable migration from birds that flew across the estuary from Fleetwood to follow the jetty and then the Esplanade inland, i.e. 15 Meadow Pipit, 4 “alba” wagtails, 2 Siskin, a Reed Bunting and a Skylark.

Whooper Swan
Cormorant
A little up river alongside the golf course I noted 2 Wheatear down on the pebbly shore, 3 Linnets, 3 Goldfinch and a couple of Greenfinch that at last seem to have returned in a few numbers this last week. Also up here I heard a Mistle Thrush singing from the other side of the golf course. Along the Esplanade I found the flock of 16 Twite feeding on the black magic and the Meadow Pipit theme continued with little groups of 8 then 11 birds heading along the wall towards Pilling.

Twite
Goldfinch
Meadow Pipit
I decided to walk my usual Lane Ends to Pilling Water stretch. Here also there was an obvious Meadow Pipit and alba movement whereby I added another 28 “mipits” heading south east into the breeze and 5 more wagtails. On the pools the Gadwall pair of two days ago had left to be replaced by pairs each of Goldeneye and Little Grebe.

Near the stile at Pilling Water I watched the fields, marsh and sky and perused the wildfowler’s pools to count: 120 Redshank, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 5 Teal, 2 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Egret, 30 Golden Plover heading north, 3 singing Skylark and a single Swallow, my first of the year that flew low across the stubble then like most things this morning, east along the sea wall.

Little Egret
Swallow
No Wheatears here this morning but by next highlight came in the form of the pale, male Peregrine I had seen on and off for the last week or so, this morning noisily chasing off inland another but slightly smaller male Peregrine. The big bird paused on the way back out to the marsh to take a half hearted attempt at a Lapwing that seemed to outmanoeuvre the Peregrine; that’s why I thought the Peregrine hadn’t really tried very hard, it could surely have a Lapwing if it so wanted?