Afternoon Escape

Just too many competing priorities meant no birds this morning. At midday the sun still shone and the wind blew nil. So what is a man supposed to do but escape out onto the moss for a few hours of fresh air and birding before the weather turns again for the rest of the week? So I put up a few nets then sat in the warm sunshine taking in the view across the puddled wheat crop and over to the distant fells. 

 Afternoon On The Moss

11 birds caught at the feeders, 8 Goldfinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Great Tit and 1 Chaffinch. So definitely not as productive as the morning might have been, but a pleasant couple of hours and a variety of other birds seen. I can’t resist taking more photographs of Lesser Redpolls, a stunning little bird. Fortunately enough it has in the last eight or ten years become much more locally common and numerous, especially in spring and autumn. 

Lesser Redpoll

Not surprisingly, and after another downpour last night, the wet fields still hold a number of Snipe, impossible to say how many without walking every square inch to see and hear them explode from your feet as they zig-zag away to escape. It was the difficulties involved in hunting Snipe which gave rise to the term "sniper".

Snipe

Two hunting Kestrels today, and as I watched them came a fly-over of 6 Black-tailed Godwit and a large party of c 150 Lapwings and upwards of 1000 Starlings, all disturbed off a more distant field. During the couple of hours I saw 90/100 Fieldfares, ones and twos going in various directions, and then about 1600 hours a flock of 80 heading to a roost somewhere over towards Pilling. By 4 o’clock finches were heading to roost too, with 30+ Goldfinches flying north and 15/20 Chaffinches contact calling as they headed somewhere north but out of sight. Other birds in the immediate area, 5 Skylark, 2 Meadow Pipit, 1Yellowhammer, 4 Linnet, 15 Tree Sparrow, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Pied Wagtail, 12 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Buzzard. 

I hadn’t seen a Little Owl here for weeks so as I drove off site about four-thirty I looked in all the trees they use until I found the right one. 

Little Owl

The forecast isn’t good for the rest of the week but let’s not grumble, only count ourselves fortunate in comparison to the good folk of eastern USA who are about to experience a humdinger of a hurricane. Stay safe all you blog followers over there. 

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Anni who'd also rather be birding anytime, and also with Stewart an ex-pat who lives in Australia - Stewart. 

Cold Calling

When I opened the back door this morning a Fieldfare greeted me from next door’s garden, chuckling from the top of the highest sycamore before flying off east. When I made it to the shore at Knott End I knew why the thrush chortled - it was bitterly cold from a blast of Arctic air, and in comparison to recent days this morning’s biting, northerly wind brought out the woolly hat and gloves in double quick time. After the excitement of Friday’s thrush-rush it looked like today might be something of an anti-climax. 

Fieldfare

Not much doing near the jetty, a couple of Meadow Pipits and a Pied Wagtail the sum of my efforts, with the walk up river yielding little except for about 70 Redshanks 

Redshank

Cutting my losses I decided to try a few sheltered spots and so ended up at Pilling. At Damside/Backsands Lane the partially wet fields held 180 Lapwing, 65 Golden Plover, 1 Snipe, 15 Curlew, 3 Redshank, 2 Skylark and 15 Meadow Pipit, the pipits swapping between feeding in damp patches and sitting up on the roadside fence, especially when one of the local Kestrel pair appeared. 

Meadow Pipit

At Lane Ends, a number of Fieldfare were on the move, flying over the plantation and heading north east into the wind just as those of yesterday, but just 70 birds today. Not many wildfowl on the pools, 2 Tufted Duck with the Mallards, 9 Little Egret and 2 Grey Heron scattered across the marsh, and 15 Whooper Swans making their way from Cockerham and west to the usual spot off Fluke Hall. 

I spent a while trying to locate a very vocal and active “phyllosc” with a shrill and persistent contact note, a call totally unlike UK chiffs and more like those of eastern races of Chiffchaff. When the bird finally showed for a moment or two it proved to be a quite brown and plain Chiffchaff. I found a call on Xeno Canto which sounds very similar. 

Chiffchaff

Other birds in the trees here, 4 Robin, 12 Chaffinch, 6 Blackbird, 2 Jay. The forecast doesn’t look too good for Sunday, rain and then more rain so more suitable for a lie-in and a rest after the week’s exertions. But if there’s news be sure to read about it soon on Another Bird Blog.

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Anni who'd rather be birding and Stewart an ex-pat who lives in Australia -  Stewart.

A Thrush Spectacular

Rawcliffe Moss again this morning, nets up in the dark waiting for thrushes. Pre- dawn I caught a few of the target species, then soon after dawn several more, and then a handful of finches. In-between came a hefty Sparrowhawk looking for a thrush breakfast. 

About 10am for an hour or more ringing took second place when I became a spectator only as thousands of Redwings and Fieldfares piled overhead, all flying North West in flocks of several hundred individuals, sometimes mixed but often just Fieldfares, hence the totals below. By 10am the bright sun, the slight breeze which billowed the nets, plus the lack of leaf cover made the nets entirely visible to sharp eyed thrushes, meaning that although several hundred of each paused in the plantation, the whole of my meagre catch occurred before 10am. My final estimated numbers from 0700 to 1100 hours - 3300 Fieldfare and 1500 Redwing, 80% of these birds seen between 10am and 11am. When I left, more Fieldfares were seen arriving from the direction of St Michael’s village, these individuals also heading North West. With this late arrival overhead I guess the many thousands of birds had travelled a fair old distance since dawn. 

Totals caught: 24 birds of 6 species - 10 Redwing, 4 Fieldfare, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Sparrowhawk. 

Fieldfare

 

Fieldfare

Redwing

There were more Chaffinch today, and after the normal few from the north at early-doors came a definite arrival with the thrush-rush, and an overall total of 40+ Chaffinch. Otherwise, the passerine passage seemed poor with 2 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Siskin, 1 Brambling and 5 Reed Bunting. 

Chaffinch

The female Sparrowhawk was quite a handful, so I wasted no time in releasing her quickly, especially since she clutched an unwary finger and drew blood.  Please, no jokes about the female sex. 

Sparrowhawk

Other birds today: 12 Whooper Swan, 1 Buzzard, 90+ Lapwing, 1 Kestrel, 4 Snipe.

Tune in soon for more gripping news on Another Bird Blog.

Eat Your Heart Out

Here on the west coast of Lancashire we set our sights a little lower than Spurn Point, where fresh in off the North Sea, 21,000 Redwings and 9,500 Fieldfares were logged on Monday, and then another 2,000 or so of each on Tuesday. It’s all relative of course, and my counts of Lesser Redpoll this week together with 27 caught already would appear to surpass figures for the world famous bird observatory! 

I was on Rawcliffe Moss again this morning where I counted 190 Redwings and 45 Fieldfares between 0730 and 1000, when at the ten o’clock point what little passage there had been just petered out. The Redwing count is made up of 5 or 6 groups of birds, the biggest counted being 80 and 50 individuals. Just a couple of Fieldfare gangs appeared soon after dawn to make up their total. Many of the Redwings appeared to come from the east this morning although it is not always easy to say from which direction as they suddenly and almost literally fall from high in the clouds. Maybe they had crossed The Pennines, that immovable object in the centre of the UK which makes over and above travel more problematical for a bird looking for the bright lights of Lancashire?

The finch passage was very slow this morning, and after a zero catch of Chaffinch their inland passage may well be over, particularly so when for weeks now their numbers have been low in comparison to the previous two autumns here. Lesser Redpolls were less conspicuous too with just 8 logged. 

Birds ringed: 10 Redwing, 3 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Tree Sparrow. So apologies, there are more pictures of Lesser Redpoll and Redwing today, plus pictures of those rare catches here, Tree Sparrow and Great Tit. 

Lesser Redpoll - adult female

Great Tit

Tree Sparrow

Most of today’s Redwings were juveniles, birds born this year, aged by the white notch on tertial feathers and their pointed tail feathers. No prizes for spotting a regrowing “adult” type feather in the juvenile tail below. 

Redwing tail - juvenile

Redwing tail - adult

In October it’s exciting to catch a number of Redwings Turdus iliacus, knowing they probably just arrived from Northern Europe, even though the few handled are a tiny, miniscule part of the European breeding population. This population is estimated at 16,000,000 - 21,000,000 breeding pairs, equating to 48,000,000 - 63,000,000 individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 50-74% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 65,000,000-130,000,000 individuals. Maybe I should go out tomorrow morning too and see if I can catch up those Spurn numbers? 

Redwing - Turdus iliacus

Other birds today: 3 Tawny Owl, 2 Jay, 2 Raven, 3 Snipe, 1 Kestrel, 8 Blackbird, 3 Siskin, 6 Meadow Pipit, 4 Reed Bunting. 

Kestrel 

Three In A Row

Although Sunday morning saw my third ringing session in three days out on Rawcliffe Moss, the morning was somewhat spoiled by an early and stubborn mist. The figure three entered the equation again when I caught the third “control” in three days, this time a Chaffinch ringed elsewhere - ring number Y867191. 

I set off from home to starry skies through Hambleton village and then alongside the River Wyre with just a hint of mist, but once out on the moss the dank air made for a more fog like substance, a scenario which limited any early bird arrivals. The at-dawn catch involved one Blackbird only, the few other thrushes in the vicinity of the nets a single Fieldfare, 2 Redwing and a couple more Blackbirds, all of which escaped captivity.

Catching didn’t start really until after 0830 when the mist finally cleared to reveal a bright blue sky as from the north and west finches began to appear and call from high overhead, some of them lingering briefly in the plantation. 22 birds of 7 species caught today: 10 Chaffinch, 6 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Blackbird, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Robin. 

Reed Bunting- juvenile female

Goldcrest - juvenile male

Lesser Redpoll -juvenile female

Lesser Redpolls were much in evidence again today, with a minimum of 40 birds moving through the site in small groups between 0815 and 1045 when I left. Other high-flyers heading south: 4+ Siskin, 50+ Chaffinch, 10+ Meadow Pipit, 2 Pied Wagtail. 

Following a blog comment on Saturday it seems that Lesser Redpoll Y310191 caught here on Friday morning had been ringed in a Worcestershire garden in March this year by “Napper”, Another Bird Blog’s latest follower. In contrast, it could be some weeks for me to hear about yesterday’s Belgian ringed bird or today’s Chaffinch, and while it’s good to see how efficient the Internet is in this instance it isn’t a means of by-passing the proper method. This works by ringers regularly sending their data files into the BTO, who process information about the millions of birds handled through the UK and other ringing schemes in order to match the records of original ringing details to those of recovered and recaptured birds. 

Below is today’s recaptured female Chaffinch Y867191, not a ring used here or on other local sites, so a bird marked elsewhere in the UK. The rounded, broad tail and strongly demarcated tertial feathers show the bird to be an adult, i.e. born before this calendar year. 

 Chaffinch- adult female

Chaffinch - adult female

Other birds today: Barn Owl hunting at dawn, 3 Tawny Owls, 4 Snipe, 2 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Jay.

This week Another Bird Blog is linking with Stewart's Photo Gallery and Anni who’d rather be birding anytime. If you would sooner be birding most of the time, log in here for the latest news and views.

No Thrush Rush, But A Belgian Treat

Out on Rawcliffe Moss at 0650 I’d set the nets in the dark again, leaving me time to grab a coffee before the hoped for arrival of thrushes. Nothing much happened, just a quiet morning and a smattering of birds at first light followed in the next hour or two by a steady passage of Lesser Redpolls with smaller numbers of Chaffinches. Recompense for the lack of thrushes came about 0830 in the form of a Lesser Redpoll wearing a ring from the Belgium Ringing Scheme. By 1030 the 5mph wind had both changed direction and increased to a strength sufficient to cause an end to the session. 

Birds caught: 6 Chaffinch, 5 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird and 1 Redwing. Both of the Song Thrushes, the single Blackbird and the solitary Redwing were caught at first light. In all, the visible thrush movement consisted of less than 6 each of Blackbird, Redwing and Song Thrush, with a single Mistle Thrush seen overhead and travelling rapidly south. 

Redwing

Song Thrush

Other visible migration appeared as 5 Reed Bunting, 8 Meadow Pipit and a minimum of 18 Skylarks, the latter in smaller groups but heading south and into the wind.  Lesser Redpolls were very noticeable again today, with small parties overhead and a total of 30+ birds throughout the morning. The Belgian ringed bird proved to be an adult male, the ring number of 12231826 easy to decipher, the Brussels address less so, making one appreciate the quality of our UK rings. 

Brussels Ring

Lesser Redpoll - adult male

There seemed to be lots of Goldfinches on the move today, birds which didn’t make their way to the feeders where local birds hang out, so my count of 60+ almost certainly includes some visible migrants. A recaptured adult was only now in late October completing its full moult in the outermost primary feathers. 

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Other birds today: 3 Tawny Owls calling at dawn, and a hunting Barn Owl about the same time. Also, 2 Peregrine, 2 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 4 Snipe, 2 Pied Wagtail. 

 Pied Wagtail

Sunday’s forecast looks OK, less wind and a bright morning. Maybe those thrushes will arrive in numbers after all? If so read about it tomorrow on Another Bird Blog.

Late Night, Late Start, Useful Gen

Sampling the heady nightlife of Knott End on Thursday evening meant an early start for ringing was unlikely this morning, and in fact I arrived out on Rawcliffe Moss decidedly late at 0930. 

I’d gone to top up the feeders and as there was virtually no wind I put a single net up for a couple of hours and had quite a reasonable catch of 16 new birds: 5 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Coal Tit, 3 Reed Bunting, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Goldcrest and 1 Dunnock. In addition another Lesser Redpoll, a juvenile male bore a British ring from elsewhere in the UK - Y310191. Redpolls were the dominant species this morning, with upwards of 40 birds going over in a couple of hours, with for comparison the Chaffinch passage distinctly poor yet again. 

Lesser Redpoll

Y310191

The Goldfinch numbers are dropping now with less than a dozen birds around the feeders. 

 Goldfinch

Reed Buntings have variable plumage at this time of year, and although as a species they don’t seem to travel huge distances, ageing them makes for an interesting few minutes.

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

Four Coal Tits caught, with at least another eight or ten about at one stage as the irruption continues.

Coal Tit

Other birds this morning: 8 Meadow Pipit, 5 Pied Wagtail, 1 Jay, 3 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, 20 Tree Sparrow, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1000+ Pink-footed Goose.

Kestrel 

I drove home via Stalmine Moss where 16 Whooper Swan were on a still flooded field, so flooded that there’s not much chance of it drying out now that winter is almost here. Back home I put my soggy walking boots outside in the sun, then looked up and west to see 4 Buzzards circling nearby fields - a fine end to a morning of birds. 

Whooper Swan

Regular readers will know that Another Bird Blog is not averse to recommending a noteworthy place to go birding, a useful bird book, or with a glance to the right hand column, an informative blog. Occasionally we even make mention of a place to eat after a hard day’s birding, today’s tip-off being that readers should find time to visit The New Village Steakhouse in Knott End. That’s where Sue and I enjoyed a lovely meal in their newly refurbished and agreeable surroundings, with friendly and impeccable service plus a bottle of Grenache thrown in - and all for less than £40. 

Al last, some useful information from a bird blog. Tune in soon for more.