An Interesting Trawl.

A very interesting visit to Bowland and the birds of Marshaw - Tower Lodge - Trough Bridge.

My sightings for the day started with a Siskin I found drinking in the Marshaw Wyre by the plantation at Marshaw, from where I saw a pair of Lesser Redpoll and a few Sand Martin of which just one individual was seen to enter a nest hole in the bank upstream from the green bridge.

Birds seen on or around the length of the Marshaw Wyre, where my main interest was with sightings of 3 Dipper at three locations, one of which I reckon had a nest nearby, and was behaving with a small fish like it was food for young. I counted 6 Grey Wagtail with no evidence of breeding or young, also 5 Common Sandpiper with young hopefully to be seen in the coming weeks.

Three pair of Pied Flycatcher are occupying three nest boxes. This male was singing around the box, which I was able to stalk to close range with trees for cover....Pity about the wind pollution in the footage, the bird was singing nicely.

It took four hours for me to find Spotted Flycatcher, two were seen as a pair which eventually took off to see two other birds off which I strongly suspected to be two more flycatchers. If they were, there are only 4 Spotted Flycatcher here this year.

The supporting cast was, 4 Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush, Long Tailed Tit, and 3 Dunnock. A clattering of 38 Jackdaw flew west, and 10 Willow Warbler were mostly heard, though one gave excellent close views, and in a short watch at Tower Lodge, I saw just one House Martin which eventually entered a nest. 

A Curlew gained maximum height at the top of a dead tree to advertise its territory....Don't recall ever hearing this call by the Curlew.

Banded Demoiselle.

Banded Demoiselle Garstang 27 May. Pete Woodruff.

A saunter along the Lancaster Canal and River Wyre at Garstang, resulted in finding 6 Banded Demoiselle. 

Ian Mitchell sent me an interesting image of a Large Red Damselfly at rest on an exuvia. Along with some comments from an expert, and given it was seen on an acidic bog, I'm suggesting this is the larva case of a Four Spotted Chaser.

Ian struggled to get this image of a Little Emerald being uncooperative amongst the Bilberry. There was an emergence of this moth, of which I also saw c.12 on my last visit to Birk Bank 22 May.

Edit.

Worthy of the edit, this Painted Lady was on Sandylands at Morecambe this afternoon. A rapid flier and strong migrant, they are expected to arrive in Britain in June, this is my first in May.....Make my day!

Plan A The Pool....Plan B The Bog!

A little keen for some closer detail whilst checking Conder Pool on Monday, then switching to Plan B for a visit to Birk Bank to see if there was any odonata on offer....All of this whilst giving the new camera a test run. 

Avocet.

All alone and living a life of danger for a while yet

I made a count of at least 14 adult and 6 young, and also spotted the yellow flag 63 bird, which I saw later sitting on the near island to the right of the viewing platform.

Common Tern.

Common Tern Conder Pool 22 May

Fourteen seen, including a pair copulating, also four sitting including the colour ringed bird, which I would guess is a female as it is generally regarded to be the female that incubates, also one bird bearing a metal ring on its right leg.

Little Ringed Plover.

Three seen, with one sitting and shooting off the nest at one point to see off a Black-headed Gull.

Mediterranean Gull Conder Pool 22 May

Also on Conder Pool, a 1st summer Mediterranean Gull, a Common Sandpiper, a pair of Redshank which may be breeding here, and a lone Tree Sparrow in the hedge. In the creeks, 42 Black-tailed Godwit of note, they were accompanied by 2 Dunlin. On the circuit, a Whitethroat was my first this year, 2 Swift were over, and up to 8 House Martin were around River Winds with one seen to enter under the eaves.

Large Red Damselfly. Pete Woodruff.

Having spent an enjoyable 3 hours at Conder Green, instead of the planned Cockersand visit, I decided to switch to Plan B and paid a visit to Birk Bank to find 18 Large Red Damselfly including 6 paired. Just up the track from the boardwalk over the bog, I found a Garden Warbler, and saw 3 Raven and a Kestrel in the air over lower Clougha.

Bull Beck.

Last Saturday, 4 Garden Warbler, a singing male Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler heard, and on the River Lune here, 4 Common Sandpiper were seen.

There was a serious case of disturbance here, when I saw a family group of eight pitched up and picnicking above the bank of the river where a strong colony of birds breed here annually. I estimated up to 100 Sand Martin were constantly on the wing in the hour I sent here, not to mention the length of time these people stayed....I have since appropriately reported my concerns about this incident.

As ever, I am grateful to Ian Mitchell for his image of the Common Tern on Conder Pool with the offering of a fish for its mate. 

All About The Wood Warbler.

Recently privy to some excellent news about a bird in a Bowland woodland, I went off post - haste to see. The only down side of this little tale was, restricted by privacy I failed to see the bird, but did enjoy hearing it singing its highly distinctive and accelerating sharp notes ending with a pulsating trill sounding like a spinning coin on a marble slab....Magic!

This is quite amazing stuff, here we have history repeating itself for me, as it was in this very same woodland that I found a Wood Warbler 27 years ago on 1 May 1996 in the company of my mentor John Leedal. In fact it was on this first sighting that I had good reason to suspect there were two birds here, a suspicion confirmed on 14 June, when I was fortunate to see young being fed at the nest on the ground.

But this brilliant record didn't end here, the species returned to this woodland for four consecutive years....10 May 1997 - 3 May 1998 - 16 May 1999 and 21 May 2000....Then history repeated itself here 23 years later on 3 May 2023, albeit briefly as I'm reliably informed the bird has not been seen since.

Whilst searching for these records I dug up my Wood Warbler sightings at 16 locations, including 2 birds at two sites at Botton 31 May 1997, 2 birds at Ellterwater 26 June 1999, and 4 birds at Bolton Abbey 29 May 2000. 

The status of the Wood Warbler in our area doesn't go beyond an uncommon and decreasing migrant breeder, with no breeding records published. A search through 10 years of records to 2021, shows a sample of the all time scarcity - now verging on rarity - of this stunning phylloscopus.

2015 Only four records of the species. 

2017 Three records.

2018 Three records.

2019 Just two records, a passage migrant at Heysham, one Tower Lodge 16 May.

2020 Two migrants and one upland record.

2021 Two migrants and one bird in woodland at Lowgill.

Thanks to Paul Ellis for his excellent image of a Wood Warbler at Fluke Hall in late April 2022.

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Conder Pool.

Many Thanks to Ian Mitchell who achieved some excellent images from Conder Pool on Friday. 

So far so good for these two Avocet youngsters....

And this pair of Common Tern behaving with an intention to breed.

Good Day In Bowland.

In the good company of Martin Jump, we had an interesting day in Bowland with a little learning and some discoveries to boot.

A walk along the path by the 1/4 mile long plantation strip at Catshaw, produced up to 8 Willow Warbler, 4 Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush, Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Robin, Kestrel, and a Coal Tit probably nesting in a wall cavity. As I drove away from here, a Wheatear flew across my path.

On Hawthornthwaite, Saturdays 5 Stonechat seen again, with further proof of breeding when a female was seen carrying food. Two Raven overhead were mobbed by a Curlew, of which three pairs are probable breeders here. Conversely, I've seen not a single Lapwing here in two recent visits. A Ring Ouzel frustrated by being heard in song but not located when falling silent. Martin succeeded in collecting numbers from the Sand Martin colony, and came up with 34 nest holes - not all occupied - and c.12 birds in flight.

We called at Marshaw for Martin to check out some breeding Dipper he is monitoring. The visit resulted in finding the first and never recorded Coal Tit breeding in a nest box, even more intriguing was a male Pied Flycatcher on an adjacent branch, looking as confused as I was, it had earlier been singing. Also noted here, a Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and 2 Treecreeper.

All in all, an interesting day.

Conder Pool.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the update and the quartet of images of 'beauties' on Conder Pool, two of which are....

Common Tern On The New Raft Conder Pool 17 May. Howard Stockdale.

1st summer Mediterranean Gull/1st Summer Common Gull Conder Pool 17 May. Howard Stockdale.

I'm also grateful to Ian Mitchell for his image of the colour ringed Common Tern having returned to Conder Pool for its 3rd year.

Common Tern Conder Pool. Ian Mitchell.

Lost And Found.

The title not quite appropriate, but if you do decide to read on I think you'll get the gist of it.

My first visit to Harrisend since 7 April, needed a little determination to find 5 Stonechat, which means my records read 'a probable 3 breeding pairs on Harrisend 13 May'. Just 9 Meadow Pipit seen, compared to at least 34 on Harrisend 29 April last year, puts the species in my 'lost' section of the title.

Lesser Redpoll. Pete Woodruff.

The rubbish pik - my Sony camera died recently - was overtaken by the excitement of an opportunity for a grab shot of one of the 3 Redpoll seen. Also in the low number category was 4 Willow Warbler, with 2 Wren, a Reed Bunting, and a Raven overhead. A few Large White and a lone Peacock were the only butterflies seen. Also noted, a Red-tailed Bumblebee, and at Grisedale Bridge, I found 2 Stonechat female, and heard a Cuckoo in the area around Nicky Nook, annual here.

On Hawthornthwaite, I made a count of 5 Stonechat, this means another 'probable 3 breeding pairs' in my records. I made a count of 12 Meadow Pipit which seemed to correspond better than Harrisend with last year count of 10 seen on 29 April. Two Wheatear seen, and a Kestrel was in the centre between 2 Buzzard all hovering in a line above the ridge within a few metres of each other. A Cuckoo called, heard around the plantation to the west.

Sand Martin Cam Brow. Howard Stockdale.

I have to note, whilst the Sand Martin colony continue to thrive around the brook on Hawthornthwaite. With thanks to Howard Stockdale who reported 30 Sand Martin to me recently, I have doubts about the success of any at the bank on Cam Brook. Despite the notice 'Sand Martins breeding here' a family with two car loads of ten were enjoying their picnic at the site, including paddling in the stream, whilst the adults enjoyed the delights of throwing stones into the brook below the bank....Nice!!  

Local News.

In Lancaster Cemetery, a Bullfinch pair seen on Monday 1 May. This is the first breeding season record for the little black book here. Also as last year, the breeding Nuthatch found in the cemetery Cypress again, must keep tabs on these two records, in particular the Bullfinch.

I don't feel at liberty for too much detail, but the Avocet on Conder Pool have lift off for the breeding season, with chicks having put in a appearance. The Common Tern are looking determined for their ninth year, with a pair having taken a liking to the new raft, and one colour ringed bird returning to the pool for its third year.

The issue around the eradication of the Hen Harrier aside. For an insight to the kind of cruelty inflicted on our wildlife, I would urge you to....PLEASE READ THIS 

Fill Your Boots!

Rigg Lane - Littledale Road - Birk Bank - Rigg Lane.

A good day for a wander on the circuit. I was looking forward to the visit, and would have been even more so had I have know what was in store.

In little more than one hour, and having walked just 1.5 miles I clocked up 6 Garden Warbler, four being along Rigg Lane, the other two either side of the track by Cragg Wood and Cragg Cottage. When I arrived back at the car park on Rigg Lane, one was singing in sixth gear as I enjoyed a butty and a cuppa. Well, what more could a birder wish for, lunch and serenaded by a Garden Warbler....Don't look for it in the video, 'cos it ain't in there.

A Blackbird with two young on Littledale Road was excellent, 3 Stonechat were along the track towards Ottergear Bridge, seen as a pair and a female seen after crossing the bridge. A Cuckoo, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler all heard, and a Song Thrush in the car park.

Butterflies seen were only just into double figures, the best of which was 3 Green Hairstreak, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Green-veined White, Large White and Orange Tip.

Oak Eggar Caterpillar. Pete Woodruff. 

The Oak Egger caterpillar found, will hopefully become one of our largest and fastest-flying moths....but not if the Cuckoo finds it first. 

Bees noted, Red-tailed Bumblebee, White-tailed Bumblebee, and a Common Carder-Bee. From the path towards the bog, 3 Large Red Damselfly appeared to be freshly emerged, and were my first of the year.

Conder Pool.

Uncounted, but probably a double figure number of Avocet with some sitting. I saw just one Common Tern and Common Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover sitting, 2 Greenshank, best bird was a 1st summer Little Gull in and patrolling the creeks.

Cockersand.

I reckon the Lapwing are having the best breeding season ever at Cockersand, with no farming activity seen for several weeks to my knowledge, and not a tractor in sight. With little effort on my part, in just a couple of fields I saw at least 20 chicks and probably missed seeing double that figure. Pick of the rest was, 6 Wheatear, 3 Sedge Warbler, and a pair of Reed Bunting.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for the header image of the brilliant Little Gull.

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I appreciate being given the news of a male Ring Ouzel seen in Bowland yesterday, also 3 Stonechat and a 'few' Green Hairstreak. Another piece of info I found on the Butterfly Conservation Lancashire Branch Sightings, was of 5 Dingy Skipper on the top of Birk Bank on Tuesday 2 May....Interesting!