Another Day, Another Buzzard

I spent the breezy morning at Knott End looking along the tideline for waders and checking the golf course for passerines before the lure of Pilling Water and Lane Ends drew me back yet again. 

Although due high tide the actual level would be quite low with the distant channel of the incoming water leaving a huge expanse of sand for birds to spread out from Knott End then across to Fleetwood on the other side of the river, and north towards far-off Heysham. A good selection and decent count of birds with 400+ Oystercatcher, 220 Redshank, 60 Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 2 Turnstone, 8 Dunlin, 6 Cormorant, 7 Eider and a single Sandwich Tern. I’ve been carrying around a little compact camera rather than constantly swapping lenses on the SLR between 35-50mm for landscape and 400mm for birds. The Panasonic is OK but I hate not having a viewfinder and it’s hard to beat the quality of SLR. The landscape below is compact camera, the birds SLR, the Redshank a distant dot towards the river, the Oystercatcher and Turnstone archives from a sunnier day and the Dunlin from earlier in the week here at Knott End. 

Redshank

Oystercatcher

Dunlin

Turnstone

From Knott End across to Fleetwood

Alongside the golf course produced a Chiffchaff in the conifers, a Pied Wagtail on the fairway of the first hole and then 15 Goldfinch, 4 Linnet and 2 Greenfinch in the bushes of the fairway rough. A small movement of Swallows, 15 + arriving from the North West and then leaving south. I was back at the car when the ever present gulls alerted me to a raptor flying in from a north westerly direction, and when I looked up it turned out to be a Buzzard. It continued up river and over the golf course, gathering more gulls as it went. Buzzards aren’t common at coastal Knott End but much more easily seen a few miles upriver at Out Rawcliffe, as they are all over the Fylde and North West England now. The camera was set for waders, not overhead raptors but I clicked away for a not very good record shot as the Buzzard flew over, but there’s a better shot from Pilling on Thursday last. 

Buzzard

Buzzard

The books tell us that UK Buzzards are essentially sedentary with adults remaining in the home range and youngsters of the year dispersing from their natal areas. Here in the Fylde and with the increase in the local Buzzard population it has become obvious in recent years that some sort of autumn dispersal/migration takes place with a corresponding return/increase in numbers during the spring. The movement is nothing like the migrations that occur in other, colder parts of the Buzzard’s range with for instance a passage of over 20,000 individuals in a typical Falsterbo, Sweden autumn. 

  

By the way, and for some US readers for whom my use of the word “buzzard” causes some difficulty; in the US “buzzard” can mean a vulture, particularly the American Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture, or as a general term for vultures or for hawks of the buzzard Buteo family which occur in the US e.g. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) or Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni). In the UK our Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is known as “Buzzard” with the word “Common” usually omitted. If in doubt, consider the Latin name of the species and/or read “buzzards” on Wiki. This birding stuff is as technical or as unscientific as you want it to be, but the main thing is to enjoy it. 

A useful digression I hope. Pilling proved very quiet, the most notable thing being the continuing Swallow movement with a number of small groups totalling approximately 60 birds heading along the sea wall into now gusty south easterly. Otherwise, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Grey Heron, 6 Goldfinch and 4 Linnet. Still no Wheatears. 

More unscientific stuff and pictures on Another Bird Blog soon.

Mainly Buzzards With A Few Questions

I can’t decide which is harder at the moment, finding birds to ring or finding birds to watch, as both activities are decidedly difficult. Following a slow morning’s ringing on Wednesday, this morning I decided to have a walk out Pilling Way in the hope of seeing a few birds, so stocked up with a new supply of meal worms hoping even a Wheatear or two might appear. 

But no Wheatears again when there should be a more than a few around, so maybe our UK birds suffered the same fate as most low down nesting birds this year. In about a month’s time the geese will arrive from Iceland and it will be interesting to see if more Wheatears appear then. 

Enough waffle – here’s the short list and a couple of photographs compiled from a few hours slog along the sea wall. Little Grebe, Chiffchaff, Grey Heron and Sparrowhawk at Lane Ends. A number of Swallows, about 70 feeding at Pilling Water, with a single Sand Martin, but no Swifts in evidence. 

 Barn Swallow

A single Common Sandpiper around the wildfowler’s pools plus return of the Teal with 8 flighty birds. Passerines: 2 Pied Wagtail, 24 Linnet, 15 Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch and 2 Skylark. Two Buzzards over Fluke Hall put on a bit of a show, circling and calling in the bright sunshine. 

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

Buzzard - Buteo buteo

After watching the Buzzards, and then a day or two ago seeing Grey Partridges being reared for “sport” it set me thinking of a number of questions for The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), a government department which earlier this year wished to spend £300,000 of taxpayers’ money on looking into ways of controlling the Buzzard population. 

 Grey Partridge

Here are few questions to be going on with, I’m sure readers can come up with more. 

What research has DEFRA funded into why the UK population of Grey Partridge has plummeted until the species is now listed as of RED Conservation Concern? 

Why does the Government of the UK allow millions of non-native Red-legged Partridge to be released willy-nilly into the wild? 

Before we release any captive bred partridge species into the countryside should there be research into the possible effect on any remaining wild Grey Partridge populations? 

Stay tuned, more soon on Another Bird Blog.

More Of The Same

Will and I turned out for a 6am ringing session at Rawcliffe Moss this morning hoping for a better catch than of recent weeks. During our 4 hour session we achieved a decent variety of species we expect in August but once again the catch proved short of the hoped for numbers. Just 16 birds of 10 species, a figure which included 3 recaptures. 

New birds: 3 Robin, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Chaffinch and 1 each of Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Wren. Recaptures; 1 each of Wren, Blue Tit and Willow Warbler. Except for the recaptured Blue Tit, every other bird proved to be a juvenile. 

Chiffchaff

 

 Willow Warbler

Coal Tit

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

Whitethroat

The Garden Warbler had very pronounced fault bars in the tail. Fault bars are transparent bands in the feathers of birds which are produced and grown under the stressful conditions induced by poor weather/lack of food. 

Garden Warbler

Fault bars - Garden Warbler

Birding today: 8+ Siskin, 1 Yellowhammer, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Little Owl, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Golden Plover, 170+ Lapwing. A rather distant flock of circa 160 finches contained both Goldfinches and Linnets, the majority of the flock probably the former. 

Tune into Another Bird Blog soon for more birding, ringing or photographs. 

Just Dunlin

No birding or ringing this morning, just a lazy lie in. After lunch Sue and I went up to Knott End for a Wallings Ice Cream followed by a walk. 

The usual birds along the beach and river, 2 Eider, 2 Pied Wagtail, 280 Oystercatcher, a couple of Curlew and then 18 raucous Sandwich Terns which flew off south as the tide shifted them off the beach. A flock of about 40 Dunlin on the beach flew up river where I managed to get a number of photographs. Almost every one of them was an adult, all in a various stages of moult which can be seen from the pictures below – all very interesting for students of wader moult out there. No more comment from me, just enjoy the Dunlin. 

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

Dunlin

 Dunlin

 Dunlin

Hoping For Medals

It was so quiet over at Pilling today that I think all the birds were indoors watching the sport on TV, along with most of the UK population. Me, I’d rather be birding, and if there were medals awarded for birding perseverance, I’d surely be in with a chance of gold. 

The sky was bright in parts, but heavy cloud and thunder hung about the village as I set out from Lane Ends soon after midday. Maybe I caught the end of a morning movement or maybe it was on-going at that moment but both Swifts and Swallows headed directly east and south east into the sultry breeze, 150+ Swallow and 40+ Swift. After that a number of Swallows remained in the area feeding over the marsh and the incoming tide. 

Looking south I caught sight of a Buzzard circling south east of the village and away from the bundles of heavy cloud. 

Rain over Pilling Village

A few passerines today, with 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Skylark, 2 House Sparrow, 20+ Goldfinch and 4 Linnet, but most of what action there was centred on the incoming tide and the marsh. The Little Egret count doubled to two birds today with its grey counterpart Grey Heron beating it at three birds scattered across the marsh. On and close to the tideline, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Cormorant and 3 Common Tern, the latter arriving at high tide to roost amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls. 

Wader count: 260+ Curlew, 1 Whimbrel, 5 Redshank, 3 Oystercatcher, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Common Sandpiper, 7 Lapwing, 12 Dunlin, 40 Ringed Plover and 8 Black-tailed Godwit flying east. Some of our commonest and normally most numerous waders, Lapwing, Redshank and Oystercatcher are all pretty scarce at the moment until we get an autumnal influx from further afield. 

Oystercatcher

Redshank

Lapwing

 

Needless to say the Peregrine made another appearance, arriving from nowhere then sprinting off like Usain Bolt towards the roost at Cockerham to probably gain a prize or two. 

The forecast looks OK for a spot of ringing tomorrow if only I can tear myself away from the telly. Tune in to Another Bird Blog later to find out.

Wow - Double Figures

Out on Rawcliffe Moss I’d gone out with the intention of birding only but decided to put up a couple of nets when after looking and listening for a while I thought there might be a few more birds about than of late. 

In recent months it’s quite an achievement to get into double figures for a ringing session and I managed that today, but only just. 12 new birds of three species caught – 7 Whitethroat, 4 Chaffinch and 1 Willow Warbler. Six of the Whitethroats proved to be juveniles, the seventh bird an adult. 

At this time of year adults are easily determined by the amount of wear in the plumage, especially those feathers that do a lot of work and/or are more exposed to the light, like the primary feathers in the third picture below. 

Whitethroat - juvenile

 Whitethroat - juvenile

Whitethroat - adult

Today’s juvenile Willow Warbler proved to be a very yellowish example. 

Willow Warbler - juvenile

It was good to start catching autumn Chaffinches again – here’s hoping for a couple of hundred during August, September and October. 

 Chaffinch

Not a lot to report on the birding front – a minimum of 15 Whitethroats present including those ringed, 4+ Willow Warbler and 1 Garden Warbler. Approximately 140 Swallows and 15 House Martins feeding over a rough grass/thistle field, a combination of local birds and other arriving from the north during the morning, plus a minimum of 8 Swifts over and heading south in a couple of hours. 4+ Siskin over and heading south at early doors, as distinct from 30+ Goldfinch dispersing from a local roost at a similar time. The roost may also involve Chaffinches as the four caught were on first and second checks of the nets. 

Still singing Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting, 2 Kestrel and 2 Buzzard completed the picture. 

Kestrel

Stay tuned for more news soon from Another Bird Blog.

Mainly Swallows

A nine metre tide at 11am meant a three hour birding stint at Pilling, a session which produced a few more waders together with a noticeable south-easterly movement of Swallows. 

Passerine numbers improved today, probably as result of the tide pushing the finches off the marsh where they often feed, 20+ Linnet, 30 Goldfinch and 4 Greenfinch. Still 2 Skylark, but a single Pied Wagtail and nil Meadow Pipits. Gangs of Canada Geese are quite unusual at Lane Ends but 50+ today, and also a separate flock of 21 Greylag Geese, the latter having bred hereabouts, with the only other wildfowl of note being 22 Shelduck. Others, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Cormorant and 3 Grey Heron. 

Grey Heron

Yesterday I had an email from someone local who told me of a couple of yet-to-fledge but wildly flapping Grey Heron chicks in a Knott End nest. It seems inordinately late in the year as around here Grey Heron chicks are normally long gone from nests by May. Reading up BWP it seems that Grey Herons are normally single brooded but may replace a clutch of eggs if they or subsequent young are lost. Maybe the weird weather of May, June and July is a factor. 

Waders on the wildfowler’s pools, 1 Green Sandpiper and 1 Common Sandpiper. Waders on the shore, 110 Curlew, 15 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher, 22 Dunlin and 4 Grey Plover. 

Dunlin

Grey Plover

A Peregrine put in a fleeting but star appearance when it chased a feral pigeon from off the marsh and almost over my head. It gave up the pursuit when spotting me just ahead of its trajectory, leaving me with the clatter of wings of the fleeing pigeon and sight of the peg heading back out to sit on the marsh. 

The movement of Swallows was more or less constant, birds feeding low over the marsh or heading east along the sea wall before flying more distantly into the stiff south-easterly wind, an estimated 160 in three hours. Just 2 Swift today flying high and directly south. 

More from Another Bird Blog tomorrow I hope.