On The Post

Yes, I’m on with the job and although it was windy this morning, the sun was out again and I was looking for blog material. And at 0745 the Barn Owl was still looking for a breakfast around the fields and fence hopping the ditches near Lane Ends. I then regretted not getting up earlier and getting new owl photos, but as the run rose a little more the bird disappeared out of sight towards the village and its daytime roost so I turned my attention to Lane Ends itself.

Blackcap and Reed Warbler sang out from the plantation with a cluster of 15+ Blackbirds young and old feeding on the tilled ground, with the now regular but flighty Jay putting in a brief appearance.

Blackbird

From Pilling Water I saw the distant Barn Owl again now flying over Damside and then on towards Fluke Hall Lane, but with the owl’s circuit of a couple of square miles where to park the car at 0600 for the chance of fleeting photography in the morning light remains the question. The inland stretch of Pilling Water had a circling, hovering Kestrel, 4 Swift, 15 Swallow, 6 House Martin, 1 Oystercatcher and 4 Lapwing, and on the outer, 1 Common Sandpiper, 12 Redshank and 14 Shelduck.

Oystercatcher

There are a few more finches about now that first broods have fledged with a nice little mixed flock building up on the sea wall seed heads with a count of 15 Linnet, 18 Goldfinch and 7 Greenfinch. As in recent days I found 4 Meadow Pipits and the usual number of 10/15 Skylark.

Up at Fluke Hall a pair of Oystercatcher sounded out to one well grown young, with 15 Redshank, 12 Shelduck, 18 Lapwing and another Common Sandpiper on the pool. I tracked down another pair of Redshanks with young chicks, but the adults had their young tucked away in an unapproachable spot of thick cover, warning the youngsters of me long before I got near. There’s a good reason a Redshank is known as “Sentinel of the Marsh”. The wary adults didn’t go too far away but stayed put along the fence posts or overhead from where they yelled at me, advising the chicks to stay hidden as they drew in Lapwings and Oystercatchers to scold me also.

Redshank
Redshank
Redshank

If the rain holds off this evening there may be a spot of ringing with a fresh post tomorrow. Watch this space.

Are You Joking?

Another poor weather, windy, cloudy and showery morning meant no mist netting or actual birding, so I prioritised checking a few nests later in the day with hopes of a spot of casual birding. The result is that the blog is pretty sparse again today, but hopefully everyone will firstly enjoy a chuckle at an Over Wyre joke.

There are landowners with reason to dislike folk who take to the countryside with no understanding or respect for the Countryside Code. Consequently the same landowners tend to mistrust everyone who ventures into their domain, but when I came across this sign on my travels today I couldn’t quite decide if the message was serious or simply a left over from April Fool’s day. So after having a little laugh I went off in the opposite direction, to check out my Tree Sparrow boxes and Swallow nests, making sure that I closed each gate behind me.

?????????

At Out Rawcliffe two Tree Sparrows nests each had 4 young of an ideal size to ring with two other boxes having 5 warm eggs. The adults weren’t at home; they almost never are, vacating the box well in advance of any intruders then keeping a safe distance away. The Tree Sparrow chicks at this age look a little like the adults.

Tree Sparrow
Tree Sparrow

There was mixed success at Hambleton for the Swallows with 2 nests of chicks ready for ringing but one had four youngsters only, below expected par of five with the second one having only two youngsters with a dead one that had expired three or four days ago judging by the size of its healthy siblings. It is fairly unusual to find a dead Swallow chick in a nest, and as this nest had only three chicks to begin with, this underperforming nest might be explained by inexperienced adults, or probably more accurately as a “don’t know” reason. A third nest contained young still too small to ring despite my notebook’s pencilled in date, but a fourth one last noted as “nest fully lined” on 18th June now had five warm eggs whereby the adults had been busy. I checked the chicken shed for a second laying in a recently fledged nest and although there were no new eggs, a recently fledged youngster was too slow to find the exit door.

Swallow
Swallow

Down the puddled lane to the farm were several Whitethroats, 2 Yellowhammer, 10 Goldfinch and 8 Linnet.

Goldfinch

What isn’t a joke is the continuous bad weather of the last six weeks, but the BBC have promised warm, even hot weather for next week. Goodness knows we are due a decent spell so I hope they are not pulling our collective legs.

Surprise, Surprise

When Will and I found the Oystercatcher nest near our ringing location a while ago we obviously misjudged how long the adults had been at it, because their behaviour took me by surprise today when it quickly became obvious they had young in tow. I spent what seemed ages seeking out the chicks scattered across the furrowed, short, grassy field, but eventually there was no doubt, just one chick three or four days old at most. Like all wader chicks, those of Oystercatchers are nidifugous i.e. they are born with their eyes open and leave the nest shortly after hatching when they are also capable of walking and able to feed themselves. (The word nidifugous derives from Latin, nidus for "nest" and fugere meaning "to flee).

Many wader parents do not feed their chicks, but Oystercatchers do, and today I watched one of the adults do so. As both adults tended the young, one flew off and returned about fitfeen minutes later with a small item of food between the tips of its mandibles, calling as it landed near the youngster. With bill pointed down the adult waited for the chick’s approach before it dropped the morsel in front of the youngster for it to find, which it duly did. A little disappointing to ring just one Oystercatcher and it always leaves a question mark as to what happened to the other two or three eggs.

Oystercatcher chick
Oystercatcher

I’d gone to the plantation to have a mosey round and to put up the newly cleaned niger feeders in preparation for the arrival of hungry autumn finches. So whilst I watched the oyks, wandered about a bit, and found suitable branches for the feeders I found a sheltered spot for a net, but caught little save for a 3J Coal Tit, and a couple of Whitethroats and Willow Warblers.

Coal Tit

Another unexpected was a male Willow Warbler well into its main moult on so early a date, 21st June only. This was a new, un-ringed Willow Warbler for the site so had probably arrived from elsewhere to moult, possibly a failed or non-breeding bird.

Willow Warbler – main moult
Willow Warbler
Whitethroat

My searching about didn’t reveal much else, Jay, Buzzard, Blackcap, several Goldfinches, a Skylark, and a sunny day but distant Little Owl

Little Owl

It's Just June

I don’t have much to report today, except perhaps the beginnings of autumn returns, but there are a few new photographs and by special request, the song of a Skylark.

I started well at Pilling with an early Barn Owl at that hunted the ditches and fields east of Lane Ends before it disappeared in the customary direction of Damside, but the owl seemed well aware of my presence and kept out of camera range. Like most owls it hunts a regular beat and if I’m early and patient enough I might try sitting in the car hide one morning.

Lane Ends held 2 singing Reed Warblers this morning, plus the now regular Blackcap and the single somewhat elusive Jay; on the pools, 4 Tufted Duck, 6 Little Grebe and 40+ Greylag.

There was a flight of Curlew this morning, more than 30 coming from the east and joining the 20 or so birds already out on the marsh, and just like the Lapwings the Curlews are starting to flock in readiness for autumn; so not only does spring come earlier nowadays, so does autumn. Lapwings numbered more than 90 this morning, mostly in a loose flock out on the marsh, but other late breeding birds clearly had young close by judging from their overhead warnings. I also saw my first Redshank chick of the year, with parents and a long way out on the marsh, but at that distance I would guess there were one or two more, especially as the one I saw was tiny. Otherwise Redshanks totalled 40+ birds, more than my recent counts.

Lapwing

I lingered at Pilling Water to count 4 Meadow Pipits, 22 Linnet, 5 Swift, 4 Goldfinch, 4 Greenfinch, 2 Pied Wagtail and 2 Grey Heron.

Meadow Pipit

The regular Shelduck numbered 45 but I saw my first Teal of the autumn with 4 birds flying together into the wildfowler’s pools. It was here I found my first returning Common Sandpiper, one of the first waders to reappear once breeding is done, closely followed by Spotted Redshank, Green Sandpiper and Greenshank, not nesessarily in that order, but almost always during the latter half of June.

Common Sandpiper

I think the Skylarks are used to me wandering through their territories lately. Like many species they don’t like being interrupted so will often allow a human to get a little closer, but only whilst singing, as soon as the song stops so does the co-operation and off they fly. Click on the "xeno-canto" button to enjoy the Skylark's song.

Skylark
Skylark

Maybe mist netting tomorrow if the wind doesn’t spring up, but failing that there are a few Swallows to ring.

Getting eggcited

Keeping tabs on breeding birds needs a tidy and accurate notebook, good planning skills, a fairly good idea of how long these eggy and birdy things take to come to fruition, together with an awareness of how the weather and similarly unpredictable events can impact breeding success.

So I set out early to first check the Swallows at Hambleton this morning where I found 2 nests with youngsters the ideal size to ring and then a third nest with tiny young. A fourth nest used last year but not so far this year had a new feather lining ready for the adult to lay; a final nest in Molly the Border Collie’s stable contained eggs in the process of hatching with the adult sat tight, squeezed in the gap between roof and nest. A nest full of youngsters I ringed last week was pretty much bursting at the seams with young Swallows on the verge of fledging.

I ringed nine young with two nests to go back for on separate days next week, followed by a look at already used but now empty nests, and then a check for the second wave of eggs.

Swallow
Swallow
Swallow
Dunnock

A little drive and I was at Out Rawcliffe and checking Tree Sparrow boxes, perhaps the species with one of the untidiest nests of all birds. I put several new boxes up last week and already one of those boxes had an almost complete nest but no eggs yet, so I reckoned the pair of sparrows must have watched me load the ladders back on my car and then immediately set to with nest building. Unfortunately from the other boxes there was only one nest with any mini dinosaurs sizeable enough to ring, and then only one chick in a nest containing 4 un-hatched eggs; the large size of the single youngster told me that the remaining eggs could not hatch out now. It’s easy to speculate if the inclement weather of recent weeks is the cause of such failure but we simply don’t know for sure.

Tree Sparrow nest
Tree Sparrow chick

All the time I climbed and checked the boxes I heard the Curlews calling excitedly from the field beyond. It wasn’t so much calls of display, but rather cries of warning to youngsters hidden in the long grass close by. As I went to investigate, both adults went absolutely bananas at me, as only parent Curlews do, circling overhead and calling incessantly, all the while trying to lead me away from the chicks.

Curlew
Curlew

There wasn’t much point in looking to ring the youngsters as once the adults landed in the field I could barely see them, never mind pinpoint small chicks. Another visit next week should hopefully produce more young Tree Sparrows, and if the farmer has cut the field I may just catch up with more young Curlews like these from last year.

Curlew chicks

Recoveries

The BTO sent a series of recoveries for Fylde Ringing Group, several from Rossall where Seumus and Ian ring plus two from Out Rawcliffe where Will and I spend most of our spring, summer and autumn. Another record involves one of my local Swallows from Hambleton near Poulton-le-Fylde.

The first concerns a second calendar year Lesser Redpoll (L583607) caught and ringed by Will and I at Out Rawcliffe on 27 March 2011. The bird was recaptured at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory on 16 April 2011, 20 days later. The Calf of Man is 130km and in a slight North West direction of Out Rawcliffe, Lancashire.

The winter of 2011 was memorable for the large numbers of Lesser Redpoll in the UK, amounts reflected in our own region of Lancashire in the North West. Equally, there was a noticeable, huge northerly movement of the species in March/April and it could be this bird was caught up in that directional movement during its return to the Isle of Man where Lesser Redpoll is common, Scotland where the species is numerous or possibly to Ireland where Lesser Redpoll is also common.

Lesser Redpoll
Out Rawcliffe to Calf of Man

The second recovery from Out Rawcliffe involves a Sedge Warbler (V971554) ringed by young Craig in the plantation as a fresh juvenile on 11th July 2009. It was later recaptured by French ringers at Treogat, Finistere, France on 10 August 2009, just 30 days later. The distance involved is 673 km and the location of Finistere is almost exactly due south from Out Rawcliffe and on a direct route to the Sahel region of Africa where most British Sedge Warblers spend the winter.

Sedge Warbler
Out Rawcliffe to Finistere, France

It took 21 months to receive details of this Sedge Warbler. In the meantime we know from our IPMR database that after its stay in France the bird made it safely back to Africa and returned to Out Rawcliffe in 2010, staying there between at least 22nd June and 28th July 2010. During this period it was captured by Will and I on four occasions and identified as a breeding male each time. So far in 2011 we have not recaptured V971554 and therefore it is perhaps likely it is dead because Sedge Warblers are very site faithful; following successful migration and wintering in 2010/2011 it would surely have returned once more to Out Rawcliffe.

I also got to hear about one of my Hambleton Swallows X515371, ringed as a nestling from a brood of 6 birds on 5th June 2010. The same bird was found dead in a Longridge, Lancashire garage on 20th May 2011, just 349 days later and 20 miles from Hambleton. Lots of Swallows return to exactly the same place to breed and whilst this bird may have been still on migration it could well have entered a building new to it in search of a place to nest then later found it could not escape. This sad end came despite the bird’s success in making the journey to Southern Africa and back to the UK at the first attempt during 2010/2011.

Swallow

Sea Wall Sortie

Skylark Sign

June 16th, so a Pilling embankment walk is well out of the "no-go" lambing period the sign advises, not that all folk respect the well-reasoned rule and polite request. After the token early morning showers the clouds parted to let the sun shine out as I hit the trail, east to west then back again for the incoming midday high tide.

The Skylark wasn’t going to sit on the sign long and certainly not let me approach any closer, but when they’re not warbling from on high Skylarks often serenade from a lookout post or even from the ground where they merge into the background of the summer marsh.

Skylark

I counted at least 13 Skylarks this morning, and then checking the nest from where I ringed 4 young last week, the lining was well trodden but otherwise undisturbed, the standard test for a successful outcome. Other passerine quantities were in the low digits expected in June; 3 Greenfinch, 4 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet, 2 Pied Wagtail, 3 House Sparrow, 2 Meadow Pipit and 2 Reed Bunting. I took a few pictures of an obvious 3J Reed Bunting close to Pilling Water where there have been singing males all spring. The Meadow Pipits were my first of the “autumn”, as for the first year in many, I have not seen or heard singing Meadow Pipits along this stretch of coast in the spring and summer of 2011.

Reed Bunting

The warmth of the morning brought out the hirundines and swifts, with 12+ House Martins and 20+ Swallows and my best count this year of Common Swift with more than 30 hawking insects over the marsh and sea wall.

I hoped the incoming tide might reveal a few Redshank and Oystercatcher chicks previously hidden in the ditches, but as I have suspected in recent walks here, there are no youngsters of either species. I confirmed a single Oystercatcher nest on the inland side of the wall and let the male bird escort me a distance along the wall until he thought me less of a danger to the nest.

Oystercatcher

Other counts here: 45 Shelduck, 28 Curlew, 37 Lapwing, 15 Redshank and 4 Grey Heron.

Grey Heron

Back towards Lane Ends I came across a single hovering Kestrel that took off inland in the direction of the nest box near Damside. Lane Ends held the usual Blackcap, Reed Warbler and a dozen or so Blackbirds, some of the latter newly fledged youngsters, and on the pools 4 Tufted Duck, 2 adult Little Grebe with 5 chicks - well done you grebes!

Regular readers of Another Bird Blog will know I’m not a major weed and creepy crawly enthusiast, but even I couldn’t help but notice several flowers that from my pitiful knowledge I identified as Early Marsh Orchids, some of them in absolutely stunning purple colours and shapely order.

Marsh Orchid