For some reason, I seem to be struggling to write more than a couple of blogs per month of late, and I wish I could say that it is because I am spending so much time in the field, out from dawn until dusk, that I don't have time to post. But it isn't. I have been out when I can, but sometimes life has a habit of getting in the way of life at times, and this combined with some challenging weather has meant less time outdoors.
Towards the end of August, armed with Britain's Plant Galls, Gail and I headed to local woodland, The Towers, which we can walk to from home, to try and see if we could find and identify some plant galls. We were partially successful, in that we found one species of gall, but natural history Guru, Fungal Punk Dave, has advised us that to identify which species, we would need to carry out some microscopy to see if the hairs were round headed, or pointed. Thanks Dave.
We found a few invertebrates, in the form of a Tapered Drone Fly, nine Speckled Wood butterflies, several Anthomyia procellaris (a species of fly), and several Alder Leaf Beetles. In addition to the insects, we also came across the fungi Dryad's Saddle on some Sycamore, which we thought was quite spectacular.
A week later, we had an afternoon walk along the Wyre estuary from Jubilee Quay, and it was fairly cloudy, with a 15 - 20 mph south-westerly wind. Not the best weather for insects.
Eight Little Egrets along the shore was a reasonable count for here, and 84 Redshanks were feeding on the mud in the quay.
Surprisingly, we did have a few butterflies, and recorded three Red Admirals, two Small Whites, and a single Painted Lady.
Our moth catches from our garden light trap have been steadily dropping off, and I have totalled below our captures across all recent sessions:
Light Brown Apple Moth - 4
Ruby Tiger - 1
Large Yellow Underwing - 38
Double-striped Pug - 1
Eudonia angustea - 1
Square-spot Rustic - 1
Copper Underwing - 1
Garden Carpet - 2
Lesser Yellow Underwing -3
Common Rustic - 2
Setaceous Hebrew Character -4
Vine's Rustic - 1
As you can see, it has been quiet.
At the start of September, I carried out a visible migration and sea watch from the farm fields at Larkholme. I had full cloud cover, with a 15 - 20 mph east-northeasterly wind, and it was a bit murky out at sea.
There were lots of flying insects along the sea wall, hundreds of Crane Flies, plus lots of other smaller fly species, and this was attracting House Martins and Swallows. They were definitely on the move, heading south, but the number of flying insects was creating a good opportunity for them to feed, and they would stop-off, and fly low, up and down the sea wall, taking insects. I recorded at least 58 Swallows and 14 House Martins, but there was probably a lot more.
House Martins and Swallows Other than the hirundines, there wasn't much vis at all. I had a few grounded migrants in the form of six Wheatears and two Whitethroats.
The sea was nearly as quiet, and the best bird I had was a Merlin! I picked up this small raptor heading south out at sea, and for a few seconds I wasn't sure what it was, and then I realised it was a Merlin. As it headed south it was being mobbed by several Sandwich Terns. I love stuff like that, migration in action! Talking of Sandwich Terns, they were the most numerous species at sea, and I had 36 heading south. In addition to the 'Sarnies' I had 49 Herring Gulls, five Cormorants, six Common Scoters, and an Atlantic Grey Seal. In addition to the 'sea' Merlin, I also had a Kestrel and a male Sparrowhawk on the raptor front, but both firmly over land.
Earlier in the month, Gail and I had a walk out on to the saltmarsh on the Wyre mid-morning. The idea being to have a look for any waders on the river, but we made the mistake of not checking the tide times, and there was very little mud exposed, and consequently no waders!
The Hawthorn tunnel (below in black & white)
Walking along the footpath through the Hawthorn scrub, or Hawthorn tunnel as we like to call it, we had two Jays, and we weren't sure whether we had recorded Jay here before. There is a lot more woodland generating in the area, so I suspect we shall be seeing more of them in the future. We had a couple of Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap on our walk down, and a couple of Common Darters were on the wing.
When we set off on our walk we had six oktas cloud cover, but later in the morning the clouds cleared and it warmed up, and we had three Buzzards taking advantages of the thermals and heading south.
I mentioned before about getting the tide times wrong, but this error did result in us having a decent count of Little Egrets, as they roosted along the bank next to the saltmarsh. We had 24, plus five Grey Herons.
Out on the saltmarsh a few plants were still flowering, and we recorded Annual Sea-blite, Sea Aster, Sea Purslane, Purple Glasswort, and Sea Lavender. On some thistles on an area of former industrial land, we had a feeding flock of at least 40 Goldfinches, and along here we had two pairs of mating Common Blue Damselflies. On the walk back a Kestrel and a Cetti's Warbler made it into the notebook.
Male & female Common Blue Damselfly A week later I was back at Larkholme under clear skies with a stiff, north-easterly wind, and it was very quiet. The best bird that I had on vis was a calling Yellow Wagtail south, with the addition of a handful of Swallows.
The sea was even quieter, if that is possible, and the only record of note was a group 184 Herring Gulls on the sea. I walked the farm fields and didn't record any migrants, nor any insect activity, other than hundreds of Crane Flies!
I recorded my first Pink-footed Geese for the autumn over my garden on 9th September. I could hear birds calling from high during brisk north-westerlies, but I couldn't see them, so I don't know how many there were. The following day I had 36 south over my garden, but at least I could see them!
About a fortnight ago we had a few days of strong winds, but there was a little too much northerly in the westerly, and along the Fylde coast a north-westerly wind is generally very poor for sea-watching, it needs to be between south-westerly and westerly. However, I thought I would head to Rossall Point and have a look. I also need to say that it was after lunch that I headed up there, so I am making all of my excuses in advance.
On my first scan, I picked up a Fulmar (one of my favourite birds) shearing west. "Brilliant" I thought, and I truly believed that I was in for a few birds, but after about an hour and a half, all I could add to the Fulmar was a female Eider!
Luckily, there were a few waders to look at, and I had 22 Turnstones, 28 Sanderlings, a Redshank, two Ringed Plovers, and 83 Oystercatchers. Why I ignored my own council regarding north-westerly winds I do not know!
A few days later I was back at Larkholme for some more punishment. A few Meadow Pipits were on the move and I had 50 head south, and I also had a Reed Bunting, three Alba Wags, a Chaffinch, 104 Pink-footed Geese, and a Grey Wagtail also head south.
As the tide ran in, a few Turnstones started to roost on the rock groynes, and I had 48 in total. Other waders were a single Oystercatcher, ten Sanderlings, and an honorary wader in the form of a Little Egret, as it dropped onto the beach!
Yet again the sea was quiet, with just six Cormorants, 78 Common Scoters, and two Gannets, plus some Shelducks. The Shelduck movement was quite interesting, and it comprised of family groups with a mix of adults and juveniles, some close in, and others a long way out. I had 40 head north, and 11 south, which is probably what I would have expected at this time of year.
Grounded migrants were very thin on the ground with just a single Wheatear, and the only raptor I had was a Kestrel.
On a warm afternoon about a week ago, Gail and I decided to have a look at Larkholme Grasslands Biological Heritage Site (BHS) to see if there were any insects on the wing. However, when we got there the local authority was carrying out some management work on the site, and I was impressed, because they were managing it near perfectly. The grass had been cut, and it was being turned, before a forage harvester was picking it up. The cutting and removing helps to ensure that there is no build-up of nutrients, and the turning after cutting makes sure that all the seeds drop out of the cut grass. The removal of the cut grass also prevents any build-up of thatch within the sward, leading to better seed germination and plant establishment. Well done Wyre Council, credit, where credit is due. They also leave areas that remain uncut, to provide over-wintering habitat for invertebrates and small mammals.
So, insects were few and far between, but we did have a Red Admiral, three Small Coppers, a Common Blue, and a Large White. There were also lots of grasshoppers, and Fungal Punk, Dave, kindly identified them as Chorthippus brunneus, from the one in the picture below. Thanks Dave. A Kestrel was taking advantage of all the activity, and hunting over the cut areas.
In my garden that day, I was stood with a coffee in hand, and some House Sparrows shot into the Ivy and Willows, and then I felt something brush the top of my head. I looked up to see a male Sparrowhawk undertaking a sharp right turn, before perching up on my shed. It looked at me for a second, and then flew off!
Last Friday, Gail and I had our first ringing session at the Nature Park for a while. We had clear skies, and it was flat calm at first, before picking up later in the morning. As we were putting the nets up a few Starlings were exiting their roost, but perhaps no more than about 500.
We ringed 14 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Long-tailed Tit - 3
Reed Warbler - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 2 (1)
Blackcap - 1
Grey Wagtail - 1
Great Tit - 2
Greenfinch - 3
Blackbird - 1
The lovely lemon underparts of a Grey Wagtail
During the morning, Pink-footed Geese were arriving from the south (Ribble Estuary?) and then heading east. Most remained unseen, but we did see 211. Visible migration was slow with just a handful of Meadow Pipits, and a small handful of Grey Wagtails south.
The winds have been north-easterly for a few days now, and there have been lots of Yellow-browed Warblers on the east coast, so on Sunday morning I thought I would check the Cemetery and Mount Park. It was a bit of a cold, grim morning to be honest, and the north-easterly wind was fairly strong. Not dissimilar to seawatching on this coast, it is better for eastern migrants if the wind is between easterly, and south-easterly. As a consequence, I didn't record a single migrant, other than perhaps the eight Robins.
I headed over to the Mount just as it started to rain heavily, but that wasn't the main problem, I couldn't park! I hadn't realised that there was a triathlon event that morning and the sea-front and associated car parks were closed, and I couldn't park anywhere around the hillock that the Mount sits on! It was time to head home for a coffee!
It's not looking great weather-wise for the next week or so, with a westerly airstream back in charge, but we'll wait and see.
