An Improvement

The wind had changed directly slightly this morning from a straight westerly to west-northwesterly and maybe this was the reason that there were a few more species around, notably wildfowl.


As usual I was sheltering behind the Coastguard's Tower at Rossall Point as dawn broke eagerly awaiting the sea passage that would unfold before me. First up were Oystercatcher. They're nearly always the first birds to be entered into my notebook at Rossall and this is because as I climb up on to the dunes and look down to the shore there are always a number of them feeding. I had a few more than yesterday and counted 137 along with 10 Curlews. The only other waders I had or should I say wader was a single Ringed Plover roosting on the shingle beach.


As I mentioned before it was a 'wildfowl morning' this morning and first on the list were Shelduck. I had a total of 21 and most of these were heading east into Morecambe Bay. One group had 2 Pintail with them and another 2 Wigeon. Its interesting what other species flocks of birds will carry. The Shelducks were doing a good job of hosting other species and in addition to the Pintail and Wigeon, I had one group of 4 Shelduck with a Cormorant with them!

Common Scoters were about as usual this morning and I had a total of 106 which was less than yesterday, but today they had a different feel about them. Over the past few days I have thought that the flocks of Common Scoters have been birds 'loafing' about and today there was more of a feel of urgency and I was under the impression that birds this morning were on the move.

A few more Eider this morning with 22 in total. Talking about flocks of birds hosting other species, the Eiders were a group in question. At one point I had a female Tufted Duck fly over the Eiders, wheel round and drop in with them. I had a second female Tufted go west and a cracking male Scaup fly east close in. Nice!

Red-throated Divers totalled four this morning and all of them were heading west or out of the Bay. As in recent days the vis was non-existent other than Grey Wagtails. I had 4 go west and a flock of 10 off passage Linnets fed on the beach.

I briefly called at my office at Myerscough College to top up the window feeders and it was on to my feeding station at Moss House Farm. All of the seed had gone so I put another bucket down. At the start of the feeding station season it takes a week or two for the birds to build up and also to get the frequency of 'feeding' visits right. My next call will be in three days to check again if the seed has gone in that time and if it has the frequency of feeding visits will be increased.

I had 4 Swallows go over and 7 Tree Sparrows in the hedge as the rain forced me back to my car. I had planned to have a walk round, but instead I drove up to the plantation because I wanted to collect the ropes from our mist net rides before they inadvertently got left there all winter.

Twenty-nine Skylarks were in the stubble field to the east of the track and a calling Buzzard went over. By this time the rain had stopped but I got soaked walking through the long grass of the plantation. I managed to find all the ropes but it took me a good 30 minutes as some of them had totally disappeared into the vegetation.

A Song Thrush and 4 Grey Partridge were notable red listed species and I had a flock of 60 calling Goldfinch go overhead. A couple of Reed Buntings called and a flock of 52 Lapwing headed southwest. As I walked out of the plantation 2 Jays headed towards the 'L' wood and I had another just past Curlew Wood.

It Doesn't Get Any Better

Or perhaps an alternative title could have been 'when is it going to get better'! It was the usual again this morning; Rossall Point at first light to watch the in-coming tide and the sea. I spent nearly two and half hours at the 'point' and didn't have a great deal to show for it other than Common Scoters. During that time I had 181 Common Scoters which equates to 1.2 Scoters/minute! Mmmm!

Waders were represented by the ubiquitous Oycs and today I only had 75 with a supporting cast of 25 Sanderlings, 5 Ringed Ps and 589 Knot moving in all directions. Eiders numbered 5, Cormorants 20 and I had a single Red-throated Diver east. And that was it!

Wanting to make the morning even more painful I called at the Nature Park to try and bore myself rigid by counting a handful of wildfowl. I was successful in my quest and had a 'staggering' 28 Coots, 18 Mallards, 15 Tufted Ducks and 2 Little Grebes. Oh, and 2 Grey Herons on the 'main' pool.

Grey Heron nearly looking as bored as I was!

Nothingness

This word, if indeed it is a word, probably sums up this morning and also the past week. It was yet again one of those in-between grey days when the conditions aren't right for anything. We don't half like to moan, us birders, don't we?

It was the usual pack drill this morning; Rossall Point for first light and it was dire, even worse than yesterday. Definitely no Leach's today. It was that bad that I am struggling to say what I did have. There were very few waders on the shore other than 30 Oystercatchers and a nice flock of 19 Sanderlings. I like Sanderlings and would probably go as far to say that theye are one of my favourite waders. They are always so active and are interesting to watch.

If it wasn't for the Common Scoter there would hardly be anything in my notebook at all. I had 112 this morning in various flock sizes. I noticed that there is a 'domino' effect in Common Scoter flocks because you will get a group flying low over the sea that will put up another flock, this flock will then put up another flock and so on.

There were very few Eider on the sea this morning with only 3 counted. I had an auk sp., 4 Shelducks, a close in Red-throated Diver, 2 Gannets and 24 Cormorants and that was it after one and half hours of watching. It was very nearly literally 'sea watching'!

Shelduck courtesy of Simon Hawtin

I won't even mention the vis, or should I say lack of it, other than to say that I had Grey Wagtail over and although it has been a crap autumn so far for vis, Grey Wagtails have still featured.

Let's hope the weather improves although I am not holding out any hopes after just looking at the met office website. More grey and more 'not so strong' westerlies I'm afraid.

Mid-morning Update

I have just received a phone call from my mate Ian to tell me that he was at Rossall School and the first bird he saw was an adult Pomarine Skua flying towards him. Jammy bastard! Mind you I say jammy, but Ian puts in an awful lot of time birding around Fleetwood and deserves everything he finds. He told me that the Pom then 'twatted' (his words) a Herring Gull and dragged it down on to the sea and continued to put the boot in, before flying off north and dropping on to the sea out of sight!

It just goes to show, like yesterday, that a grey nothing day can be lightened up with a good bird or two. I suppose the moral of the story is just to get out there and you will get your rewards!

Leach's!

It was clear last night as I wandered across the garden to my fridge in the garage to bring a bottle or three of real ale into the house, and I hoped it would remain clear until morning and at least there would be some vis.

As I got into my car this morning before first light I noticed that the pesky westerly was still blowing, not as strong as yesterday, but still blowing nevertheless and it was overcast. Damn! As I headed north up Amounderness Way towards Fleetwood I had a Barn Owl perched on the wooden fence beside the side of the road. I thought that might be a good omen, as Barn Owl is a very good bird in Fleetwood.

Dawn broke and I set off walking along the top of the dunes towards the Coastguards Tower. Not a bird did I see until I reached the Coastguards Tower and looked on the beach. A few Oystercatcher, 42 in total, with a group of 5 Great Black-backed Gulls. In fact I had very few waders all morning apart from a flock of 9 Sanderling and 40 Knot. Suddenly the Oycs and Great Black-backed's got up and I thought raptor, but should have thought Grey Heron as one lumbered east flushing everything as it went.

Generally the sea was very quiet this morning with 108 Common Scoters, 5 Shelducks, 17 Cormorants, single Gannet and the bird of the day Leach's Petrel. I had got to the point where I turn round at Rossall Point and head back towards the car park stopping frequently to scan the sea and listen for vis overhead, when I decided to have a last scan. Low and behold there was a Leach's heading west. It was flying quite purposefully and then it would pause, flutter as if to feed and then fly on. A few minutes before I had the Leach's I had noticed Ian coming along the top of the dunes, so I gave him a bell and said that I was watching a Leach's. It was too far left for Ian to get on it from where he was so he decided to run down to where I was. In the meantime I had lost the bird, but luckily Ian managed to get back on it!

It was down hill bird wise all the way after that. No grounded migrants, only the male Stonechat that has been hanging around for a while and the off passage flock of 16 Linnets and 40 Greenfinch. Vis was virtually non-existent other than 4 Grey Wagtails, Reed Bunting and a handful of Skylark and Meadow Pipits.

It was obvious that it wasn't worth searching for grounded migrants anywhere so I headed home but called in at Fleetwood Marsh Nature Park on the way. It was quiet here also with just 26 Coots, 2 Little Grebes, 14 Mallards, 15 Tufted Ducks and 4 Pochards on the main pool.

Right Decision and Too Early!

Recently I managed to negotiate access to do some ringing at Rossall School which is right on the coast. This is in fact an old ringing site of ours when we used to ring breeding Lapwing and Ringed Plover there! Now that's a long time ago and before that, one of the biology masters used to ring at the site in the 1970s and 80s. Anyway, we are quite keen to ring there because of its coastal location and it will be perfect for tape luring Meadow Pipits. All this week the met office have been under forecasting the wind, which is most unusual, because after the hurricane in 1987 they have always over forecasted it! This morning was no exception and the wind was a good 15 mph west-northwesterly when the met office had forecast anywhere between 6 and 8. Based on our experience during the past week we decided not to believe them and decided not to arrange to go ringing this morning. Right decision!

I suppose I am quite lucky in that I never have any problem getting up early to go birding. In fact I would go as far as to say that I have to be out by first light or not at all! Occasionally in my over eagerness I get it wrong and this morning was a classic example as it was still quite dark when I got to Rossall Point! I won't make the same mistake tomorrow! In fact I'll be able to have an extra 5 minutes or so in bed...yippee!

Even though it was just half light as I left the car and walked along the top of the dunes I carried on, perhaps in the vain hope that I might kick out a grounded migrant or two from the brambles. No chance! The weather was just awful; not windy enough for seawatching, too windy for vis and the wrong conditions for grounded migrants.

As always Oycs were on the beach and numbered 179. Amazingly this morning there wern't too many dog walkers about and they had quite a peaceful time feeding on the falling tide. The only other shorebirds around in any numbers were Knot. I had just under 600 birds fly east in to the bay in groups of 40-60.

The sea was quiet other than 179 Common Scoter, which is quite good for Rossall, 21 Cormorants, 12 Eiders and a Guillemot close in just beyond the surf.

The blob above is a Grey Seal. Honestly!

The first true migrants I had of the morning were from the chat family and I had 2 Wheatears and a single male Stonechat. Vis was very slow with 2 Grey Wagtails, 20 Swallows and a handful of Mipits. A flock of 45 Linnet roamed everywhere, causing me to scratch my head wondering whether they were different birds or not.


In fact I was so bored I took the picture below of my scope and tripod. I must be losing it!


I don't why I went into Fleetwood Cemetery afterwards as I knew there would be no birds and guess what, there were no birds! Unless a couple of Robins count! I did have some Skylarks over and they must have been high because I could hear them but not see them.

This afternoon I had to go to Lancaster and on the way back I called at Conder Green for a quick look. On the pool were three Little Grebes and on the estuary amongst the 20 or so Redshank were two Spotted Redshanks. I then called at Moss House Farm to put some food out at the feeding station. The number of Tree Sparrows had increased to 18 from a few days ago and the only other birds I had were a flock of 30 Goldfinch and three Kestrels.


Above and below are Conder Pool and the Conder Estuary just to prove that occasionally I do get out of Fleetwood to look at birds!

Tree Spadgers Are Back

I made a quick call to my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss for the third feed of the season and it was pleasing to note that the first Tree Sparrows were back. There was only 6 of them with similar numbers of Chaffinch and a couple of Reed Buntings. All the seed had gone so I am now increasing the frequency of my feeds. It won't be long before I am back there every other day putting two buckets of seed down!

They're back...

Chiffies

I decided to see if 'Ian's' Long-billed Dowitcher was still about this morning and after a long trudge across a very muddy and slippery salt marsh I wished I hadn't bothered because it wasn't. I suppose there might have been a chance when the tide came in as it was a 10 metre tide and would completely cover the marsh, but because of this you wouldn't be able to walk down to view the pools! Ah well, some you win some you lose.

After Ian and I had put the birding world to rights we went our separate ways to make sure we covered as much of the Fleetwood area as possible. It was very clear this morning so it was obvious it was going to be a vis morning and not a grounded migrant morning. Talking of vis I forgot to mention that whilst searching forlornly for the Dowitcher I had a Tree Pipit over. Anyway I digress. Ian went off to the Mount and I went off to Fleetwood Cemetery.

Migrant habitat - Fleetwood Cemetery

As soon as I stepped out of the car birds were going over heading south. This included 4 Grey Wagtails, a few Alba Wagtails, Linnet, Chaffinch, Meadow Pipit and Swallow. An immature male Sparrowhawk was darting in and out of the sycamores along the western edge of the cemetery hopefully not catching anything rare before I found it. The only phylloscs I had weren't of the 'stripey' kind but were nevertheless two very fresh looking Chiffchaffs.

Chiffchaff by Simon Hawtin

I had a few butterflies in the cemetery sunning themselves on headstones including the Painted Lady and Speckled Wood below.



Next stop was Rossall School. The first couple of birds I had were two Chiffchaffs, again both birds looked lovely and fresh. Good numbers of birds were on the move including over 100 Mipits, 50 + Swallows, Chaffinch, Sparrowhawk, Linnet, Grey Wag and Alba Wags.

Scrub at Rossall School. What's lurking in here?

Other than the Chiffchaffs, there wasn't really any other grounded migrants other than perhaps 4 Reed Buntings and a handful of Robins. I had a look on the sea and it was as calm as a mill pond.

Eiders on the 'mill pond'

Consequently it was very easy to pick out Common Scoters as they weren't hidden in wave troughs. I had a respectable 369 along with 21 Eiders, but I suspect there were a lot more Scoters than this.

It looks like we will drop into a westerly airstream for the first few days this week before high pressure takes charge again from mid-week. I am not sure how much I will be able to get out this week, but I will try. However from 25th September I am off for two weeks so it will be 16 consecutive days of birding no matter what the weather will be like!