Solstice Greetings

It's that time of year again, when the shortest day is upon us, and we can celebrate the return of the sun. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all Solstice Greetings, and here's hoping that the new year will be peaceful, and full of lots of natural history. 

 

Happy Solstice

 

I haven't got a great deal to report I'm afraid since my last post, mainly because of the usual; weather and availability. I think I've said it before, but there has been a distinct lack of the availability and weather Gods aligning of late! 

 

We had a walk from the Quay and along the Wyre Estuary one afternoon towards the end of November, but it was fairly quiet. There were few waders feeding on the mudflats, just 18 Redshanks, nine Oystercatchers, and three Curlews.

 

Curlew 

 

The most interesting thing that we encountered was a Carrion Crow attempting to open muscle shells on the old ferry terminal. It was holding the muscle with its feet, and attempting to lever the bivalve open, without success during the time we watched it. The old ferry terminal is littered with thousands of broken muscle shells, opened mainly by Gulls dropping them on to the hard surface.  

 

Carrion Crow attempting to open a muscle (above & below)

 

 We came across these seed heads from some Hawkbit sp., that we thought

looked like mini pompoms!

 

I had a site meeting just under a month ago at my client's farm in Bowland, to look at possible locations for a few new wader scrapes. All the time we were there, a Barn Owl was out hunting late morning close to the old field barn. John said that most days of late, he had seen 1 or 2 Barn Owls hunting throughout the day. It's never a good sign when Barn Owls are hunting throughout the day, and I suspect they are struggling to find food because of it being a poor vole year. Sometimes it can be weather related, particularly if there have been a series of wet nights preventing them from hunting, but when it is day after day, it is more than that. 

 

Gail and I stopped in a gateway on one of the farm tracks to put our boots on, close to a wide ditch and some pools, and we flushed a Green Sandpiper, so that was nice. Other birds on a non full-on birding morning included, a male Stonechat, Kestrel, and Raven. 

 

We have been keeping the feeding station going on our good friend's farm near Nateby, but unfortunately haven't had the opportunity for a ringing session as yet. At the moment, the birds are emptying two large seed feeders holding 17 kg of seed in each, and two six port tube feeders in about four days!

 

Tree Sparrows at the feeding station. 

 

It was nice to see some male catkins out on the Hazel at the feeding station.
 

Earlier in the month, I had a walk along the Biological Heritage Site, Larkholme Grasslands, along the back of the golf course to Rossall Point, and back to my car. It was quiet! I tried to photograph a Meadow Pipit that was foraging in some rank grassland, with mixed results. Shortly after that, I had a family party of four exuberant Ravens fly over heading east, that were full of high spirits, carrying out all sorts of aerobatics, and genuinely just seemed to be having fun playing together. 

 

Meadow Pipit
 

I walked back along the shore, but there weren't many waders roosting, just 27 Oystercatchers, 14 Turnstones, 22 Ringed Plovers, eleven Sanderlings and a Dunlin. A couple of scans of the sea with my bins produced a nice flock of 53 Eiders, a Great Crested Grebe, ten Common Scoters, and a Red-throated Diver. 

 

Ringed Plovers and Sanderlings
 

I heard a familiar call as I was walking along the shore, but a call that I don't hear too often, and it was the call of one of my favourite Gulls, the Common Gull. A single bird dropped on to the beach, and flew off after a short while when the tide pushed it off. You can't beat a Common Gull call! Perhaps a Mediterranean Gull call maybe! 

 Common Gull

 

A few days ago, I decided to spend an hour or so watching the garden feeders, using my shed as a hide. So, I sat in the shed with the door propped open, small table in front of me, with my bins, notebook, camera, and coffee on it. The usual suspects came to the feeders, including Blue and Great Tits, Robin, Dunnock, Goldfinches, House Sparrows, and Blackbirds on the Apples. Recently, we have been getting a group of at least four Greenfinches feeding on the sunflower hearts, but as the shed is close to their favoured feeder (furthest from the house), sadly they kept away. 

 

Goldfinches 

 

House Sparrow - male

 

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, and looked up to see a male Sparrowhawk in the Apple tree. Through my bins I could see that he was a second winter bird, with some brown retained secondaries and lesser coverts. Unfortunately, the sky was bright behind him, but I did manage to get some half-decent shots, for me anyway, and you can see some of them below. After a while he dropped down to the trunk of a lower Willow, but I only managed to get one picture of him there. And then he was off. A privilege to spend some time in his company! 

 

 

I'm busy indoors at the moment, trying to get all my records updated and on to BirdTrack and iRecord, so maybe it's not too bad that the forecast isn't great over the next few days. Then we've got that pesky celebration in the middle of next week, and after that, things can return to normal. I can't wait.     

Autumn In A Bird

I suppose it is winter now, we've had the first frosts, and we've even had a few snow flurries, which for us is unusual for November. Autumn seems to have slipped by without much of a fanfare, which is such a shame, as October is probably one of, if not the best, birding month of the year. Part of the problem for us, was not being able to access the reedbed and scrub at the Nature Park, because of a person or persons unknown, camping in the area we carry out our survey work. We lost the whole of October because of this, and it wasn't until the 8th November that the campers were removed. Being philosophical about it, that's how it goes sometimes. 

 

My blog posts seem to have slipped to become fortnightly, or even monthly, summaries, and I'm not sure how that has happened. And this post is no different, as I'm going back to the 27th October to kick things off. 

 

Gail and I started off at the Mount Park under five oktas cloud cover, with a 2 - 3 south-westerly wind, to see if there was any vis. After half an hour spent here, it was obvious very quickly, that there wasn't any vis, as all we had was a Grey Wagtail west.

 

We then headed to the Quay to have a walk from there to the mouth of the estuary. The first thing that made it into my notebook from here, was a lovely Red Admiral. Out on the mud in the quay were 68 Redshanks, and 27 Oystercatchers. When we got to the mouth of the estuary, we could see that at least a thousand Oystercatchers were feeding on Great Knott. 

 

There was little vis here as well, and all we had were 55 Jackdaws heading south-east, and a female Sparrowhawk that flew west across the estuary, that may, or may not have been moving. It was certainly heading in the right direction for this time of year over the peninsula. 

 

At the end of October, we had a walk around the Nature Park, and this doubled up as an opportunity to check if the tent was still in our ringing area. It was another grey day, and the wind was still fixed in the west. As usual, the soundtrack to the site was that of the explosive song of the Cetti's Warbler, and we had two singing birds. The vis was once again thin on the ground, with just a handful of Chaffinches, and Skylarks south.

 

This lichen, Parmotrema perlatum, was on the timber on the bridge across

one of the pools
 

 

Out on the pools were eleven Shovelers, two Little Grebes, 20 Coots, five Tufted Ducks, 14 Moorhens, 57 Mallards, 32 Black-headed Gulls, and out on the river 32 Wigeon. 

 

Black-headed Gull

 

Coot

Shoveler
 

In early November, in fact on the day that a certain percentage of the UK population, attempts to disturb wildlife by putting matches to gunpowder, in so called fireworks, allegedly celebrating some dodgy historic event that probably half of the people celebrating have no idea about, we had a walk down to the salt-marshes on the River Wyre. It was yet another grey day, but the wind had swung round to the south-east.

 

The public footpath winds its way through Hawthorn scrub on a raised bank, and at least 25 Blackbirds, a Song Thrush, and eight Redwings fed on the berry laden branches. We headed upstream, and past the reservoir that held 27 Tufted Ducks, a Coot, five Moorhens, three Mallards, a Mute Swan, four Little Grebes, and four Goldeneyes. 

 

Tufted Ducks
 

The tide was already up to the edge of the saltmarsh and filling the tidal creeks, and it flushed a Rock Pipit, and a Jack Snipe, with the latter being our first for the autumn. We were just in time to count 37 Wigeon, and 200 Lapwings, before these too were dispersed by the incoming tide. 

 

Wigeon and Teal in a flooded saltmarsh creek
 

On our walk back, the ever elusive Kingfisher was again heard and not seen, and from the scrub by the old railway line we had a Bullfinch calling, which is fairly uncommon in this part of the Fylde. We came across some Hogweed that was flowering, and as might be expected, it had a few insects on it. 

 

Hogweed
 

We had our first Fieldfares of the autumn the following day when we had a flock of 150 head south over the house.     

Continuing with the winter thrush theme, Gail and I had our last ringing session at the Nature Park for the year a couple of weeks ago. We were there early to get our nets up in the dark, with the aim of trying to ring Redwings in particular. 

We ringed 18 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Redwing - 7

Long-tailed Tit - 1

Reed Bunting - 3

Goldfinch - 1

Greenfinch - 6

Blue Tit - (1)

Dunnock - (1)

 

Dunnock

 

Autumn in a bird, aka a Redwing
 
 

Whilst we were extracting the Redwings, Gail commented that they were like "autumn in a bird", because of the autumnal colours of their plumage; from reds through to burnt orange, with every shade of brown in between. I think Gail is right! 

 

In addition to the Redwings that we ringed, we had somewhere in the region of 77 Redwings, and 37 Fieldfares during the early morning, so not huge numbers. The vis was yet again quiet, with just handfuls of Lesser Redpoll (technically just Redpoll now), Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, and Skylark over. On one net round when we walking into the reeds and scrub, we flushed a Woodcock which was our first of the autumn. 

 

We found two species of fungi in our net rides, but we could only get them down to family; Gallerina sp., and Trametes sp.  

 

Gallerina sp. (above)

 

Trametes sp. (above)
 

As you would expect, insects are getting scarce as we move into winter, but on warmer days I have had a few queen Buff-tailed Bumblebees on the wing. 

A few days later, we were back at the Quay and the Wyre estuary. In the car park is a large clump of Ivy, hanging over the fence from a neighbouring garden, and it was still full of blow flies, hover flies and wasps. It's such a good late source of nectar. 

The tide was dropping, and a few waders were dropping in on the freshly exposed mud including 31 Redshanks, 22 Black-tailed Godwits, and a Knot. Out on the river were six Little Egrets, eight Oystercatchers, and three Curlews. 

Fog rolled in about half an hour after we set off, causing the temperature to drop, and quieten everything down as if under a blanket of cotton wool. A Common Drone Fly on some Yarrow certainly wasn't for moving in the now cool, and damp conditions. 

 

Common Drone Fly
 

As we headed back to the car we came across a Ruby Tiger caterpillar hurriedly making its way across the quay. Caterpillar food plants include Ragworts, Plantains, Dock, and Dandelion, of which there are plenty at the quay. 

 

Ruby Tiger caterpillar

 

This is the gorgeous moth that the Ruby Tiger caterpillar will become.
 
 

Our feeding station is up and running now at our good friend's farm near Nateby, and we are just topping it up about every 6 - 7 days at the moment. Tree Sparrows, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Blue, Great, and Coal Tits are all busily feeding away. On one of our visits we had a flock of 180 Golden Plovers fly over heading south, and it made me think that Golden Plovers always seem to be in a hurry! In a field gateway in the bottom of the hedge we came across some Sulphur Tuft fungi, but it was past its best. 

 

Filling the feeders up at the feeding station (above)

 

Greenfinches with their heads in the feeding ports

A Sulphur Tuft's eye view of a Sulphur Tuft
 

As I have mentioned numerous times before, I love looking at all my notebooks that I have going back to 1977, and I like to randomly get one of the shelf and have a delve in. On this day (25th November) in 1984, I was at Marton Mere Local Nature Reserve (LNR), and some of my counts really stand out. These include 57 Tufted Ducks, 60 Shovelers, three Ruddy Ducks, 35 Pochards, and 20 Grey Partridge! Nothing unusual, but boy have things changed!  

Defiant Blooms Amidst Autumn Colours

I love the colours of autumn, both the defiant blooms of late flowering plants, and the yellows and reds, as the leaves change colour. The colours are so rich and deep, against the backdrop of the monochrome days of the approaching winter. It almost feels like a last hurrah before the days shorten, and the temperatures drop. 

 

Once again, it has been nearly three weeks since I last posted, and Gail and I have been out, but unfortunately not seeing a great deal. We have been trying! We have been regularly checking the cemetery and the coastal park for things like Yellow-browed Warblers (they're everywhere this autumn), and other  migrants, without any luck.   

We had our first Redwings for the autumn over our garden on the night of 3rd October, and since then they have been regular on suitable nights. I haven't run my garden light trap since the night of 3rd/4th October, when I only caught four moths of four species; Red-green Carpet, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Setaceous Hebrew Character, and Diamond-back Moth. The Red-green Carpet was a new species for the garden though, so that was nice. 

Just under a fortnight ago, we had a walk along the Wyre Estuary from the Quay, and lots of defiant blooms were being very showy, and contrasting nicely against the reds and browns of autumn. It really was glorious to see their bright, colourful flowers putting on one last show, and providing a late nectar lifeline for flying insects. 

 

Smooth Sow-thistle

 

Common Carrot

 

Common Toadflax

 

Dandelion

Ragwort

Red Clover
 

The rose hips were bursting with colour, splashes of a deep rich red, against a sepia background. They were also bursting with juicy, plump loveliness, that the Greenfinches will find irresistible. 

 

Rose hips (above & below)

 

Out on the mud of the quay were few waders, just 26 Redshanks and eight Oystercatchers. Close to where the boats are moored, we heard a Kingfisher calling, and it shot past the boats and perched up on a raised mound of mud that was slightly drier. I managed to get my bins on the Kingfisher briefly, and could see that it was a female, but before I could raise my camera it was off. 

 

Not the best shot of a Redshank, but I like the reflection within a shadow!
 

Further along the quayside amongst the Elder, Hawthorn and Rowans, two Dunnocks were full of migratory excitement. They were constantly calling, perching up on the top of the vegetation, or on the fence, and looking skywards. It wouldn't be long before they built up the courage, and threw themselves into the air for a short migratory hop. I have seen this many times before at this time of year. One bird I watched took several attempts at take-off, before flying round in circles, climbing at the same time, and then heading south. 

 

Excitable Dunnock number one

 

Excitable Dunnock number two

On the river were six Little Egrets, and a Rock Pipit lifted off the saltmarsh giving its thin call. A few Meadow Pipits and Grey Wagtails went over heading south.

 

Five days ago, I headed to the coastal fields at Larkholme for an autumnal wander. As I got out of my car a male Peregrine went over heading south, and I thought, "that was a good start", but the 'Peg' would turn out to be the highlight.

 

Along the embankment behind the sea-wall were some gorgeous autumn colours belonging to Sea Sandwort, and Sea Milk-wort, and a few defiant blooms of Sea Campion.

 

Sea Sandwort

 

Sea Milk-wort

Late flowering Sea Holly
 

I didn't have anything going over on vis, as it was a bit murky to the south and east, and I suspect the 32 Meadow Pipits in one of the wet fields were being held up. A male Stonechat added a splash of colour to the monochrome of the dunes, and a female Sparrowhawk was a bit ambitious with an attempt at a Jackdaw. 

 

Back at the sea wall after my walk around the farm fields, two Wheatears were on the sea wall, and a lovely Red Admiral motored past. 

 

Wheatear
 

On Monday, Gail and I had a walk down to the Wyre Estuary along the public footpath through the 'Hawthorn tunnel' as we like to call it. A group of 18 Blackbirds were feeding on Hawthorn berries alongside a Song Thrush, and five Redwings, and the Redwings perhaps indicated a Scandinavian origin for the Blackbirds. 

 

Always on the look out, and most certainly always listening, for Bearded Tits at this time of year, we had two Cetti's Warblers giving their explosive song from some of the areas of reedbed. 

 

As we got down to the river, Pink-footed Geese were heading west in small groups, and we had nearly 400 over. A few Jackdaws were heading south, and we had 180 in total. 

 

Pink-footed Geese
 

Walking past the reservoir, before we got to our spot to 'scope' the river, we could hear Kingfisher calling, but sadly it would remain unseen. Out on the 'res' were eight Tufted Ducks, seven Coots, six Moorhens, and five Little Grebes. 

 

Little Grebe
 

As the tide ran in, it was corralling and flushing waders and wildfowl, and we counted 616 Lapwings, 270 Wigeons, 62 Redshanks, and 195 Teal. Out on the river a few Gulls gathered, including 270 Herring Gulls.

 

Some of the 616 Lapwings
 

The incoming tide also pushed a few passerines off the saltmarsh in the form of, 14 Skylarks, six Rock Pipits, and 21 Linnets.

 

On our walk back to the car we admired the seed heads of Teasel, and a lovely late flowering specimen. 

 

Teasel (above & below)

 

 

We haven't managed a ringing session for a couple of weeks, mainly because the days that we have been available, the weather hasn't played ball. However, at the moment the weather forecast for the weekends looks okay-ish, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.