All's Well That Ends Well

Ian and I had a weary start to the day today when we went ringing to our feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss. As we were putting the nets up a Grey Partridge called close by and a Tawny Owl called in the distance. We then had another Owl in the form of a 'ghostly' Barn Owl floating by the end of the track.

Fast forward an hour and a half and we had ringed just four birds; 2 Tree Sparrows, Reed Bunting and a Great Tit. There were a number of Tree Sparrows and Yellowhammers at the feeding station but not a lot else. We decided to pack up and head to Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park and put a net up with an MP3 player and see if any of the Cetti's warblers were around. As we headed off the Moss a group of 8 Corn Buntings flew over.

 Blue Tit

Great Tit

Reed Bunting

Tree Sparrow

At the Natture Park the MP3 player didn't pull in any Cetti's Warblers which was a result in itself because the object of the exercise was to see if the male and female we ringed in November had lingered over the winter and through the hard weather, and we got our answer.

On the pools at the Nature Park were 9 Tufted Ducks, 2 male Goldeneyes, 3 Pochards, 2 Shovelers, 10 Coot and a Great Crested Grebe.

When I got back home late morning I started work building some nest boxes for Pied Flycatchers and Tree Sparrows. Just after lunch I got a phone call from Ian saying that he had a flock of Waxwings fly over his garden. About an hour later Ian phoned again to say that he had found them in the Marine Gardens. I headed up there and 12 Waxwings were feeding on rose hips adjacent to the car park. They then flew off, with rose hips in beaks, and landed in some trees behind some houses. We headed over there to get a better look but they had gone. We split up to try and find them and Ian phoned to say they were back in the same position. I drove back round and they flew off again and landed in some trees further away. We drove over to the houses, down a back alley, and found them. I got a few record shots below, but if you want to see some proper photos of Waxwings have a look at Robin's blog here and some of Ian's shots below as well.