It was raining first thing on Tuesday morning, and by mid-morning it had warmed up a bit, and the wind was from the east. To Gail and I, the combination of a bit of warmth and easterly winds, could mean a few migrants, so we headed to some of our local coastal sites to have a look.
First up was the cemetery, but there wasn't a grounded migrant to be had. We had two Sparrowhawks thermalling high, and heading south, and they were perhaps the only species that we could consider as being migrants. As usual, we did a complete list for BirdTrack, and we recorded 16 species, of varying numbers and activity, but I won't regale you with how many Blue Tits, Woodpigeons, Great Tits etc, that we saw.
We noted that there was lots of Lesser Celandine flowering, along with Field Wood-rush, and I took a few snaps.
We headed to the Mount, and drew another migrant blank. Next up was the Nature Park, and we noted that there was a bit of northerly in that easterly, and perhaps that's why migrants were thin on the ground. Two singing Chiffchaffs were all we could slot into the grounded migrant category. Cetti's Warblers always lift your spirits with their song, and three were singing, alongside a couple of Skylarks.
There seems to be a few more Gulls recently on the pools bathing, and it looks like there is some activity on the adjacent landfill site, so I wonder whether they are doing some work on there that is attracting them? Anyway, there was 48 Herring and eight Lesser Black-backed Gulls having a good wash and a preen.
Also on the pools were 19 Coots, ten Mallards, eight Tufted Ducks, seven Little Grebes and five Shovelers (3 males & 2 females). We were looking on one of the pools when all the Gulls got up, so it was obvious there was a raptor about, and we half expected a Marsh Harrier or Osprey, but a Buzzard dropped into the trees on the far side of the pool. In addition to the Gulls, there were seven Magpies mobbing it!
We noticed some Alexanders flowering, and this was one of the few pollen and nectar sources around, and the Tawny Mining Bee on the photograph was enjoying this pitstop. When I looked at my photo, I could see a small fly to the left of the bee. From what I can find out, it is a species of Sepsis fly in the family Sepsidae, and that's about as far as the identification can go. A bit of web-based research tells me that they are ant mimics, and there are 24 species in the genus. Apparently, it is almost impossible to identify them without microscopic examination!
The following morning, I was on my client's farm in Bowland to meet some colleagues from the RSPB. The plan was to have a look round and see how things looked prior to us starting the breeding wader surveys. I got there a bit earlier than our arranged meeting time, so I had a quick scamper round in the car.
As I was heading through the first gate, a Barn Owl came in from my right, hopped over the hedge, crossed the track, hopped over the next hedge, and carried on across the next field. Glorious!
Waders were certainly in evidence, and I would estimate that there were about 6 or 7 pairs of Curlew in, 5 pairs of Lapwing and a pair of Redshank. It was hard to estimate the number of pairs of Oystercatchers, as most of the 52 I recorded were in one large flock!
We found two Lapwing nests. One pair incubating four eggs, and one pair that had just started laying with a single egg laid. We put cameras on each nest, so we can monitor how the nesting attempt progresses.
At lunchtime on Friday, from my office window, I could see all the local Gulls going mad. So, I ran downstairs, shot out the back with binoculars in hand, and found two Buzzards, very high heading south-east. That was what all the commotion was about!
The following morning, I headed to the coastal farm fields at the school for first light. The skies were virtually clear, and there was a 10 - 15 mph south-easterly wind.
There was some vis, and I recorded 44 Meadow Pipits, 129 Woodpigeons, ten Linnets, four Carrion Crows, a Siskin, 62 Pink-footed Geese and an Alba Wag. Most of the vis was north, as you would expect, but the Woodpigeons were heading south into the wind.
The sea was quiet, with a single Auk sp., three Cormorants, eight Eiders, 14 Common Scoters, 23 Whooper Swans (north), a Gannet, 30 Knot (south) and my first Sandwich Tern of the spring.
Grounded migrant wise, I had two male Wheatears on the sea wall, and two Chiffchaffs singing from the copse.
That evening, I had some more Common Scoters over the garden, but just one flock at 2125.
Late Sunday morning, Gail and I had a walk along the Quay and Wyre estuary. The wind was easterly, with 3 oktas of cloud cover. There was a steady passage of ones and twos of Meadow Pipit heading north, but no other obvious vis.
On the mud in the Quay were 93 Redshanks, four Shelducks, 73 Herring Gulls and five Oystercatchers. We had two species of grounded migrants in the form of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin. I suspect they had dropped in to have a pause before heading across the estuary, because after a short while the Lesser Redpoll and four Siskins headed out across the water. A female Sparrowhawk put in appearance, but that was about it.
We put some food out in the Hedgehog feeder, as we suspect our garden Hedgehog(s) would be out of hibernation by now. We also put one of our trail cams out. And sure enough on both yesterday, and this morning, the food was gone, and a Hedgehog was caught going in and out of the feeding station on the Trail cam. Excellent!
The plan was to do some migration monitoring this morning at the coastal farm fields, but as yesterday wore on, the forecast was getting more and more dreich. Certainly, not conducive to standing in the open on a banking behind the sea wall. However, I did think that there might be a chance of a few grounded migrants, and we did indeed have a small fall.
When Gail and I set off to walk round the cemetery it was raining, and it was virtually flat calm. Knowing now, what we found out later, the reason that a few birds were dropping in, was because it was clear out in Liverpool Bay, and the outer westerly reaches of Morecambe Bay, but the inner bay was locked down in murk. As a result, birds were getting held up, and a few species were dropping in on the peninsula.
We were hoping for a few Willow Warblers this morning, and we weren't disappointed, but when we got out of the car it seemed quiet. Usually, if there has been a fall of Willow Warblers you can hear them singing straight away. The first bird we had was a grounded Brambling, but unfortunately, we couldn't see it. It's call was loud, and it was just above our heads, but it remained elusive. We then heard a Chaffinch call, and could hear it flying away, and no more Brambling, so we guessed that the Brambling had gone with it.
Shortly after that, we heard our first Willow Warbler singing, and then we picked up a silent bird that was constantly feeding in front of us. Working away around the branches, and emerging leaves, and then flying into the air fly-catching. Superb. Just to think that this beautiful little warbler, weighing in at only about 9.0 grams (range; 6 - 12 g), was until a few weeks ago south of the Sahara!
At the southern end of the cemetery, we were counting a group of six Goldfinches, and then eight Siskins dropped in. We walked further along, and another twelve dropped in. We took some shelter under some Hawthorn, as the Siskins were doing, and we could see that they were absolutely soaking, presumably as a result of meeting the weather front straddled across the bay. We watched them preen for a while, and then they were off. Superb, migration in action.
We also had four Goldcrests that were part of the fall as well. There was a trickle of vis overhead, mainly Meadow Pipits, Linnets and the odd Grey Wagtail, but because of the weather they wouldn't be going far.
We headed to the Mount next, and from this former large sand dune, that is now a park, you can see right across Morecambe Bay, and all the way round across to the Yorkshire Dales. The wind turbines out in Liverpool/Morecambe Bay, Walney Island, Barrow-in-Furness, Piel Castle etc, looked as if they were only a few miles away, because it was absolutely clear and sharp, but further into the Bay the weather front lurked.
We added two more Willow Warblers here, and moved on to the Quay. There isn't a huge amount of vegetation along the Quay to hold birds, but feeding in some Budleja running alongside the Quay we had another four Willow Warblers. We didn't have anything else grounded here, and again a handful of Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches and Siskins moved overhead.
It was low tide, so feeding on the mud were just 42 Redshanks, three Oystercatchers and two Shelducks, and we had a pair of Eider on the river.
Back home at lunchtime, the Gull alarm was sounding for a Buzzard that was drifting high north-east. One of these days it will be an Osprey or a Marsh Harrier. I've had Marsh Harrier over the garden, so an Osprey would be nice.
It's looking a bit unsettled all week, but the winds are generally from between south and east, so if it is not raining to the extent that it is impossible to bird, I'll try and get out and enjoy a few migrants.
Over on the right you will see that I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing Group up until the end of March. Two new species for the year were ringed in March, and these were Blackbird and Song Thrush. I haven't done any tables for the month, as only one species reached double figures, and the top 6 have remained unchanged.
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