At last...

...it was dry enough to get out, just, but I was due to feed my ravenous Tree Sparrows, again! I pulled up at the barn where the feeding bins are located on Rawcliffe Moss and collected two buckets of seed. Towards Turnover Hall farm I could see some white blobs and once I had 'binned' them I could see that they were four Whooper Swans. As I got in my car a Grey Wag dropped in to feed briefly around 'tailings' mountain before being flushed by a vehicle coming along the track.

A great deal of the flood water had subsided compared to a couple of days ago, but water levels in the ditches were still high.

There was still some flood water on the field directly west of the track and 350 Black-headed Gulls were taking the opportunity to feed and bathe. I grilled them as best as you can with a pair of 10 x 40 bins, but there were no Meds amongst them. There were, however, 24 Lapwings and seven Common Gulls.

Starlings were also feeding on the wet pastures and at this locality I had 700 birds, but by the end of my hours walk round I had seen 1,712 in various locations. I also had my largest number of Woodpigeons so far this autumn/winter made all the more obvious by the 'guns' on Turnover Hall making everything within a mile radius 'flighty'. In all I had 3,102 nervous Woodpigeons flying back and forth across the mossland.

A few Pink-feet went over, 70 in all, and again today Tree Sparrows reached their highest numbers for winter so far at 219. Mixed amongst them were the usual Chaffinch, about 25 in total, but this total could have been higher. As I was putting the food out, two Swans came flying towards me and I thought they were going to be Whoopers, but I heard their 'singing' wings and two Mutes came over the hedge low and landed on the flood behind the hedge. In fact, the same flood that held 13 Whoopers a couple of days before.

I decided to have a walk along the '97' hedge and on to the plantation. Along the '97' hedge I had three Song Thrushes and 37 Fieldfares feeding on hawthorn berries in a lone hawthorn just beyond the pond. Further up the field I pushed four Roe Deer from the hedge and these in turn flushed five Snipe as they bounced across the adjacent stubble field.

Continuing along the hedge five Redwing went over and a single Reed Bunting called form near the Badger set. On the top fields I only had four Skylarks get up with a single Meadow Pipit. A walk through the plantation didn't reveal very much other than six Goldfinch and some calling Long-tailed Tits that I couldn't get on to.

I walked through the plantation and out on to the northern side and had a tight flock of about 100 wheeling Jackdaws. They were behaving as though a predator was about and then the predator appeared in the form of a Peregrine. It wasn't interested in the Jackdaws, but they weren't going to take any chances.

It was at this point that it started to rain and I hurriedly made my way back to the car. As you know I have a penchant for North American birds and my mate Nigel sent me a few pictures of an adult female Cooper's hawk that he caught and ringed recently. In North America, or should I say in southern Ontario, there are two fairly common Accipiters, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. Sharp-shinned or Sharpies as they are known are smaller than our Sparrowhawk and Cooper's are bigger, somewhere between Sparrowhawk and Goshawk. Nevertheless, I imagine the Cooper's below was quite a handful!

Wet And Windy

Another day and more wind and rain. As usual I had to feed my ravenous throng of Tree Sparrows and at lunchtime I nipped out to give them their two buckets of seed. Over the past couple of days a great deal of water has fallen from the skies! On the way to the farm I stopped to take a few pictures of the River Wyre as follows.

River Wyre - Town End, looking downstream

River Wyre at Cartford looking downstream

River Wyre at Cartford looking upstream

Once I got on to the Moss House I could see that the fields surrounding the feeding station were flooded again. As I walked out of the barn with my two buckets of seed I could see some white shapes in the distance towards the track and I thought to myself "Whoopers". I lifted my bins and there were 13 Whooper Swans feeding on a flood adjacent to the feeding station hedge. I drove a little further down the road and had another look at them. As I was stopped looking at the Whoopers a little juvenile male Sparrowhawk shot along the field and over the hedge just in front of me. Magic!

I pulled on to the track and I could see that the Whoopers were quite close so I took a few snaps with my camera. They're record shots at best, but you can tell that they're Whoopers. Can't you?


Looking west at the large field I could see that this was quite flooded also and then a couple of Buzzards battling their way left into the wind caught my attention. The rear bird was carrying what looked like a rat! I could see that it was a large mammal with it's tail hanging down. In the end carrying the rat got too much for the Buzzard and it dropped on to a stubble field to the west of the wet one. Unfortunately I couldn't see whether it started to eat the rat, or whether it was just having a rest. The other bird didn't stop, but carried on battling against the wind.


I set off down the track with my two buckets of seed and because of the windy conditions it was very difficult to count anything as everything was sticking close to the hedge. I estimated about 15-20 Chaffinch and 180 Tree Sparrows, but there could easily have been more than this.

As I approached the bottom of the hedge 30 Fieldfares were flying south low over the field. I imagine that they would have been feeding on invertebrates brought to the surface by flooding. Whatever they were doing it was nice to see them as they have been a bit scarce over here this autumn.

More Of The Same

When is this bloody weather going to end? I asked myself this at lunchtime and checked the forecast and it is going to remain wet and westerly until at least Saturday (21st)! At the moment I just feel, no, know that I'm on a birding tread mill. So once again it was off to my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss to feed again today. Now, don't get me wrong I enjoy running the feeding station and it provides food to Lancashire's largest flock of wintering Tree Sparrows, but it would be good to get out somewhere else on the days that I don't have to feed.

When I arrived at the feeding station this morning I could see Phil's vehicle parked on the track. I walked along the hedgerow and put two buckets of seed down. Tree Sparrows were up by three birds to 210, which is the highest count so far this winter. I wonder if they will top 300 like they did last winter? With the Tree Sparrows were perhaps 15 Chaffinch and 3-4 Blackbirds moved down the hedge in front of me.

As I got back to the car Phil arrived back from his walk. He had been down the track shortly before me so it was interesting how soon the Tree Sparrows returned to feed after being disturbed. We both lamented the current weather situation and then it was off to work for me.

Now I am going to finish with a picture of a 'foxy' little bird, quite literally a Fox Sparrow, from my mate Nigel in Canada.

Some might call it desperation...

...and others might call it science and dedication! Despite not getting to bed until 1.00 a.m. this morning I still set my alarm for 06:30, got up, listened as the "rain auditioned at my window" (Marillion reference there!) and then went back to bed. When I got up again a couple of hours later it was still raining, a carbon copy of yesterday.

'Her indoors', or should I say Gail, had made a bird cake last week and I had been putting it out in the garden on the ground feeder and in a disabled drop trap to tempt a few Starlings in. Today I decided to set the drop trap and see if I could ring a few Starlings. "You must have been desperate" I can hear some of you shout! Anyway, an hour or two later not a single Starling was ringed!

This afternoon between the showers I went to Rawcliffe Moss to feed the Tree Sparrows and I was hoping to have a walk round between the showers and do a bit of birding. Typically as I set off down the track the heavens opened and that put paid to my afternoons birding! Just like on Friday there were a good number of Tree Sparrows at the feeding station and I counted 207, exactly the same as Friday. There didn't seem quite as many Chaffinches, but some of these could have already set off to their roost, and Blackbirds were similar with ten along the hedge. Only one Yellowhammer this afternoon, but I did have six Corn Buntings feeding on spilt grain on the concrete apron in front of the farm buildings.

I am not sure whether I will get out much in the week as the weather looks absolutely atrocious, but I will try my best.

I haven't any relevant pictures to illustrate today's blog so below is a picture of a Lincoln Sparrow that I ringed at Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station in Toronto in 2005. Quite a dull bird you might think, but it does have some nice subtle plumage markings.

Too Wet

In case you were wondering whether I got out this morning; I didn't. I did set my alarm as I said for 06:30, but it was lashing it down, so it was back to bed for a lie in. As I write this it is still raining, so frustratingly I haven't been out. The problem with my local patch is that there aren't any sites on reserves with hides or sites where you can watch from the car. Now I don't mind birding in the rain if there is a chance of some grounded migrants, in fact I love it, but at this time of year all you do is get wet and see knob all.

At the moment the forecast is very similar for tomorrow, but as always I'll set my alarm and have a look even though it will be a late night tonight for me. Dedication! Or should that be foolishness!

For a splash of colour on a grey day, below is a picture of a Kingfisher I took in the hand in 2006.

Afternoon Feed

I called at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss to feed the ravenous hordes of Tree Sparrows this afternoon. As I collected a bucket of seed from the barn three Whooper Swans flew past closely followed by a Kestrel. That's a nice start I thought. It was a pleasant afternoon and I was looking forward to a walk round.


On to the track to put the food down and I had 8 Blackbirds in the hedge but no other Thrushes. The Blackbirds were feeding on the Hawthorn berries, but I have put quite a lot of soft fruit down so as soon as the berries go there will be other food for them.

Straight away I could see that the numbers of Tree Sparrows and Chaffinch had increased. A count/guestimate as I walked down the track revealed 207 Tree Sparrows and 25 Chaffinch. Also at the feeding station were 3 Yellowhammers. Normally I don't get them feeding at the feeding station until after Christmas, but they are often present along the hedge hanging round one of the Pheasant feeders.

As I turned to head up the 97 hedge I had a Peregrine go over carrying prey and as I got to the 'top' fields 8 Skylarks got off the stubble and I flushed a single Corn Bunting. I was going to head up to the plantation but I could see that Phillip (the farmer) and his lads were working up there. They were fencing the west side of the plantation off so they could put some sheep in the field next to it and prevent them from straying into the plantation.

I then headed south along the track and back towards my car. Not much along here other than a party of 17 Lapwings going over and 8 Long-tailed Tits near Curlew Wood. On the receding floods 35 Black-headed Gulls fed alongside 4 Common Gulls. Aren't Common Gulls cracking birds?

On my way home I stopped off at Town End to have a look on the river, hoping for a few Whoopers on the grazing marsh or a Goosander on the river, but all I had were four Mute Swans and nineteen Canada Geese.

I'm not sure what to do tomorrow as there is a morning tide but the wind direction and strength, strong SSE, is all wrong for a sea watch. I suppose I'll set my alarm and have a look.

Mid-week Update

Well I say mid-week update, but I haven't got much to report other than a few 'padders'. Padders, now that's a word I haven't used for a while. I wonder if it is still used in twitcher's parlance?

I haven't had much at home this week, well because I have been at work. You know what it's like, out before light and home after dark! The other morning I noticed that the House Sparrows still liked to spend time in the hawthorn in my front garden and I had 6 as I got in my car to go to work. Mentioning House Sparrows at all is a sign of the times. As you all know they used to be very common and I can remember a time that the BTO would frown upon us if we ringed too many. Back in the early 80s the ringing group used to catch Greenfinches in a roost on the island at Fleetwood Marine Lake and with the Greenfinches roosted House Sparrows. Can you believe it that we used to ring the Greenfinches and chuck any House Sparrows that we caught! In fact I was looking at the notes section of some old field sheets recently and a member of the group wrote "desperate Eaves ringed a House Sparrow, sensible Slade threw one a way"! Now, who was the sensible one!

My office feeders have been busy with Nuthatch and Coalt Tit all week and on Monday I could hear that 2009 autumn rarity, Goldcrest, calling from the woodland! Pink-footed Geese have been a feature every morning and I have had birds going over heading south to feeding grounds from their Morecambe Bay/River Wyre roosts.

I called at Moss House Farm yesterday to top-up the feeding station, but it was virtually dark when I called so obviously I didn't have too much. In fact all I had were a calling male and female Tawny Owl. I did note that the flood waters had receded a little, but the fields were still very wet.