Butcher Bird!

Having decided to visit Dalton Crag again this year for his third in a row Jeff Butcher struck lucky with the bird partially named after him when he found the Great Grey Shrike with a group he had taken up there in the hope of seeing it and probably thinking he was living in the land of dreams as they made their way on to the crag......Excellent stuff Jeff.

Jeff is obviously making a habit of finding 'shrikes' as he was also in the right place at the right time on 29 May when he found a female Woodchat Shrike in/around the plantation behind Tower Lodge in the Trough of Bowland.

Back to today's find......is this in fact the Alston Moor GGS come to winter on Dalton Crag having having raised three young there at an undisclosed location. The species has had a presence in winter on the moors at Alston for many years, this year two birds stayed on to breed......interesting!

Many thanks to Jeff for allowing me to post his two images of this exciting find on Dalton Crag......again.

Early Bird!

Up before daylight this morning, a lot on my mind you understand. I was at Conder Green by 8.00am, by the way the pic is of the canal behind Conder Pool - but not today - where I counted 12 Little Grebes which may be a record on here but I need to check this out. Also 2 Goldeneye, the Kingfisher flew across the pool, and a Dunnock by the screen appeared to be oblivious of me as it behaved like a car park Robin and came within inches of me, a Greenshank was in the Conder channel and an unexpected/surprising c.250 Wood Pigeon flew over going south as did at least 85 Fieldfare, 2 Tree Sparrows were with House Sparrows at the caravan park, a Little Egret came from the estuary heading towards Jeremy Lane.

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary another Greenshank, circa figures of 4,000 Knot, and 2,000 Bar-tailed Godwit, with an unimpressive number of 85 Golden Plover, and figures of up to 120 Redshank, 65 Dunlin, and 350 Lapwing, 9 Goosander were seen here again as 22 October, 4 Goldeneye, and still low a low number of 32 Wigeon.

At Cockersands a Little Egret flew south as did 45 Pink-footed Geese, only 9 Eider seen by the lighthouse today and a Brown Hare at the tip of Plover Scar seemed more than a little out of context. A circular returning via the road had an almost nil result save a Reed Bunting and a Little Egret in one of the fields was possibly the one seen earlier going south, initially seen at a distance it had me hoping for a CE. From the lighthouse car park I watched one of those amazing aerial displays by 'several' thousand Knot over Middleton Sands around high tide.

So now its 12.30pm and if you've been in this area today you'll know what happened next and I found myself sat in the car yet again waiting for it to stop, to make matters even worse it did ease off a little and going against the grain I decided to be positive for once and headed off towards Pilling muttering to myself 'why are you doing this' but by the time I arrived at Pilling my inner thoughts had become more offensive and not for publication. I did actually drive up on to the the car park at Lane Ends then on to Fluke Hall and its pouring down now, I think I was trying to prove to myself that I really do need psychiatric help......I left for Lancaster and home sulking once more.

Back in Time.

I'm posting a few of my records from 2000 - 2009, chosen at random and representing some of the birds found/seen by me around this time of the year. The pics are not particularly linked to the records other than they are all taken at one of my favourite locations on the Lune Estuary, of which the first one above is taken from behind the Vic Hotel at Glasson Dock at low tide, the - unimpressive at this range - white blob in the centre is a flock of Knot showing their underparts as they twist and turn in the late sunshine, with this quality all these pics can only be credited to yours truly.

This pic is of a fraction of the waders to be seen here at low tide.

Here fourteen Black-tailed Godwits are lined up at rest on Conder Pool.

And this is definitely not the best pic ever of two Spotted Redshanks in the Conder Channel.

4 November 2000 at the far end of Whitbarrow 30 Raven seen, not many places you can see this number of the species.

17 November 2000 in the Newby Moor area I found 12 Stonechat, concrete evidence of the - then - advancing upturn in the Stonechats status and a winter record at that.

26 December 2000 on a rare winter visit to Barbondale I saw 12 Redpoll.

18 October 2005 a Lesser Scaup was at Myerscough Quarry.

5 November 2005 I found a Grey Phalarope between the two outfalls at Heysham Harbour, also a juvenile Arctic Tern present.

16 December 2005 10 Waxwing were on Heaton Road in Lancaster.

6 November 2006 a Glossy Ibis and 2 White-fronted Geese were in a field off Fluke Hall Lane.

28 December 2006 an amazing 27 Grey Partridge were at Cockersands in one of Kellets Farm fields. I personally never saw before or since anything like such a number of this species.

29 October 2008 a Hooded Crow was found on the top of Birk Bank.

12 November 2008 on Pilling Marsh a truly amazing 30,000 Pink-footed Geese estimate was confirmed to JB and myself in a conversation on site at the time with a person professing to be associated with WWT.

25 November 2008 two Cattle Egret were in the Milnthorpe area.

18 February 2009 an excellent count of 14 Bewick's Swans were in a field off Moss Lane, Lower Thurnham.

Picture Trio.

Courtesy of Peter Guy.

No birding today and tomorrow depends on the weather, nothing new there then. Meanwhile three more excellent pics from three of my much appreciated band of photographers. In Lancashire the Black Grouse joined a growing list of counties in England where the species has become extinct having been in decline for over 150 years for a number of reasons. The history of the Black Grouse in Lancashire is shrouded in the mist of doubt of it ever having existed in the county in a truly wild state on account of introductions for shooting purposes.

Courtesy of Paul Baker.

The Bushtit is a smart little bird of North America and can be found outside the breeding season in flocks of up to 60 birds. Both male and female incubate the eggs and after hatching can often be seen aided by the help of other species feeding the young.

Courtesy of Paul Foster.

By way of a change a smart stag Red Deer seen and photographed by Paul at the Griesdale Hide at Leighton Moss during the rut, a reserve - and particularly the hide - which almost offers a guarantee of seeing these beautiful creatures at close range, a sight to remember forever.

And now......

......for something completely different.

When I got into the car at home this morning I had no idea where to go but thought I'd make a start and check the groynes at Morecambe at high tide and see if last years excellent count of 170 Turnstones on 3 December could be exceeded in 2009 but the weather thought otherwise and the exercise was soon abandoned as I ran for cover from a blinding hailstorm which lasted for several minutes. But I did manage to note some of the birds on the groyne behind The Dome, 6 Red-breasted Merganser were sheltering from the wind and I did count 10 Turnstones and 6 Ringed Plover, the rest of the roost consisted of mainly Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. From the groyne beyond the Town Hall slipway I counted another 55 Turnstones and the count was adding up nicely but unfortunately it ended there, perhaps another attempt later in the winter. From here I picked up some 'swans' flying in a southerly direction from the Jenny Browns Point area, the birds never really came very close but I confidently recorded them as 10 Whooper Swans. I sheltered in the car at Teal Bay from another downpour noting c.20 Black-tailed Godwit in the process, I then decided to do a little 'twitch' in the hope of 'scoring a hat-trick' and set off for Pine Lake where I had good views of the Slavonian Grebe and noted - without any counts - a large number of Pochard, smaller numbers of Wigeon, Pintail and Goosander. One twitch down two to go and off to the RSPB flagship reserve at Leighton Moss, well not quite as I made my next 'score' at Crag Road viewpoint from where I could see the four Snow Geese at a distance with Greylag Geese and currently drawing the crowds, two down one to go and now I'm off to the Griesdale Hide, a bit of a gamble this as I could find nobody at LM to tell me where the next 'target' was last seen. Well the gamble didn't pay off and I 'dipped' on my last of the hat-trick and the GWE/s were nowhere to be seen......ahhhh well......win a few loose a few!

I managed a nice little pic of a few of the B H Gulls on one of the groynes at Morecambe.

And another nice little pic of the elegant stag Red Deer along with one of the nine hinds seen from the Griesdale Hide.

Well I did say 'and now for something completely different' it's not like me to use words like twitch/target/scoring/dipped/tick/list......Mmmmmmm!

A Change of Plan.

After I had been thinking opportunities were certainly not looking good at the moment, a change of plan meant I could get out birding after all albeit that a few negatives were still around not least of all the weather but also I was late off the mark again today and due to the aforementioned weather it ended up a 'late start/early finish' day.

At Conder Green/Glasson Dock another negative was the high tide which renders the area not the best birding location in the world unless the waders use Conder Pool as a roost which they had decided not to do today. Well if you like a challenge try counting the 10 Little Grebes on here again today, it took me something like as many counts as there was birds, they were spread all over the pool and up and down like yoyo's, the wintering Common Sandpiper seen again, and 3 Goldeneye were to note. With the tide at its height I left the area via Jeremy Lane where I found 6 Whooper Swans in a field with 75 Mute Swans.

From the car park at Pilling Lane Ends I needed the telescope to ID 7 Whooper Swans more than a mile out on the sands and also noted 3 Little Egret on the marsh. I left here knowing full well I could have been turning my back on a number of bird species all well hidden in the channels and undulations of this bird rich marsh with not a chance in hell of seeing them.

On Fluke Hall Lane another 38 Whooper Swans were in a stubble field with a smart adult Mediterranean Gull in the next one up the road. I was by now mentally in top gear and could see a good birding day developing, but wait a minute I'm in the UK and within 15 minutes of these kind of thoughts running through my head it was p****** down and it was goodbye and Lancaster here I come. But I don't give in quite so easily and actually went to Cockersands to sit out the 'shower' thus proving beyond all doubt I'm definitely well on the way to 'loosing it' and one hour later was on my way home never having left the car for two hours.

I posted an excellent pic of Whooper Swans by David Cookson a few days ago on Birds2blog, but today's isn't excellent but a half decent one by me and shows about 14 of the 38 on Fluke Hall Lane today.

By the way you're wrong......the word is POURING!

Wot more pics!

Well I was never going to be birding today and the near future looks positively grim with personal and weather problems both contributing. So its another picture gallery and no better way to fill the space than with a couple from intrepid traveler/birder Colin Bushell, and excellent landart creations from Richard Shilling.

First up is the exotic little female Rufous-crested Coquette above, one of Colin's many birds of Peru 2009......

......and the equally exotic but much larger Hoatzin. Some name for a bird and which means absolutely nothing to me but an impressive creature all the same.

Colin's blog is here http://latinamericabirding.blogspot.com/



And the two excellent works having an airing on Birds2blog from Richard are called Autumn Beech Water Box......

......and Maple Vein Calligraphy. Richard never fails to impress me with his amazing creations which illustrate his original ideas to the full. Richard's blog is here http://jrlandart.blogspot.com/

Thanks Colin and Richard for allowing me to keep the blog alive with pics from your travels/works of art.

Starling Spectacular.

With my birding in serious jeopardy - possibly for a few days - I can be thankful that Brian Rafferty hasn't been in the same situation with his photography and that he was able to get to Marton Mere at Blackpool this Wednesday 28 October to witness and record on film the truly amazing spectacle of an estimated 60,000 Starlings in flight and preparing to go to roost.



Brian also had the advantage of an equally spectacular sunset to compliment his already stunning images of an event which stays in the mind forever. Thanks once more to BR for giving me access to these pictures and allowing me to post them on Birds2blog.

Please visit BR's blog here http://brianraffertywildlifephotographer.blogspot.com/ or the link on the left of this post to see some excellent photographs.

Marton Mere remains my best ever experience of this same spectacle many years ago when an albino Starling was present with a similar sized flock to the current one here and stood out from the other birds quite clearly as I recall.

El Desperado!

It soon became desperate today though Conder Green gave up some of its specialities other than the recent Ruff and the Kingfisher both of which eluded me. Its going to be interesting to look for the Common Sandpiper on every visit to Conder Green as the winter progresses, last year it was a little weird to see one/this bird feeding in the Conder channel one day when the mud was white with frost. A Greenshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 2 Snipe, 2 Goldeneye, and the 11 Little Grebe noted again today.

The desperation was already beginning to set in and the wader numbers on the Lune Estuary were similar to the past two visits here with circa 1,250 Golden Plover, 850 Knot, and 720 Bar-tailed Godwit, a Little Egret also seen again. On the canal basin a Little Grebe noted.

In the hope of some PFG with collars to read or Whooper Swans with rings I drove to the Pilling area and scored a resounding zero with not a 'goose' or 'swan' in sight though I had no time to go searching inland, I came away with 2 Little Egret off Fluke Hall in my book.

Yesterday I observed two incidents of behaviour which intrigued me both involving the Pied Wagtail. In the first on Conder Pool a Pied Wagtail was in hot pursuit of the Common Sandpiper and had locked on to it in the way a Merlin has the ability to lock onto its prey, the Pied Wagtail chased it all the way across the pool and followed at speed every twist and turn with remarkable agility before letting go and flying off. The second incident was a role reversal on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock when a Lapwing was in pursuit of a Pied Wagtail all the way up the estuary before disappearing from view. In neither of these incidents could I understand what was going on, why was the Pied Wagtail chasing the Common Sandpiper then the Lapwing chasing the Pied Wagtail, in both cases with great determination and apparent good reason......but what was the reason.

Thanks to Peter Guy for the two excellent images of the 'green listers' in today's pic.

Stone Curlew......

......I don't think so. But I reckon this guy - well I suppose it could be gall - deserves a post all of its own so I'm giving it one. The Peruvian Thick-Knee, a bird I'd call 'brilliant' courtesy of Colin Bushell.