Knot Much On the Strong Southerlies, 10th October 2008

I apologise for the pun but it was exceedingly quiet at Rossall Point this morning on the strong southerly wind and the only birds I recorded in any numbers were 882 Knot's on the rising tide. I imagine sea watchers in the Channel will be excited about these southerlies but at Rossall this direction is coming off the land.

The only other birds I had at sea were an auk sp. west and 8 Common Scoters west. Oh well there's always tomorrow!


As there's a number of 'yanks' around at the moment I thought I would have a look at my archive of pictures and find something colourful to brighten up this dreary October day and came up with this Indigo Bunting. I remember the first time I hauled one of these bright blue gems out of a mist net, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I'm easily pleased.

Tree Sparrow Fest., 9th October 2008

This morning we (that is some members of Fylde Ringing Group) went ringing on Rawcliffe Moss at our farmland bird feeding station. Phil and Will worked the plantation hoping to tape lure diurnal migrants and Craig and I worked the actual feeding station in the hope of a few Tree Sparrows and we weren't disappointed as it turned out to be a Tree Sparrow fest!

At first light I noticed, a little disconcertingly, that the Tree Sparrows were roosting in the Hawthorns next to the feed. I was concerned because I thought putting the nets up would flush them and they might not return for an hour or two, but how wrong can you be. Two nets were erected and when we did our first round the nets were bulging with Tree Sparrows. I only had 25 bird bags on me and these were soon filled. By the end of the morning we had ringed 27 Tree Sparrows, 15 Chaffinch and singles of Great Tit and Reed Bunting.

Tree Sparrow

Reed Bunting

Great Tit

Chaffinch - female

Phil and Will had all sorts of technical problems with their sound system and only managed to ring 5 or 6 birds.

It was obvious that a few birds were on the move this morning but it was difficult to concentrate on the ringing and keep an eye skyward for vis. My notebook read 40 Meadow Pipits south but this is a definite under-estimate. Likewise similar for 30 Chaffinch, 2 Grey Wagtails, 3 Redwings, 33 Skylarks and 2 Siskins.

Four Mistle Thrushes dropped in and they were very noisy and agitated perched on some telegraph wires and were very probably migrants as indicated by their behaviour. One of the features of the morning were the number of Snipe and we had 108 fly north along with a lone Whooper Swan. A few Pink-feet were around and raptors were represented by 2 Buzzards and a single kestrel.

Not A Yank In Sight......, 8th October 2008

......Well apart from the picture of Barred Owl later on that is! That front that whipped across the Atlantic yesterday certainly did the business in the southwest and in Ireland but not in the avian desert of the Fylde. I suppose that's a bit harsh; the chances of a yanky passerine turning up here because of the geography is very slim! Mind you I wouldn't like to be those Cornish birders trying to sort out that Empidonax flycatcher. I remember from my days at Long Point Bird Observatory in Canada in the 80s those flycatchers were hard enough to separate in the hand!

Anyway I digress, back to this morning. At first light at Rossall Point it was clear with a W 4-5 wind. I decided to have a look on the sea taking into account the wind strength and direction, but surprisingly I was having to try and look skywards as well as there was some vis. The most notable vis of the morning were the Skylarks; I had 48 go south, including a flock of 28 and 9. Other species moving were 40 Meadow Pipits, 10 Alba Wagtails and singles of Brambling (my first for the autumn), Siskin, Reed Bunting and Swallow.

Common Scoters numbered 11 this morning with cracking views of a female circling round over the beach, before heading off west. I had a male Pochard west that was unusual and the usual Eiders numbered only 5 males.

Cormorants numbered 21 and I had a single Shag fly west. I had a few auks; namely 5 I couldn't identify that went down as auk sp. because basically they were just off the Isle Of Man!, and I had a single Razorbill east. Red-throated Divers numbered 5 and I had a surprising 5 Great Crested Grebes as well.

I had one or two late seabirds including single Common and Sandwich Tern, Manx Shearwater and 2 Gannets. Grounded migrants were represented by male Stonechat and that was it.

Ian had been to Mount Park and had Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Coal Tits and Brambling so I decided to have a look in Fleetwood Cemetery on my way home. I had 6 Godcrests, 4 Coal Tits and a single Blackcap. I tried my hardest to find a Yellow-browed but it just wasn't going to happen today.

As I mentioned at the beginning I have included below a picture sent to me of a Barred Owl in the hand taken in Ontario last night. at least it brightens the page up.

Vis Way Too High, 6th October 2008

I'm doing well in keeping my promise of going birding on every available day. I actually went out to see a band last night and still got up to go birding! Mind you it wasn't a rock band and there was no real ale involved so that's probably why.

My first port of call, as usual, was Rossall Point at first light. It was clear with a moderate SE wind. The problem was the murk out in the bay and the very clear conditions above. This meant that for the hour that I was there very little crossed the bay and the Chaffinch's that were moving were beyond the range of my ageing eyes! I could hear them but couldn't see 'em! Later in the morning when it cleared there was a constant movement of Meadow Pipits over my house.

Consequently my vis totals were rather pathetic including 3 Grey Wagtails, 25 Mipits, 3 Linnets, 8 Chaffinch, 10 Alba Wags, 7 Snipe, 20 Starling, 2 Reed Bunts and 3 Swallows. Are you asleep yet?

Grounded migrants, not that I expected any in these conditions, consisted of a Wheatear and male Stonechat.

A quick look in Mount Park revealed very little other than 2 Goldcrests and a male Stonechat perched on top of a poplar!

Fleetwood Cemetery was equally quiet with a party of 4 Long-tailed Tits dragging along a Coal Tit and Goldcrest. And that was it.

I had to go to Leyland in the afternoon to Bamfords to pick some bird food up for my feeding station and I dropped the food off and put some food out and had a quick look. It was interesting to note that the Tree Sparrows had built up to at least 88 birds. Nice!

Tree Sparrow Numbers Increase, 5th October 2008

The number of Tree Sparrows coming to my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss have now increased to at least 65 and these numbers mean it is now worth a ringing session there. Of course the weather has first got to be right and for this site it needs to be virtually calm! Not a big ask then on an open farmland site!

It was probably the best day of the week this morning and I was a bit annoyed with myself for not getting up earlier and going to the coast first. I made myself one of those promises that I have made a thousand times which is "from tomorrow I am going to get up early every available day to go birding". We'll see! When you factor in real ale and rock music I can't help but think that I am going to break that promise a few more times yet!

A few raptors were around this morning with 3 Buzzards, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. One of the Buzzards gave cracking views as it flew from a birch tree close by. Talking of raptors, well owls really, I have included a couple of pictures below of Northern Saw-whet Owl and Eastern Screech-Owl in the hand in Canada sent to me by my good mate Nigel. Have a look at these and then we'll get back to Rawcliffe Moss!

Northern Saw-whet Owl

Eastern Screech-Owl (I think!)

Aren't they cracking pics? I digress and dream of North American birds. It looked as though Lapwings and Golden Plovers were on the move this morning as I had 64 Lapwings go over and a couple of Golden Plovers. Pink-footed Geese were on the move in small numbers with 3 skeins totalling 105 birds.

There was also some vis mig with 35 Meadow Pipits south, smaller numbers of Chaffinch and Pied Wagtail, and a single Lesser Redpoll. There were good numbers of Skylarks around as well, with a total of 88 birds, but none of them were obviously moving. They were moving around the farm in small flocks and feeding in areas of stubble.

A few Swallows, 10, moved south and the only other birds of vague interest were 3 Song Thrush and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The great thing about birding is that you always look forward to tomorrow and everything is re-set!

Northerlies and Brass Monkeys, 3rd October 2008

Plenty of brass monkeys around this morning looking for welding torches, but very few birds. I knew it was going to be northerly and hoped for some arriving wildfowl etc, but I didn't realise how strong!

The visibility was great with cracking views across to the lakes with even some snow on top of one of the mountains! But I had f*ck all birds! I counted 229 Oystercatcher on the shore and had a Red-throated Diver and a Cormorant fly past and that was it. I was even gripped off by one of the Rossall regulars, Chris, when he told me he had had a Wheatear and Meadow Pipit!

I gave it 45 minutes and decided to have a look on the pools at Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park. There was a handful of birds including 34 Coot, 7 Pochard, 4 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Grebes. The best bird was a Jay that flew over the road as I was driving away.

As I have taken a couple of weeks off work to go birding lets hope that it improves as I am now at the end of my first week off!

Pesky Northwesterlies......1st October 2008

......although Merseyside birders wouldn't agree when 107 Leach's were recorded past Seaforth today and I had zilch off Rossall Point!

Yesterday was the day to be at Rossall and fellow Rossall stalwart Ian had 5 west in the afternoon on the falling tide. Unfortunately I was full of a cold and was busy preparing a presentation on the BTO Ringing Scheme for a talk I gave last night.

When the wind swings from westerly or southwesterly to northwesterly it turns off the Leach's passage off Rossall Point. I spent 4 hours at Rossall in the forlorn hope that perhaps just 1 Leach's might buck the trend, but had no such luck!

I did have a few seabirds including some cracking views of Gannets extremely close in. Gannets totalled 9 and Manx Shearwaters totalled 2, although like the Gannets I did have 1 that shot past over the beach. Beautiful! A Bonxie also whizzed past east in the strong WNW wind and it too was very close in. 7 Guillemots battled out of Morecambe Bay against the wind and a single adult Little Gull moved west also.

Talking of battling against the elements it was interesting to note Meadow Pipits moving west out at sea. I had a total of 70 go west and one of them fell victim to a Merlin attack as I had 3 sightings of Merlin heading west amongst the waves and one of the sightings the bird was carrying avian prey.

It was difficult to count the waders as I was sheltering behind the coastguard's tower but I did have 270 Oystercatchers and 14 Sanderling. Cormorant numbers were a little down on recent days and totalled only 37.

These blustery conditions always bring in some wildfowl so a female Teal bobbing up and down in the surf wasn't a surprise bit it soon got fed up of its rollercaster ride and headed off west. 20 Pintail high to the west were a welcome site and Red-breasted Mergansers and Eiders numbered 3 and 2 respectively. All that's left to report is a single Red-throated Diver.