Fleetwood Birder

Two Days - Two Feeding Stations

2012-01-29T21:37:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I joined Ian at one of his feeding stations and we were accompanied by Jayde and her father Gavin. We had a good mornings ringing and processed 46 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Chaffinch - 6
Dunnock - 2 (1)
Great Tit - 11 (1)
Robin - 3
Blue Tit - 11 (2)
Long-tailed Tit - 4
Blackbird - 1
House Sparrow - 5
Greenfinch - 1
Goldfinch - 2

Dunnock

This morning Ian and I went to our feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss and we were joined by Dave who rings on Orkney. Dave was looking to gain more experience extracting different species from mist nets. As we put the nets up in the half-light we could hear and see birds moving down the hedge including 4 Yellowhammers and numerous Tree Sparrows.

A Tawny Owl called from 'Tree Sparrow' Wood and I nearly forgot I also had a Barn Owl as I drove on to the site. We had a few raptors this morning including a Merlin mobbing a Peregrine!, Kestrel and a Sparrowhawk that escaped from one of our nets.

There was a passage eastwards of Lapwings totalling 107 and 8 Fieldfares had joined in with a Starling flock. We processed 21 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Yellowhammer - 1
Blue Tit - 10 (11)
Great Tit - 2 (3)
Tree Sparrow - 5 (1)
Chaffinch - 2
Starling - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - (1)
Robin - (1)

The 'Great Spot' was a female and as is usual for female Great Spots she gave Dave some stick when he was processing her!

No Harriers For Lunch Today

2012-01-26T19:00:00.000+01:00

On my way back from seeing a farmer client I called at my feeding station on the Moss. It was looking as though it was going to clear up as the sun was starting to break through the clouds, but this wouldn't last for long, and I was looking forward to a walk after feeding the Tree Sparrows.

Raptors were represented by a Kestrel and two Buzzards, but no Hen Harrier today. As I headed down the track 68 Lapwings went over heading southeast and I pushed a few Yellowhammers along the hedge. At the feeding station were 232 Tree Sparrows, 24 Chaffinch and 6 Yellowhammers.

As I headed up the '97' hedge I could see the weather closing in from the west and I pushed on as far as I could before the rain came in. On a field that had fodder radish in, but now had been stripped bare by sheep, were a flock of 120 Black-headed Gulls and out on some ceral stubble were 11 Stock Doves.

As I headed through the wild bird seed crop two Grey Partridges lifted along with 34 Skylarks and it was from here that the rain came in. I turned and quickly headed back to the car. I heard some Redwing and Fieldfare calls to the east of me and through my rain splattered bins I could just about make out there were perhaps a dozen birds but I couldn't make out the split.

Redwing

It's going colder towards weekend and there is a chance that it might be calm enough for some ringing on Saturday or Sunday; fingers crossed!

Hen Harrier For Lunch

2012-01-24T21:31:00.000+01:00

What a horrible gloomy grey day it's been today. I had a few site visits to do that I was hoping to combine with some birding, but I didn't bother because of the weather. Far better and more productive round the farmhouse kitchen table!

I ate my lunch in the car at the end of the track down to my feeding station. I could see that something had put all the Corvids up and then the female Hen Harrier sailed past my windscreen! I suspect she was heading down to the feeding station to see if she could pick something up for lunch!

At the feeding station were 158 Tree Sparrows and 7 Yellowhammers. I didn't fancy having a walk across the moss afterwards, so I headed into the hills for a bit more grey gloom!

Icelandic Turnstone

2012-01-23T16:54:00.000+01:00

Craig, Ian, Peter, Will and I met at the Marine Lakes this morning for another session ringing Turnstones. Ian and I had been putting some food down for the past three days to get the birds used to feeding in a certain area and when we arrived this morning they were keen to come in and feed again.

We set the whoosh net up and caught 25 new birds and one with an Icelandic ring on! It will be interesting to find out when and where this bird was ringed. As usual they gave us headaches in terms of ageing them, but I guess it is just a case of getting more experience with them. I have included a few pictures from the morning below.

Feeding Turnstones

Adult?

Icelandic ring wearing Turnstone - above and below

Bad Vibrations

2012-01-21T15:47:00.000+01:00

With the temporary demise of the seawatching shelter at the Point I had to use my 'fall-back' location at Cleveleys this morning. However, there was just a hint of northerly in that westerly that meant that the near gale force wind was buffeting me and vibrating my scope and tripod.

It drives me mad when I can't keep my scope and tripod relatively rigid when seawatching and consequently I was only there for 45 minutes before I got fed up. It was very quiet and all I had in that time were 11 Cormorants, 8 Common Scoters, 3 Little Gulls, Kittiwake and male Eider.

On my way home I fed the Turnstones in preparation for a potential ringing session on Monday. Talking of feeding, when I fed the Tree Sparrows a couple of days ago there were 207 along with 21 Chaffinch, 3 Fieldfare and 4 Yellowhammers.

Fat Bird of the Barley and Other Buntings

2012-01-17T21:34:00.000+01:00

I called at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss just after lunch and it was a glorious sunny and 'crunchy' afternoon. I headed down to the feeding station loaded up with all my buckets and containers of food. There were plenty of Tree Sparrows with 213 counted and they were associating with about 20 Chaffinch and 13 Yellowhammers. Often in January the numbers of Yellowhammers increase at the feeding station, presumably as any natural food disappears.

There were also good numbers of Reed Buntings about as I counted 30 as I walked along the '97' hedge. Up on the top fields 73 Jackdaws fed with Carrion Crows, Rooks and Starlings. They kept getting up and I couldn't see a raptor so I assumed they were spooking themselves.

Reed Bunting

In the wild bird seed crop there were good numbers of finches and buntings, and I had 195 Chaffinch, 40 Corn Buntings, 64 Skylarks (I know they're not a finch or a bunting!), 25 Goldfinch and 80 Linnets. It was great to see such good numbers of our declining farmland birds.

Corn Bunting

On my walk back to the car all I added were 4 Snipe and a single Buzzard. The wind is forecast to pick up tonight and bring some rain in, so no birding for me in the morning then.

We received details of a couple of recoveries from the BTO and there was an interesting one of a male Blackbird that Craig ringed at Rossall School on 16th March 2010 that was 'controlled' at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory on 7th November 2011 (see google earth image below). I can only speculate as to what this information shows us. It is possible that when we caught it in March 2010 it was on its way back to it's breeding grounds in Europe and then when it was caught on the Calf of Man in November 2011 it could have been wintering in that area, or even on its way to winter Ireland. Who knows, but it is very interesting.

Two Days Running!

2012-01-14T21:17:00.000+01:00

Ian and I managed to get out for a second day running ringing this morning which is unheard of based on recent weeks. We were trying a feeding station that Ian has recently set up in some woodland, with the hope of catching some Siskins when return passage commences in Feb.

We ringed 25 birds as follows:

Great Tit - 8
Blue Tit - 9
Chaffinch - 2
Robin - 1
Dunnock - 1
House Sparrow - 2
Blackbird - 2

House Sparrow

Robin

At first light we had a few Redwings exiting a roost in the woodland and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker showed well as it fed in Sycamore. Sixty Lapwing headed west overhead, before turning and heading south, and only just one Siskin called from some Alders.

We were lamenting the fact that there is going to be another 'year list competition' again this year in the Fylde, which means some birders running round chasing common migrants as if they were major rarities and causing disturbance at sites far and wide! When will they ever learn? Oh well, I suppose it sadly means another year of reluctantly suppressing certain birds like last year, not ideal and very, very annoying.

At Last!

2012-01-13T18:49:00.000+01:00

With clear skies and calm conditions Craig, Ian and I managed to get a ringing session in at the feeding station on the Moss this morning. We were fairly busy and as such didn't really log very much from a birding perspective. We ringed 34 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Chaffinch - 12
Yellowhammer - 2
Tree Sparrow - 3
Blue Tit - 12 (15)
Reed Bunting - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Starling - 1
Robin - 1 (1)
Great Tit - 1 (7)
Coal Tit - (1)

Yellowhammer

We packed in after a couple of hours to give the birds chance to feed and also because we were starting to recapture birds that we had ringed that morning. As I drove off site I had the Little Owl perched in its usual spot.

I have updated the group totals over on the right and they are the final totals for 2011. These are our best totals since 1996 when we ringed 6,635 birds. In December 2011 we added four new species for the year in the form of Mallard, Turnstone (new for the group), Black-headed Gull and Herring Gull.

The 'movers and shakers' in December were as follows:

1. Chaffinch - 652 (same position)
2. Meadow Pipit - 414 (same position)
3. Goldfinch - 371 (up from 4th)
4. Tree Sparrow - 370 (down from 3rd)
5. Swallow - 330 (same position)
6. Siskin - 260 (same position)
7. Whitethroat - 191 (same position)
8. Greenfinch - 188 (same position)
9. Blue Tit - 186 (down from 8th)
10. Lesser Redpoll - 172 (same position)

So, as it's 2012 it all starts again and our target for 2012 should be 5,000 ringed!

Still here, still birding, still trying to get out ringing......

2012-01-12T21:31:00.000+01:00

......but struggling to find time to post! Rather than give you some rambling tale of what I have or haven't seen, I thought I would just give you a quick summary.

7th January
Visited my feeding station in the morning and had Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzards, 18 Reed Buntings, 4 Yellowhammers, 184 Tree Sparrows, 21 Chaffinch, 2 Grey Partridge, 2 Whooper Swans, female Hen Harrier, 17 Skylarks, 72 Lapwings, 2 Corn Buntings and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

On my way home I had a look at some flooded farmland very close to my house that I have been meaning to look at for ages and have never got round to it. It looks to have great potential but is very difficult to view. I had 18 Teal and 2 male Shovelers.

9th January
Back at my feeding station for a late morning visit and I had 31 Skylarks, Buzzard, 18 Chaffinch, 37 Reed Buntings, 2 Song Thrush, 140 Tree Sparrows, 4 Yellowhammers, 2 Fieldfares, 14 Corn Buntings and Grey Partridge.

Fieldfare

On my way home I had a look at Marsh Farm and there were 5 Shovelers.

11th January
I was surveying a farm on the Fylde today in the fairly miserable conditions of constant drizzle and recorded 80 Lapwings, 4 Buzzards, Grey Wagtail, Nuthatch, 3 Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, 30 Linnets, Grey Partridge and 10 Tree Sparrows amongst others.

This afternoon I once again headed to my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss and as per usual a Buzzard called from Curlew Wood. Yellowhammers had increased to 10 and Chaffinch were fairly typical numbering 31. There were a few more Corn Buntings around this afternoon with a total of 18, including a singing bird.

A female, presumably young by its behaviour, Peregrine gave a great display as it shot past Curlew Wood and caused mayhem amongst a flock of corvids feeding in some stubble. She obviously thought that a member of the Crow family was on the menu this afternoon as she gave chase to Jackdaw, Carrion Crow and Rook without success. It was obvious to me that she wasn't going to succeed but I had to give her full marks for effort!

Tree Sparrows numbered 161 and Reed Buntings a fairly average 16. I had 2 Stock Doves and 36 Skylarks before it was time to head off home. The weather is looking okay for some ringing in the morning so I'll let you know how we get on.

A Sunny Afternoon

2012-01-05T16:27:00.000+01:00

I chose this afternoon to feed at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss and it was a bright afternoon with wall to wall sunshine, but still cold with a biting strong northwesterly wind. A Kestrel hovered besides the lane as I drove down to the track and as I got out of the car two Buzzards were calling to each other as they made use of the updraughts alongside the woodland.

Kestrel

At the feeding station were 17 Chaffinch, 3 Yellowhammers and 171 Tree Sparrows. As I headed along the '97' hedge I picked up a female Peregrine with prey heading across the stubble and it dropped onto the 'deck' over a rise to feed, and unfortunately that's when I lost sight of it.

Reed Buntings were thin on the ground this afternoon with only 7 counted, but Skylarks showed a fairly respectable total of 33. In the wild bird seed plot were a further 50 Chaffinch and 21 Goldfinch. A couple of Snipe and a Linnet later, and it was time for me to head off home to do some work.

If Yesterday Was Hardly Worth Posting About......

2012-01-04T14:34:00.000+01:00

.....then I don't why I am bothering today! I nipped up to the point first thing to sea watch but they have commenced work on the Coastguard's Tower so there is now nowhere to shelter. However, in about 5-6 months time there will be a brand new purpose built building in its place that will encompass a seawatching hide and an open observation platform on the roof. Wow, I can hear you all exclaim. It will be a cracking building, but it will attract a number of birders and some of these are the noisy type. You know the ones I mean! The ones that when you're seawatching and you're in the 'zone' are constantly giving you a running commentary on everything they see and want you to get on to their birds! It's even worse in Spring when you are trying to listen out for 'vis' with one eye skyward and one on the sea and one of those noisy types comes and stands next to you. Sometimes I think I may as well go home as you're not going to hear or see anything from that point on and they spend all their time moaning about how quiet it is! So, yes, it will be an excellent building and it will be even more excellent when those noisy birders aren't in it. You know who they are!

Without sufficient shelter at the point I dashed round to the obs, but the shelter on the strong westerly wasn't much cop there either. I put up with it for about half an hour, but after a handful of Little Gulls, Kittiwakes, Eiders and Common Scoters I decided to go and feed the Turnstones. As the tide was fairly low there were only 19 Turnstones and on the lakes were 4 Red-breasted Mergs.

Turnstones

I called at the dog toilet, sorry the Nature Park, on my way home for a quick look on the pools. They were quiet with just 28 Coot, 7 Tufteds, male Merg and single Little Grebe. There was a council guy there emptying the two overflowing dog filth bins and I empathised with him in having to do such a job. Why these filthy people can't take there dog's mess home with them I don't know, but don't get me started on that topic again!

Hardly Worth Posting

2012-01-03T15:03:00.001+01:00

With the spare hour or so I had this morning I should have been sea watching with the strength and direction of the wind, but I had to go and feed my Tree Sparrows, so instead I was 'mosswards' bound.

The wind was howling as I parked on the track and as I headed towards the feeding station all the birds were sticking close to the hedge and I couldn't blame them. Only two Yellowhammers, 75 Tree Sparrows and seven Chaffinch were there.
.
As usual I headed north along the '97' hedge and took shelter behind the mature willow as a squally shower raced across the moss. The bridge over the ditch here, was now just a bridge into a pond after all the rain! (see below)

As the sun started to peer out from behind the clouds a rainbow formed and I took a couple of pictures of it below.

Both ends of the rainbow (above and below)

The Reed Buntings were hard to count as they were sticking to the ditch and I had ten, which is a lot less than recent days. As I got to the wildbird seed crop I had 86 Chaffinch and 32 Goldfinch. As I walked along it 38 Skylarks and 14 Corn Buntings got up.

I could see that more 'weather' was comning in and headed back towards my car via the feeding station to pick my buckets up and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was on one of the peanut feeders.

There's going to be strong westerly winds again tomorrow so I might get a couple of hours seawatching in before having to work. I'll let you know.

First Post Of 2012

2012-01-01T14:57:00.000+01:00

I kicked off the New Year at the 'obs' which I have neglected recently. I knew that the forecast was for showers this morning and that's what I got first thing, but very quickly this changed to heavy persistent rain. As I walked through the copse a couple of Robins 'ticked' and a Song Thrush flew in front of me.

I headed along the track besides the hedge and ditch, but didn't really have very much until a Lapwing lifted from the 'ringing field'. As I headed towards the sea wall I could see a blob on a fence post and when I lifted my bins the blob turned into a 2CY male Merlin. Nice! A blurry shot of the bird can be found below.

Merlin

I headed through the reedbed and the dunes and still not very much. I was going to have a short sea watch from the sea wall but the heavens opened and I had to make a hasty retreat to my car where a cup of coffee awaited me.

I then headed to the Marine Lakes to feed the Turnstones. As there wasn't a tide there were only 12 feeding around the boating lake. As it was still pouring down I had a look on the estuary from the car but all I could see in the murky conditions were large numbers of Oystercatchers and 52 Knot.

The rain didn't let up so I returned home. I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I am going to try and do more general naturalising (is there such a word?) in 2012. I have changed my blogger header in respect of this to a Comma butterfly and also to remind me that the start of Spring is just round the corner, depending on when your definition of the start of Spring is!

Last Post Of 2011

2011-12-31T18:40:00.000+01:00

My last post of 2011 is just an update from my feeding station on the Moss. Compared with recent weeks Yellowhammers were few and far between, in fact so few and far between that there was only one today! I had a feeling that it was going to be a good morning for Reed Buntings when a small flock of 6 were in the hedge along the lane.

Heading down to the feeding station I had 152 Tree Sparrows accompanied by 17 Chaffinch and a single Corn Bunting. As usual I headed north along the '97 hedge' and immediately picked the Hen Harrier up flying across the wild bird seed plot. As I headed along the 97 hedge I pushed the Reed Bunt tally to 39, which is my best count for the site this winter.

Corn Bunting

When I got onto the top fields it started raining so I decided to turn and head back towards my car again and as I did I picked the Harrier up as it flew west across the 'big field'. All I could add were a further 2 Corn Bunts and that was it.

So that's 2011 almost done. I'll update our ringing group totals in a day or three, but it's suffice to say that we have had our best year for some time. I'm not going to give you one of those end of year highlights because I don't want to bore you and more to the point I can' be arsed! All I do want to say is Happy New Year to you and let's hope 2012 is a cracking year filled with wildlife for you all! See you next year.

A Net Full Of Terry's

2011-12-29T19:30:00.000+01:00

From now on I will always think of Turnstones as 'Terry's' as that was what Ian was calling them this afternoon when we were trying to ring a few! Craig, Ian and I braved the weather this afternoon for a second attempt to catch some Turnstone at Fleetwood. There were no men racing model boats today so the birds were fairly settled.

We set the net up and liberally sprinkled mixed bird seed (an unusual choice of food for Turnstones I know; but they love it) in front of it and sat back in the car and waited. Slowly, but surely, the Turnstones worked their way in and as soon as they were close enough we fired and caught ten birds! We were pleased with this as it means that we can catch them, so the next stage is to start colour marking them.

Turnstone

Turnstones are amber listed in the UK and globally their IUCN red list category is that of 'least concern'. The overall population trend for Turnstones is decreasing and it is for this reason that we are interested in colour marking them.

No Gulls and No Turnstones

2011-12-27T18:38:00.000+01:00

Armed with dried mealworms, bread, a turkey carcass and goose giblets, Craig, Heather, Ian and I met at Fleetwood to try and catch some Gulls and Turnstones. We set the whoosh net up in the half light, put out the bait, and waited. Unfortunately for us there was some kind of model yacht competition on the boating lake and as the tide ran in the Turnstones appeared but they kept getting flushed by the 20 or so men walking up and down with their remote controls directing their yachts!

The only birds brave enough to come in and feed were a few Starlings and we tested the un-tried whoosh net by catching seven Starlings! Not what we had come out to catch, but we felt fairly confident that if the 'model yachters' hadn't been there we would have caught some Gulls and Turnstones.

Starling, but not from today

Later on in the morning we noticed a steady passage of Woodpigeons high up and heading west; in total we had about 500 birds.

Coasting Greenfinch

2011-12-26T19:21:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get out yesterday, not that I am a huge fan of Christmas, it was all the dashing round to friends and family that ate into my precious time. This morning Gail and I headed to the feeding station for some fresh air and to have a look at what was about, or not, on the Moss. It wasn't the most pleasant of mornings for a wander, but at least we were out.

Tree Sparrows were a little thin on the ground with only 88, but it could have been the conditions keeping them low as there was a good 20-25 mph southwesterly wind. Four Yellowhammers and 11 Chaffinch kept the Tree Sprogs company.

In the windy conditions we decided to shorten our walk to an amble up to the top fields and back. Heading along the '97' hedge 20 Skylarks were in the 'big field' and 7 Reed Buntings along the ditch. Two Buzzard flew low in the windy conditions, but no Hen Harrier today. At the Badger Sett we had 2 Song Thrushes and as we walked across the wild bird seed plot the Short-eared Owl got up and dropped into some stubble.

Heading back we added three Corn Buntings, a pair of Grey Partridge and 200 Lapwings flew over heading west.

One of the recent recoveries we received from the BTO concerned a Greenfinch that we controlled at Rossall School on 13th October 2011. This bird had been ringed the year previously at Walney Bird Observatory on 1st November 2010 18 km north on the other side of Morecambe Bay.

We have 'controlled' a few Greenfinch at the 'obs' from Walney and it is likely that this bird has passed over the 'obs' last year, although we didn't catch it. It would be good to have some more records of onward passage of 'our' Greenfinch, but other than a bird controlled in Merseyside this is yet to happen.

Greenfinch

Across The Irish Sea

2011-12-24T20:47:00.000+01:00

Before we head across the Irish Sea I attempted to head across Rawcliffe Moss this morning but was thwarted by the weather. Just as I set off down the track to the feeding station loaded up with a bucket of seed, apples, peanuts and niger seed it started raining!

Yellowhammers were back in reasonable numbers and I had 19 at the end of the hedgerow. Five Fieldfare over was good compared to recent weeks and I wondered whether birds wintering further east were now starting to filter through. Down at the feeding station itself Tree Sparrows numbered 214 accompanied by 23 Chaffinch. The rain continued and I dutifully replenished the feeders and headed off the Moss.

Fieldfare

My reference to crossing the Irish Sea is not a return to my homeland but to a couple of Chaffinch controls we received in the latest batch from the BTO. Both were juvenile females ringed in Will's garden at Claughton and both had been recaptured on the Calf Of Man at the bird observatory (see Google Earth image below). The dates don't really give any clues; the first bird was ringed on 30/12/10 and controlled on the Calf on 11/10/1,1 and the second bird was ringed on 4/9/11 and controlled on 23/10/11. It is possible that the second bird was heading further west to winter in Ireland when it was intercepted on the Calf.

The first bird was obviously wintering in Lancashire in 2010 based on the date when ringed and then in 2011 could also have been on its way to Ireland to winter. Some Chaffinches show evidence of winter site-fidelity whilst others do not. Presumably our first Chaffinch is one that doesn't.

Allegedly it is going to be dry tomorrow, so hopefully I can get out for an hour or two in the morning. I always like to get something in my notebook on Christmas Day! Talking of Christmas Day; Seasons Greetings to all my readers and I hope you have a prosperous and wildlife filled 2012.

Skelehammer!

2011-12-23T18:17:00.001+01:00

Continuing with the batch of recoveries we received from the BTO recently one was an intriguing Yellowhammer movement. A Yellowhammer that we ringed at Moss House Farm on 23rd January 2010 was found dead 40 km NNW near Stribers, Cark in Cumbria on 20th April 2011 (see Google Earth image below). The bird was found as a skeleton and was only identified by the fact that it had a ring on one of its legs.

The Migration Atlas states that the sedentary nature of the Yellowhammers that breed in Britain & Ireland is clearly evident from the recoveries. Regardless of season, 95% of birds were recovered within 25 km of where they were ringed, and the median distance is less than 1 km. Some longer-distance ring-recoveries suggest a winter movement towards the coast or lower ground (Wernham 2002). It is possible that this bird had been wintering at Moss House Farm and had returned or was returning to its breeding area when it died. Interesting and intriguing!

It's going to be dry tomorrow, but still breezy, and as my ravenous hordes of Tree Sparrows will need feeding it will probably be some more tales from the moss tomorrow from me. I refuse to get my hopes up but XC weather is suggesting that there might be a window in the weather for some ringing next Tuesday (27th). Fingers crossed!

A Brief Change Of Scenery

2011-12-22T17:43:00.000+01:00

I called to see some clients this morning that have now become friends and to have a look at the wetland on their farm near Nateby, or the 'flood' as they like to call it. As I walked down to the flood a Redwing called overhead and this is the first one that I have had for a while.

The Flood

The flood looked in fine fettle but it was fairly quiet. There were 71 Teal, 2 Moorhens and 8 Mallards. As I walked back up to the yard I had a single Kestrel. I then went onto my feeding station and when I arrived at the track I could see Phil's car parked so I knew he was having a wander on the moss.

Distant fuzzy Teal

As I walked down the track a Brown Hare got up from the field next to Curlew Wood and I saw a further 3 in stubbles in the 'big field'. Talking of mammals I had 8 Roe Deer this morning; two groups of 4. Having said recently that I hadn't seen any for a while I am constantly 'tripping over' them now!

As Phil had already walked past the feeding station the numbers of birds present were lower than normal because it is impossible to walk past it without disturbing the birds. I had 108 Tree Sparrows and 12 Chaffinch. There were also 3 Yellowhammers and later when we were back at the cars a flock of 15 dropped in.

As usual I headed up the '97' hedge and there were 10 Reed Buntings feeding along the ditch and margin. As I headed on to the top fields I had 12 Corn Buntings go over. As I headed south across the stubbles I had three Fieldfares over and a single Linnet.

After I got back to the car I decided to have a look in the wild bird seed strip alongside Curlew Wood. There were about 30 Chaffinches dropping in from the wood to feed but nothing else. I bumped into Phil here and we headed back to the cars. As were having a natter and a catch up the ring-tail Hen Harrier appeared over a stubble field to the west of us and it was immediately mobbed by Crows. In fact they harassed it mercilessly and the Harrier had to climb high heading east over Curlew Wood. A few minutes later it had shaken off the Crows and was quartering the stubbles of the big field.

Mid Afternoon On The Moss

2011-12-20T17:46:00.000+01:00

I had to go out and buy some presents for her indoors this morning for the dreaded 'C' word, so it was this afternoon before I got to my feeding station to top-up. At last it wasn't raining and the wind had eased. In fact the wind might ease enough for a ringing session tomorrow; fingers crossed.

As I headed down the track 3 Yellowhammers flew in front of me and then at the feeding station itself I had 240 Tree Sparrows with about 25 Chaffinch. I put a couple of small niger feeders (need to make a few more) out yesterday morning in the rain and already there is Goldfinch using them.

Goldfinch

I then headed up the '97 hedge' and immediately had the 'ring-tail' Hen Harrier hunting low over the 'big field'. It dropped onto the 'deck' and stayed there until a Grey Heron flew by and flushed it. A number of Lapwings were moving around this afternoon and I had 245 in varying flock sizes.

There weren't as many Skylarks on the big field, only 15, and along the 97 hedge I just had 6 Reed Buntings. I headed north towards the plantation and had two Grey Partridges near the maize strip. It was very quiet in the plantation, but as I skirted the top of it a Woodcock flew fairly high from it to the Pine Wood.

I now headed south back towards the feeding station. As I cut across the stubbles towards the wild bird seed plot I had 7 Brown Hares and a Lesser Redpoll went over. As I walked through the wild bird seed plot I flushed a Short-eared Owl, presumably the same bird that I had five days ago.

Heading back towards the car 400 Woodpigeons headed southeast to roost and as I drove off I had my only Corn Bunting of the afternoon perched on top of an Ash.

One of the recoveries that we received recently from the BTO was of a Reed Warbler that was ringed at Moss House Farm as a 3J on 28/07/2010 and it was controlled 26 km to the south on 03/07/2011 at Mere Sands Wood, Rufford as a breeding male (see below). It is likely that this bird hatched somewhere in the region of Moss House Farm and then in the following year it had set up territory at Mere Sands Wood.

What A Difference Some Snow And A Couple Of Days Make

2011-12-17T17:59:00.000+01:00

Since my last visit to the feeding station we had some snow yesterday, not a great deal but obviously enough to make a difference to the number of birds on the moss. I stopped by the barn to put my wellies on at a clean bit of concrete yard and I heard a Kestrel alarm calling. It was dive bombing something perched on top of a telegraph pole and when I looked with my bins I could see it was a Buzzard. The Buzzard wasn't phased by the Kestrels antics at all and very soon the Kestrel gave up.

There was some lying snow, but not a great deal, but just enough to cover the area I put seed down apart from where the birds had kept it clear through feeding. So it was here that I dumped the seed down today. Only one Yellowhammer this morning and at the feeding station were 149 Tree Sparrows and about 15 Chaffinch.

A light dusting of snow, above and below

In the field behind the feeding station a flock of about 4,000 Starlings fed and I had 171 Pink-footed Geese go over. I headed up the '97 hedge' and had 5 Blackbirds, single Song Thrush and a further 10 Chaffinch. Out on the stubbles were 83 Skylarks and I had 126 Lapwing feeding on a flooded field.

Pink-footed Geese

As I headed towards the wild bird seed plot I could hear a Raven croaking, but couldn't see it, and two Roe Deer headed towards the 'top fields'. Only 9 Reed Buntings today and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called from Curlew Wood. I like to vary my route around the moss and today I headed south to have a look round the bottom fields but all I could add were two Brown Hares, two Grey Partridges and a single Snipe.

One of the recoveries we received recently from the BTO was of a Coot that Craig ringed as part of Kane Brides colour ringing project. Craig ringed the Coot at Marton Mere LNR on 10/09/2010 as a 1CY male and it was re-sighted at West Kirby on the Wirral on 21/08/2011. Please see google earth image below.

You can only speculate about this birds movements. Had this bird hatched in the Wirral area in 2010 and it had returned to its natal area to breed? In December 2010 this bird was sighted in Sefton Park, Liverpool; so only more observations will help to answer this.

Sanderling from Greenland

2011-12-16T12:51:00.000+01:00

We received a batch of recoveries from the BTO this week and rather than bore you with all of them I thought that I would share them with you one or two at a time. In addition to the recoveries from the BTO, Ian had a colour-ringed and leg-flagged Sanderling at Rossall Point a couple of days ago and it was this recovery that I wanted to share with you first.

Ian saw the Sanderling at Rossall on 15th December 2011 and the bird had been ringed at Hochstetter Forland in northeast Greenland. See the google earth image below.

Ian reported the bird to Jeroen Reneerkens from Holland who co-ordinates a colour ringing project on Sanderlings. This Sanderling had been ringed on 16th July 2011 and Jeroen's comments paint a vivid picture. "The bird was ringed in northeast Greenland last summer. It's partner was ringed two days later and two of their chicks were ringed that were guided by the bird that you observed". Awesome!

Sanderling

This is the second colour-ringed Sanderling that Ian has had at Rossall this year. The other bird that Ian had he observed at Rossall on 25/08/2011 and this bird had originally been ringed at Sandgeroi in Iceland on 23/05/2007 and had sunsequently been observed back there again on 21/05/5008 and 28/05/2009 before being seen at Rossall.

It is likely that the latter of these two Sanderlings was passing through Rossall on its way to wintering grounds in West Africa and the former bird observed this week is probably wintering at Rossall , if not somewhere in Liverpool or Morecambe Bay. Fascinating stuff!

Almost A Raptor Fest!

2011-12-15T21:17:00.000+01:00

I called at the feeding station late morning when it had stopped raining and the sun had come out, and bumped into Phil who was out for a bit of birding. As we chatted whilst I filled my buckets with seed we had at least 56 Yellowhammers and a flock of 5 Corn Buntings over. Later we would add a further 8 Corn Bunts to the total.

Walking down to the feeding station Phil picked up a Hen Harrier that gave a fantastic display as it hopped over hedges and weaved in and out of the more open aspects of the woodland. We then lost it and I picked it up sat on the margin of the 'big field' in the sun preening itself. It was having a good old preen lifting its wings in turn and preening underneath, and then twisting its tail to preen its underparts showing its white rump. After a while it departed and floated off over the stubble.

The only Hen Harrier pictures I have are at the nest when I was lucky

enough to help out ringing a few chicks a couple of years ago. The same

goes for the Merlin further down.

At the feeding station the Tree Sparrows had increased to 230 and were joined by 23 Chaffinch. Later on in Curlew Wood I had a further 25 Chaffinch. We then headed up the '97 hedge' and had 11 Reed Buntings and a single Song Thrush. Perched in the birch trees above the Badger sett was a female Merlin.

I then took a walk across the wild bird see plot and flushed a Short-eared Owl that gave stonking views as it in turn flushed two Grey Partridges. Two Buzzards and a Kestrel added to the raptor score.

Walking back across the stubbles I had 89 Skylarks, 2 Snipe and a Siskin went over. It was then time for me to head home and get on with some work.

More Farmland Birds But Not As Many

2011-12-13T19:46:00.000+01:00

Funnily enough I had been asking Phil whether he had seen any or many Roe Deer on the moss recently as I hadn't and when I drove down the track a Roe Deer ran in front of me as if just to prove they were still around! It was blustery as I headed down towards the feeding station with a Kestrel round the buildings and Buzzard alongside Curlew Wood.

I had two Grey Partridges again but only 6 Yellowhammers. As I approached the feeding area I could see a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the peanut feeders and 110 Tree Sparrows flew off towards the hedgerow next to the wood.

I had a walk along the '97 hedge' and on to the wild bird seed crop. Reed Buntings were a little more numerous and I counted 20 as I walked the margin alongside the hedge, but Chaffinch numbers had dropped to 231. I had 4 Corn Buntings on my walk and 20 Goldfinch had joined the Chaffinch.

Reed Bunting

Two Lesser Redpolls flying over were a little unexpected and the 10 Skylarks lifting off the 'big field' weren't. Something flushed the Lapwing from the adjacent field and I counted 103. So overall it was a morning of diminishing returns, but no less enjoyable.

A Good Smattering of Farmland Birds

2011-12-10T18:20:00.000+01:00

I am now in the cycle of going to my feeding station every other day to feed now and this morning I got the impression that there were a few more birds around, perhaps because of the colder weather further east and north. I had more time today, so after I had fed I had a walk round for about an hour and a half. Not that it will mean much to you, but I headed down the track to the feeding station along the '97 hedge' to the top fields, across the moss to the plantation and back down the lane to my car.

Rather than bore you with the details of exactly where I saw everything I thought I would just give you the raw totals of the more interesting birds that I had. This included 14 Blackbirds, 24 Yellowhammers (an excellent total for this time of year and a actually a good total for any time of year), 13 Reed Buntings, 177 Tree Sparrows, 355 Chaffinch (the highest total I have ever recorded at the site), 140 Skylarks, 2 Grey Partridge and 21 Corn Buntings. A good few red listed species there.

Yellowhammer

There were a few Pink-footed Geese around but only 307. All of these were mobile so I couldn't look through them for any White-fronts or Bean. Any that flew over me low enough I did look at to see if I could see any barring on their bellies, but I didn't.

Raptors were conspicuous with their absence and all I had was a single Buzzard and Kestrel. Continuing in the single species vein were Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush. I had a walk through the L Wood in the hope of flushing a Woodcock or two, but I didn't have anything at all.

The forecast for the rest of the week is looking like more of the same with a succession of Atlantic depressions from the west bringing more windy weather. I'll try and make the best of it!

Horizontal Birding

2011-12-08T12:57:00.000+01:00

I wanted to go seawatching this morning with the 30 mph southwesterlies we have at the minute but I have several reports to write and my Tree Sparrows needed feeding so it was the feeding station that I headed to. Walking down the track to the feeding station my posture was almost horizontal due to the strength of the wind and consequently it was difficult to do any birding.

Tree Sparrow numbers reached a seasonal high this morning as I counted 228 accompanied by about 30 Chaffinch, only 6 Blackbirds and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew from the feeding station to Curlew Wood as I got close. The only other bird I had was a single Buzzard.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

I daren't look at the weather forecast anymore for the coming week because it is so depressing. Well, I did just have a look and it is going to remain windy, not always gale force, but too windy for any ringing for the foreseeable future i.e. all next week! Mind you within our ringing group our mantra is always 'there's time for it to change'!

Rails, Red-headed Sparrows and Ringing Totals

2011-12-07T11:05:00.001+01:00

If I was a sad lister and kept a 'birds seen from the car' or 'birds seen flying in front of the car' lists then I would have added a new species this week. I was driving home through some lanes towards dusk and as I drove through a flood that was spilling out from a roadside ditch a bird flew in front of the car and in my headlights I could pick out dangling legs and fluttering flight. It flew along in front of the car for a few seconds and then dropped into a gateway and ran into a field. It was a Water Rail!

It's been cold and windy so far all week and when I called at my feeding station late Monday afternoon it was bitterly cold. In fact there were frequent hail showers blown along with the 25-30 mph wind that made it too unpleasant, and pointless, too have a walk round. All I did was dash down the track and feed.

A couple of Buzzards were calling and flying along Curlew Wood and Blackbird numbers at the feeding station had increased to 10. I wondered whether this was possibly because of snowy weather to the north and east pushing birds our way as on some adjacent fields was a flock of 850 Lapwings. As it was late in the afternoon Tree Sparrows (local name in Yorkshire is Red-headed Sparrow) numbered only 35 with 4 or 5 Chaffinch.

Lapwings

I had a meeting yesterday at Crooklands in south Cumbria and when I could see across to the Howgills they were covered in snow. Very seasonal. Yesterday it looked like there might be a window in the weather to do some ringing on Saturday, but it has all changed now.

I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing Group in the panel to the right and you will see that we have ringed 4,377 birds of 61 species so far this year. Hopefully we will be able to push the totals over 4,500 by the end of December. It isn't really the totals that matter, more the species and information gained that is important, but the totals give an indication of all the effort that is put in. As usual I have listed the top ten 'movers and shakers' below and as you will see now that we are in winter things are remaining fairly static.

1. Chaffinch - 641 (same position as last month)
2. Meadow Pipit - 414 (same position as last month)
3. Tree Sparrow - 368 (same position as last month)
4. Goldfinch - 357 (up from 5th)
5. Swallow - 330 (down from 5th)
6. Siskin - 260 (same position as last month)
7. Whitethroat - 191 (same position as last month)
8=. Greenfinch - 183 (same position as last month)
8=. Blue Tit - 183 (up from 10th)
9. Lesser Redpoll - 172 (down from 9th)

There were no species that dropped out of the top ten from last month.

I'm Still Here......

2011-12-02T15:32:00.000+01:00

......and I haven't a great deal to report other than what has been at my farmland bird feeding station over the past week. I've been busy at work and this has prevented me from getting out as much, but hopefully this has now all been sorted.

Earlier in the week there were still 170 Tree Sparrows at the feeding station, but there were only 72 today. The Tree Sparrow count can change depending on the timing of your visit. Interestingly, as I was feeding late morning birds were flying in so they may well have built up to 170 or more.

I had a little time to spare so I had a walk along the 97 Hedge, round the wild bird seed plot and back to my car. There were quite a few Chaffinch around this morning mainly in the Birch trees by the Badger sett and I had 50 in total. Corn Buntings numbered 7 and a female Sparrowhawk drifted south over the 'big field' and lifted 34 Skylarks.

Corn Bunting

A couple of Grey Partridge flew out of the grass margin and 3,066 Pink-footed Geese dropped onto the top fields. Eight Reed Buntings were feeding in the cover by the ditch and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called from Curlew Wood. Walking back down the 97 hedge and to my car I added singles of Snipe, Stock Dove, Song Thrush and a male Yellowhammer perched on a telegraph pole.

On the way home I had a look on the river and had a pair of Goldeneye and 18 Curlews feeding in a riverside field.It looks as though it is going to remain windy for the rest of the week and westerly. Not much chance of any ringing, but hopefully some opportunities for some birding. I'll keep you posted.

Blocking Pinkies

2011-11-23T16:52:00.000+01:00

I called at my feeding station this morning to put some food out and the plan was to have a walk round afterwards. There were good numbers of birds at the feeding station including 170 Tree Sparrows, 31 Chaffinch and 6 Blackbirds.

It was then my plan to have a walk along the '97' hedge and up on to the top fields and over to the plantation. However, as I was walking along the 97 hedge I could see 'Pinkies' dropping in on the top fields and this meant that my way was blocked as obviously I didn't want to flush them. I counted them dropping in and I had 2,745 in total.

Pink-footed Geese

Instead, I headed across the 'big field' and walked through some areas I don't normally cover. I didn't have a great deal other than 41 Skylarks, 2 Buzzards, 11 Meadow Pipits, 7 Reed Buntings and 4,076 Starlings.

Yellow Bunt

2011-11-20T19:33:00.000+01:00

I could have caught a few Thrushes this morning at my feeding station but I thought it was too windy at first and delayed putting any nets up in the dark, so when I did get them up it was coming light and the Fieldfare and Redwing that I pulled down could see the net.

It was a murky morning with low cloud and you could feel the moisture in the air. Good numbers of Starlings, I counted 16,435, were arriving from a roost to the west and heading off to the east to feed. Some alighted on the telegraph wires in the field behind the feeding station and when they took off from the wires they 'twanged' like a giant elastic band. If you missed the amazing amateur video footage of a 'murmeration' of Starlings on the River Shannon in Ireland, shown on 'Autumnwatch' last Friday (18th), have a look below.

Approximately 148 Tree Sparrows, 16 Chaffinch and 4 Yellowhammers were at the feeding station.

Tree Sparrow

Chaffinch

I managed to ring 31 birds this morning as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Chaffinch - 4
Blue Tit - 8 (11)
Tree Sparrow - 6
Coal Tit - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 8
Great Tit - 2 (2)
Yellowhammer - 1
Dunnock - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - (1)

Blue Tit

Yellowhammer

The only other entry in my notebook is a Sparrowhawk that made a couple of unsuccessful attempts to catch a Starling out of a massive 'wheeling' flock. The weather is turning westerly later in the week, but not getting any colder.

Starlings

And There's More

2011-11-16T17:51:00.000+01:00

I made a quick call at my feeding station and it was pleasing to report that Tree Sparrow numbers had increased to 157 and in association with this the number of Chaffinches had increased to 49. Eleven Blackbirds were down the track to the feeding station and eleven Long-tailed Tits were in the hawthorn hedge. I was there early and it is possible that the 'Long-taileds' had been feeding on the peanut feeders.

Long-tailed Tit

I only had time for a short walk along the '97 hedge' and all I could add were a single Fieldfare and 7 Reed Buntings. Walking back I had 2 Whooper Swans head north and it was then time to leave.

Rockit

2011-11-13T21:10:00.000+01:00

Yes, I can spell and no I haven't spelt 'rocket' incorrectly! I went to the 'obs' this morning for a quick look before I was dragged back indoors to do some DIY! It was my first visit to the obs for eight days so I was looking forward to seeing what was about. Not a great deal actually!

The first bird I had was a calling Brambling heading south and this was the start of a trickle of vis. The vis included 2 Goldfinch, 4 Pied Wagtails, 13 Meadow Pipits, 4 Carrion Crows, 4 Chaffinch, Fieldfare, 6 Linnets, Redwing, Woodpigeon, 11 Jackdaws and a Siskin. I had a Rock Pipit fly 'in-off' at a great height and then plummet down. It perched on a concrete post to preen before heading off southwest. You will find a grainy picture of it below.

The only birds that I thought were grounded this morning were 14 Blackbirds and a single Song Thrush. Certainly not grounded, but flying in to feed on adjacent farmland were 1,404 Pink-footed Geese. Unfortunately I couldn't see them from the road so couldn't have a look through them to see if they were holding anything else.

The sea was very quiet with just 8 Eiders and 15 Cormorants. I walked back along the hedgerows trying to produce a 'goody' but it wasn't to be. Instead I took a couple of pictures of the beautiful flowering gorse and with the sweet coconut scent of the flowers on the wind I headed home for a spot of decorating. Ouch!

Tree Sprog Numbers Increase

2011-11-12T18:24:00.000+01:00

The number of Tree Sparrows using my feeding station had increased today to a good early winter count of 130. Other species at the feeding station were 15 Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, a number of Tits and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

It was obvious that there had been an increase in Blackbirds as I had 17 along the track leading to the feeding station. It couldn't be said the same for other Thrush species as all I had were 5 Fieldfares. I had a brief walk along the '97' hedge and there were 9 more Reed Buntings and a single Corn Bunting.

Blackbird

It looks as though the weather is going to remain in the southeast for the coming week at a strength too strong for any ringing, so it will be pure birding for me.

Another Day At The Office.........

2011-11-10T09:43:00.001+01:00

.........began with a walk down the Point. It was a different morning to yesterday with no drizzle, clearer conditions out in the Bay and a stiffer southeasterly wind.

There were a few waders on the beach including 78 Oystercatchers, 15 Turnstone and 28 Sanderling. Vis was virtually non existent with just 3 Chaffinch, single Meadow and Rock Pipits and single Alba Wag all heading west.

Turnstone

On the sea were 36 Eiders, 33 Cormorants, 5 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Red-throated Divers, 5 Razorbills, 7 Auk sp., Shelduck and Common Scoter. So not exactly jumping with birds, but a nice way to start the day.

Not Too Bad.........

2011-11-08T17:50:00.000+01:00

........for a dark, dank, drizzly, dreary morning! Before I locked my self away in my office for the day I nipped up to the 'Point' after breakfast to have a look on the incoming tide. The visibility was pretty poor, but I did have a few birds of interest to set me up for a day in doors.

A few waders roosted along the shore and I had 152 Oystercatchers, 52 Turnstones, Ringed Plover, 17 Sanderling and a single Knot.

Ringed :Pover

Even though it was murky there were some birds on the sea that showed quite well. By far the most numerous species were the 82 Eiders that bobbed up and down on the tide. The only other wildfowl I had were 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and 8 Common Scoters.

Divers and Grebes were represented by 2 Red-throated Divers and 5 Great Crested Grebes. One of the Divers was very close in and gave great views as it proceeded to preen for several minutes. Likewise, one of the 'Great Crests' showed well and I watched it catching small fish.

I had 3 Razorbills and a single Guillemot, and the only 'vis' was 2 Alba Wagtails west. I have another 'office' day tomorrow, so I might just start it off again at the Point.

In The Land Of Frost And Mist

2011-11-06T20:30:00.000+01:00

It was the first ringing session at my farmland bird feeding station on the moss this morning and the frosty and misty conditions were a bit of shock. The moss is very low lying and combined with the fact it is inland it is often misty first thing in the morning. Thankfully the mist was just patchy and when I arrived on site it was clear.

As I drove past the barn a Barn Owl flew out in the dark and this owl sighting was closely followed by 2 males and a female Tawny Owl calling in the darkness as I took the poles off the roof of my car. I put the two nets up at the feeding station and Redwing and Fieldfare songs were played on my MP3 players and a Song Thrush and 3 Fieldfares were pulled in.

Fieldfare

I ringed 24 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Song Thrush - 1
Robin - 1
Tree Sparrow - 8
Chaffinch - 5
Blue Tit - 5 (1)
Fieldfare - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 male
Great Tit - (1)

Tree Sparrow

Blue Tit

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Quite often at feeding stations you recapture birds that were ringed a few years ago and have seldom been caught in the intervening time. The Great Tit that I recaptured this morning was first ringed at the feeding station on 13/12/2009, then recaptured on 23/01/2010, 20/02/2011 and of course today.

There were good numbers of Pink-footed Geese around and I couldn't see where they were feeding to the east of me, but I counted 3,929 flying in to feed, so I am guessing there were 2 - 3 times that number based on the noise they made when disturbed.

It's always difficult judging how many birds are using the feeding station when you are ringing but I think about 50 Tree Sparrows were coming into feed with smaller numbers of Chaffinch. The only raptor I had this morning was a Kestrel and the only other red-listed farmland birds I had other than the Tree Sparrows was a single Yellowhammer.

Chaffinch

On my way home I had a look on the river and I had a group of 6 Goosanders.

Last Gasp At The Obs

2011-11-05T15:57:00.000+01:00

Ian and I paid a last visit for the autumn to the obs this morning, although with the forecasted easterlies next week I did wonder if we had taken all our kit back a little early! There seemed to be a few more Thrushes around this morning by the number of Blackbirds calling in the darkness as we put the nets up, and also the ringing totals showed this as well.

It was absolutely flat calm and we couldn't help thinking why it couldn't have been like this a few weeks ago when migration was in full swing. We ringed 17 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Song Thrush - 2
Redwing - 1
Blackcap - 1 male
Greenfinch - 9
Wren - 1 (1)
Blackbird - 3

Greenfinch

There was some 'vis' this morning, although it only lasted for a short time from first light, and we had 4 Fieldfares, 5 Redwings, Brambling, Lesser Redpoll, 2 Alba Wags, 8 Meadow Pipits, Linnet and 50 Greenfinch.

Other than a single Sparrowhawk and large numbers of Pink-footed Geese dropping on to farmland to the east of us, that was about all we had. The forecast looks okay for some more ringing tomorrow, so I think a change in scene is in order with a first visit for the season to my farmland bird feeding station. I'll keep you posted.

Ringing Totals To Date

2011-11-03T21:06:00.000+01:00

If you look at the panel to the right you will see that I have updated the ringing group's (Fylde RG) totals for 2011 up until the end of October. I have detailed the top ten below:

1. Chaffinch - 565 (same position)
2. Meadow Pipit - 414 (same position)
3. Tree Sparrow - 351 (same position)
4. Swallow - 330 (4th =)
5. Goldfinch - 330 (4th =)
6. Siskin - 260 (same position)
7. Whitethroat - 191 (same position)
8. Greenfinch - 167 (straight in at 8th =)
9. Lesser Redpoll - 167 (8th =)
10. Blue Tit - 149 (same position)

Meadow Pipit

The only species to drop out of the top ten from last month was Willow Warbler. Other species where we have ringed over 100 birds are Blackbird - 117, Willow Warbler - 142 and Great Tit - 129.

It will be interesting to see what November brings as we will be relying on the feeding stations until the end of the year. Hopefully the number of Tree Sparrows ringed will have increased and we should also see some increase in the number of Chaffinch and perhaps Siskin. We'll have to wait and see.

Slowing Down

2011-10-29T17:09:00.000+01:00

Ian and I went to the 'obs' yesterday and it was very quiet and it felt for the first time that autumn was really slowing down. We had the nets up in the dark and hoped for a few Thrushes to be tape lured own, but all we caught was a single Redwing. We ringed 24 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Redwing - 1
Greenfinch - 17
Goldfinch - 2
Meadow Pipit - 2
Wren - (1)
Blue Tit - 1 (1)
House Sparrow - 1
Dunnock - (1)

House Sparrow

Blue Tit

The vis was equally quiet with just 6 Reed Buntings, 40 Meadow Pipits, 45 Greenfinch, 4 Linnets, 7 Chaffinch, 3 Carrion Crows, 2 Jackdaws, 2 Song Thrush, 6 Rooks, Skylark, 2 Sparrowhawks, 2 Mistle Thrush, 4 Alba Wags, 2 Siskin and 5 Goldfinch.

Greenfinch

Splash and Dash

2011-10-25T20:00:00.000+01:00

On my way home I called at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss to put some more seed out. I wasn't sure whether there would be many birds using it and I was surprised to find 70 Tree Sparrows there even though it was late afternoon. Accompanying the Tree Sparrows were 7 Chaffinch and I heard a Brambling call but didn't see it.

Tree Sparrow

To the west of the feeding station on the neighbouring farm were 3,075 Pink-footed Geese that kept getting flushed and lifting up. Coming from the same direction were a group of 16 Skylarks and I had a further 5 as I walked along the edge of the 'big field'.

Along the hedge and ditch were 6 Reed Buntings and I didn't record anything more of interest on my short walk round.

RIP Marco Simoncelli

2011-10-23T18:12:00.000+01:00

I'd set the recorder on the TV to record the Moto GP from Malaysia this morning as I was hoping to be out birding, but the weather was pretty awful at first light, so I decided to watch the Moto GP live instead.

The Moto GP world lost what was one of it's greatest talents in Marco this morning when he was killed on the second lap of the race. I felt sick to the 'core' and my heart goes out to his friends and family. At only 24 years old he had the 'biggest balls' in the Moto GP paddock and had buckets full of talent; a future Moto GP world champion without doubt (he already had the 250 cc crown). Sunday afternoons won't be the same without watching him weave his magic on two wheels. Very sad and sorely missed already.

Gimme Shelter

2011-10-22T12:00:00.000+01:00

I was looking for the near impossible this morning, some shleter on a north facing coast from the 15 - 20 mph southerly wind with some elevation so I could count the vis and keep my eye on the sea! I did actually find a nice depression on the north side of the dunes that was really sheltered and high enough for me to peer over the top towards the south to count any vis. And vis there was, mainly in the form of Chaffinch.

Chaffinch

With the wind in the south and the fact it is late October I knew that there could be quite a few Chaffinch around this morning and I wasn't wrong as I had 754 move in a general southerly direction (anywhere between south and west). The supporting cast was 4 Meadow Pipits, 45 Starlings (including 16 in-off the sea), Rock Pipit, 2 Carrion Crows, 2 Bramblings (or should I say 2 Brambling calls; there is a difference!), 4 Linnets, 4 Skylarks and a single Alba Wag.

As the tide dropped waders flew in to feed and I had 323 Oystercatchers, 8 Knot, 131 Sanderlings and 90 Turnstone. The sea was quiet with just 26 Cormorants, 6 Eider, Red-breasted Merganser, 31 Common Scoters, 3 Auk sp., 5 Shelducks and 40 Kittiwakes.

A juvenile Merlin gave a cracking display this morning. It dropped onto the beach with prey, although I couldn't see what it had caught, and then it was flushed so it headed back along the beach east. It later came past me again, before doubling back once again.

Not a gripping morning, but nevertheless interesting.

I'm off to see the folk duo Show Of Hands tonight. You have probably guessed that I am more of a 'rocker' than a 'folkie', but I do indulge in a bit of folk sometimes. Below is a clip of Show of Hands performing Country Life in which they lament the change in the British countryside. Enjoy!

Raining Greenfinch

2011-10-20T14:22:00.000+01:00

It was also raining the usual 'wet stuff' when I was heading to the obs this morning. In fact when I got there I had to sit in my car for five minutes until it stopped before I could put the nets up. I was on my own this morning, so I only put three nets up, but that was plenty as I became very busy! At first light the wind was southerly, perhaps just about 5 mph with virtually full cloud cover, but by the end of the morning the skies had cleared an the wind had swung round to a 10-15 mph NNW.

I ringed 73 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Wren - 2
Sparrowhawk - 1st wint. female
Dunnock - 1
Meadow Pipit - 5
Song Thrush - 3
Greenfinch - 61
Robin - (1)

I also controlled two Greenfinch; TR20075 and TR90261 anyone?

Greenfinch

There was some vis this morning, but I was so busy ringing that it was virtually impossible to count anything. So the following totals are huge under estimates for certain species: 2 Redwings, 3 Song Thrush, 5 Bramblings, 27 Chaffinch, 19 Meadow Pipits, 2 Fieldfares, 3 Alba Wags, 5 Goldfinch, 3 Grey Wagtails, Reed Bunting, Siskin, 3 Skylarks and 2 Rock Pipits.

Other than the vis I had 570 Pink-footed Geese dropping onto the farm across the road to feed. The weather is looking a bit mixed over the next few days and I have just been pleasantly surprised to see that there might be a window on Sunday morning for some more ringing and vis migging. Fingers crossed!

Were They Waiting For Me?.........

2011-10-18T18:07:00.000+01:00

.........or did they recognise the man with the green bucket? It's that time of year again when I start feeding at my farmland bird feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss. I called yesterday morning to put the first lot of seed out and there were two or three Tree Sparrows hanging around the feeding station area and after I put the seed out within ten minutes there were 25!

The first seed drop

After I put the seed out I had a bit of wander. I had two Yellowhammers in the hedge close to the feeding station and as I walked along the '97 hedge' I had 4 Skylarks and a Crossbill called heading north. There were very few Thrushes and all I had were 4 Blackbirds, Song Thrush, 4 Fieldfares and a Redwing. Six Snipe flew south and it was then time to leave and head back to work.

I was back at the feeding station again this morning before I had to head off to the Yorkshire Dales as I wanted to put up two large nut feeders as 'reserve' feed. I use these to hold the birds if they finish all the seed before my next visit. This doesn't happen often, but when it does the peanut feeders certainly hold the Tree Sparrows.

It was very windy this morning and the flavour of the day were the Pink-footed Geese; I had 1,860 heading south. Skylark numbers had increased to 58 and Fieldfare to 18.

I got caught out in a heavy hail shower, but it produced a couple of spectacular rainbows that I managed to photograph. See below. I was hoping to get to the 'obs' Thursday morning as there seemed to be a window in the weather, but this has now gone and it looks fairly unsettled into next week!

Too Clear and Too Windy

2011-10-15T20:22:00.002+01:00

Yep, another bunch of excuses as to why we didn't catch much this morning! Ian and I knew that it would be marginal at the 'obs', but based on the numbers of Thrushes that have been around we thought we would chance it. All we could get up were two nets and one of those was a bit 'iffy'. Redwings called in the darkness and as the first rays of the new rising sun (did you spot the Jimi Hendrix reference there?) hit the obs Fieldfares were moving too, but ignoring our MP3 players! A Barn Owl gave a great performance hunting over the meadow just in front of us, so that raised our spirits.

We only managed to ring 3 Wrens, a Dunnock and 3 Greenfinch before we decided to give up and call it a day.

Wren

Greenfinch

There was a good variety of 'vis' this morning if numbers were low and we had 9 Fieldfares, 48 Redwings, 3 Song Thrush, 38 Chaffinch, 3 Reed Buntings, 43 Meadow Pipits, 18 Alba Wagtails, 43 Carrion Crows, 17 Goldfinch, 12 Skylarks, 79 Pink-footed Geese, 2 Swallows, 3 Linnets, 30 Jackdaws, 11 Tree Sparrows, 3 Siskins, 61 Starlings, 16 Lapwings, 27 Greenfinch, Rock Pipit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Snipe, 2 Blackbirds and 3 Great Tits.

Blackbird

It's looking a bit marginal again tomorrow, but I'll be out birding or ringing, or both!

I shouildn't really have been posting this evening as Gail and I were due to see Joe Bonamassa tonight at Blackpool Opera House. However, he has come down with flu and the gig has been postponed. Have a look below at Joe below playing Sloe Gin from the Albert Hall. Stunning!

Mega Tree Sparrow Passage!

2011-10-13T17:24:00.000+01:00

Now before you get too excited the mega Tree Sparrow passage was just 22 birds south, but for the 'obs' it was a mega count, but more of that later. At last we had a window of opportunity this morning to get to the obs to do some ringing. The wind was forecasted to be ESE and only 5 mph, but it was nearer 10 mph! Nevertheless, nets were erected in the dark and Redwing and Fieldfare MP3s went on. The only problem with that was that there were no Thrushes on the move. It looks likely that tonight will see a big arrival over here on the west, based on the number of birds arriving in the east of the country overnight and during today.

It started off slowly this morning, but the vis got going and we had some half decent counts. Our vis totals included 34 Chaffinch, Sparrowhawk, 122 Greenfinch, 5 Siskin, 2 Crossbills, 11 Goldfinch, 12 Reed Buntings, 2 Redwings, 7 Linnets, 6 Swallows, 11 Skylarks, 2 Grey Wagtails, 4 Lesser Redpolls, 35 Alba Wagtails, 22 Tree Sparrows (mega), 295 Meadow Pipits, 3 Fieldfares and 3 Mistle Thrush.

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Goldfinch

We didn't do too badly with the ringing either and ringed 53 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Wren - 1
Chiffchaff - 1
Blue Tit - 3
Linnet - 3
Reed Bunting - 3
Greenfinch - 25
Blackbird - 2
Meadow Pipit - 7
Chaffinch - 4
Goldfinch - 3
Robin - 1
Dunnock - (1)

Chiffchaff

We also controlled a Greenfinch; TK55862 anyone?

So overall not a bad mornings birding and ringing!

Not Too Bad for a Northwesterly!

2011-10-07T12:31:00.001+01:00

Every time I mention the diabolical nature of a northwesterly wind for seawatching I get a sense of deja vu as I know I have mentioned it so many times. Why go out if it is so crap on a northwesterly? I think it's because I'm off work this week and off work = must go birding!

As it was northwesterly I didn't go to my usual seawatching location but went to a spot in Cleveleys that I knew would offer some shelter in this wind direction. It was a little slow to start but just like yesterday I had a dark morph juv Arctic Skua head south exceedingly close in. This was followed a little later on by a second dark morph bird that was further out and less showy.

The view from my seawatching shelter

Common Scoters were the most numerous bird this morning and in total I had 50. A juv Gannet headed south and so did a high flying Red-throated Diver. Five Kittiwakes shot south close in and the best birds were two pale-bellied Brent Geese that headed north giving excellent views as they did. In fact I was able to text Ian at Rossall to warn him they were heading his way and he picked them up.

It looks like it's more northwesterlies tomorrow but slightly less in strength, so it might be a bit more seawatching for me, but I promise I won't moan about those pesky NWs!

What Happened to the Leach's?

2011-10-06T13:19:00.000+01:00

The wind seemed due west this morning at Rossall and as it had blown all yesterday and overnight at a fair old strength I thought a Leach's Petrel or two was a dead cert., obviously not! Pete at Heysham Bird Observatory felt that the wind was WWNW, which would just put enough north in the westerly to make it useless on our stretch of coast.

Stonking views of a dark juv Arctic Skua exceedingly close in kicked things off and Ian and I thought that would be it and we would have a reasonable morning, but that was the highlight! Distant Kittiwakes followed the shipping in and out of Heysham and in total we had 44 'pale' Kittiwake shaped specks bouncing along the horizon. Not seawatching at its best!

Other bits and pieces included 4 Common Scoters, 3 Pintails, Great Crested Grebe, 8 Black-tailed Godwits, 7 Eider, 3 Auk sp. and 4 Bar-tailed Godwits. We even had a single Meadow Pipit at sea battling west through the huge wave troughs!

After two and a half hours I'd had enough and headed home. The forecast for tomorrow is for it to be northwesterly proper, so as I said before that will make it useless along our stretch of coast.

Not Blowing Long Enough

2011-10-05T16:50:00.000+01:00

I went to Rossall Point this morning for first light to watch the falling tide. The wind was a good 25 mph southwesterly but unfortunately it hadn't been blowing long enough for some storm driven seabirds. After just over an hour I got fed up after seeing just 4 Eiders, Common Scoter and 2 Cormorants and decided to call it a day. I know, I'm a lightweight!

I called in at the obs to put some seed down at the feeding station and then dropped by the Nature Park on my way home. On the pools were 3 Tufted Ducks, 7 Pochards, 2 Little Grebes, 18 Coot and 13 Mallards.

It's going to remain windy overnight with the wind westerly and about 30 mph in strength. So it looks like some more seawatching for me tomorrow.

I'm going to finish on a sad note because the amazingly talented guitarist Bert Jansch died today. Have a look at a young Bert performing 'Black Waterside' below. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that Jimi Page ripped this off for 'Black Mountain Side' that appeared on Led Zeppelin I. Bert once famously said that "Jimi has never been able to look me in the eye since"! He will be sorely missed.

Rain Stopped Play But Not the Vis

2011-10-02T20:16:00.000+01:00

It was the obs for Ian and I this morning and for the second day running they got the forecasted wind strength wrong. The wind was the least of our troubles as it started raining shortly after we put the nets up. This meant a very protracted ringing session where we only ringed 5 birds (recaptures in brackets):

Wren - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Dunnock - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Robin - (1)

Even though it rained constantly once it started Meadow Pipits were still moving and we had 298 head south with Goldfinch, Alba Wag, 2 Grey Wagtails and Reed Bunting. I headed to the cemetery afterwards to see if there was anything grounded but other than a few 'ticking' Robins there was nothing doing.

Late morning news came in of a Solitary Sandpiper found by Stuart Piner (well done Stuart) on one of my client's farms that I put into Higher Level Stewardship last year. The bird was feeding on one of the wet areas that the farmer created and manages, so I guess you can say that it is working well. I phoned Robert up to tell him that his farm was going to be the focus of a lot of attention from birders!

I have updated the ringing group totals in the panel to the right and we (Fylde RG) have ringed a very respectable 3,552 birds. Septembers mover and shakers are listed below:

1. Chaffinch - 452 (up from 5th)
2. Meadow Pipit - 363 (up from 9th)
3. Tree Sparrow - 351 (down from 1st)
4. Swallow - 330 (down from 2nd)
5. Goldfinch - 278 (down from 4th)
6. Siskin - 260 (down from 3rd)
7. Whitethroat - 191 (down from 6th)
8. Lesser Redpoll - 159 (down from 7th)
9. Willow Warbler - 141 (down from 8th)
10.Blue Tit - 128 (same position)

Mipit Tsunami

2011-10-01T14:55:00.000+01:00

The forecast was all wrong this morning, in terms of wind strength anyway, and it was amazing that I ringed any birds at all at the obs. I had virtual full cloud cover as dawn broke with a moderate, perhaps 15-20 mph ESE wind shortly after I put three nets up. Within half an hour, due to the wind strength, I had to take one net down.

I ringed 29 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Greenfinch - 10
Meadow Pipit - 12
Blackcap - 1
Robin - 1
Blue Tit - 3
Chiffchaff - 1
Great Tit - 1
Dunnock - (1)

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Blue Tit

By the fact that I ringed a Blackcap and Chiffchaff it was evidence that there were some grounded birds this morning. Also I had two flighty Song Thrushes at first light that were probably grounded as well.

The feature of the morning was the Meadow Pipit passage. From first light until I left the site at 1120 they were going through in impressive numbers. I counted 1,280, but I suspect that there were probably at least three times as many as this because when you are ringing, particularly on your own, it is impossible to do all the ringing and record the 'vis' accurately all at the same time. The ringing station at the obs has a clear view to the sea wall to the west, but to the east the view is obscured by an embankment. Therefore, when processing birds at the ringing table you can only pick vis up directly overhead or to the west. Between net rounds I would stand on top of the embankment for a few minutes and look east and there were constant groups of Mipits heading south all morning.

Meadow Pipit

Other birds on the move included 18 Alba Wags, 8 Chaffinch (or should I say 8 calls heard), 23 Pink-footed Geese, 10 Siskin (see under 'Chaffinch'), 6 Greenfinch (obviously more than this as I ringed 10 which were birds 'tape lured' down), 5 Grey Wags, Linnet, 2 Reed Buntings, 17 Swallows, 4 Skylarks and 4 Goldfinch.

Greenfinch

The forecast looks okay for some more ringing and 'vis' recording tomorrow and then later in the week I might well be seawatching!

The Butterfly Bush

2011-09-29T17:26:00.000+01:00

What, a title that doesn't refer to birds on 'Fleetwood Birder'? I must admit that birds are my passion or obsession as Gail continually reminds me, but I do enjoy all types of flora and fauna. The butterfly bush of course refers to the Ivy I mentioned yesterday, but more of that in a moment.

First of all it's back to the 'obs' at first light this morning. As of recent days I was greeted with 6 oktas hazy cloud and a 15 mph southeasterly wind. Horizontal visibility was pretty poor with a lot of murk out to sea. Still very few grounded birds to report although I did think there were more Wrens, Dunnocks and Blackbirds around this morning; 7, 12 and 9 respectively. The Dunnock count includes three birds flying high and heading south calling.

Vis was less this morning with no Pinkies at all and my count included: 81 Meadow Pipits, Yellow Wagtail, 2 Chaffinch, 61 Linnets, 5 Carrion Crows, 4 Reed Buntings, 4 Starlings, 6 Alba Wags, Tree Sparrow, Rock Pipit, Grey Wagtail and 38 Jackdaws.

I then called at the Mount and headed for the 'butterfly bush'. Even though it was only mid-morning there were 49 Red Admirals, 2 Small Tortoiseshells, 8 Commas and 1 Speckled Wood. There was also two male Migrant Hawkers hunting around the tree tops. The only migrant bird I had was a calling Goldcrest.

The butterfly bush

Comma

Above and below - Red Admiral using me to 'sun' on

On my way home I called into the cemetery and other than a Chiffchaff and a Siskin going over it was very quiet. It looks like the weather is going to be similar tomorrow, but hopefully we'll get some ringing in on Saturday and Sunday.

A Mixed Bag

2011-09-28T20:18:00.000+01:00

It was the obs again for me this morning, but no rinigng as the 15 mph southeasterly wind precluded the operation of mist nets. It was hazy with some murk out at sea. The first birds I had were two flighty Song Thrushes in the half light that left the copse as soon as they saw me. Ticking Robins announced their presence by ticking and 6 was the total for the morning. And that would be it for grounded migrants.

There was some vis and most notable were the arrival of 680 Pink-footed Geese to the east and a Yellow Wagtail heading south. Other movers included: 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Chaffinch, 4 Reed Buntings, 51 Linnets, 26 Alba Wags, 11 Skylark, Tree Sparrow, Snipe, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, 5 Collared Dove ('in-off' & then headed south), 2 Carrion Crows, 26 Swallows, female Sparrowhawk and 167 Meadow Pipits.

I came across this large mushroom as I walked towards the sea wall

As I mentioned before it was murky out at sea and consequently all I had were 12 Eiders, Guillemot and Red-throated Diver.

I then headed to the Mount where all I had grounded-wise was a single Goldcrest, and 15 Goldfinch and a Grey Wagtail went through. The main interest were the butterflies and bees feeding on a flowering ivy. The bees numbered into the several hundred and there were approximately 15 Red Admirals, 5 Small Tortoiseshells, 3 Peacocks and 5 Commas all nectering on the plant. Close by were two Small Coppers. I was talking to a lady who was photographing the butterflies and she said that in the afternoon yesterday she estimated that there were more than a hundred butterflies on this large ivy plant.

On my way home I called in the cemetery but didn't see any migrants at all! It's going to remain southeasterly for a few days yet and it looks good for some ringing over weekend.

Who Turned the Tap Off?

2011-09-27T20:02:00.000+01:00

Conditions were marginal this morning at the obs for operating mist nets and in fact the wind strength almost certainly adversely affected the catch. At first light I had virtually clear skies with a stiff, perhaps 10 - 15 mph, southeasterly wind. From the 'off' birds were on the move, but quite suddenly at about 1000 the 'vis' tap was turned off. My vis totals included 188 Meadow Pipits, Reed Bunting, 14 Chaffinch, 10 Alba Wags, 7 Siskins, 8 Greenfinch, 2 Grey Wags, 2 Collared Doves, 2 Swallows, 7 Goldfinch and the best of the lot 10 Tree Sparrows! These totals are based on what I recorded, and for some species, particularly Mipits the total was probably twice that.

Meadow Pipit

Reed Bunting

Greenfinch

As I was busy ringing all morning it was difficult to gauge what was grounded other than what I ringed. I ringed 26 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Dunnock - 4 (1)
Reed Bunting - 1
Chaffinch - 2
Meadow Pipit - 7
Greenfinch - 8
Blue Tit - 1 (1)
Chiffchaff - 1
Great Tit - 2

Look at those tertials - adult male Chaffinch

Dunnock

So to go back to the subject of grounded birds I would say that the Dunnocks and the Chiffie were all that was grounded.

Chiffchaff

We recieved details of a few recoveries from the BTO today and two stand out from the others. The first is Greenfinch TK94482 that was ringed ar the obs on 17th October 2010 and 'controlled' by Peter Fearon 49 km to the south on 20th November 2010 at Brookvale, Liverpool.

The second bird was a Swallow ringed on Rawcliffe Moss on 8th August 2009 by Craig and it was controlled on 27th April 2010, 1198 km to the southeast in Verbania in the Alpine region of Italy.

The weather is remaining southeasterly all week and it looks like it will be too breezy for ringing until Saturday, but then it looks like we might get three consecutive days! Of course I will be out birding between now and then and I will let you know what I do or don't see!

No Mipit Wave Here

2011-09-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

Some of the 'vis migers' in the Pennines have been reporting large numbers of Mipits moving this morning, but down here on the coast there was very little movement. I was at the 'obs' for first light and I had virtually clear skies with a 15 mph WSW wind that eventually swung round to become WNW when the tide ran in.

On my round of the obs there was very little vis at all other than 4 Alba Wags, 13 Linnet, 15 Meadow Pipits, Grey Wag, 2 Greenfinch and Chaffinch. There seemed to be similar numbers of Robins around with 7 'ticking' birds, but less Blackbirds and Wrens. The only grounded migrant as such was a single Wheatear.

My quick look on the sea produced 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, 31 Common Scoters, 3 Eiders and a few Auk sp.s.

I then had a look in the Mount and other than 5 Robins and a single Goldcrest I had no migrants at all. I had a few butterflies in the form of 5 Red Admirals, 2 Commas and 2 Speckled Woods sunning themselves in sheltered sunny spots.

Comma

Red Admiral

It was then on to the Cemetery where my run of no migrants continued and all I entered in my notebook was a single Grey Wagtail over. I then had a walk down the old railway line and encountered a singing Chiffchaff, but very little else.

The old railway line

At the Nature Park the pools held 21 Tufted Ducks, 4 Little Grebes, 22 Coots, 11 Mallards and 5 Pochard. I had a calling Chiffie from the willow scrub and the incoming tide pushed 11 Skylarks off the saltmarsh.

Tide running in on the marsh

It looks like I might get out ringing tomorrow, but I'll need to check the forecast again later. It certainly looks good for some settled weather later in the week to facilitate the operation of mist nets. I'll keep you posted as ever.

I photographed this little fella in my garden in the rain last night

Vis

2011-09-25T20:35:00.000+01:00

Vis was the order of the day this morning. The wind had dropped overnight and shifted a little bit more to the east to become southeasterly, but unfortunately it was a little too stiff for us to do any ringing at the obs; instead I had a walk round.

As soon as I set off there were birds on the move. My walk took me just under two hours and I was trying to 'work' the bushes, listen out for vis and then keep an eye on the sea when I got to the sea front. I think what I am trying to say is that there was probably a lot more on the move than I recorded due to the aforementioned excuses! My vis totals (all south) included 3 Grey Wagtail, 192 Meadow Pipits, 46 Linnets, 6 Alba Wags, 35 Chaffinch and 23 Swallows.

Grounded birds were restricted to 8 Robins, 5 Blackbirds, 7 Wrens and a single Wheatear. The sea was exceptionally quiet with just 8 Common Scoters recorded in my notebook. Out on the shore I had a few Turnstones feeding along the top of the groynes and looking for invertebrates on the side and a Bar-tailed Godwit that flew through was a nice distraction.

Turnstones feeding on a groyne

I've inserted a picture of the 'humble' fence post below with it's rusty strands of barbed wire because as I walked past the numerous fence posts at the obs it got me thinking how essential they are for migrants to perch on, particularly chats! If I could be bothered and was sad enough I could probably come up with a fence post list. Perhaps the local bird club could have a Fence Post Yearlist Challenge where members were encouraged to submit lists of all the species they see in a year perched on posts!

Talking of birds perching on fence posts I had a cracking adult male Sparrowhawk perched on one this morning. It was in absolutely stunning plumage and was virtually blue and orange; it was that good!

Ticking Robins.........

2011-09-24T11:30:00.000+01:00

.........and not much else greeted me when I did the rounds at the 'obs' this morning. Usually 'ticking' Robins are a good sign that some birds might be grounded, but not this morning. I actually got to the obs too early and as it was only just coming light, too dark to bird, I walked down to the feeding station and put some seed out.

On my walk round I had 4 'ticking' Robins and not a lot else grounded other than two Wheatears. One of the Wheatears was feeding behind the shelter of the old swimming baths and seemed to be catching plenty of invertebrates.

Wheatear

Due to the stiff murky SSW wind vis was virtually non-existent other than Grey Wagtail, 2 Meadow Pipits and 2 Alba Wagtails south. I had a quick look on the sea and it was very murky, and consequently all I had were 3 Auk sp. and 2 Common Scoters.

I then moved onto the Mount and things seemed a little more promising as I could hear Goldcrest calling as soon as I stepped out of my car. But it was only teasing me because I didn't have anything else of note. I called in at the cemetery but again it was quiet and all I could do was add 4 Swallows to the vis totals for the morning. On the way home I called at the Nature Park and 11 Tufted Ducks, 3 Pochards and 15 Coots were on the pools.

It's too early to call yet as to what the weather is going to be doing tomorrow. I'll definitely be out birding, but it still might be a touch too breezy for ringing at the obs.

More Mipits

2011-09-18T18:17:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned yesterday a window of opportunity was forecasted by the weathermen and they got it right! At first light at Rossall we were greeted with 4 oktas cloud cover with a 5 mph NE wind. It looked very murky to the east and by 0730 some mist rolled in, but this very quickly cleared and the wind veered easterly. As I waited for Ian to arrive I heard a Green Sand calling and in the half light we tried a Blackcap song on the first net, and on the first net round was a Garden Warbler right above the MP3 player! Wrong Sylvia, but it would do as it was a first for the site for us. I say 'for us' as the site used to be ringed in the 1970s and 1980s by Andrew Cadman and he most certainly ringed Garden Warbler.

Garden Warbler

We ringed 59 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Garden Warbler - 1
Dunnock - 7 (4)
Robin - 2
Meadow Pipit - 31
Chaffinch - 1
Blue Tit - 7
Greenfinch - 4
Wren - 1
Great Tit - 3
Swallow - 1
Sparrowhawk - 1 male

Sparrowhawk

Blue Tit

There was quite a bit of 'vis' this morning but not as much as Thursday and the vis totals were as follows; 438 Meadow Pipits, 22 Chaffinch, 6 Grey Wags, 5 Pied Wags, 11 Swallows, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Sand Martin, 8 House Martins, 3 Siskin, Golden Plover, 2 Sparrowhawk and 4 Skylarks. These are counts as detailed in my notebook and not estimates. When you are busy ringing it is difficult to keep tabs on the 'vis' and you could very easily double the counts for some species, particularly Meadow Pipits. It is also sometimes tricky to count the Chaffinch and Siskin, as 'a' call could be one bird or it could be a flock. But when you can't see the calling bird(s), it has to go as a single in the old notebook.

Meadow Pipit

The best birds we had on vis were 9 Ravens that headed north. They started out as 2 birds that came in calling from the east heading to the coast, but when they hit the coast and headed north a further 7 Ravens joined them. Whether they were all flying together but spread apart, or whether they called each other in we are not sure.

Another cracking morning at the 'obs'!

Buy This Book and Buy it Now!

2011-09-17T17:20:00.000+01:00

This book is absolutely stunning and is full of some amazing art work and essays on bird migration. If you are interested at all in bird migration, and if you are a birder you must be, then buy this book; you won't be disappointed!

Amazingly, the forecast is looking good enough to enable us to get out ringing tomorrow. The only down side is that the wind will be from the north albeit quite light. Hopefully there will be some Mipits on the move as today's wet weather will probably have held a few up.

Mipit Surge

2011-09-15T16:59:00.000+01:00

The ridge of high pressure covering the UK today gave Ian and I the opportunity to get to Rossall and do some ringing. As I was putting the poles on my roof rack in the half light 12 Pink-footed Geese headed south, which were the first of the autumn for me.

It was flat calm at the obs and wet put the nets up and set up the MP3s with various songs and calls of species that we thought would be on the move this morning.

Meadow Pipits were certainly the most numerous visible migrant and we had 5-600 head south. There was a supporting cast of 45 Swallows, 12 Pied Wagtails, 4 Goldfinch, 6 Chaffinch, 5 Grey Wagtails, 350 Pink-footed Geese (5 groups), 12 Skylarks, Tree Pipit and Sparrowhawk.

Meadow Pipit

We ringed 71 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Dunnock - 7
Robin - 2
Meadow Pipit - 43
Blue Tit - 8 (1)
Great Tit - 4
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 6

Dunnock

Greenfinch

I have to work tomorrow and fortunately the weather isn't that brilliant, but unfortunately it doesn't look that fantastic over weekend at the moment either. However, whatever it does I will be out doing some kind of birding!

Leach's for Breakfast and Other Tasty Morsels

2011-09-13T20:28:00.000+01:00

I only had a couple of hours to spare this morning before I needed to head off to Merseyside for a meeting so I was at the coast for 0625 and I spent the next couple of hours seawatching. I immediately had a Leach's Petrel heading south along the tide line, quickly followed by another. I then had a bit of a wait before another two headed south. All four gave stonking views!

The first Skua I had through was an Arctic and then at 0725 I had a a pale morph adult Pom Skua with full tail spoons just over the beach. Awesome! As I was watching the Pom an adult Sabines Gull flashed past my scope! I didn't know which one to watch! Both birds slowly drifted south out of view. In addition to these stonking birds I had a few Gannets and Kittiwakes heading south.

I returned mid-afternoon after my meeting and did a further 3 hours. Straight away I was on to a Leach's and another two quickly followed. I had 2 Manxies, Sandwich Tern, 9 Gannets, Fulmar, Little Gull and 5 Kittiwakes head south. Then at 1700 I picked up a small distant tern like Skua 'shearing' south. It didn't really get any closer but I managed to get enough on it to clinch it as a juv intermediate type Long-tailed Skua. Excellent!

Shortly before this I had a really close Bonxie go south and the Long-tailed made it four species of Skua off the Lancashire coast; the first time I had ever seen all four species of Skua off Lancashire! The passage then slowed down and by 1800 I was getting hungry and decided to call it a day. I couldn't complain, except perhaps for missing the Balearic. If work hadn't got in the way of birding again there is a chance I would have seen it.

The wind is going to ease down over night and into tomorrow and then swing to the southeast and become very light for Thursday morning. Hopefully I will be able to get out ringing. As always I'll keep you posted.

A Day Too Early

2011-09-11T11:23:00.000+01:00

The remnants of Hurricane Katia will cross the region tomorrow and the seawatching could be interesting. It was supposed to be an office day for me tomorrow, so I might just have to move my office to the coast!

The wind never really materialised this morning. I was at Rossall for first light and it was SW 3-4 and within an hour it dropped slightly and went southerly. In fact when it dropped and turned southerly there was a flurry of vis with a few Mipits, Swallows and Grey Wags whizzing through.

When I arrived at Rossall the tide was quite a long way out and 650 Oystercatchers fed on the shore. It was fairly quiet on the sea and all I had were 10 Common Scoters, 8 Cormorants, 5 Sandwich Terns, 4 Eiders, 5 Shelducks and a Gannet.

In the Elders behind the Coastguard's Tower was a Dunnock and a Chiffchaff. As it was quiet on the sea and because of the Chiffie I packed up early and called in the cemetery on my way home. I had 3 Chiffies and not a lot else.

Chiffchaff

I'll be keeping my on the forecast all day to see if that Atlantic weather comes in.

Wheatear Weather

2011-09-10T20:54:00.000+01:00

Whatever the weather did or didn't do this morning it certainly brought in some Wheatears in. At various sites around Fleetwood I had 25 in total. At first light I started out at the obs for two reasons; firstly it is only 5 minutes from home and secondly it is smack bang on the coast. At first light there was full cloud cover with a 15 mph SE wind. Straight away it was obvious that there wasn't anything grounded other than 17 Wheatears.

Wheatear

There was a little 'vis' in the form of 3 Grey Wagtails, Linnet, 223 Swallows and 2 Pied Wagtails. I had a quick look on the sea, but other than 2 Shelducks north there was nothing doing. I then headed to the cemetery but checked the grass strip behind the sea wall on the way and added a further 3 Wheatears plus 6 Meadow Pipits.

Before going into the cemetery I thought I would have a quick look on the golf course and I had a further 5 Wheatears. The only other bird of note was a Whimbrel heading south. By this time the wind had picked up to a near 20 mph southerly and the cemetery was very quiet. The only thing half decent was a male Sparrowhawk and Speckled Wood butterfly.

On my way home I called in at the Nature Park to have a look on the pools and there were 16 Tufteds, 3 Little Grebes and 16 Coots. I had a single Grey Wagtail over and 2 Chiffchaffs feeding in a willow that were a bit of a surprise considering the lack of grounded migrants elsewhere.

The forecast for tomorrow is for the wind to pick-up and turn southwesterly, so a spot of seawatching might be in order, although Monday/Tuesday look better days in terms of wind strength and length of blow.

Travels Without a Camera

2011-09-09T20:12:00.000+01:00

First of all a postscript to yesterday. The Red-throated Diver is still on the Marine Lakes, but unfortunately the Manxie died and is now safely frozen in Ian's freezer!

Red-throated Diver

The rain eventually stopped shortly after lunch and I headed off to the Moss for a wander round. No camera with me today, so no pictures of anything seen this afternoon. There was a steady stream of Swallows heading in to the SSW wind and in total I had probably somewhere in the region of a thousand head south in the hour and quarter that I walked round.

Swallow

I had 50 Goldfinch and 9 Linnets on my walk, but these weren't birds on 'vis', rather birds feeding in a weedy field. In fact the only vis I had were the Swallows with a few House Martins and a single Meadow Pipit. I had a few raptors this afternoon in the form of Kestrel, Peregrine, Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. The Peg caused uproar amongst the Gulls as they all left the flood they were bathing in en masse to see it off.

There were good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies around and they were all recently emerged immaculate specimens. I also had a few Small Whites and in the plantation 3 or 4 Speckled Woods. The only grounded migrants I had as such were 2 Whitethroats along a newly planted hedge that is now just starting to resemble a hedge.

The forecast isn't brilliant for the weekend with tomorrow the only chance for a few migrants and its back to seabirds on Sunday. The charts look interesting for Monday with a rapidly moving deep depression heading across the Atlantic. It looks good for a few seabirds and surely a yank or two in the right location. How about a.......

Common Yellowthroat

or a..........

Nashville Warbler

or maybe even a.............

Tree Swallow

I think I'll leave it at that!

A Nice End to the Day

2011-09-08T20:04:00.001+01:00

I often moan about how work gets in the way of birding and then I always think that actually I am quite lucky in what I do. Today was a classic example. All day I kept getting reports of a Sabines Gull here and a Leach's there, and I wished I was seawatching at Rossall and connecting with these birds. I was out on some farmland in Merseyside surveying a farm for Higher Level Stewardship. I was looking at a piece of lowland raised bog, which is a UK BAP habitat, and as a habitat it is very scarce. Look at the picture below and you can see that the water table needs lifting to kill off the scrub and that is what we'll attempt through the scheme.

I was seeing Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings, watching a party of Long-tailed Tits, listening to a Willow Warbler calling and watching Swallows hawking low flying insects under the trees in the rain, so it wasn't all bad!

At lunchtime I got a phone call from Ian to say that there was a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver on the Marine Lakes. I decided that I would call on my way home. As I was close to the Marine Lakes Ian phoned again to say that there was a Manx Shearwater on one of the other lakes as well! What a nice end to the day. My camera was playing up, so even though both birds were close I struggled to get some decent shots as you will see below. Keep your eye on Another Bird Blog as I am sure Phil will have some pictures of the Manxie on his blog soon, taken with a proper camera by a proper photographer!

Movers and Shakers

2011-09-06T20:07:00.000+01:00

As we are in early September I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Rinigng Group up until the end of August in the panel to the right. We have ringed 2,836 birds of 60 species. New species ringed in August were Collared Dove and Grey Wagtail. I have lsited the top ten below.

1 - Tree Sparrow - 351
2 - Swallow - 326 (up from 4th)
3 - Siskin - 260 (down from 2nd)
4 - Goldfinch - 237 (down from 3rd)
5 - Chaffinch - 210
6 - Whitethroat - 183 (up from 8th)
7 - Lesser Redpoll - 154 (down from 6th)
8 - Willow Warbler - 139 (straight in)
9 - Meadow Pipit - 131 (down from 7th)
10 - Blue Tit - 100 (down from 9th)

The totals for the year are looking excellent and the bulk of the birds ringed in August were by Phil and Will, who are both retired and semi-retired, and are able to get out when conditions are good. So it's a big thank you to them.

I was working up the Lune Valley today and after all the rain we have had over the past 48 hours the Lune was in flood and I have included a few pictures.

Looking upstream from the Gressingham Bridge

Looking downstream from the Gressingham Bridge

Low Key Autumn Morning

2011-09-04T20:27:00.000+01:00

Ian and I were at Rossall for first light this morning and in terms of wind strength, virtually zero, it was perfect for mist nets. However, the weather synopsis over night wasn't conducive for any grounded migrants, but we did hope for some vis.

The lack of vis, other than it being early in the autumn, was a little baffling as it had been murky all day yesterday and we thought it would have blocked a number of migrants and that they would have been on the move this morning in the clear conditions. Thankfully we don't know everything! Birds on 'vis' included 7 Pied Wagtails, 4 Grey Wagtails, 9 Meadow Pipits and even smaller numbers of Goldfinch and Linnet.

Dunnock

We processed 14 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Whitethroat - 3
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 3 (1)
Reed Bunting - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Wren - 1 (1)
Blackbird - 1
Blue Tit - 1

Reed Bunting

The fact that we ringed a few Whitethroats, Dunnocks and Robins showed there were some migrants around, but it is likely that they were birds that had been around from the previous day. One of the Whitethroats had a fat score of 4 and weighed just short of 18 g, when normally they would be between 12 and 14 g.

Whitethroat

Other than that there was very little to report except for a female Sparrowhawk that 'coasted' through causing mayhem amongst the Swallows.

Ortolan Gold

2011-09-02T08:50:00.000+01:00

I was just about to have breakfast when my mobile started ringing and flashing on the screen was Ian's name. "Where are you mate?" was Ian's question and when I replied I was at home about to eat my breakfast, Ian hit me with "I've got an Ortolan Bunt on the golf course". F*ckin' hell, or words to that effect were my reply and ten minutes later I was walking along the track between the sea wall and the golf course.

The bird wasn't showing, but as I headed towards Ian it flew up onto the sea wall. I had a good look at it and took a few poor record shots. The bird then flew south below the sea wall and over the track before once again appearing on the wall. I took a couple more dodgy shots and the bird again dropped down. It was at this point that we lost it. By now one or two birders had turned up and we spent another half hour looking but to no avail.

Poor record shot of 1st wint. Ortolan Bunting

It was obvious that there were a few migrants around this morning as we pushed a Goldcrest from the base of the sea wall and there were a few Wheatears on the golf course. It's back to work and reality for me now, but I just wanted to thank my good mate Ian for yet another excellent find in Fleetwood. Well done mate!

Don't Mention the Wind

2011-08-28T11:13:00.000+01:00

Northwesterly, that's all I am going to say. If you've read my blog before you will know that a northwesterly is a wind that I don't want here on the Fylde coast. I was at Rossall for first light as the tide was just starting to run in. It was a long way out, but that ribbon of blue/grey got larger and larger as the morning went on.

It was quiet this morning and I refer you back to that word 'northwesterly' for the reason. First up were 3 Eiders in the surf and then Oystercatchers began to flock totalling 441. Four Kittiwakes moved west into the wind and out of the Bay, along with 17 Sandwich Terns and 5 Gannets.

Eiders

The best bird of the morning was a Great Skua that lumbered along the beach just over the surf. I followed it until lost from view the other side of my shelter, which was the Coastguard's tower. After two hours of not seeing very much it was time to head home. I called at the Nature Park on my way and it was similar to yesterday other than there were 9 Little Grebes out on the main pool.

What's it going to be like tomorrow? You've guessed it; northwesterly!

Birds. What birds?

2011-08-27T12:05:00.000+01:00

Ian and I had a very slow and predictable ringing session this morning at the Nature Park. I say 'predictable' because based on last evening's forecast we knew it would be grim! I suppose you could ask why bother if you knew it would be poor. I suppose in reality you hope that you might be wrong, or the forecast is wrong and there are some migrants about. The other reason is that when you have been at work all week you are desperate to get out! I shouldn't really grumble as I work in conservation so I get out in the field all the time!

Back to this morning. The forecast was 'bob' on when it talked about it being wet throughout the night with the rain clearing at dawn and the northwesterly wind strengthening. That's exactly what happened, and that's exactly why there were no birds this morning.

We processed 5 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Reed Warbler - 2 (1)
Sedge Warbler - 1
Robin - 1
Dunnock - 1

Reed Warbler

As you might expect the birding was very quiet too, with just 5 Pied Wagtails, 5 House Martins and 8 Swallows over. On the pools were about a dozen Tufted Ducks and half a dozen Pochards.

Tufted Duck

Typically it looks set to remain quite breezy throughout the weekend and then dropping, yes you've guessed it, on Tuesday when I am back at work! Let's hope the weather men and ladies get it wrong.

'Fresh' Waders for Lunch

2011-08-22T20:56:00.000+01:00

I called at the Conder Estuary for my lunch between site visits today to see if I could pick up a few fresh waders. The water levels on the pool were very high and consequently there were few waders. I had two Greenshank, Common Sand and 7 Lapwing.

I then turned my attention to the estuary and this was equally as quiet, although there were some good numbers of Lapwings out on the mudflats of the Lune totalling 1,800. Other than 46 Mute Swans, 66 Mallard and 35 Curlew that was it and it was time for me to head off on my next site visit.

The Lune Estuary

All's Not Well with Birders and Birding in the Fylde!

2011-08-21T18:24:00.002+01:00

The only bit of bird news I have today is of a female/juvenile Marsh Harrier I had from my car as it crossed the road and headed south over Singleton this morning. I got up at 5.15 a.m. and it was p*ssing down so I decided to have a lie in instead. I am not particularly a fair weather birder but the lure of the warm bed I had just rolled out of and the knowledge that based on the weather there wouldn't be too much around, the temptation to get back in was too great.

It would seem that the Yellow Wagtail that Ian and I heard only at the Nature Park yesterday caused a bit of a stir amongst some birders this morning, with at least three people turning up to try and see it. As usual the Webmaster of bird records for Fylde Bird Club lifted this piece of information from my blog without permission, credited the source of the information as Rare Bird Alert (which is code for 'lifted from another website/blog without permission') and plonked it on the 'what's occurring section' of the FBC website. All this did was to mislead local birders who turned up today looking for the Yellow Wag 24 hours after we heard it! What's wrong with birding in the Fylde, or is it the same all over? It was just a Yellow Wag for flips sake! Yes I know they are declining, but put a bit of time in and you can still see several of them in a year; I do!

I could go on and on about this but I won't because it is rather pathetic to say the least. I'll finish by saying that I wish I was off work tomorrow because the forecast is great for a spot of ringing. I'll just have to try and get a bit of birding in between site visits at work tomorrow.

A Dusting of Warblers

2011-08-20T12:49:00.001+01:00

Ian and I met at the obs in the half-light this morning and it was too windy to operate mist nets so we relocated to the Nature Park. It was still quite windy here as the tail end of the front that had moved through the night, lifted the wind and dumped some 'wet stuff'on us was just moving away to the east. The wind at first was a good 15 mph WSW, but as the front moved away it dropped to 5-10 mph WSW at first and then swung to SW.

Once the front had cleared it was obvious that it had dropped some birds, as we extracted four birds from the first net, that were all Warblers and four different species! In the end from just two nets we processed 25 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Sedge Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Reed Warbler - 7
Garden Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 2
Blue Tit - 1
Blackcap - 4
Dunnock - 2 (1)
Willow Warbler - 3
Wren - 2
Greenfinch - 1

Blackcap

The weather brought some other good birds in as well as we had a Yellow Wagtail calling from the pool. We put Yellow Wag on the MP3 just in case, but it had no affect. Whilst checking one of the nets Ian heard a Tree Sparrow (a good bird here) and it was moving around a Hawthorn. Again, an MP3 player was switched to 'Tree Sparrow'; we didn't catch the Tree Sparrow, but instead three Tree Sparrows flew out and climbed to the east.

Garden Warbler

During one of our coffee breaks we noticed all the Gulls getting up and low and behold a Buzzard was slowly drifting south with a 'Larus' escort! The fourth decent bird of the morning was when Ian picked up a wader, in the corner of his eye, dropping onto the pool. A quick look on the pool revealed a Ruff as it got up flushed by some Gulls coming in to bathe.

Lesser Whitethroat

Other birds seen this morning included Swift, Sand Martin, 10 Pied Wagtails, 14 Linnets and a Stock Dove. It looks like we might get out again in the morning, so watch this space.

Whitethroat

Thanks to Wendy for the Welsh Dragon sausage butty. Awesome!

Willow Warbler

We received a bunch of recoveries from the BTO this week and they were quite good. Quite a few re-sightings of color ringed Coots, a Reed Bunting to Leighton Moss, a Goldfinch to Walney BO, and a Siskin to Loch Lomond. However, the best of the lot was a Blue Tit that we ringed at the 'obs' on 26.3.11 that was controlled two weeks later 43 km to the south at Hightown, Merseyside!

A Hard Slog

2011-08-14T20:04:00.000+01:00

It was too windy for mist nets at the obs this morning so I had a good walk round instead. It was very quiet with nothing going over and very little grounded other than two Wheatears and perhaps a Sedge Warbler. I say perhaps a Sedge Warbler, meaning it might have been grounded or it could have been a late breeding straggler.

As I headed to my seawatching position I took a few photographs of the Sea Holly in flower and then had a look on the sea. I only had a quick a look on the sea and I didn't see anything of note. Walking back towards the car I had 30 Swallows feeding over the meadow and a Lapwing got up from a wet flush.

I then moved onto the cemetery and it was quiet here too. No migrants at all, but a family party of 7 Mistle Thrushes was nice. Back to work for me tomorrow, but I will try and get out in the week.

First Reserve

2011-08-13T10:20:00.000+01:00

Ian and I arrived at the 'obs' as it was just coming light this morning to be greeted by a stiff WSW wind. On that direction there wouldn't be a net ride with any shelter so we decided to go to the Nature Park where we knew we would get shelter amongst the willows and the reeds.

We just put three nets up (130 feet) and we processed 12 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Reed Warbler - 5
Dunnock - 1 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 2
Whitethroat - 1
Willow Warbler -2
Greenfinch - 1

Willow Warbler

From a birding perspective we had very little other than a Swift, 10 House Martins and 2 or 3 Ringed Plovers over. The wind forecast for tomorrow is a little borderline at the moment so it will need some careful scrutiny during the day.

Pre-weekend Preamble

2011-08-12T15:20:00.000+01:00

I must congratulate Fylde Bird Club on their new look bird sightings under 'what's occurring' on their website. They have switched to an automated system where members and non-members alike can instantly upload sightings. This means that the sightings page is kept up to date and it also means less work for the webmaster.

However, (I bet you could tell there was going to be a 'but' or a 'however' coming) it will, and already has lead to some stringy sightings going on the website. Take the 8th August for example; 2 Long Tail Skuas off Rossall Point. Now I am not being pedantic, but if you call them 'Long Tail Skuas' and not Long-tailed Skuas then you don't know what a Long-tailed Skua is! The observer in question is decidedly dodgy and for a couple of weeks now he has asked Ian and I how you would identify a Long-tailed Skua. He was obviously, as we predicted, preparing himself to claim a Long-tailed or two off Rossall. Unfortunately this gives the site a bad name and people start to disbelieve the validity of any records from the site. The fact that the Long-tailed's claims were juvs is laughable as there is not a chance in a million that this observer could identify a juv. Long-tailed Skua. Ah well, I suppose it will cause a smile and I'll look forward to some more dodgy records as long as they are not on my patch!

Now for some pictures. 'Young' Craig from our ringing group is currently working at Kvismaren Bird Observatory in Sweden and he sent me a couple of pictures of Great Reed Warbler and a couple of Red-backed Shrikes in the hand. They are particularly awesome as you can see below. As Craig said in his email to me "guess what Heather is saying in the Red-backed Shrike photo"? I know what I would be saying and it seems that it is exactly the same!

Bardsey had a Melodious Warbler yesterday, so let's hope if we can get to the 'obs' we can get one too! I doubt it, but it's good to dream!

What Happened To The Rain?

2011-08-06T13:42:00.000+01:00

The weather men, weather ladies, Internet forecasts etc all seemed to agree that a front was coming across the Northwest this morning and it would dump a load of rain on us sometime fairly early in the morning. Based on the forecast ringing was off, but I thought there was a chance of a sneaky hours birding before the rain came in. Sneaky hour!, I could have had the whole morning ringing because all we got was a light shower at about 0900!

Anyway, I went up to Rossall as there was a morning tide but it was very quiet. A few waders were on the beach including 111 Oystercatchers, 82 Dunlin, 12 Turnstones, 22 Ringed Plovers, 9 Sanderling and 4 Redshanks. There was next to no vis other than 11 Swallows east and the 20 Linnets knocking about were off passage birds.

Dunlin

The sea was equally quiet with just 25 Sandwich Terns and 12 Common Scoters the rewards for all my efforts.

I decided to call it quits and head home but not before I had a quick look in the cemetery. A Whitethroat in the west hedgerow was probably a local breeder and a male House Sparrow carrying a faecal sack was all I had of interest.

I have just looked at a few Internet forecasts and we might get some ringing done in the morning, although it will be a touch windy. The BBC forecast made me laugh as it contradicted itself within it's own forecast. The three hourly summary for overnight and in to tomorrow showed no rain, yet the predicted rainfall sequence map showed it raining overnight and into tomorrow. I'll leave it a while yet before deciding what to do.

Is That the End of Our Swallow Roost?

2011-08-06T10:52:00.000+01:00

Since I last posted Ian and I have had a further two ringing sessions at the Swallow roost ringing another 112 birds. We also controlled a Swallow; Y270857 anybody?

Up until 3rd August there were about 6,000 Swallows roosting, but this dropped to 800 on the 4th and 300 on the 5th. We are not sure whether they will build up again or whether they will switch to maize now that the maize has got a bit of a growth spurt on. We'll have to wait and see.

Updated Totals

2011-08-04T18:50:00.000+01:00

I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing Group in the panel to the right. During July two new species were added and these were Skylark (7 pulli ringed by Phil) and amazingly Song Thrush! How we have managed to get to July without ringing a Song Thrush I am not sure.

The top ten from our totals looks like this:

Tree Sparrow - 344
Siskin - 260
Goldfinch - 200
Swallow - 189 (straight in at number 4)
Chaffinch - 167
Lesser Redpoll - 154
Meadow Pipit - 131
Whitethroat - 115
Blue Tit - 94
Great Tit - 94

I'll need to sign off now as I have to go and ring some Swallows. Ian and I have been working a roost during the week, so I'll report more on that tomorrow.

Tree Sparrow

From Acros to Hirundines

2011-07-31T12:26:00.000+01:00

Ian and I spent the dawn and dusk periods in the reedbeds at Fleetwood yesterday targeting warblers in the morning and Swallows in the evening. At first light it was surprisingly cold and I even had to put on a woolly hat whilst putting the nets up. This was short-lived as it soon warmed up.

Walking back to the cars Ian picked up a Kingfisher calling and it headed to the area where we had some nets up but unfortunately we didn't catch it. It was very quiet with little moving over head other than a few hirundines and Swifts. Two Stock Doves and a singing Grasshopper Warbler were probably the best birds seen or heard during the morning.

We managed to ring only 19 birds as follows:

Reed Bunting - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Whitethroat - 3
Chaffinch - 1
Reed Warbler - 6
Blackcap - 1
Dunnock - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Wren - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Sedge Warbler - 1

Blackcap

Chaffinch

We were back in the evening to 'work' the Swallow roost and we managed to ring 131. Only three of these were adults and we also caught a leucistic bird that was a beige colour. We caught a single Sedge Warbler and when I got it out of the net I could see that it had a French ring on it! A cracking end to a cracking day.

Swallow

Leucistic Swallow

Responsible, or should that be Irresponsible Behaviour?

2011-07-29T20:31:00.002+01:00

I felt I had to contact the 'webmasters' of Fylde Bird Club recently to ask them if they thought it was a good idea to publish the exact site details of a Schedule 1 breeding bird in the area. I am not going to mention the species but I will say that they were feeding young and birders were being encouraged to twitch and photograph them. I was hoping, as a member of the club, that they would heed my advice and decide that it was reckless to do such a thing. They have chosen to completely ignore my advice, so by their actions I can only conclude that they think they know more than me and that it is absolutely fine to disturb a Schedule 1 species. A very sad state of affairs for a club that does actually do some good work for bird conservation locally (hence the reason for being a member), but they obviously think that they are above the law!

Apparently, the young have now fledged and are being fed by the adults out of the nest, but it is also an offence to disturb dependant young of a schedule 1 species.

On a more positive note I am looking forward to getting out birding and ringing this weekend and hopefully I will have something interesting to report here.

Blame It On The Northwesterlies

2011-07-24T20:12:00.000+01:00

A hoped for second morning of ringing was cancelled due to the stiff northwesterly wind, so I headed for Rossall to watch the tide. I knew it would be poor because of the wind direction but it was the fact that it was a morning tide that had me heading out. It wasn't as early a start as it would have been if we had been ringing but a 5.15 a.m. alarm call was early enough!

As expected there was very little on the sea and all I had were 22 Common Scoters, a Gannet and 6 Sandwich Terns. After about an hour of 'nothingness' Ian said there had been a nice selection of returning waders in the week, so we went to have a look at the small, but increasing daily, number of waders roosting on the shingle. We were treated to stonking views of 68 Sanderling, 13 Ringed Plovers, 46 Turnstones and 3 Dunlin.

Sanderling

Turnstone

On the way home I called in at the Nature Park and had a quick look on the pools. Totals included 33 Mallard, 5 Little Grebes, 35 Coot, 8 Tufted Ducks and 4 Pochards. A flock of 29 Goldfinch were feeding on site and that was about it. I've got a busy week this week at work so pre-work early morning sessions will be limited, but as ever I will try and squeeze one or two in!

First Day Back

2011-07-24T19:47:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the first autumn ringing session at the 'obs' for Ian and I and we caught quite well. The day dawned with clear skies and it was absolutely flat calm; perfect for operating mist nets. Well, except for the glare on the nets from the sun I suppose. We processed 43 new birds (recaptures in brackets) as follows:

Robin - 3
Whitethroat - 8
Dunnock - 3
Blue Tit - 2
Sedge Warbler - 1
House Martin - 1
Swallow - 3
Greenfinch - 11
Wren - 5
Blackbird - 1 (1)
Goldfinch - 5

Blue Tit

The ringing was good and it was a great start to the autumn, but the birding was relatively slow. A singing Grasshopper Warbler at first light was one of the better birds and any 'vis' was limited to around 17 Swifts and a single Crossbill.

Robin

There was a good sized flock of 130 Goldfinch, that kept getting flushed by a male and female Sparrowhawk that were on the prowl. It was easy to locate the presence of the 'Sprawks' or indeed the Kestrels by the alarm calling Swallows and House Martins, that were feeding low over the meadow on insects.

House Martin

Brown Hawker

Where Did All The Swallows Go?

2011-07-12T18:52:00.000+01:00

For the past two evenings there had been at least a thousand Swallows coming in to roost in the reeds at the Nature Park, so Ian and I decided that last night we would have a go at catching and ringing some. The weather had been good all day yesterday and usually this helps to build the roost up, but not tonight! We put 120 feet of netting up in a good spot and on went the Swallow MP3. We retreated to the ringing table with high expectations but it was soon clear that it wasn't going to happen.

Swallow

The Swallows were very late coming in and in the end I only counted around 150 flying in to roost. This of course meant that we caught very few and we only ringed 8, with four of these being adults. In addition to the Swallows we ringed three Reed Warblers. A male and female Sparrowhawk came in towards dusk to 'work' both the Swallow and Starling roost. Several thousand Starlings were roosting, but thankfully they stayed well away from our nets!

Reed Warbler

A Little Egret was a nice distraction whilst waiting for the Swallows and 4 House Martins and a single Sand Martin fed over the pools. We will leave it a few days before checking the roost out again prior to another ringing attempt.

Taking It Easy

2011-07-10T17:49:00.000+01:00

After yesterday's 3.30 a.m. alarm call to head off to Merseyside to join Peter and Tineke for a ringing session in the Rimrose Valley (thanks Peter for a great morning), Ian and I had a lie in and didn't meet at the Nature Park until 5.00 a.m. We put up just 130 feet of netting and caught quite nicely.

Blue Tit

When we arrived over a thosand Swallows were exiting from their reedbed roost and about 4,000 Starlings followed shortly. It was interesting to note as we drove past the 'artificial pools' to our ringing area that 10 Tufted Ducks and 2 Pochard were taking advantage of the queit before before the doggy walkers would descend and push them off onto the main pool.

Great Tit

There was no visible passage this morning although about 20 Swifts and 4 Sand Martins fed over the pools and later in the morning we heard a Green Sand but couldn't locate it. We processed 31 new birds (recaptures in brackets) as follows:

Whitethroat - 10
Reed Warbler - 6
Sedge Warbler - 3
Reed Bunting - 1
Blue Tit - 5
Willow Warbler - 6 (1)
Great Tit - (1)

Sedge Warbler

Whitethroat

After our ringing session Ian and I cleared a 180 foot net ride in the reeds in preparation for some (hopefully) Swallow roost ringing in the week. A quick look on the pools on the way out showed that Coots have had a good breeding season as 45 birds were present on just the main pool.

Willow Warbler

Updated Ringing Totals

2011-07-08T10:14:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that I have updated our ringing totals up until the end of June; you can see these in the panel on the right. Five new species for the year were ringed in June and these were Oystercatcher, Curlew, Barn Owl, Little Owl and Swallow. I can't take credit for any of these as they are due to the hard work of Phil and Will.

Other notable species and totals include Kestrel of which we ringed 7 pulli in June thanks to Ian's ladder and tree climbing skills. Paul has ringed good numbers of Tree Sparrows and increased the total for pulli to an impressive 239.

So I think a pat on the back is deserved for all members of Fylde Ringing Group!

Keystone Cops

2011-07-07T19:50:00.000+01:00

Ian phoned me and said he had found another brood of Ringed Plovers at Rossall. So I went up to Rossall and joined Ian, and we quickly found the brood of two very large Ringed P chicks. This is where the Keystone Cops antics began as we chased the two Ringed Plovers chicks until they were firmly in our grasp. When wader chicks are large, their instinct is to run rather than crouch and this can lead to a lot of running about!

So for the second year running Ringed Ps have raised chicks at Rossall after an absence of 10 years; excellent!

Desert Warbler

2011-07-04T20:43:00.000+01:00

Now, that's got your attention. Yesterday morning when Ian and I were ringing at the Nature Park we caught this '3J' Whitethroat below. It was obviously a leucistic bird, but if it had been late October it would have made us give it a bit of a grilling!

Above and below: a Whitethroat in Desert warblers clothing!

We just put three nets up in area of willow scrub and processed 21 new birds (recaptures in brackets):

Sedge Warbler - 3
Whitethroat - 10
Dunnock - 3
Blackcap - 2
Reed Warbler - 1 (3)
Reed Bunting - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Great Tit - 1

Blackcap

Sedge Warbler

All the new birds except for one of the Blackcaps, the Willow and Reed Warbler were juveniles and this is what you would expect at this time of the year. To get a true picture of how successful a breeding season it has been we will have to wait for a few weeks yet and see what the ratio of adults to juveniles caught is.

On the birding front it was quiet. At first light Starlings were exiting their reedbed roost and we had a Siskin head south. My first autumnal finch movement.

This evening Ian and I were at Rossall clearing the net rides in preparation for the autumn season. So all we need now is some decent weather and we'll be out. Bring it on!

Skye

2011-07-03T19:50:00.000+01:00

I am now back after a weeks holiday 'with her indoors' on the spectacular and beautiful Isle of Skye. It wasn't a birding holiday as such, but of course being a birder and being outdoors all day everyday meant that I was always birding.

I am not going to bore you with details of days out but some of the interesting stuff (well to me anyway) I saw is as follows.

Hen Harrier - just one 'ring tail' seen driving to our remote cottage in the poring rain on our first day.
Hooded Crow - ever present and cracking birds; I wish we had them 'down south' in the north of England!
Wheatear - breeding birds on the mountain side behind our cottage. It was great to see fresh out of the nest streaky juvs! By the time we get them in the autumn they have undergone a body moult and lost their streakiness.
Red-throated Diver - even though they breed on Skye we only had one bird and that was in full summer plumage, as you would expect; awesome!
Black Guillemot - we saw these virtually everywhere around the coast and never tired of seeing them.
Manx Shearwater - large rafts of these were off the northwest coast; one of may favourite birds.
Raven - they were quite numerous and vocal practically everywhere; particularly along the rocky headlands. Watching a family party of seven 'playing' on the updrafts was particularly memorable.
Cuckoo - heard singing every morning from the cottage garden.
Golden Eagle - we saw three birds; two togeether along the northwest coast and then one over the cottage one evening. I wonder how many visitors to Skye string Buzzards into eagles? Unfortunately we didn't connect with any White-tailed Eagles; damn!
Bonxie - just two birds close in when I managed to do some sea watching.
Dolphin sp. - three viewed from our restaurant table as they swam into Broadford Bay on our last evening on the island.

I didn't manage to take any pictures of the birds but I have included a few landscape pics below to give you a flavour of Skye if you've never been.

Happy Holidays!!!

2011-06-24T11:24:00.000+01:00

I'm off! See you all in just over a week!

More Kestrels!

2011-06-19T18:15:00.000+01:00

Ian did it again today by finding some more Kestrels; this time they were using an old Crow's nest in some woodland. Ian and I went to the site this morning with my double ladders. The ladders were extended to their full extent and Ian then had to climb off the ladders and up to the nest. I told him that he was mad, but also that I was glad that he was mad as it was enabling us to ring some good birds!

In the nest were three Kestrel chicks at a similar stage of development as yesterdays. All three were ringed and safely placed back in the nest. The adults gave Ian a bit of stick, but that's only to be expected.

Above and below: Ian climbing up and off the ladder

Ian ringing a Kestrel chick

One for the rogue's gallery!

Afterwards we called at a local site to look at some Bee Orchids and we found plenty. I took Gail back later to have a look as well.

Bee Orchid

Chalk and Cheese

2011-06-18T20:24:00.000+01:00

I met Ian at his house this afternoon to go and find two Ringed Plover chicks that Ian had located yesterday at Rossall. As we walked along the front to the spot where Ian had seen them yesterday, he mentioned the possibility of some Kestrels at the 'obs', but we didn't know what stage they were at or even if the box was accessible.

We found the Ringed Plover adults doing their best distraction display to try and lure us away from their young. I say 'they', but it turned out that it was just one. Obviously, the other chick had perished since yesterday, and in fact it is highly likely that they started with a brood of four. We ringed the remaining chick and released it back onto the shingle and fairly quickly it was being brooded by the female.

Ringed Plover

Ten minutes later and we were putting a ladder up to the Kestrel box. Ian climbed up and reported that there were four chicks and all were a good size for ringing. They were feisty little buggers, but not as bad as Merlins! All four were duly ringed and placed back in the safety of their box.

Ian wrestling with, I mean ringing, one of the Kestrels!

Are you looking at me?

Roving Redpolls and Others

2011-06-17T18:36:00.000+01:00

We received the details from the BTO yesterday of a bunch of recoveries. Some of these we had been waiting for, but one or two were unexpected. The first map below shows the movements of some Lesser Redpolls that we controlled and the details are as follows:

L583607 - Moss House Farm, Out Rawcliffe - 27.3.11
                  Calf of Man Bird Observatory - 16.4.11
                  20 days - 130 km - 280 deg (W)

L291656 - Copeland Bird Observatory, Northern Ireland - 15.10.10
                  Rossall School, Lancashire - 9.4.11
                  176 days - 184 km - 119 deg (ESE)

L743076 - Spurn Bird Observatory, East Yorkshire - 3.11.10
                  Rossall School - 10.4.11
                  158 days - 212 km - 279 deg (W)

R066772 - Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire - 22.3.11
                  Rossall School - 9.4.11
                  18 days - 290 km - 326 deg (NNW)

T667199 - Copeland Bird Observatory - 14.10.09
                  Rossall School - 9.4.11
                  542 days - 184 km - 119 deg (ESE)

Lesser Redpoll recoveries

Lesser Redpoll

We also received details of a Sedge Warbler that Phil and Will ringed at Moss House Farm on 11th July 2009 that was controlled in Treogat, Finistaire, France on 10th August 2009 some 673 km to the south. See map below.

Sedge Warbler control

Juv Sedge Warbler but not THE juv Sedge Warbler

Back To The Reeds

2011-06-11T17:02:00.001+01:00

After clearing the net rides at the Nature Park last week it was good to get the opportunity to do some ringing there this morning. To ease our selves in gently Ian, Nikki and I met at 4.30 a.m. and put three nets up in the willow scrub.

Whilst setting up before doing the first net round a number of Starlings were exiting their reedbed roost and we estimated that 2,000 climbed up into the sky and headed off for the day's feeding areas. A 'Gropper' reeled as we had our first cup of coffee and Sedge and Reed Warblers sang from the reeds supported by an ensemble of Reed Bunting, Skylark and Whitethroat.

Sedge and Reed Warbler

We processed 19 new birds as follows with recaptures in brackets:

Reed Warbler - 3 (1)
Great Tit - 7
Whitethroat - 3
Sedge Warbler - 3 (1)
Greenfinch - 1
Blackbird - 2
Reed Bunting - (1)

Great Tit

Greenfinch

Whitethroat

Both the Reed and Sedge Warbler recaptures were from 2010 and the Reed Bunting from 2009. It was interesting to note that we didn't catch any juveniles even though a number of people are suggesting that it has been an early breeding season this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.

About a dozen Swifts and half a dozen Swallows fed over the pools and a couple of Stock Doves 'to'd and fro'd' from their nest site, and that was about it for the morning.

Common Frog

EarlyMarsh Orchid

Yesterday the forecast looked as though tomorrow (Sunday) was going to be a write off but now it is looking okay. In fact if we had cleared the net rides at Rossall we could probably have got out ringing tomorrow, so that's a job to definitely do one evening in the week. As there's a tide in the morning I might just have a look on the sea.

Pied Fly Morning

2011-06-04T20:03:00.000+01:00

This morning Nikki and I made what we thought would be our last visit to check our boxes in the Hodder Valley. The aim of the morning was to ring the four broods of Pied Flycatchers that were left and a couple of broods of Blue Tits. Amazingly the Blue Tits that were a little too small last week were now too big and had obviously developed very well with the better weather we have had this week.

We managed to ring three broods of Pied Flycatchers; an 8, 6 and a 5, totalling 19. There was another brood of 8 that had only recently hatched that were too small, so I will call in the week when I am working out that way.

Nikki ringing a Pied Flycatcher chick

Pied Flycatcher

Pied Flycatcher nest

This afternoon Gail and I went to the Nature Park to trim three net rides in preparation for some ringing there - hopefully! I had hoped that we might have got there tomorrow, but the forecast (wind strength) is a bit marginal when you are meeting on site at 4.00 a.m.! If it's a late start, as in the autumn and winter, you can just get up and make a decision in the morning, but when it's a 3.15 a.m. alarm call it's a different story altogether!

One of the cleared net rides

I carried out a butterfly survey on a lowland common yesterday afternoon and could you believe it that I didn't record a single butterfly when it was 24 degrees with 100% sunshine! I did try and photograph a Kestrel as I walked round and I have included a few shots below.

In case you haven't noticed I have posted the latest Fylde Ringing Group ringing totals in the side bar.

Penultimate Box Check

2011-05-28T19:52:00.000+01:00

Ian, Nikki and I made our penultimate visit to check our boxes in woodland on the River Hodder this morning. We did manage to ring a brood of three Pied Flycatchers, but the majority of them will be ready next week. A small brood you might think and you would be correct, except there were three unhatched eggs, which of course won't hatch now.

Pied Flycatcher

With all the wet and cold weather we have had in the week we were worried that we might find a few boxes with dead young in, but thankfully we only had one brood of dead Blue Tits. All the other Tits were fit and healthy and broods that we had ringed over the past couple of weeks had successfully fledged. In addition to the aforementioned Pied Flys we ringed 12 Great Tits and 28 Blue Tits.

Blue Tit

On the way home we called in to have a look at Barnacre and I had my first Cuckoo of the year. Now, I don't get out every day birding but do I get out several days a week and this was my first one. These birds are certainly scarce now.

Back at home the Starlings couldn't resist some dried meal worms and I managed to ring 4 birds from a 'drop trap'. Pictures of a juv, female and male below.

The forecast tomorrow looks like it is shaping up for a lie in with more wet and windy weather on the way. It is going to clear up later in the day so I might give one or two net rides a 'hair cut' before hopefully putting them to good use over the next few weeks.

That's A Funny Barn Owl

2011-05-27T17:36:00.000+01:00

Ian and I checked a box at a farm on Rawcliffe Moss in a barn that we expected to be occupied by Barn Owls.When it had been checked a week earlier a scratching sound had been heard from the box and so as not to cause disturbance to an incubating Barn Owl the box was left for a check in three weeks time. However, the farmers son called in at my office and said that he had found an Owl chick on the floor in the barn so he had put it back in the box. I told James that we would be round that evening to check.

If this was a young Barn Owl it would mean that they had laid extremely early. Ian climbed the ladder to the box and as he was climbing back down the ladder with the single Owl chick I thought "that's a funny Barn Owl" and of course it would have been a funny Barn Owl because it was in fact a Tawny Owl! That explained everything; the early date and the fact that the chick was outside the box. Below is a picture of Ian holding the chick just after ringing.

I couldn't look.........

2011-05-22T11:02:00.000+01:00

.....as Ian climbed a tree and then moved along a thin branch to get to a Carrion Crow's nest to ring the chicks within.

Ian up 'the' tree

Carrion Crow

Earlier in the day Nikki, Ian and I had been to our nest box sites in the Hodder Valley and on Rawcliffe Moss. In the Hodder Valley we ringed 27 Blue Tits, 28 Great Tits, 8 Nuthatch and 5 Blackbirds. On Rawcliffe Moss we ringed 12 Tree Sparrows and at Fleetwood the aforementioned 4 Carrion Crows.

Great Tit

Gannets and Skuas.........

2011-05-15T19:37:00.000+01:00

.........were the order of the day this morning at Rossall. I was a bit late getting out and didn't get to Rossall until 6.00 a.m. and then I spent 5 minutes 'farting' around trying to get in the right position. I had to choose between being buffeted with the wind or putting up with the occasional shower. The problem was the northerly in the westerly, but thankfully after a short while the wind veered due west and I was both dry and sheltered!

Gannets were on the move as soon as I put my eye up to my scopes eyepiece and I wondered how many I would have had, had i got here for 5.00 a.m. In the end I had a respectable total of 132 birds heading into the bay. I love watching Gannets as they will often come very close in giving stonking views and it's the variety of ages that you see making them look so variable; I had 2CY, 3CY, 4CY and adults all flicking the tips of their wing tips at my scope as they flew by! That's a slight exaggeration of course, but some were very close.

Gannet (Simon Hawtin)

The other headline bird was Arctic Skua and I had four 'into' the bay before 8.30 a.m. I had one dark morph and three pale morphs. The fourth bird was incredibly close and the views I had of it were stonking. Of course there wasn't just Gannets and Skuas and I had a supporting cast of 41 Eiders, 13 Common Scoters, 4 Razorbills, Great Crest Grebe, a full summer plumaged Red-throated Diver close in and 2 Fulmars.

There were a lot of waders about and I couldn't really count them properly as I was concentrating on the sea, but as a minimum I had 1,404 Dunlin, 850 Sanderling, 40 Ringed Plovers and 6 Grey Plovers. One of the Grey Plovers was in full summer plumage; awesome!

Grey Plover