Ice Duck

I was back in the northeast again yesterday, and in fact since I was there last week I have done very little birding other than recording the birds in my garden on a daily basis, mainly because of the weather.

It was cold yesterday, and on my drive through the Howgills, with views across to the Lakes and further on the North Pennines to the Borders, there was snow on high ground. There was a hard frost at my survey site near Berwick too, and even the sand was frozen! Cue the climate change nay sayers who stupidly confuse weather with climate, and use cold weather as their argument that climate change isn't real. That numptie Trump in the US is an exponent of this! Anyway, don't get me started...enough of climate change!

The sun rise was beautiful, and I suppose where better to watch the sun rise, but on the east coast!

 Sunrise

I had a low water count to complete yesterday, and what is interesting about this site is the lack of species feeding in the estuary. I think this is because of the type of estuary it is, with very little mud, mainly a rocky substrate with sand. The two main wader species that I record were Redshank and Curlew, and I had 81 and 30 respectively of each.

 Curlew

Perhaps my best sighting of the morning was a female Long-tailed Duck, mainly because they are so scarce in the Irish Sea where I bird, but also because of the great views I had of it. I was counting a flock of Goldeneyes, 21 in total, when I saw something different surface and there it was an Ice Duck!

 Goldeneye

Ice Duck is a name given to Long-tailed Ducks in Northumberland and other local names from the around the British Isles that I like are Sharp-tailed Duck, Swallow-tailed Sheldrake and Sea Pheasant. And it is easy to see how some of these names have been derived when you think of the Ice Duck.

I had cracking scope views of the Long-tailed Duck all morning, but sadly she never came within camera range. Ah well, maybe next time!

Other than the Goldeneyes on the river I had eight Eiders and two Shags, and also a lot of Mallards that I haven't counted up yet. A couple of calling Rock Pipits, a flock of 47 Pink-footed Geese north and singing Skylarks from the dunes, and that was it. Time to head back south through the Borders where there was even more snow on the higher ground.

 Shag

Roll On Spring

I haven't had a lot to post about of late, mainly due to this never ending cycle of wet weather we have been having, with the jet stream plonked on top of us dragging in a wet, windy and westerly air stream! It's either blowing a hooley or pouring down, or both, and the words "roll on spring" are never out of my thoughts for long!

Sadly, we might have to get used to these warmer, wetter winters as climate change bites. Then again if you listen to good old President Trump, climate change is nothing more than a myth, a conspiracy theory invented to stop or slow economical development. I'm afraid Trump, alongside other climate change nay-sayers, need to wake up and smell the coffee. Climate change isn't something that you have to believe in or not like Father Christmas, it's real end-of, it's not up for debate. I don't know why I am so grumpy about it today, maybe it's because I am fed up with the constant wind or rain and not being able to get out and commune with nature, or more to the point perhaps I am fed up with scientific fact being politicised which seems to be hapening all the time these days. It seems to be in vogue to deny science!

Anyway, enough of my grumpiness as there were a few birds earlier in the week, and I mean a few. I was back in the northeast at one of my wintering bird survey sites. The drive to the site takes about three and a half hours, and when I come off the M6 at Gretna it is a pleasnt drive northeast through the borders, a part of the world that I love.

There was lots of floods alongside rivers such as the Esk, Ewes Water, Teviot and Tweed. Alongside sections of the Tweed all winter I have seen large numbers of Swans, and I had thought that they might have been Whoopers. I have nothing to base this on other than their size, and numbers, and flashing past in a car at 60 mph it's hard to get much on them. Every time I see them I have been looking for somewhere to pull over and take a proper look, and I have come to the conclusion that 'numbers of Swans in roadside fields = zero laybys'! However, when I was driving back mid-week I did get some half-decent views from the car at the closer birds and they were Mutes! So, maybe they are all Mutes. I'll have to speak to my friend George and find out.

I have two VPs at my survey site close to Berwick, and on the maps I record all the species observed from the VP with any associated activity, and the maps can look quite busy. At the same time in my notebook I record any personal highlights, and I suppose it is the personal highlights that give me an indiaction of how quiet, or not so quiet the session has been.

The personal highlights in my notebook for my survey mid-week consisted of just seven species, not good. Before the tide ran in there were a number of Curlews, Redshanks and Turnstones feeding in the estuary numbering 45, 52 and 18 respectively. What is interesting is that as soon as the tide has covered the feeding areas, even though there are areas where the birds could roost, the birds move on, presumably to other feeding areas. This makes the site very quiet indeed at high water. I suppose I am used to sites locally in Liverpool and Morecambe Bay, where at high water there isn't anywhere for the birds to feed and they roost close to, or relatively close to feeding areas.

 Curlew

At high water on the river were eight Goldeneyes, three Eiders and a single Red-throated Diver. That's six out of the seven species in my notebook, and number seven were two Rock Pipits that flew over calling.

The forecast for the weekend...you've guessed it is for more wind and rain! Roll on spring, after all it is just around the corner!

Back To Back

Back to back could refer to the past two glorious days I spent at Fleetwood Beer Festival, but it actually refers to two back to back survey days at my wintering bird survey site in west Lancs. Going back to the beer festival there were about 100 real ales on offer and I managed to sample about twenty of them, and very nice they were too!

The first day of my back to back surveys was on Wednesday, Wednesday afternoon to be precise under full cloud cover with a moderate southwesterly wind. It was most definitely quiet, the main feature again being the wintering Thrushes, with 223 Fieldfares and 40 Redwings. Associating with the Fieldfare and Redwings were Starlings, and in total I had 661.

As the afternoon drew on a few Buzzards took to the air and I recorded four over and past my watch point. The only other raptors were two Kestrels, and that was it. As I said, very quiet.

I was back the following morning and what a difference a day makes, as I was there at first light and it was glorious under clear skies and very little wind.

As I walked towards my watch point I flushed seventeen Mallards from the pond close to where my VP is located. As the Mallards headed away from me and started to climb, I noticed a raptor closing in on them. I lifted my bins and there was a female Peregrine giving chase! I didn't see the outcome, but I doubt very much that she was successful.

Later on in the morning I heard a Raven calling, looked up and I could see it perched on top of a close electricity pylon. This bird then flew off and a second bird flew into view. I love watching Ravens, and as this bird flew through the landscape it was contunually rolling, as Ravens often do, when all of a sudden the Peregrine appeared again and attmepted to mug the Raven! This bird was either extremely tenacious or very hungry. Again I didn't see the outcome, but surmised that it was another failure because a minute or two later I heard a 'rehk rehk rehk rehk' coming from the same pylon, and there perched near the top was the Peregrine. I trained my scope on her and I could see that she was a second calendar year bird, and she continued to call bobbing her head.

I took a few snaps of her, but the superstructure of the pylon was mostly in the way, and then she took to the air, flew round in a arc past my watch point and disappeared off to the south. Magic!

 Peregrine (above & below)

Fieldfares and Redwings made their presence felt again this morning with 204 and 39 respectively. Chaffinch and Song Thrush were both singing, and adding their voices to the growing number of early morning songsters.

 Chaffinch

The light was crystal clear, and when two Great Sotted Woodpeckers flew directly over me (I'm not sure where they were heading!), the red on the vent and belly really stood out. Five Buzzards were in the air this morning, making use of late morning thermals as the sun warmed the ground. On my drive home I had a few Buzzards at various locations circling round and making use of the thermals.

Just one Kestrel today, and five Long-tailed Tits later my stint was over, and I headed home with thoughts of the 38th Fleetwood Beer Festival that evening! 

Over on the right you will see that I have updated the ringing totals for our group, Fylde Ringing Group. The only species to be ringed in any nymbers in January was Linnet with 31, courtesy of Phil and Andy.

Slav At Last

I have been rather busy over the past week, and work has been getting in the way of my birding, but to be brutally honest because of this my only birding has been work related! And because I have been busy, this brief post details a few sightings from nearly a week ago now.

I was back in the northeast and as I drove to my vantage point (VP) just the other side of the dunes I noticed that the Brent Goose was still feeding on the roadside verge.

 Brent Goose

It was quieter than last time out in the estuary, and from a sea-duck perspective all I had was three male Eiders and a male Goldeneye.

 Eider

As I looked upstream I had brief views of a Slavonian Grebe before it dived. After I had finished at this VP I was moving to another closer to where the Slav was. A little later on, I arrived at my second VP and low and behold the Slav had moved and was closer to my original VP! "Never mind" I thought, and I marked on my maps the 88 Pink-footed Geese that flew over, 20 Curlews and a couple of Rock Pipits. Then the Slav Grebe surfaced no more than ten metres in front of me and I didn't have time to get my bins to my eyes, never mind pick up my camera, before it dived again never to be seen again that morning.

 The view from one of my VPs

I had a very pleasant morning yesterday, leading a farmland bird identification walk in south Cheshire for some former colleagues. The idea behind the event was to help some farmers with some bird identification so that they would feel more confident taking part in the Big Farmland Bird Count in ten days time.

The weather was glorious for a change and we managed see species such as Stock Dove, Buzzard, Pink-footed Goose, Pintail, Skylark, Redwing, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. So a good smattering of farmland birds, with some very pleasant company! You can find a link to a lovely report on the event by CLICKING HERE.

The weather these past few days has been pretty awful and sadly it has thwarted attempts to get out ringing. Looking at the forecast over the coming week it doesn't look much better, but as always I am ever hopeful that it might change. I'll keep you posted.

Turbo-charged Ducks and Divers

At the end of last week I was back in the northeast close to Berwick continuing with my series of wintering bird surveys. It was a cold, cloudy morning with a light southwesterly wind. It was also quite a quiet morning, but as always it was a pleasure to be out.

I recorded two species of geese during the survey, 86 Pink-footed Geese that flew over, and a Brent Goose that was feeding along a roadside verge. You don't expect, while I don't anyway, to see a Brent Goose feeding on a roadside verge alongside the river with some Oystercatchers and a Curlew! Having said that, there is plenty of grass in this location, so maybe the Brent Goose is on to a winner.

 Curlew

There was a lot of water in the river and large quantities of debris were being carried towards the estuary including large tree trunks and even sections of vegetated eroded bank material! We have had a lot of rainfall recently and this combined with a falling tide meant the river was running was seriously fast.

It was amusing to watch the antics of turbo-charged ducks and divers, and species such as Goldeneye, Goosander and Red-throated Diver were being carried downstream at a high rate of knots! They would dive, appear further upstream, and then streak past me again! I couldn't quite believe how fast a male Goldeneye, in particular, travelled down river.

 Goosander

In addition to the above it was quiet, as I said before, and my notebook records just two Rock Pipits, five Eiders, six Turnstones, two Shags and 93 Redshanks.

After a few hours of survey it was time to head back west through the beautiful Borders country of Scotland, and home to Lancashire.

Mud...And Not The Glorious Kind

It was a case of mid-week mud for me last week, and not mud of the glorious kind either! I was back at my wintering bird survey site in the west of the county, and I had to move my VP location by about ten metres because of the wet and muddy conditions under-foot. Lots of rain resulting in a high water table and many sets of sheep feet had poached the area where I usually stand. So, under 7 oktas cloud cover, with a stiff-ish SW wind I undertook another survey.

 My muddy VP location

Thrushes were still very much the order of the day, and they had switched from feeding on berries (they have cleaned the Hawthorns out) to feeding on the wet grassland. The higher water table was presumably bringing invertebrates to the surface, and there was rich pickings for them and the Starlings. More Redwings this week, 21, and a few more Fieldfares totalling 327!

As the morning progressed it went from 7 oktas cloud cover, as stated above, to clear, sunny skies. The blue skies and sunshine encouraged a good deal of activity from the local Buzzards, and I was treated to a display from at least six individual birds. Other raptors were a male and female each of Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.

 Buzzard

The Sparrowhawk was a young male, and it whizzed past me close to my VP. I was first alerted to his presence by the flock of Meadow Pipits (52 of them) that lifted from the field in front of me. I then lost him from view behind the network of hedges, which he will have been using as cover to lay an ambush as he traversed the landscape. However, I could monitor his progress by the flocks of birds he was putting up; first a large flock of Starlings took to the air, relying on their numbers to try and confuse him, and then a smaller flock of Fieldfares 'chack-chacked' as they moved out of his way. You've got to love a Sparrowhawk, as they will provide the patient observer with no end of pleasure and entertainment!

After 268 Pink-footed Geese, a Grey Wagtail, a  Mistle Thrush, three Skylarks and a Song Thrush my survey ended, and it was time to head home.

Pink-footed Geese

You Never Know What's Lurking In A Ditch

Yesterday morning I was back at one of my wintering bird survey sites in the west of Lancashire and it was a tad chilly under the leaden skies with a cool east-southeasterly wind. However, the skies later cleared and the sun came out. And it must have got warmer because I took my woolly hat off and replaced it with my baseball cap!

As of recent visits to this site Fieldfares have been the main species that I have recorded and this morning I had a cracking total of 282 of these Norse invaders. Interestingly, I only had seven Redwings and two continental Blackbirds.

Raptors were thin on the ground and were just represented by three Buzzards and two Kestrels. A flock, in fact a very small flock, of three Whooper Swans southwest was nice, with a few Pink-footed Geese over too, somewhere in the region of 524 birds mainly heading in a north-ish direction.

 Pink-footed Geese

I watched a Little Egret in the next field to where my vantage point (VP) was located. It walked along the boundary in front of a 'gappy' Hawthorn hedge and then disappeared in to a ditch. Now, I know this particular ditch quite well as I used to have to walk along it in previous surveys, and to say that it is uninteresting is an understatement, but not to a Little Egret obviously!

I never saw it emerge from the ditch the whole time that I was there, so it either popped out without me seeing it, or it was finding lots of food and was having its fill! It made me think that you never know what's lurking in a ditch, because I wondered how many other nondescript ditches have an unseen Little Egret wandering along them?!

I mentioned before how it warmed up during the morning and I noticed lots of dancing non-biting Midges around some of the Hawthorns. I decided to see whether I could photograph them or not, and I think the answer is probably not as you will see from the pictures below. Looking back on my attempts on the screen on the back of my camera they looked like flocks of birds, well perhaps squinting with your eyes half closed they did!

 Non-biting Midges above & below

Two warbler species in the hedge behind my VP was noteworthy, with a calling Goldcrest and Chiffchaff. The Chiffie was more interesting and was my first over-winterer this year. A distant flock of 52 Pintails heading south, and a fly-over Great Spotted Woodpecker later my survey finished.

The forecast is looking wet for tomorrow, and ringing is definitely out of the question, but I will keep checking just in case.