Strictly speaking my Blog title should be 'WeBS and Woodland', as the WeBS count was completed before the woodland bit, but I didn't think it read as well that way around. So there we have it!
On the last day of January, Gail and I had a ringing session at the feeding station at our good friend's farm near Nateby. We had six oktas cloud cover, and there was a light north-westerly breeze.
From our ringing table, we could see Pink-footed Geese arriving from the north, coming in from their saltmarsh/mudflats overnight roost out in Morecambe Bay, and alighting in the fields surrounding our site to forage, and we counted 1,006 in total.
There was plenty of bird song, and I find that it always lifts my spirits, particularly at this time of year. Songsters included Great Tit, Coal Tit, Robin, and Song Thrush. Mistle Thrushes are always great to see, and we also had singles of Buzzard and Great Spotted Woodpecker.
We ringed 14 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Great Tit - 4 (3)
Goldfinch - 4
Chaffinch - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Jackdaw - 1
Greenfinch - 3 (1)
Blue Tit - (3)
The Jackdaw was an adult female (sexed on wing length), and previously we have only ringed three pulli Jackdaws on the farm. A few days later we were back to top the feeders up, and I mention this as we recorded 150 Teal on the wetland.
Mid-month we had our WeBS count to do, and Jubilee Quay has now been added, and included in with Fleetwood Docks. We started off at the docks and we recorded a few wetland birds; 17 Black-tailed Godwits, an Oystercatcher, 25 Knots, five Redshanks, and two Black-headed Gulls.
We then moved on to Jubilee Quay, where we recorded 28 Redshanks, 23 Herring Gulls, 11 Black-tailed Godwits, nine Oystercatchers, 36 Teal, three Curlews, two Cormorants, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, and two Knot.
The 'Blackwits' feeding in the mud were great to watch. In their efforts to secure a juicy invertebrate morsel, they would plunge their heads into the mud, right up to their lower neck (see pictures below). Superb!
We then headed to the reservoir adjacent to the estuary. Walking along the footpath we noticed two Roe Deers in the dry reedbed, and one of them was a young buck. On the reservoir were a Moorhen, three Little Grebes, 20 Tufted Ducks, five Coots, two Mute Swans, and two Herring Gulls.
As we walked along the footpath above the saltmarsh, the incoming tide pushed two Rock Pipits off. Heading back along the footpath we had our best bird of the morning, in the form of a Treecreeper that was with a small Tit flock. I have never recorded a Treecreeper here before, and they are barely annually in the local, wider area.
On the way home, we stopped in a lay-by to have a look through the thousand Pink-footed Geese foraging in the farm fields. After some scrutiny, we couldn't see any other species amongst them.
Yesterday, we ran our garden light trap for the first time this year, but all we caught was a single Light Brown Apple Moth. Talking of the garden, we noticed that two Common Frogs have returned to our pond. They are slightly later than last year, and hopefully there will be some more soon. So fingers crossed for some spawn, tadpoles, and froglets in due course.
It was mild yesterday, and after we had topped the feeders up at the feeding station, we decided to have a walk through the woodland. There was lots of bird song from Robins, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnocks, Goldfinches, and Wrens. Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and two Buzzards, were active, and 64 Teal and a singing Reed Bunting were out on the wetland.
A few plants are really starting to show now, including Red Campion, and Lords-and-Ladies, and in the drier part of the woodland the Blue Bells were providing a lush green carpet, prior to the blue carpet that will appear in April.
We were hoping for a few invertebrates as it was warm, but all we recorded were two 7-spot Ladybirds. Some Birch Polypore on some fallen Birch wood was impressive as always, and we also found an Oyster Mushroom.
We're rapidly approaching the end of February, and we are really looking forward to March for some migrant birds, blooms and insects!
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