What did indeed happen to February, it seems to have disappeared in a flash! I started my last blog post by stating that it had been twelve days since my last post, so I have surpassed myself, because it has been 26 days now since my last post. A record for me, but not one to boast about! I haven't been lying idle, just the opposite, it's just I haven't found the time to sit at my computer for an hour or two. I will make every effort to improve going forward. And as spring is just around the corner, I am desperately looking forward to the first migrants making an appearance. For that very reason, Spring may well be my favourite season, but come back at a later date, and I might be saying the same about Summer or Autumn!
Since my last post, Gail and I visited our winter bird survey site, south of the River Ribble in West Lancashire, and it was fairly quiet. The period December - January is often the quietest with these surveys, with things hopefully picking up for the last two surveys next month.
Our first survey was on 7th February under 6 oktas cloud cover, with a light east-southeasterly breeze. And for the first time in a while, we had a few Woodpigeons, totalling 81 birds, with 24 of their Collared Dove cousins.
Golden Plovers have been a feature over the last few visits, with flocks of birds generally heading high and west, and this morning we had 238 of these cracking waders. A flock of just eight Lapwings was only the other wader species we had.
Lots of birds are starting to sing now, and Robins were very noticeable this morning, with at least 5 in fine voice. Eight Tree Sparrows is our highest count for the site so far, and is probably as a result of them getting a little bit more territorial as we edge closer to Spring. Four Little Egrets on this area of relatively intensively managed farmed land was a good total, and it was nice to see eleven Shelducks in one of the bare fields of black sand.
Two species of raptor, a male Kestrel, and the best bird of the morning being a female Merlin flying over carrying food. Two Song Thrushes in song at the same time, and six Whooper Swans west, brought a pleasant few hours to an end.
A few days later, we had a ringing session at our feeding station at Nateby, near Garstang. It was quite a bright morning with, once again, a light east-southeasterly wind, as we put the net up at the feeding station. We ringed 25 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Redwing - 1 (first ringing record for the site)
Great Tit - 6
Blue Tit - 11 (4)
Chaffinch - 2
Tree Sparrow - 5 (1)
Dunnock - (1)
As we arrived, it was great to see a Barn Owl hunting over the camping field. Hopefully, the box will get used this year, as last year was the first year that they didn't breed at the farm for many a year. In fact, Robert has put a second box up in a different building in the yard.
I have said before, that Tree Sparrows are the main reason for the feeding station, and in addition to the birds we ringed, there were at least 21 birds zipping backwards and forwards between the yard and the wood.
Both Song and Mistle Thrush were singing, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was at the feeding station. After we had packed up, we had a look on the wetland and there were 52 Wigeon, 50 Teal, two Shovelers and 85 Common Gulls in an adjacent field.
On the 13th February we were back at our wintering bird survey site, this time with full cloud cover, but the wind was now a moderate southerly. Golden Plovers numbered only 60 flying west, but Lapwings had increased to 52 heading north.
Surprisingly, our Woodpigeon count was exactly the same as last time, with another 81 recorded. Seven Stock Doves were the first for a while, and Collared Doves were steady away at 29. The numbers of Skylarks weren't as high as earlier in the winter, but the 16 that we recorded did include three singing birds.
Linnet numbers had increased again, and we had a flock of 57, but only one Tree Sparrow this time. Three species of raptor were a Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard drifting east. The two Song Thrushes were singing again, and 20 Fieldfares in a flock of Starlings was a nice surprise. A male Stonechat added some colour to the dried grasses that it was perched upon, and seven Long-tailed Tits are worth mentioning.
A few days ago, Gail and I carried out our last ringing session for the winter at our feeding station. As we put the net up, it was obvious that there were fewer birds, and also the two large feeders hadn't gone down very much. The two large sunflower heart feeders were empty, and they probably empty in one day.
Our catch reflected the numbers of birds at the feeders, and we just ringed four birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Goldfinch - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Great Tit - 2 (1)
After we had packed up, we took the ladder into the woodland to take down the two trail cams we had up on two owl-type boxes. One camera captured a Tawny Owl looking into a chimney-type box, and the other some Stock Doves looking at the box where they nested last year. The aim of setting up the cameras was to see if we had any Grey Squirrels looking at the boxes, and fingers crossed we haven't!
Our garden pond has been busy with Frogs these past few weeks, with a peak of six males last night. Six might not sound like a lot, but our pond is only 85 x 65 x 28 cm, so it is small. No females as yet, but both Gail and I, and the male Frogs, are keeping our fingers crossed for their return!
We carried out another rescue of a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee a few days ago, but this time from our neighbour's drive. I was unloading some logs from the boot of my car, when I noticed her grounded on our neighbour's drive. I picked her up, and took her through to our garden. I made up a solution of one part sugar to five parts water, and fed her the sweet solution. After a few minutes of feeding, she started to buzz, and then she was up and away. Hopefully she will find somewhere to start a new colony soon.
can see her tongue lapping up the sugary solution
We received a phone call from the picture framers to say that our picture of a Ringed Plover, by brilliant Orkney wildlife artist, Tim Wootton, was ready to collect. When we went in, he said to me, "I think you'll like it, in fact I nearly kept it...lol". And the picture framer has done a fantastic job. I have posted a picture of it below, and I hope you agree.
These past few days has seen me building eight boxes for Pied Flycatchers for our nest box scheme in Bowland. I had two boxes in stock, so we have ten boxes available as replacements for any dilapidated boxes, when we carry out our maintenance check at weekend. I've posted some pictures of various stages of construction below. You will see that the first few shots were taken outside, as I like to build them outside if it is dry, so I can keep my eyes skywards for any birds going over. The final day when I was adding plates and fasteners, I had to work in my garage as it was raining. In case you were wondering, I didn't have anything of great interest flying over, other than a few Pink-footed Geese heading north.
We received notification this week from the BTO about one of our Blackbirds. Ian ringed it in his Fleetwood garden on 14th September 2016, and it was found freshly dead in another garden in Fleetwood on 23rd February 2024, making her at least 7 years and 5 months old. When Ian ringed her, he aged her as a '3', which means that she hatched during the calendar year of ringing. So, she was probably at least a couple of months older perhaps, than the 7 years 5 months.
The maximum age from ringing for a Blackbird is 15 years, 2 months and 5 days, set in 2000. The typical lifespan is 3 years, so 'our' Blackbird did well in reaching 7 and a half!
