Before I get on to an update on the nest box checking that Gail and I carried out at the end of the week and over weekend, I just wanted to rewind a couple of days to another walk we had along the quay on the Wyre estuary. From a birding perspective, I have nothing to report, but we did add a couple of species of plant to our plant list for the site, and these were Common Vetch and Weld. I have to confess to not bothering with grasses, terrible of me I know, unless they are easy, such as the Barren Brome or the Cock's-foot that we recorded. I have tried with grasses, but I am sad to say they don't hold my attention. Maybe I need to try harder!
There were a few Small White butterflies on the wing, about 7 or 8, and we also had two Holly Blues. One was a female, that I photographed, but we didn't see the other well enough.
On the Thursday, we were back in Bowland checking our Pied Flycatcher boxes, and it was fairly overcast and warm, perfect conditions for checking boxes. If it's too hot, it becomes hard work running up and down the ladder numerous times. In fact, I worked out how many times I climbed up and down the ladder, and it was 51 times!
One of the first birds that we heard was a Redstart singing, but alas it was singing from the other side of the river. We always used to get one pair in our boxes, but sadly not for a good few years. To our eyes, the habitat looks the same, but no doubt there will be something not to the Redstart's liking.
Five Pied Flycatchers were singing, which matches exactly with the number of pairs that we have in our boxes. Other songsters included a Goldcrest, two Blackcaps and a Chaffinch. We also had a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Redpoll and two Siskins 'knocking' about. We checked the area where the Spotted Flycatchers nest, but they have yet to arrive, and Spotted Flycatchers can be late, often just starting when the Pied Flycatchers are finishing.
Female Pied Flycatcher
All of the Pied Flycatchers are now on eggs, and we managed to lift four females off the nest. One was unringed, so she received a ring, and the other three had been ringed elsewhere. The ringing records have been submitted to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and they promptly returned the details of two of the birds to me today. One of the females was lifted off the nest at another nest box scheme just 5 km east, as the Pied Flycatcher flies, in May 2021. She was aged as a second-year bird, so we know that she was hatched in 2020, making her three years old now.
The other female that we have been sent details of was hatched at Padley Gorge in Derbyshire in June 2022, some 88 km southeast from our site in Bowland. She was one of a brood of seven, and of course between hatching and us lifting her off the nest she has flown to tropical Africa, south of the Sahara, and back!
Pied Flycatcher from Derbyshire to Lancashire
We ringed three broods of Blue Tits and one brood of Great Tits, and on our next visit we will have a few more Blue and Great Tits to ring, and we might possibly be able to catch some of the male Pied Flycatchers in the boxes if the eggs have hatched.
In one of the boxes last time we checked there was a Pipistrelle sp. bat in it. When we checked this time, the Pip had moved to the next box. See below.
Pipistrelle sp.
Some of the flowering plants on the woodland floor are starting to go over now, but others are still flowering, and I've included a few 'snaps' below.
Bugle
On Saturday we were at our friend's farm near Garstang checking the boxes there. We ringed a brood of two Tree Sparrows, and a large brood of eleven Blue Tits. One of the largest broods that I've encountered for some time. The Kestrels are still on 5 eggs, which is great news, but in other not so good news, there doesn't seem to be any Barn Owls in the box in the barn. We can check this box without going up to it, because Robert has a camera installed in it. There were no adults in the box, nor could we see any eggs. We will keep an eye on the camera just in case. Two Blackcaps and two Chiffchaffs were singing from the wood.
There is a healthy population of Tree Sparrows at the farm, but most of them don't nest in our boxes. The barn and other buildings in the yard are full of holes and crevices, and you can see Tree Sparrows popping out of the brick/stonework all over the place. When you are stood in the yard, the constant background noise is the cheery tone of calling Tree Sparrows!
I ran my moth trap over Saturday night/Sunday morning and caught just nine moths of six species that were a Shuttle-shaped Dart, four Bee Moths, a Small Square-spot, a Heart and Dart and a Poplar Grey.
We are back at our Pied Flycatcher boxes mid-week, so I'll let you know how we get on.
I was reading in May's edition of British Birds that a report into the continuing outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been published by the BTO and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). To date, more than 60 species have been reported to have been affected across Britain. Data collected by the government's country conservation bodies and other organisations and volunteers, indicate that over 20,000 wild birds have died from HPAI, but I fear that it is a lot more than that. Wintering Barnacle Geese on the Solway Firth (one of my favourite places), breeding Great Skuas in northern Scotland, and Gannets in colonies right across Britain, have all been hit particularly hard.
2 comments:
Enjoyed reading the blog! Maybe Alice can give you some botany tutorials with the grasses!
Sally
Thanks Sally. That's an idea re. Alice!
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