Saturday morning, I headed to the coastal farm fields at Rossall, hoping for a bit of migration action, and there was some, not a huge amount, but it was migration. I headed out from my car under five oktas cloud cover, with a 10 - 15 mph south-easterly wind, and it was a tad cold.
From the off, Meadow Pipits were heading north, and I had 63 in total. Other visible migrants included a Chaffinch, four Alba Wags, six Magpies, 12 Woodpigeons, six Jackdaws, 22 Pink-footed Geese, four Linnets, a Dunnock, a Goldfinch, three Skylarks, two Collared Doves, 5+ Siskins (stratospheric calling birds), and four Starlings. Not a bad selection of species 'on vis', even if the numbers were somewhat low.
The sea was quiet with 11 Eiders, two Cormorants, two Shelducks and a single Red-throated Diver still in winter plumage. The only grounded migrants that I had, other than about ten Meadow Pipits, were two males and a female Stonechat.
As I walked along the track to the south, with adjacent mature hedge and rather full ditch, I heard a splashing sound behind me. I turned round expecting to see a Mallard, or Moorhen, but was confronted with a pale, long-winged bird, using its wings to pull itself through the water. Even though it was only a split-second, time seemed to stand still, and at first, I couldn't compute what the bird was, because it was completely out of context. It was a soggy Barn Owl!
My rucksack, tripod, bins, camera, and coat were off in a jiffy, and I was going to enter the ditch to pull the Barn Owl out. However, I think because I came along, it gave it the impetus to try and move along the ditch, and just as I was about to slide into the water, it managed to grab hold of some low hanging Hawthorn branches and pull itself out. It climbed along the tangle of Hawthorn branches, struggling to make much headway, but then did a short flight to the other side of the bank, and out into the sunshine. I walked back along the track, and round the end of the hedge, but the Barn Owl had gone, so it had obviously managed to fly away. A good deed done, and on the plus side, I managed to avoid a soaking!
Why the Barn Owl was in the water I'm not entirely sure. Barn Owls sometimes drown in cattle drinking troughs, and it is thought that they are attacking their own reflection, thinking it is another Barn Owl in their territory. The ditch was covered in Duckweed, so this bird would not have been able to see its reflection, and after a chat with Will, he wondered whether it had gone after an amphibian, and I think he is probably right. A Frog could well have been moving through the Duckweed, and the choked, green surface of the water will have looked solid to the poor Barn Owl.
On my way home I called in at the Nature Park, to see if there were any Sand Martins and Wheatears, and there wasn't. Skylarks and Cetti's Warblers were singing, and on the pools were 22 Coots, three Little Grebes (two singing), 18 Tufted Ducks, a pair of Great Crested Grebes and a male Shoveler.
Yesterday afternoon Gail and I had a walk along the Wyre estuary from the Quay. We had 6 oktas cloud cover, with a light south-easterly wind. It was very warm on our outward leg, but cooler on our return leg.
The tide was starting to run in, and 185 Redshanks were roosting on some of the higher sections of mud. We had 35 Oystercatchers flying upstream to their roost, and at their roost site on Arm Hill, we counted at least 400 roosting. There was still plenty of mud at Great Knott, but only 81 Oystercatchers on there.
A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the wing, and that was it. We've got our last wintering bird survey to do tomorrow, and the forecast isn't great. We are going to do it tomorrow anyway, because the forecast for the remainder of the week, and into next week isn't any better. Fingers crossed they get it wrong!
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