Finch It!

My Bowland records made another forward surge this week when I found 3 Bullfinch, seen as two male in the trees at the car park on Rigg Lane, and two hours later, one in flight towards Cragg Wood. These birds represent 7 sightings of 23 Bullfinch in Bowland, with 16 at Birk Bank - eight of which were Northern Bullfinch - on three dates in Nov/Dec 2004, a pair at Tower Lodge Nov 2022, a pair at Rushy Lee Feb 2022, and 3 at Birk Bank/Cragg Wood Oct 2022.

The Bullfinch is regarded as a partial migratory bird, those that migrate make short to medium distance movements. So are these Bowland birds wintering, or do they actually breed in Bowland. I reckon they don't breed, but if they do, having never seen a Bullfinch in Bowland during the summer months, I've yet to discover where. 

Other sightings included Siskin seen in mini groups flighty around Rigg Lane, woefully small numbers of no more than 6 Fieldfare all on the wing, and 8 Red Grouse.

No apologies, but the following section of this post starts with my third video footage of 2 Ruff at Conder Green, the species being well up the list of my favourite waders, also in the creeks, a Greenshank.

The purpose of this outing was to get to Plover Scar for the high tide, to find it relatively quiet, but with peak counts of 120 Oystercatcher, 95 Turnstone, and 42 Dunlin. 

Twite Cockersand. Martin Jump.

A count of 28 Twite were flighty and spent a little time on the scar. There was an obvious presence of Skylark in and over the stubble field by Lighthouse Cottage, with 16 >south. A male Reed Bunting seen, and a Kestrel hovering over the marsh off the Caravan Park before diving to take out a small rodent.

In the field south of Clarkson's Farm, I counted 32 Whooper Swan, though they were in a dip in the field and certainly a few more with heads down as they fed.

Thanks to Martin Jump for his Oystercatcher header and Twite at Plover Scar.

THE DRAGONFLY.

Vagrant Emperor Heysham Harbour 25 October. Kevin Eaves.

When Kevin visited Heysham Harbour last week on 25 October, he must surely have had what he might find in the back of his mind. What Kevin did find could only have made him amazed and elated in equal measure when he came across his second Vagrant Emperor at Heysham 15 days earlier than his first seen on 9 November 2020.

Thanks to Kevin Eaves for the image of the Vagrant Emperor, and his permission for the must post news of this Lancashire rarity on Birds2blog.

October Chats.

Being the last visit to Hawthornthwaite Fell was on 11 July, I hadn't realised my birding had made such a dramatic nosedive, but I was here on Tuesday, and also back on Harrisend again to find 15 Stonechat on the day.

I was only on the track up Hawthorthwaite for 15 minutes before I found 6 Stonechat, all in this small area of heather looking east in the picture. The birds were mobile, and moving generally south east. Walking on for about 50 metres, when I looked again there was no sign of the birds.

Other than the chats, I saw just 4 Red Grouse and several airliners in the couple of hours spent here.

Whilst spending a few therapeutic minutes by Cam Brook, I was reminded of the smart male Ring Ouzel I saw here on 27 May. This was my fifth consecutive year of finding the mountain blackbird on Hawthornthwaite, only one sighting of which I ever had evidence of breeding here and was a female in flight with food in its bill. 

There was also a pleasant 3 hours spent on Harrisend, where I found 9 Stonechat. As with the Hawthorthwaite birds, five were together in a small area of gorse. Also 4 Raven over and 3 Red Grouse seen.

Clougha Pike From Harrisend. Pete Woodruff.

Wish I had a pound for every Stonechat I've ever seen atop of this remnant of the Hawthorn. I reckon I could get myself a couple of bottles of Jack Daniel's in for Christmas!

The Gannet.

There was a little sadness about a walk along the promenade at Sandylands last week, when I found the corpse of an adult Gannet on the shore, seen as a possible victim of avian flu.

Only a vagrant Albatross in the Western Palearctic is a larger seabird than the indigenous Gannet. Of the worlds breeding population, 48% are found in Scotland. This year there was a 90% breeding failure of Gannet on Bass Rock.

Turtle Dove.

Turtle Dove Hest Bank. Howard Stockdale.

A 1st winter Turtle Dove has been at Hest Bank since 13 October. There has been a mix of opinion about the bird, some seeing it as a sickly bird, dicing with death at the hands of the mutt brigade and their charges, others saying the bird looks well as it does in Howards image, it feeds well, and is a tame individual. Whatever....the bird would be better advised to stay put at Hest Bank, up to 100,000 Turtle Dove are shot annually on migration over Malta.  

Bearded Tit.....Another one of those must see images.

Bearded Tit Leighton Moss. Martin Jump.

Many Thanks to Howard and Martin for sending me these excellent images.

And Finally.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Peter Rhind.

Couldn't possibly end this post without mention of the brilliant Hummingbird Hawk-moth which gave us about 60 seconds of pleasure as it checked out the Verbena in our garden yesterday afternoon.

Pity I didn't get a pik of the moth, but I did get 30 seconds of comic relief with these two ponies at Heysham in the week....You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours!

FULL SCREEN....SOUND ON

Sidelined Again!

Off the road again for five days, but although pleasant if cloudy there was good birding around the Lune Estuary in the week. 

Conder Green.

Starting at Conder Green with my first Whooper Swan this winter, it was accompanied by 2 Mute Swan on Conder Pool. Also of note, 3 Greenshank, 4 Wigeon, and 7 Little Grebe on Conder Pool was my best count of the day here.

The customary circuit turned up an adult Ruff preening alongside a Redshank in the creeks, with 2 Black-tailed Godwit and a snorkeling female Goosander.

Lune Estuary.

Viewing from the bowling green, there was much more life on the Lune Estuary than my last visit here on 28 September. I picked up 8 Mediterranean Gull, seen at a distance, all adult save one 2nd winter bird. Godwit numbers were at around 350 birds, estimated to be 260 Black-tailed Godwit and 90 Bar-tailed Godwit, also c.550 Knot, 8 Snipe, and a Great-crested Grebe. Two adult Avocet were by the Conder mouth, two seen in the creeks at Conder Green when I returned there after the high tide were possibly the same two.

On the canal basin, 45 Tufted Duck and a Great-crested Grebe. Noted in a field on Jeremy Lane, 120 geese in a pretty even mix of Canada Geese and Greylag Geese 

Cockersand.

It was an enjoyable hour at Plover Scar, made all the more enjoyable with the appearance of a smart Little Stint still retaining much breeding plumage.

High Tide Waders Plover Scar. Martin Jump.

There was much coming and going of waders for the hour up to high tide. Just as I arrived at Plover Scar, 3 Grey Plover were departing south along with a swathe of other small waders. As more birds flew in and settled, I estimated at least 350 Dunlin, with 55 Turnstone and 45 Knot at the peak.

I walked along the headland back to Bank Houses, from where I could see 15 Whooper Swan some distance in a field to the north. I reckon this group had been joined by the 6 Whooper Swan which flew by me inland over Cockersand C.P.

Right Place, Right Time....A Leighton Moss Treble.

Cetti's Warbler. Martin Jump.

Thanks to Martin Jump for the 'rare to be seen out in the open' Cetti's Warbler checking out the grit trays.

Bearded Tit. Martin Jump.

And the Bearded Tit, doing the splits.

Bittern. Martin Jump.

The Bittern 'we have lift off' from Leighton Moss, up and away into the blue out yonder.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the Little Stint in the header, seen on Plover Scar about a month ago in mid-September.

Stonechat Data July - September.

The status of the Stonechat in our recording area, is that of 'a breeding bird on the lower slopes of the Bowland Fells'....The Birds of Lancaster & District 2020, and 'a fairly common, increasing breeding bird in upland and coastal areas....Lancashire Bird Report 2021.

In 2022 I have continued to collect Stonechat records as a personal interest. The data through the third quarter July - September is sourced in the main from the Fylde Bird Club (13) LDBWS (6) Andrew Cornall (4), and to a lesser extent these days my own (4), and amounts to 27 records.

The records excluding two, are from breeding territories, some of which I find to be lowland breeders, the most interesting of which was a male and female Stonechat carrying food on Winmarleigh Moss in June, and an adult Stonechat with 2 juvenile at Blackpool Airport in July. 

But two records in the breeding season to intrigue me the most were....

A male at Conder Green 26 May. 

A female at Heysham Head 17 June.

I've never seen Stonechat at Conder Green or Heysham Head in the summer months, neither have I ever seen records from these two sites. 

I've been off the road this past 11 days and had more time to study the history of the Stonechat in our recording area and be reminded of some startling facts about this and some other birds in our area between 1959 - 1998 LDBWS Annual Reports, and to note some dramatic changes and losses over the years.

Although these records start 63 years ago, by todays standards, I find some of them verging on the unbelievable, in particular the Stonechat records just 25 years ago up to 1997. 

Stonechat.

1959. A rare visitor, no evidence of breeding.

1964. No birds seen during the summer months.

1970/72/73. Bred successfully at Heysham.

1975. Pair at Halton Park, 5 pairs Clougha, pair at Marshaw, male at Sizergh Castle, female at Bailrigg.

1978. Four males and females with four juveniles at Heysham Harbour appeared to be migrants.

1979. No breeding records, a few winter period records.

1987. No reports from anywhere in the region.

1988. Irregular breeder at one site.

1989. Pair bred at Heysham.

1990/91/96/97. No breeding pairs discovered.

1998. Males in the Trough of Bowland and at Langden suggest breeding.

It is hard to believe, this last record above reads, these two males were the only Stonechats recorded, and that no other records were received in 1998. The following year in 1999, saw the beginning of a dramatic upturn in the fortunes of the Stonechat, which I started to monitor in that year, and which continued for up to 12 years, until the Stonechats endured two severe winters, which sent them back to the kind of depressing numbers of 1998.  

Some other bird species from the archives make interesting reading, and if you are a local birder, three of them again verge on the unbelievable* 

Nightjar. 

*15/20 pairs on Warton Crag 1959. Breeds at Quernmore, Warton, Yealand, Silverdale, Bentham, several Arnside Knot 1960. After 1991 the Nightjar was never mention again in the reports.

Yellow Wagtail.

*With 32 Yellow Wagtail per hour passing Arkholme Viaduct and 30 at Heversham sewage works in 1978....Sounds like a printing error by todays status of a 'scarce and declining breeding bird' in the 2020 report, which reads 'yet again no breeding pairs in our area'.

Whinchat.

*In 1989 a large concentration of up to 40 Whinchat, seen as 20 pairs in the Langden area of Bowland.

Ortolan Bunting.

In 1965 a pair of Ortolan Bunting at Conder Green was not verified. 

Cirl Bunting.

In 1968 up to 4 Cirl Bunting seen at Conder Green was not verified.

Little Egret.

An adult Little Egret on 25 May 1970 was the first record for the area.

And Finally.

Comma. Pete Woodruff.

I don't recall ever seeing a Comma butterfly in October, but this one was initially found in the house on Wednesday. I suspect it arrived in a bunch of garden flowers brought for KT. Having captured it in cupped hands, it remained on her finger by the kitchen door for a few minutes before flying off.   

Mustn't Grumble!

An enjoyable wander around the Lune Estuary in the week is best described as quiet, but as always had it's rewards in varying degree. But it must be said, I find it amazing how bird numbers can fluctuate dramatically at places like the Lune Estuary at Glasson, with the few seen this visit, then maybe in their thousands the next. But....mustn't grumble.

On Conder Pool, 2 Greenshank and 10 Little Grebe counted, and a limping adult Avocet remains there.

I have no idea of latest departure dates of Avocet from Conder Pool and the surrounding estuary, up to seven seen recently, and 11 Avocet were at Lytham on 26 December 2020....Perhaps the limping lone ranger is planning on spending the winter around the Lune Estuary.

On the circuit, 2 Ruff in the creeks, with 3 Black-tailed Godwit, a Greenshank and Snipe. A lone Sand Martin was the latest one ever in my book, it was over the creeks with a 'few' lingering Swallow, a Red Admiral was the only butterfly seen on the day.

On the estuary at Glasson, little of note to be honest, but an adult Mediterranean Gull picked out, 15 Wigeon, a Snipe, and 52 Canada Geese flew in from the south. 

I wanted to check Plover Scar up to the high tide, if I said the scar was also quiet it would be a contradiction when I note up to 550 Dunlin, 45 Turnstone, 24 Ringed Plover, 3 Grey Plover, a single Knot and Redshank. A few Swallow hawking around Lighthouse Cottage, c.25 Skylark erupted out of the stubble field behind the cottage to fly around and return there.

Migrant Hawker.

Despite the sun disappearing behind the clouds and a cool breeze blowing by the time I arrived there. I found 18 Migrant Hawker on a walk along the canal towpath for about a mile from Glasson Dock to Conder Green.

 

Whirligig Beetle.

Couldn't resist a bit of footage of a few hundred beetles swirling around in the canal.

Interesting little critters, they have two pairs of compound eyes, one looking upwards over the surface of the water, the other pair looking down and under the water. Aptly named Whirligig for their unmistakable circling behaviour, they belong to the Gyrinidae family of which there are c.1,000 species worldwide, they are the only beetle to spend their entire life in a watery environment.

Red Admiral. Pete Woodruff.

A Red Admiral was in our cloudy and windy 14°C garden yesterday.

Thanks to Martin Jump for the brilliant Kingfisher header. This bird - often two - are guaranteed daily on Conder Pool given patience and time spent. 

Bring On The Hawkers.

By way of a change, a ride on the bus to Conder Green, and a quick look over the creeks had me find an Avocet still there, with a Common Sandpiper and 2 Black-tailed Godwit. Then on to the canal towpath at The Mill to walk about 3 miles to Galgate to find 58 Migrant Hawker, an excellent count which exceeded the one I made on this stretch of the canal around the same date of 20 September 2021 when I found 47.

Migrant Hawkers. Pete Woodruff.

I had close encounters with some of these dragonflies including this pair, with 4 pairs in aerial mating circles, and a female seen ovipositing in the canal side vegetation. I also observed some interesting behaviour not picked up by me before, when a Migrant Hawker was seen continuously drooping and raising its abdomen in flight. 

Also seen, 10 Common Darter all males, and a stunning black/blue male Common Hawker. Bird notes were, 5 Grey Wagtail seen as two pairs and a singleton, also a mewing Buzzard overhead. Butterflies seen where just 3 Large White and a Green-veined White.

When I got to the canal junction at Galgate, a Grey Heron was preening on the railings....King of the castle lock!

Caddisfly. Pete Woodruff.

With 199 species of Caddisfly in the UK, some difficult to ID. Closely related to Lepidoptera, this individual doesn't go beyond Limnephilus sp in my book....Now I'm catching a bus back to Lancaster.

The winter thrushes are here already, with 6 Redwing reported at Gletsdale, Cumbria, 19 September. 

And Finally....How About This Then

Local Goodies!

Some good news I can't hold on to any longer. 

OK....So the pik is rubbish, but it matters not, as it's another first for the best garden in Lancaster LA1. A Chiffchaff took a liking to our plum tree this morning, briefly but long enough for me to get the grab shot through the kitchen window for evidence.

And a little further afield, Ian Mitchells egret fest continued as he found and photographed the dynamic duo of Great White and Little Egret at the Wenning/Lune confluence this very day.

Watch this space for more to come on B2B....Maybe a Baltimore Oriole next!!

Estuarine Pleasantries.

I count myself fortunate that I can leave home, and within 15 minutes can be enjoying the wildlife of places like the Lune Estuary, or maybe 30 minutes away from a day in the Forest of Bowland, the Yorkshire Dales and beyond.

On my latest visit to the Lune Estuary and surroundings, I made a decent count of 16 Mediterranean Gull, one was with Black-headed Gulls on Conder Pool, 8 in fields at the north end of Jeremy Lane, and 6 in a field north of Crook Cottage. As far as I could see, all these birds were adults except one distant bird on Jeremy Lane, which was a 2nd winter with small amounts of black on primaries, and one on the Lune Estuary at Glasson where there was a vanguard of up to 900 Golden Plover.

On Conder Pool, I made a count of 19 Greenshank which equaled my best count here in August last year, also 16 Little Grebe, 20 Tufted Duck, and 16 Canada Geese. Up to 6 Migrant Hawker and 2 Brown Hawker were over and around the pool. A Snipe and female Goosander were of note in the creeks, and House Martin have young still in the nest at River Winds, with two heads looking out and on the verge of fledging.

 

A Kingfisher came on to the outflow on Conder Pool a couple of times and obliged whilst I got some footage, the bird currently seems guaranteed to put in daily appearances on the outflow.

At Cockersand, decent views of a not very obliging Cattle Egret, which thought it was a wader on the tideline and denied me the chance of a classic pik with cattle. Also 7 Swallow flew purposefully north, 22 Linnet were around the abbey, and on Plover Scar, 6 Wheatear, 75 Dunlin, and 17 Ringed Plover.

Earlier in the week, along a short stretch of the canal in Lancaster between Haverbreaks and Deep Cutting, 15 Migrant Hawker seen, and a brief visit to Birk Bank, became a struggle to find a Common Darter female, a Black Darter male, and a Common Hawker.

Parasitoid Wasp.

Pimpla rufipes Pete Woodruff

I got engaged in a little entomology at Glasson Dock. This wasp on a wall disappeared into a cavity for a moment before reappearing. It is a predator, its main host being - but not limited too - the Large White butterfly. There is a huge amount of info on this insect of which there are vast numbers of species worldwide. Historically, parasitoidism in wasps is claimed to have influenced the thinking of Charles Darwin.

Thanks to Ian for his classic image of the Cattle Egret in the new B2B header.

Tom Wilmer.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Tom Wilmer yesterday. 

Although I hadn't seen Tom for many years now, I used to bump into him occasionally often at a twitch, the one that stands out in my memory the best - though many years ago - was the Great Grey Shrike in the Levens area.

It was always a pleasure to meet Tom on the road whilst out birding, he was a birder who 'knew his stuff' and was modest about it, he was never seen to be above anyone about his knowledge. 

Tom Wilmer will be greatly missed by all who knew him....R.I.P. 

Briefly Around The Estuary.

When I gave Conder Green a look in this week, only the faithful 15 Greenshank and c.10 Little Grebe were on Conder Pool, and a wander on the circuit turned up a Ruff and Common Sandpiper in the creeks, and a Willow Warbler on the coastal path....

Red Admiral. Pete Woodruff.

....where there was the surprise of at least 8 Red Admiral together in the same tree. A bigger surprise came with up to 80 Goldfinch in a flock flighty on and off Glasson Marsh. Surprising because I didn't expect to see this number for another month yet, my last record of this kind of number, was of 120 Goldfinch here on 5 October 2019, although I note 80 Goldfinch here mid-September, per LDBWS Annual Report 2020.

Clouded Yellow. Ian Mitchell.

At Cockersand, the plan was a traditional circuit which fell apart when I decided to walk to Bank End instead, to find 3 Clouded Yellow, 4 Common Blue, and a Red Admiral. Along the path, there was a notable up to three figure number of Swallow >south over the marsh, also a similar 80 Goldfinch to the Glasson flock are early post-breeding movements in my book. 

I'm grateful to Ian for his image of the Clouded Yellow at Bank End, albeit the unfortunate individual has damage to its left wing.

When I got back to Cockersand, 2 Wheatear - guaranteed here in spring and autumn- were on the shingle in front of Bank Houses. But....times up, I'm off back to Lancaster!

There was a little drama on my visit around the area today, one natural, one definitely unnatural....

At the north end of Jeremy Lane, around 200m of hedge has been taken out. The violation of this hedge which included reeds, says goodbye to wildlife and conservation. This act of vandalism poses the question....Why do the so called Guardians of the Countryside need to do this.

An approaching thunderstorm was building up from the south, it took three hours to reach Lancaster. 

As the storm passed through Lancaster, a rainbow appeared over the rooftops viewed from our rear bedroom.

Garden Hovers.

I've been seeing and enjoying some decent hoverflies in our garden recently, including this impressively named Episyrphus balteatus....

....and the Helophilus pendulus. Both on the beautiful Chicory flower. 

I'm grateful to two of our neighbours Muriel and James, for sending me the header image of the Small Copper. An excellent record for their garden recently given the worrying decline in numbers of our butterflies.

Hardly Exciting!

Harrisend Stonechat Records 2022.

24 March 6 birds, 2xpairs, female, male

29 April 6 birds, pair, 4xmale

21 June 3 birds, 2xmale, female

1 Sept  male and female, a pair?

Only my fourth visit to Harrisend this year - too much chasing dragonflies - produced just 2 Stonechat found at the top of the ridge, a male and probably a female as opposed to a juvenile too distant to ID. This was just about as disappointing as it could have been, because a) just four visits is a positively depressing number, b) I have had no hard evidence of breeding here this year, though I would suggest four pairs have done so.

During this visit to Harrisend, I was surrounded by hyrundines the entire time spent there, at least 100 birds at one point, the large majority were House Martins with Swallows in the air hawking. In the end, I reckon 1,000 hyrundines were over Harrisend during the 3 hours there. Up to 10 Meadow Pipit, and similar 10 Linnet. Butterflies seen, 3 Red Admiral, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, and a Small Copper.

I decided to call in at Birk Bank to check for dragonfly left-overs to find a Common Hawker - barely 2mm in total length smaller than the Emperor Dragonfly - patrolling the rear of the bog, also 4 Black Darter males, 2 Red Admiral, and a Small Copper.

Conder Update.

With much thanks to Howard Stockdale, it was a pleasure and most rewarding for me to receive some illustrated news from Conder Green. 

Avocet Conder Green. Howard Stockdale.

The last three of Avocet young fledged earlier this week, some of the birds on Conder Pool have been colour marked again this year.

Juvenile Common Tern Conder Pool. Howard Stockdale.

All the terns had departed the Lune Estuary by the time I got to visit last Tuesday 30 August, but it gave me great pleasure to see this colour marked bird on Conder Pool courtesy of Howard.

I'm expecting a good haul of Migrant Hawkers before September is out....Here's hoping!