Pilling And A Pipit

Domestics meant that a couple of hours after lunch were the best I could do today. No point in being too ambitious either when most birds start thinking about bedtime, and head for their beds long before I do. But there was time for a walk out Pilling way where birds would be guaranteed for a couple of hours. 

The shooters were out on the marsh leaving food in readiness for the next big shoot on Wednesday. There will be guaranteed birds for the paying guests as long as they don’t mind getting their boots dirty when kicking overfed and tame Mallards from beneath their feet. There’s little else on the pools apart from Mallards now, just 8 Pintail and a couple of Teal, the autumn passage of wildfowl over. 

Although 10 Whooper Swans and 45 Shelducks went at the arrival of Hi-Fly it was just minutes after the food appeared that 200 Jackdaws and several Carrion Crows homed in and join a bemused Mute Swan. Not without reason is the Jackdaw known as “the clever crow”, and there are no tame Jackdaws out Pilling way. 

 Jackdaw

There was a gang of 35/40 Black-tailed Godwits circling around looking for a safe spot, the birds eventually deciding on their usual flooded patch of stubble where a couple of Redshank and Curlew fed. Also on the stubble - 70+ Skylarks, 2 Snipe, 24 Linnet and a single Pied Wagtail. It was while watching the stubble that I noted a Buzzard drifting somewhere over Pilling village, and then along the sea wall brief views of a Merlin heading towards Lane Ends and the obligatory 10 little Egrets. 

I followed the Merlin’s example and took a trip to Lane Ends where in the field opposite were c450 Pink-footed Geese and 4 Greylag. 

Pink-footed Geese

And now for news of a pipit. Fylde Ringing Group has ringed almost 2500 Meadow Pipits over many years but to get news of a Meadow Pipit recovery is quite unusual as the species both lives and breeds in rather remote places. 

Y279058, an autumn juvenile I ringed at Out Rawcliffe on 20 September 2011 was recaptured by another ringer at Hasfield Ham, Gloucestershire almost 2 years to the day on 5 October 2013. By this date it could be safely aged as an adult and with a wing length of 86mm it was a definite male. Where the bird had bred in 2011, 2012 and 2013 is anyone’s guess, probably well north of Lancashire, maybe even Scotland or Iceland. 

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit recovery - 2011 to 2013 

Meadow Pipit

Log in to Another Bird Blog soon for trips to Pilling and elsewhere.

Linking today to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Diversion Day

A grey old start to Friday saw me out birding at Pilling for a good three hours. While I saw a decent number of birds I didn’t get many pictures. Never mind there are sunny pictures towards the end of the page.

I set off from Fluke heading east and along the edge of the marsh, where if the Hi Fly blokes see anyone walking they will tell them it’s private. But it’s just a ten minute walk to join up with the public footpath and then two digits to Hi Fly. 

On the flooded stubble still lots of Black-tailed Godwits at 85+, Lapwings at more than 240, 18 Redshank, 6 Snipe, 22 Linnet, 60 Skylark and a single Curlew Sandpiper. It’s getting a little late in the year for Curlew Sandpipers, a species which is a spring and autumn migrant. 

On and around the Hi Fly pools were 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Green Sandpiper, 35 Shelduck and 5 Teal. On the marsh, 35 Whooper Swans and 11 Little Egret.

Reed Bunting

Back home Sue and I started to research a winter break in the sun in 2014, including looking at previous years’ adventures. There are pros and cons for each place whether that is cost, journey time, time of year to visit, previous experiences, Trip Advisor reviews, shopping, sight-seeing, and of course quality and quantity of birds or the lack of. 

So I’m sharing some pictures from recent years with blog readers for their consideration and/or advice as to where the next foray should be. What is perhaps surprising is the birds shown in these pictures also occur in the UK, the single exception being Southern Grey Shrike, however the closely related Great Grey Shrike is an autumn and winter visitor to the UK. 

I actually rather enjoy seeing familiar birds in unfamiliar places as it gives a perspective on the universal commonality or scarcity of a species, so while it can be stimulating to see new birds it isn’t the be all and end all of a sunshine holiday. Here we go in no particular order. I hope everyone enjoys looking at these touristy pictures. There might be a few reruns but there are also new ones. 

Don’t forget to “click the pics” for close-up views.

Fuerteventura

Little Egret - Fuerteventura

Bamboo - Fuertventura

Fuerteventura

Black Redstart - Cyprus

Lizard - Cyprus

 

Cyprus

House Sparrow - Cyprus

Egrets - Egypt

Cattle Egret - Egypt

Lanzarote

Southern Grey Shrike - Lanzarote

Woodchat Shrike - Greece

Skopelos - Greece

Skiathos - Greece

Red-backed Shrike - Skiathos, Greece

Menorca

Hoopoe - Menorca

Heerman's Tortoise - Menorca

 Tawny Pipit - Menorca

I just realised - the sun seems to be shining in each of those pictures. Fingers crossed for better weather soon on Another Bird Blog. 

Linking today to Camera Critters and Anni's Blog.

It's Not Life Or Death

Conder Green was the destination this morning, where a gentle walk and a dose of serious birding seemed a good option for the bright sunshine start. 

I stopped briefly at Braides Farm perhaps the most reliable spot in the Fylde to see Golden Plovers and where sure enough I saw a number of goldies, 45 or so distant in the rough grass field. Much more impressive were the large numbers of Curlews feeding in the soggy field whereby I counted a minimum of 430 birds. 

Feeding in the same field were approximately 600 Starlings, perhaps the reason a female Sparrowhawk was poised "ready to go" on a distant fence post.  Sure enough the hawk dropped to within inches of the ground and in one motion set off low across the field, scattering everything in its path, hoping to surprise some luckless prey. I lost the hawk in the melee but within a minute or two and after a panicked fly about, everything returned to normal. 

I’m posting a picture of Golden Plover courtesy of Princeton University Press which is from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland.

  Golden Plover from  The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland

For anyone who missed it last week, it’s not too late to enter the free draw for a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland here on Another Bird Blog via Last Wednesday's posting.

There were more Curlews at Conder Pool, another 60+ refugees from the flooded fields nearby. Something had disturbed them from their usual hangout, some flying about the pool, others landing briefly but remaining as wary as only Curlews are inclined to be. Also representing the waders were a single Snipe, 1 Oystercatcher, 2 Spotted Redshank and 12 Redshank. 

Curlews

I had a good count of Teal when the wandering but resident cows pushed the duck from their favoured haunt behind the island. Together with the Teal in the creeks it made my count up to 270 birds, dwarfing the other wildfowl and waterbird counts of 14 Little Grebe, 10 Wigeon, 3 Cormorant, 1 drake Pochard and 4 Little Egret. Looking across the marsh I noted another large female Sparrowhawk, this one adopting a slow, gliding flight in the hope of flushing something in passing; with no luck it continued its path and into the caravan park where there will be bird feeders.

Pochard

I decided to try my luck at Glasson where the morning light for counting the wildfowl was dead against me, but there looked to be 150 or more combined Coot and Tufted Duck. 

I’m not in the least a religious person, but I quite like a mooch around a quiet churchyard where gravestones tell wonderful tales of life and death and where birds can be found; usually it’s Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes and in the summer if you’re lucky, Spotted Flycatchers. 

No big thrushes today, just 10 or more Blackbirds which found me a Tawny Owl huddled away in a tree, Chaffinches and Goldfinches joining in the scolding. There was even a Grey Wagtail on the topmost branch of the tree and a Chiffchaff adding its warning call. 

Tawny Owl

 

What a great way to a end a fine morning. There's more of this bird watching lark soon on Another Bird Blog.

Snow Good

Yes, it’s an awful pun but very good to catch up with that wanderer from close to the Arctic Circle, the elusive Snow Bunting. Still no northern thrushes, but all week there’s been Snow Buntings dotted around the UK, even a flock of more than 30 on the North East coast. 

Last week’s high tides left lots of tide wrack, an environment which Snow Buntings often exploit, and I’ve been half hoping to see the whitish buntings along local shores. It was the early morning walk at Pilling which turned up trumps when I recognised the clear “tew” calls and watched a party of eight arrive high from across Morecambe Bay to then settle down on the tideline ahead. 

Within minutes a jogger had sent the birds into the air, calling as they went, me cursing as I watched the birds fly off. Luckily I found a single one further along the walk, possibly a returnee of the original party or a ninth bird. This one hunkered down from the westerly wind and buried itself in the tidal debris where it rapidly found lots of seeds. It ate so fast and continuously that I had to use ISO400 to stop the action. The tide wrack is very deep, the bird so submerged in it that I couldn’t get a single shot to show its shiny black legs, but viewers will get the overall picture. 

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

It’s a number of years since I watched Snow Buntings at the top of the Cairngorms in Scotland, one of the species’ few UK breeding sites. For readers yet to see a summer Snow Bunting below is a photograph courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service which shows the species in its summery but snowy surroundings and wearing seasonal dress. 

Snow Bunting - courtesy of USFWS

After taking a number of shots I wished my Snow Bunting good luck, left it searching through the tideline and continued my walk west to Pilling Water. 

Kingfishers are the most frustrating bird, so tiny and inconspicuous, sitting silently on a featureless bit of the landscape where their fine-tuned eyesight can spot a human being from 100 yards to allow a quick escape. I was beaten again when one circled ahead of me at Broadfleet and then flew back in the direction I’d just travelled.

Sea Embankment - Pilling

Godwits were in force at the flooded stubble fields with 80 Black-tailed Godwits, plus 15 Redshank, 200+ Lapwing, 60+ Skylark, 1 Golden Plover, 6 Snipe, 2 Linnets, 3 Greenfinch and 8 Meadow Pipits. 

Meadow Pipit

Mute Swan

Out on the marsh, 35 Whooper Swan, 6 Mute Swan, 6 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Raven. Raptors seen: a pair of Kestrels together and a Sparrowhawk mobbed by the usual crows. 

That’s all for now but don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter the free draw for a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland here on Another Bird Blog via Wednesday's posting.

Linking today to Stewart's Bird Gallery .

Thursday On Friday

I’m posting for Thursday because I didn’t get chance to do a write up from my usual trip out to Pilling. 

There’s nothing better than getting out birding after being marooned indoors for a few days by inclement weather, especially when there are stories of thousands of thrushes heading south and west from Norway. Apart from the mad rush of early October the autumn has been a poor one for thrushes whereby I’m not seeing any Redwings, Fieldfares, extra numbers of Blackbirds and certainly no Song Thrushes. Yesterday drew another blank, even after I checked the hedgerows of both Ridge Farm and Fluke Hall, hawthorn highlights there just several Greenfinches. 

The fields at Ridge Farm are as wet as I’ve ever seen them, as evidenced by 250+ Black-headed Gulls, 12 Black-tailed Godwits and even 10 Snipe rising from the stubble and upwards of 25 Skylark. There was a hovering Buzzard, soon pestered by the local crows, the Buzzard then heading off back inland. I found more Black-tailed Godwits on the Fluke Hall fields with another 60 or so together with 18 Redshank, 90 Lapwing, 6 Curlew and several more Snipe. A couple of shoots have reduced the number of Red-legged Partridge but still 150+ to see in place of any native partridges. 

There are a lot of Shelduck about at the moment, with a count of 500+ along the shore where a concentrated effort could almost certainly have doubled the guestimate. Unlike most of the UK’s wild duck population Shelducks are protected by law from shooting. But as a species they are far from easy to approach, being just as wild as the “permissible quarry” of Teal, Wigeon and Pintail which also spend most of their time out on the shore and marsh. 

Pilling Marsh, distant Heysham

 

I managed to place myself in a handy spot to get a few pictures as a dozen or two Shelduck came in from the marsh heading for the shooter’s pools where wheat is put out to attract wildfowl in. The wind was just strengthening, making the Shelduck slow down their approach flight, some almost vertical before they landed, others applying the brakes perfectly in time, yet others miscuing and then having to go round again for another landing attempt. Their circlings reminded me of a flight to India some years ago where we spent an hour or more viewing Dabolim Airport from a great height, going around in circles and wondering if we’d ever land, until eventually we scraped home by the skin of our nervous fingers and a holiday in Glorious Goa.

There’s a close-up of a Shelduck being ringed at the Wildfowl Trust winter catch of a few years ago. 

Shelduck

Shelduck

Shelduck

Shelduck

 Shelduck

A walk along the sea wall produced another 30+ Skylarks and a welcome if brief Merlin in the usual low dash over the marsh. I say usual but it was my first autumnal Merlin, the species appearing slow to return to its coastal haunts this year. The Merlin had appeared from near Pilling Water the spot where I found 15 or so feeding Meadow Pipits, these birds so late in the autumn as to be potential winterers. One sat up on a fence post and watched my progress along the path.

 

Meadow Pipit

Just 7 Whooper Swans today so it appears the Icelandic swans have left Pilling for more appealing places: no worries, I’ll make do with a picture of Mute Swans. How do swans fly so close together without causing a major pile-up in the airways?

Mute Swan

There was a headless Pink-footed Goose behind the sea wall, a spot I don’t often see a Red Fox but the decapitated evidence suggests one may have been along quite recently, leaving the crows and gulls to follow on. I can’t imagine a pinkie being nabbed by a fox unless the goose was injured in some way, perhaps as a result of a recent shoot on the marsh.

ex Pink-footed Goose

That’s all for now but don’t forget that it’s not too late to enter the Free Draw for a signed copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland here on Another Bird Blog via Wednesday’s post.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and  Camera Critters