It's That Time Of Year Again

The nest box season seems to come round quicker and quicker every year, or is that just a sign that I am getting older and older! This morning Ian and I went to check our boxes in the Hodder Valley and on Rawcliffe Moss. As I have reported in the past, I have 35 boxes up in the Hodder Valley with the aim of providing nest sites for Pied Flycatchers and ten boxes on Rawcliffe Moss for Tree Sparrows. The Tree Sparrow boxes will be expanded to 20 later this year.

It was very cold this morning with a biting northeasterly wind and as such the bird song was subdued as we carried the ladder through the woodland to check our boxes. Blackcap sang from some young woodland, and Garden Warblers sang in the semi-natural ancient woodland. At first we only knew of the Pied Flycatchers presence when we found the occupancy of three boxes. These all had 'cold' eggs with clutches of 2, 6 and 7, so the birds were still laying. We did eventually get cracking views of a singing male perched out in the open completely oblivious of our activity around the boxes.

Pied Flycatcher nest

In addition to the Pied Flycatchers we had one box with Nuthatch and the rest were occupied with either Blue or Great Tits. I'll be able to give you a more accurate breakdown after we check the boxes again next week and hopefully one or two more boxes will be occupied by Pied Flycatchers.

Great Tit nest

We then went to Rawcliffe Moss to check the Tree Sparrow boxes. Out of the ten boxes four were occupied by Tree Sparrows and in all of them there was a mix of recently hatched young and young just hatching, so there will be a few Tree Sparrows to ring next week.

Tree Sparrow nest with recently hatched young -
that's the pink blob in the middle!

On the way off the moss we checked a box that was put up for Little Owl and for the third year running it is being used by Great Tits. The Little Owls use it as a roost site in the winter, probably as part of their feeding territory, and the Great Tits use it in the summer! So it is a box that has some form of occupancy all year round!

Rubbish Northerlies

When I looked at the forecast last night I could almost have predicted that the above would be the title of my blog today. So why go out birding if you knew it was going to be crap I hear you ask? One thing that most birders are is eternal optimists and even though I knew it would probably be slow this morning there is always the hope that as it is Spring, something interesting might have pushed through against the northerlies. Anyway, how crap was it?

I wasn't out too early this morning and didn't get to Rossall School until just after 6.00 a.m. It was very cold, well for May it was, and I had to don hat and gloves. Almost the first birds I had were three Swifts 'dashing' north and these would be the only Swifts of the morning. This also reminded me that I have two Swift nest boxes that I haven't put up yet!

Since I was last at the 'obs' it was obvious that a few more Whitethroats had arrived and I had 5 singing males this morning. Talking of singing males I also had two singing Sedge Warblers in the reedbed and it was fantastic watching them doing their song flight in the strong morning light.

Vis was virtually non-existent and all I had in addition to the Swifts were 8 Swallows north, 2 Linnets, 3 Meadow Pipits and a single Tree Pipit. Two Wheatears hung around the 'old' bonfire and that was it for grounded migrants. I had a look on the sea and it was quiet other than 8 Eiders and 15 Gannets. There were two Atlantic Grey Seals and one is pictured badly below!

A record record shot of Grey Seal!

Walking behind the sea wall towards the reedbed I had some Thrift in flower that added a bit of colour to the embankment, but not much else. As I headed back along the 'western' hedge a Sparrowhawk shot through causing everything to alarm call and that was it for my walk round the 'obs'.

Thrift

More Thrift!

I thought I would have a quick look in the cemetery; I don't know why as it had been so quiet at the 'obs'! It must have been that eternal optimism I talked about. The cemetery was deathly quiet (no pun intended) and all I had of semi-note was a singing Whitethroat. I decided not to prolong the agony and headed home early to 'bag' some brownie points for another day!

A Strange Kind Of Morning

Based on last night's forecast I thought I would treat myself to a lie in and get up at 6.45 a.m. when 'her indoors' gets up for work. For five days running I have been up at 4.45 a.m. and I was starting to feel a little tired!

I decided to go to Rossall Point and watch the incoming tide. Looking out across Morecambe Bay the conditions were murky...sort of. I could see all the way across to Walney, but there was patchy murk here and there. Consequently movement at sea was very slow and light.

As the tide turned and started to run in I had 36 Eiders and 9 Red-breasted Mergansers on the sea. The only seabird passage of note was 17 Gannets and only two Sandwich Terns. I had 105 Dunlin go west and the tide lifted 612 Oystercatchers.

The vis was next to nothing and all I had were 4 Swallows east.

I didn't expect any or many grounded migrants this morning, but I thought I would just have a quick look in Mount Park. To my surprise I had Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. This spurred me on and I thought I should check Fleetwood Cemetery. Three warbler species in here to, but three different ones in Chiffchaff, Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat.

I had some meal worms with me so I thought I would see if there were any Wheatears at Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park and try and catch a few if there were. As it was late morning it was canine pandemonium, and there were dogs of every conceivable size, colour and shape, doing what dogs do best with brainless owners...scaring birds. There were 5 Wheatears but they were all in the aero-modellers area where it is dog free!

A couple of Swifts hawked for insects over the pools and four species of warbler were singing here; Grasshopper, Whitethroat and two each of Sedge and Reed. On the pools it was quiet other than 2 Little Grebes, Great Crested Grebe and 3 male Tufted Ducks. I decided enough was enough and headed home.

To brighten the page up is a photo of a male Holly Blue that I took in my garden yesterday afternoon.

Dogs and Wheatears Don't Mix

Do dogs and any birds mix? Don't get me started on dogs before I have even started! More of that later.

This morning Ian and I had another ringing session at Rossall School in the hope of picking up a few more summer migrants at the 'obs'. At first light it was clear with a very light southeasterly breeze, but within an hour this had picked up to at least 10 mph. The usual four nets were put up and we ended up ringing seven birds that included three new species for the 'obs' in the form of Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and two female House Sparrows. In addition to these species we ringed 3 Blackbirds and retrapped a Great Tit.

Great Tit

House Sparrow

Lesser Whitethroat

Sedge Warbler

There were one or two grounded migrants around in addition to those ringed including 3 Grasshopper Warblers, 2 Whitethroats, 8 Wheatears and single Willow Warbler.

Vis has certainly quietened down and all we had were 2 Tree Pipits, 9 Meadow Pipits, 5 Whimbrel, 4 Pink-footed Geese, 14 Swallows, 4 Lesser Redpolls and a Sand Martin.

After we had packed up ringing I called at Fleetwood Cemetery to see if there were any migrants. It was very quiet other than a single Willow Warbler, Whitethroat and two Lesser Redpolls and a Siskin feeding together on tree buds.

Woodpigeon in the cemetery

I then moved on to Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park and dropped in on a twitch! Now, you'll be wondering what species was the cause of all this excitement. Was it a rare Pipit, a Shrike perhaps? No it was a.............Whinchat, or should I say Whinchats! Yep, the year listers were out in force twitching a Whinchat that had been put out on the pager. Madness! By the way of an explanation here; I don't own a pager, never have done and never will do. I knew it was on the pager as a birder told me it was.

Just look at the photograph below. Absolutely disgusting. I am not blaming the local authority here, but all those 'numpties' that deposited their pooches bags of sh*t. Can't they see that the bin is full. I won't talk about it any more or I'll start swearing.

Take it home you filthy a*seholes

This is where I found out that dogs and Wheatears don't mix. I had palanned to try and catch a few Wheatears on the large rocks that surround the artificial pool and I had caught a male (below) and a female before a 'Neanderthal' with two large black dogs decided that the pool was a swimming pool for his pooches and he spent the next ten minutes shouting and throwing balls into the water. As you can imagine the Wheatears scattered in all directions and weren't going to come back while that idiot was there.


I saw the Whinchats along with 8 Wheatears and had 2 Tree Pipits go over. Back home I checked my moth trap and had 3 Early Greys, Common Quaker, 2 Hebrew Characters and a Herald.

Reel to Reel

My blog title is not to be confused with Marillion's first live album 'Real To Reel', but is a reference to all the Groppers I had this morning. More of that later.

I must start with a 'postscript' to yesterday's blog and mention the two Avocets feeding on a temporary pool on Fleetwood landfill site. I received a phone call from my mate Ian, as I sat nodding off in front of the telly after two early mornings in a row, to say that he was watching a pair of Avocets on one of the pools on the tip. Twenty minutes later I had joined Ian and enjoyed these two stonking birds in the late evening sunshine. Before we headed home we also enjoyed watching three Fox cubs playing as it went dark.

It was quite pleasant being out this morning as all the year listing nutters were back at work and I am off work this week for a week of 'local patching', be that ringing, seawatching or 'bush bashing'. This morning the plan was to watch the incoming tide at Rossall Point and I decided to call in at Rossall School on my way to the point. I only had half an hour and from a grounded migrant perspective I just had Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat. I didn't expect many grounded migrants this morning as conditions weren't right with a 15 mph westerly wind.

Whitethroat

Next stop was Rossall Point and I made my way along the dunes to the Coastguards Tower for a sea watch. I suppose birding at Rossall Point, or indeed any coastal site, can be divided into the headings grounded migrants, vis, sea passage and shore birds. So lets stick with that.

Grounded Migrants

As I headed across the dunes I had another Gropper reeling from a patch of brambles, a Whitethroat along the same stretch and as I stood looking at the sea I had a Sedge Warbler calling and giving some sub-song from a patch of Elders.

Vis

The vis was slow this morning and all I had were 8 Meadow Pipits, 4 Linnets, 15 Golden Plovers, 2 Lesser Redpolls, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Tree Pipits, Whimbrel, 2 Alba Wags and 10 Swallows.

Meadow Pipit

Sea Passage

There was some passage on the sea, even though the visibility wasn't quite what it could have been. Also after about an hour a squally shower came in and after that the passage was somewhat slower. Eiders numbered 21 and these were predominantly males with very few females. Common Scoter were quite numerous with 101 moving in and out of Morecambe Bay in small groups of varying numbers, and five Red-breasted Mergansers were also present. The only other wildfowl I had were a male and two female Tufted Ducks that flew west along the shoreline.

A number of Sandwich Terns were present and these are difficult to count accurately as they are often on a large feeding circuit. I had 31 along with 4 of their smaller Arctic cousins. The most numerous seabird this morning was Gannet by far and I had a total of 151. Like the 'Sarnies' it is often difficult to tell exactly what they are doing and I think sometimes there is some inevitable duplicate counting.

I had just four Red-throated Divers and five Auk sp. Of the auks that were close enough to identify were 4 Razorbills and a single Guillemot. I watched a Fulmar being harried by three Herring Gulls. Presumably they were trying to get it to regurgitate its meal 'Skua' style. The Fulmar could turn tighter than the Herring Gulls, but couldn't out accelerate them. Eventually they gave up and the Fulmar headed out of the bay.

Shorebirds

The biggest feature was probably the passage Dunlin and Ringed Plovers. Small groups were continually heading west and in total I had 306 Dunlin and 33 Ringed Plovers. In addition to Dunlin and RPs I had 371 Oystercatchers and 36 Curlews.

After just under three hours I left the point and called in at the Mount to see if there were any migrants. It was fairly blowy but there were some sheltered areas and in the sheltered bits I just had 3 Willow Warblers.

More of the migrant habitat in the Mount

I then headed to the Cemetery, scene of yesterdays exciting birding, but as expected it was quieter. I did my usual circuit and had 5 Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and a female Wheatear. The Wheatear was feeding in the grassed area that the Ring Ouzel was on yesterday and like the Ring Ouzel accompanied the Song Thrush. After a short while the Wheatear took off and perched at the very top of some mature Willows. I love it when they do that.

I thought I would call at Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park to see if there were any chats around feeding on the short turf of the aero-modellers airfield. I wasn't disappointed as there were 7 Wheatears and a male Whinchat. Three each of Reed and Sedge Warbler sang and two Groppers reeled away. In addition to this warbler trio was a singing Blackcap in an area of mature Willow scrub. The pools were quiet bird wise with only two Little Grebes and a single Great Crest of any note.

However, the artificial pools were anything other than quiet with the antics of the 'neanderthal' and her pooch below! No Common Sands today!

Mountain Blackbird

I mentioned at the end of my blog yesterday that the weather synopsis for today was potentially quite interesting and it was. I awoke at 4.00 a.m to hear rain battering the conservatory roof and ran into the garden to put my skinner moth trap in the garage. I climbed back in bed at 4.15 a.m. and waited for my alarm to go off at 5.00 a.m Why I bothered getting back in bed I don't know!

A quick bowl of corn flakes and I was off in the direction of Rossall. It was obvious that the only thing to do this morning was to look for migrants. After all it is late April, the wind was southerly and it was raining! The only slight negative was that the rain front had come up from the south, rather than down from the north to meet any northward bound night migrants. Nevertheless I was confident that I would have some grounded migrants. I believe that some daft souls were trying to sea watch off Rossall Point with zero visibility and the whole of the bay 'locked out' with murk. One of the dangers of planning today's birding based on yesterday's news without reading the conditions. Mind you that's what happens when you are a slave to a year list race!

My first port of call was Rossall School and I thought that it was one of those mornings where you need to hit lots of sites fairly rapidly and not spend too much time trying to conjure something up from empty bushes. The 'obs' revealed two 'reeling' Grasshopper Warblers, 'Greenland' Wheatear, Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler. As you can imagine in the wet conditions vis was virtually zero but I did have two Tree Pipits over, Lesser Redpoll and eighteen Swallows.

My next port of call was the Mount. As soon as I stepped out of my car I could hear a Tree Pipit calling loudly and there feeding in a tree by the side of the road was the bird. My first decent grounded migrant of the morning. A quick walk round all the suitable habitat only added a singing Willow Warbler.

What could have been lurking in the Mount?

Next stop was Fleetwood Cemetery and one of the first birds I had was a singing Sedge Warbler from a privet hedge! Not normal Sedge habitat. It was then that I began to think that something good could be found. I got a phone call from Ian to say that he had walked the golf course and had put up a few grounded migrants such as Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat and that he would join me in the cemetery shortly.

I was half way round my circuit when Ian arrived and together we carried on 'working' the best area. Suddenly lots of Herring Gulls to the east over the houses started alarm calling and we knew that a raptor was about. Ian then locked on to a bird flying more or less towards us fairly low and then I got on the bird. You know what it's like when a bird is flying towards you and it's out of context, it takes a moment or two for the 'old grey matter' to register what it is. Anyway, within a few seconds Ian shouts "Hen Harrier" and there flying over Fleetwood Cemetery heading west is a female Hen Harrier! Awesome. It drifted over the trees between the houses towards the coast.

We continued birding and added Chiffchaff and a male and female Blackcap. We were just finishing off the circuit when Ian picked up a male Ring Ouzel flying left (south) across the gardens that back on to the cemetery. We gave chase and the Mountain Blackbird landed in some Willows. A Song Thrush was feeding on some open short grass and this seemed to give the Ring Ouzel confidence and it joined the Song Thrush and actively fed, finding plenty of earth worms.



Unbeknown to us Len was in the cemetery watching a male Redstart and he had seen Ian and I suddenly run across the cemetery. Len came over to join us and enjoyed this stonking tame Ring Ouzel.

Len left and then shortly afterwards three cars 'steamed' into the cemetery and four 'year listing' birders leaped out to claim their prize, but unfortunately for them with their 'Starsky and Hutch' (showing my age there) antics they had flushed the Ring Ouzel! Luckily for them it did reappear, but I must admit that this local year list fiasco does cause some unwelcome mayhem at your local patches when you are trying to bird quietly!


We decided to have a second circuit of the cemetery and added a calling Cuckoo that flew north (the third good bird of the morning) and three Willow Warblers. Who would have thought, say twenty years ago, that a spring sighting of a Cuckoo would go down as a 'good' bird.

Next stop was the Memorial Park and we had three Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs, two Willow Warblers, three Lesser Redpolls and another Tree Pipit. Just as my first Tree Pipit this one was grounded and was feeding on the lower branches of a Beech tree.

We returned to the Mount for a second look and added three more Willow Warblers, female Blackcap and two Siskins. All in all it was a cracking morning's birding and I must thank Ian for most of the Ring Ouzel shots above.

In case you're interested my moth trap only contained six Hebrew Characters and three Early Greys.

What will the rest of the week bring? Some seawatching I hope, although I wouldn't mind another morning like today!

Cap Black (or should that be brown?)

As Phil said when he replied to the text I sent him this morning to say how quiet it was at Rossall School ringing wise "at least we try"! And try we did. Ian and I met at the 'obs' at 5.15 a.m. and put the usual four nets up. Unfortunately it was clear skies, but at least it was calm, but this meant that anything we ringed this morning would be hard won.

The clear skies and light southerly wind did provide some visible migration for Ian and I to concentrate on as we drank copious amounts of coffee between net rounds. With only four bird ringed it gave us plenty of time to monitor the 'vis'. We ringed Blackbird, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler.

Blackcap - female

Whitethroat

Willow Warbler

The easiest way to report the vis is to give you the bare totals which were (all north) 20 Meadow Pipits, 10 Tree Pipits, 18 Whimbrel, 14 Lesser Redpolls, 22 Pink-footed Geese, 27 Woodpigeon, 1 Alba Wag, 18 Swallows, 4 Siskins, 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Sand Martins and 1 Gannet. It is very surreal sat at the ringing table and watching a Gannet 'winging' along the sea wall!

There were few grounded migrants around this morning other than Grasshopper Warbler, Chiffchaff and another Whitethroat in addition to the bird ringed.

Back at home the moth trap was disappointing with just three Heralds trapped. The weather synopsis looks interesting for tomorrow depending on what time the rain arrives. I think it will be a case of rolling out of the 'pit' just before first light and seeing what's happening weather wise before making a decision what to do.