BTO Surveys

January is always a busy month, and sadly it often entails spending time indoors. I have my annual tax return to file before the end of the month, then I spend lots of time getting my bird notes for the previous year up to date for the county recorder, loading records on to iRecord for plants, butterflies, moths, mammals and assorted invertebrates, all of which takes time. I am always relieved when January is out of the way. But, I did manage to get out over the past three weeks, even completing three BTO surveys.  

Our first BTO survey was just over a couple of weeks ago, when Gail and I had a ringing session at our feeding station on our good friend's farm near Nateby. We had clear skies, a light south-easterly breeze, and a slight frost. 

Between net rounds, sitting at the ringing table, I record everything that we see and hear, and from an observation perspective it was quiet. We logged a couple of Fieldfares and a Song Thrush, and two Buzzards, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, and 24 Lapwings went over. 

We ringed 33 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Tree Sparrow - 17 (1)

Great Tit - 5 (5)

Chaffinch - 4

Robin - 2 (1)

Goldfinch - 1

Dunnock - 2

Wren - 1

Blue Tit - 1 (7)

 

Tree Sparrow
 

A couple of days later, we undertook BTO survey number two, our Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count on the reservoir adjacent to the Wyre estuary, and the old docks at Fleetwood. 

It was another clear morning with a light south-easterly wind, and it was cold. In fact about 80% of the reservoir was frozen, and this is where all the birds were congregating. It doesn't usually hold any numbers of dabbling ducks, but I suspect that we had all the Shovelers from water bodies in the local area that were still frozen.

 

Shovelers on the ice
 

We counted 55 Shovelers, 5 Little Grebes, 21 Coots, 2 Mute Swans, 4 Moorhens, 4 Mallards, 24 Tufted Ducks, 7 Herring Gulls, and 2 Black-headed Gulls.

 

Mute Swan and Coot

 

Coots on the edge of the ice

 

Ten days ago, we were in the shelter underneath the lighthouse overlooking the Wyre estuary to carry out a Winter Gull Survey (WinGS). This was BTO survey number three for the month, and this time we had full cloud cover, but that cold south-easterly wind still troubled our fingers and toes. 

 

Our Gull roost survey totals were 51 Black-headed Gulls, 65 Common Gulls, 7 Great Black-backed Gulls, 619 Herring Gulls, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

 

Also in the estuary, were 11 Eiders, that were joined by a female Teal, and ten Shelducks. It was a very pleasant couple of hours, although we were glad to get back in the car to warm up!

 

Just rewinding to early afternoon, before we set off to complete our WinGS survey, we noticed that the 2nd winter male Sparrowhawk was back in our garden. Once again, he was perched in the apple tree, and he was looking at the ground where the mice feed below the feeders. At one point he looked up, and that was because a Greenfinch had landed in the apple tree above him. He's a cracking bird!

 

Sparrowhawk (above & below)

 

Looking at the apple tree, I noticed some fungus on one of the Willows, and after the Sparrowhawk had flown off, I went out and had a look. I identified it as Silverleaf Fungus, and my identification was confirmed by fungus guru, Fungal Punk Dave. Not rare, but we had never recorded it before, so we were very pleased.  

Silverleaf Fungus

 

We have been keeping the feeding station going, and it requires topping up about every four days. About a week ago, I went to top up, and it was a dreich day, but I decided to have a wander through the woodland to see if I could detect any early signs of spring.  

 

A Brambling was new in, but sadly I only heard it, but locally there has been a few around this winter. I came across three Brown Hares in the woodland, with one coming very close to me as I sheltered from the rain. I tried to get through the wet woodland, across the dyke, and in to the drier ancient semi-natural woodland, but the water was too deep. Out on the wetland were at least 150 Teal, but surprisingly no Wigeon.

I came across some Jelly Ear Fungus, and the male Hazel catkins were opening, but I couldn't find any of the delicate, red, female flowers. Perhaps it is still too early. 

 

Jelly Ear Fungus (above & below)

 

 

Male Hazel catkins
 

This morning,Gail and I had a walk to Rossall Point over the high tide to have a look at the roosting waders, and it would mainly be waders that we recorded. We found the area of the shore that the waders were roosting on, and we had 87 Turnstones, 7 Oystercatchers, 221 Sanderlings, 2 Dunlins, 7 Knots, 45 Ringed Plovers, and 2 Purple Sandpipers. We bumped into Barry, and it was nice to have a catch up with him. 

 

Knot and Turnstones

 

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpipers and Turnstones 

 

Ringed Plovers 

 

Sanderlings 

 

The forecast isn't looking too bad over the next few days, so hopefully we'll get out some more. 

 

Looking back in my notebook for this time last year, I had male Common Frogs calling from my garden pond, but I haven't heard any as yet! I'll have to make sure I keep popping out at night to have a listen. I suspect that it is too cold at the moment.

Post Festive Field Excursions

I'm glad all the festive celebrations are over, and we can get back to normal. Apologies to those of you that enjoy the mid-winter festivities, however you celebrate! 

It was Boxing Day before Gail and I could get out, and after all the family had departed, we managed an hours walk after lunch along the Wyre estuary from the Quay. It was a very grey day, one of those days where it seems to barely come light, but at least it was calm, and therefore didn't feel too cold. 

There were a few waders out on the mud in the quay, namely 35 Redshanks, 11 Oystercatchers, and 11 Knot. We had a group of 19 Teal, plus four other birds (two pairs) that were doing what I call 'sledge feeding'. This is resting their breast and belly on the mud, and pushing themselves along with their feet, as they move their heads from side to side feeding. It is of course just filter feeding, but the sledging helps them to feed. 

 

Knot

 

Teal - sledge feeding
 

Out on the Wyre we noticed a hundred Lapwings, and 150 Golden Plovers get up, and we assumed they had been flushed by the pair of Peregrines that were knocking about. A group of 50 Wigeon were on the edge of the river, and that was it for birds.

We found some Smooth Sow-thistle that was flowering, and some Vetch and White Stonecrop that looked particularly verdant, making us think that spring was just around the corner, when we know there's a fair bit of winter to get through yet.

 

Vetch sp. looking particularly verdant
 

Since I last posted, Gail and I have been keeping our feeding station going, but haven't managed to have a ringing session as yet. A couple of days before the end of December, after we had topped all the feeders up, we had a wander through the woodland that the feeding station is next to on our good friend's farm. It was nice to have a wander amongst the trees, and in the process we flushed three Woodcocks, and a Tawny Owl heard us coming and made an exit before we got anywhere near it. Interestingly, it was fairly close to a box that was used by Tawny Owls last year, so that could be promising.

 

We found some lovely examples of Birch Polypore on some fallen Birch dead-wood. It is a very common fungus, and according to my Collins Fungi Guide, one of the commonest in England, but spectacular nonetheless. 

 

Birch Polypore
 

We didn't get out on New Year's Day, mainly because the weather wasn't great, but managed a walk in the crisp sunshine along the back of the golf course to Rossall Point, and back along the shore. 

Going back to the 1980s, the back of the golf course, or behind the sea wall, used to be regularly frequented by flocks, yes flocks, of Snow Buntings and Twite. Not today alas, just a Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail foraging around the wet flushes and rank grassland. 

 

Meadow Pipit

 

Pied Wagtail
 

The tide height was over 9 metres, and this had pushed 91 Oystercatchers onto the golf course, where some roosted, and others fed. As we reached the dunes, we were greeted by a pair of Stonechats that were feeding along the interface between the sea wall, that faces south into the sun, and the dunes. They were using the fence posts to perch on, and sally forth from on their feeding sorties. 

 

Oystercatchers

 

Stonechat
 

On the shore, over a couple of sections of beach, and out on the new stone groynes, 161 Turnstones, 70 Ringed Plovers, 60 Sanderlings, a Dunlin, and a Purple Sandpiper roosted. We didn't have a 'scope with us, so all we recorded on the sea were 20 Eiders and a Red-throated Diver that headed west. 

 

Dunlin, Sanderlings and Turnstones

 

Purple Sandpiper

Turnstones
 

On the way home, we had a look through the Pink-footed Geese, c. 500 of them, that were feeding in the farm fields, but we couldn't find any other species lurking amongst them.

 

Pink-footed Geese
 

We were back at the Quay a dew days ago, and the complete cloud cover was keeping all the cold in, and the south-easterly wind was biting. Not quite as many Redshanks and Oystercatchers this time, just 15 and 9 respectively, but the Knot numbers had increased to 21. 

No sledge feeding Teal today, just 12 hauled out on the mud. A group of 22 Mallards were feeding in the creeks of, and on the saltmarsh, and 60 Wigeon were on the river. A Great Spotted Woodpecker along the edge of the old ferry car park was a good record. 

On the way home we had a look through the Pinkies again, and there were 700 of them, and nothing else. The forecast is looking not too shabby for the next few days, but typically I've got various things on. I think it's called Sod's law!

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!