The Avian Delights of SD45K

This morning I carried out my late winter visit to my atlas square SD45K. As I have said before this square is centred around the Moss Edge/Gulf Lane/Crimbles Lane area of Cockerham. It comprises mainly of improved grassland, some hedgerows, managed ditches, small areas of broadleaved plantation woodland, River Cocker and saltmarsh. I must take some pictures and then you will have a better idea of the type of habitat within the square.

I parked up just off the A588 in a layby at the top end of Crimbles Lane overlooking the River Cocker and set off on my walk. Corvids were very numerous this morning and I had 44 Carrion Crows and 138 Rooks feeding in permanent pasture. I had plenty of Skylarks and the total by the end of my survey was 64. About 50 of these were feeding in some damp pasture and maize stubble adjacent to the 'Water Pipit' ditch. However, there wasn't a Water Pipit feeding in the 'Water Pipit' ditch today! The bank sides of the ditch had been cut and it was no longer suitable.

A number of Pink-feet were moving from the saltmarsh and heading to feed inland. They were feeding in some pasture on Moss Edge just outside my square. I counted 1,060 flying over to join other birds already there. Unfortunately when I am doing this type of survey I don't carry my scope with me so I couldn't give the geese a 'grilling' because they were too distant.

Numbers of Starlings were feeding in various places and one group held 17 Fieldfares with them. I had two flocks of 13 and 12 Teal that I flushed off one of the ditches but they weren't in the same numbers as my early winter visit to this square. I had 7 Tree Sparrows in exactly the same spot that I had the last time, in a hawthorn hedge adjacent to some pasture that has been rooted up by pigs. And that was about it in terms of the highlights of my walk!

During the past week I have still been feeding every other day at Moss House Farm and the Tree Sparrows still remain fairly numerous at about 165 individuals. I thought the food that I had was going to last but I had to buy some more from Bamfords during the week.

Going back to the 80s when I used to bird this area regularly one of the species that I used to see in the winter was Corn Bunting, but alas this species doesn't occur here anymore. We still have a localised population of Corn Buntings in the Fylde but their range in this part of Lancashire has certainly contracted. So in remembrance of how common and widely distributed they used to be I have included a picture of one below.

No Corn Buntings- Again! 12th February 2009

I had lamented the lack of Corn Buntings a few blogs ago and then had 70 last weekend and when I went to feed at Moss House Farm yesterday there weren't any again. So that scuppered my plans of ringing a few of them!

I didn't have long when I fed yesterday as I had called in between jobs. It was noticeable that there were a few more Blackbirds and Song Thrush around as I had 15 and 6 of each. Ten Yellowhammers dropped into the hedge as I put on my wellies which was nice and for a short while 72 Linnets were where the Corn Buntings were supposed to be before they flew to feed in the 'big' field.

The numbers of Woodpigeons remained high with at least 4,000 birds and Jackdaws numbered 800. There were 85 Tree Sparrows and that was it other than 9 Roe Deer.

Earlier in the week I had the good fortune to call at my Pied Flycatcher nest box site as part of my job, so it gave me the opportunity to have a walk round and check the condition of the boxes. I have 35 boxes up at the Boar Park in the Hodder Valley and 8 are in need of replacing, so I had better get building! On my walk round I got Dipper for my year list and was hoping for Marsh Tit at the feeding station but I couldn't locate any.

On the subject of boxes one of the species besides Pied Flycatcher that I get in the boxes is Blue Tit and they have been struggling these past two years to get any decent sized broods off, so I have shown a picture of a Blue Tit in the hand below.

Red Sky In The Morning - Ringers Warning, 8th February 2009

After Phil and I had put the nets up in the dark we were greeted with a fantastic morning sky and it was indeed a ringers warning as we caught very little! It has been over a month since we did any ringing at Moss House Farm and surely the Tree Sparrows would have forgotten what a mist net and poles looks like?! Wrong. Not a single Tree Sparrow caught and only 13 birds ringed. However, our catch did include Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Chaffinch and err Starling; all nice birds - sort of!



A couple of shots of one of the male Chaffinch we ringed this morning.




Song Thrush and a couple of pictures of a first winter female Starling showing its juvenile tail.

After mentioning yesterday that I had only had a total of 3 Corn Buntings over the past couple of weeks it was pleasing to note a flock of 70 perching on top of a hawthorn hedge and feeding in some spoiled crops with 40 Reed Buntings! What else can I say that we haven't had much of recently!

Back home I had a Chiffchaff in the garden this afternoon. Gail found it and said to me "what's that funny little small bird flitting around in the grass?" I looked up expecting it to be a Dunnock, but was surprised to see it was a Chiffchaff. It then moved into some Willows and flew off next door. A nice way to end the day.

What Snow? 7th February 2009

Whilst most of the UK has been at least ankle deep in snow, here in the Fylde we haven't had any other than a flake or two! However, it has made a difference at my feeding station as there has been an increase in birds there.

As per usual I have been putting 1-2 buckets of seed down every other day at Moss House Farm and over the last few days there has been a few birds about. Thrushes have increased in numbers with up to 10 Blackbirds & Song Thrushes and 8 & 65 Redwings and Fieldfares respectively. Raptors have been thin on the ground with only single figure counts of Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.

At the feeding station itself I have had up to 142 Tree Sparrows, 128 Chaffinch and today 15 Yellowhammers. Corn Buntings have been conspicuous with their absence with only a maximum of 3 recorded on the 3rd. In the stubble field to the north of Curlew Wood I have been seeing a flock of 75 Linnets and these have also been feeding in the 'big' stubble field.

The large numbers of Woodpigeon and Jackdaw remain with 3,500 and 340 respectively being the maximum count over recent days. A male Stonechat in the sunshine in the horse paddock next Curlew Wood was a nice sight and my first here for a couple of weeks. The 1st male I had was with a female, but this bird was definitely on its own and it looked a smarter male than the previous one.

The forecast is looking reasonable at the moment for the possibility of some ringing tomorrow, so I'll let you know how I get on if indeed I get there. The forecast has a habit of changing when you make a last check before getting all your ringing gear together!

I have shown a few pictures of American Kestrel in the past, but this female in the hand from Nigel is so good I make no apologies for showing it.

Bits And Bobs, 31st January 2009

I have been out recently but I haven't seen anything very exciting to report on any one day or at any one site. I had a site visit with work at Newton Marsh and had 4 Little Egrets and 'a lot' of Wigeon which were both additions to my year list.

Every day I am treated to some fantastic views of common woodland birds feeding on my office window feeders. The best of these or the most interesting to watch is the regular flock of 9 Long-tailed Tits that descend on to the peanut feeder. They are not bothered at all that I am working away on my laptop only 2 feet away from them.

As I reported earlier Grey Partridges are now pairing up at Moss House Farm and on the 29th I had 4 pairs and interestingly today at Sowerby I had 2 pairs. Tree Sparrows remain in good numbers and today at the feeding station I had 147.

Before I went to feed on Rawcliffe Moss I called in at a clients farm at Sowerby and had a look on the floods. The only wildfowl of note were 2 Pintails and 16 Teal, and 13 Fieldfare fed in the adjacent pasture.

Continuing with the Yank fest., below is a Black-throated Green Warbler that I took at Tommy Thompson Bird Research Station in Toronto in 2005.

Year list = 76

What A Buteo-full Morning, 25th January 2009

No I haven't suddenly developed a Norfolk accent nor have I forgotten how to spell beautiful! But I am referring to the number of Buzzards I had this morning at Moss House Farm. Thinking about it, it was a classic morning for soaring Buzzards. There was plenty of sunshine and a moderate wind to also create lift from buildings and blocks of woodland. I had the first two Buzzards just after I had put some seed down at the feeding station and I was walking north along the '97 Hedge. I could hear Buzzard calling and over to the southeast two birds were circling and calling to each other. I scanned round and picked up a hovering bird and then another two circling over some woodland on the next farm. So that's 5 so far. Later on as I was walking south down the track I had three birds interacting with each other over the L Wood and I could see a further 2 Buzzards thermalling to the south. So in total that made 10 Buzzards! Incidentally that is the most I have seen from Moss House Farm.

A number of Pink-footed Geese were on the move this morning, when I say on the move, I mean local movements between feeding stations or when they were flushed. I had a total of 1,638 and also I had similar movements of Lapwings and these totalled 466. All of the Lapwings I had were flying so had probably been flushed from feeding sites locally but I did think that maybe some of these birds were continental birds that were flocking before dispersing east.

I recorded 6 Song Thrushes this morning and most of these were within the L Wood. Interestingly I didn't have any other thrushes other than 9 Blackbirds. I didn't have as many Woodpigeons today only 1,500 which is nothing compared to the 4,200 Phil had here yesterday afternoon. Mixed in with the Woodpigeons were a number of Starlings and Corvids, and the majority of the Corvids were Jackdaws.

At the feeding station itself there was some seed left from when I fed last on Thursday so increasing the feed is working and consequently I counted 116 Tree Sparrows here. I didn't have any Corn Buntings or Yellowhammers with the Tree Sparrows only 9 Chaffinch and 2 Reed Buntings.

In the field to the north of Curlew Wood the Linnet flock had built up to 80 birds and the associated Goldfinch that were around a couple of weeks ago have now moved on. As I walked up the '97 Hedge I flushed 3 pairs of Grey Partridge and 5 Brown Hares were active in the Big Field.

I had my first Skylarks of the morning in this field and ended up with a total 29 by the end of my walk. It was a cold blustery morning but the sun was shining and it was fantastic to hear Skylark singing away. Just after I had seen two Kestrels I flushed a Short-eared Owl that gave stonking views as it flew across Curlew Field and straight into the front garden of Curlew Farm!

I only had 3 Roe Deer this morning walking out of the Plantation and the Plantation itself was dead other than a single Blackbird and single Teal on the pool. On the way home I stopped off to look over the River Wyre from the lay by at Townend and had 41 Teal on the incoming tide.

Once again struggling to find a relevant picture, here is a picture of a male American Redstart I took at Long Point Bird Observatory in 2005. Now that would be a cracking bird to get out of a mist net over here one morning. The first American Redstart that I ringed was at Long Point Bird Observatory in April 1989. I was in the 'chair' in the banding lab and was working my way at fast pace through the large number of birds in bird bags hung up on the pegs around the banding lab walls. I was pulling out Magnolia Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Empidonax Flycatchers, Thrushes, Sparrows etc, I think you get the picture, and I pulled out my first male Yanky Start and had process it as quickly as possible! Thankfully I got several more that I could take my time over!

The Ups And Downs Of A Feeding Station, 20th January 2009

As I mentioned last time the birds at my feeding station at Moss House Farm are getting through more than a bucket of seed every other day. When I fed last Tuesday I put a bucket and a half down and there were only 18 Tree Sparrows present. When I went on Thursday (22nd) there were probably in excess of a hundred so the extra feed is working. The only problem is the cost!

When I fed on Tuesday I didn't have much else other than a female Sparrowhawk, 2 Corn Buntings and 3 Yellowhammers.

I always find that at this time of year I start to get fed up with winter birding and I start longing for Spring. So to warm everyone up I have included some very cold winter pics sent to me today from my mate Nigel of a sequence of shots of a Snowy Owl in the hand and subsequent release after ringing. It's a cold scene but the bird certainly warms you up!




Awesome!!!