Back To Bowland.

My first visit of the year to the Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge trail, came with something of a surprise and a shock thrown in for good measure, and by the time I had completed my 5 hour mini-marathon, I had counted 14 nest boxes which have been erected over the length of c.2 miles between Marshaw and beyond Trough Bridge. 

In my opinion 14 nest boxes is one thing, but some placed in locations like the one illustrated above in one of the many lay-by's along this stretch is another thing.

But I reminded myself that this is the kind of crap I photographed in this AONB which I'm almost certain to find again during the summer months....Here's hoping it isn't under a tree with a nest box nailed to it.  

I found 4 Pied Flycatcher, three male all singing around nest boxes, and a female. Eight Mistle Thrush, a surprisingly low count of only 6 Willow Warbler, at least 8 Siskin were moving restlessly through the tree examining the cones.

Breeding Mistle Thrush At Marshaw. Howard Stockdale.

With 16 Mistle Thrush seen in three visits to Bowland recently, this one with obvious evidence of breeding, I am getting the feeling they are doing well here this year. 

Common Sandpiper Marshaw Wyre. Howard Stockdale.

On the Marshaw Wyre, 4 Common Sandpiper were seen as two pairs, a Dipper flew upstream, and 4 Grey Wagtail.

There was no sign of any House Martin having returned to Tower Lodge as yet, but as I walked up the track from the lodge to the moors, a Cuckoo was heard along the treeline beyond the plantation. 

The days five star award goes to the Woodcock, stood quietly on the wall behind the lodge, giving me another chance in a million to follow Tuesdays thrush duo.

When I arrived back home, our first 3 Swift of the summer were over the house. Thanks to KT for this excellent record. I also have a report that a healthy number of Swift have arrived, with some around nest boxes at property in Fairfield thanks to a member of the Woodruff clan. 

Stonechat.

Stonechat Hawthornthwaite. Ian Mitchell.

Really pleased to have received some much appreciated Bowland records on 10 May....

Trough Bridge area, a pair and male Stonechat per Andrew Cornall

Hawthornthwaite Fell, 7 Stonechat per Simon Hawtin.

Thanks to Howard Stockdale for his images of Mistle Thrush and Common Sandpiper at Marshaw, and to Ian Mitchell for the Hawthornthwaite Stonechat.

The Birk Bank Circuit.

Tuesday was the anniversary when Steve Graham accompanied me on a circuit of Birk Bank in May 2023. Primarily the reason that day, was to locate a Wood Warbler which had been found a few days earlier in a private woodland. But the hopes of visually finding this locally rare warbler soon died a death, though we did here the distinctive call which is often likened to a spinning coin on a marble slab.

Todays circuit with Steve was a 4 hour experience of some excellent birding which produced 7 Garden Warbler, one up on last years tally of six. Also enjoyed was 5 Cuckoo records which were represented by two audible and three visual, one of which was a female heard to call, then viewed atop of a tree with a Meadow Pipit in attendance and mobbing at times. Six Mistle Thrush seen, including one in flight carrying food into Cragg Wood.

I reckon the odds against the sighting of a Song Thrush singing in the branch below a Mistle Thrush, is a million to one chance....Pump up the volume. Two singing Blackcap, Linnet, Greenfinch, and Redpoll over, and Kestrel.

Common Heath. Ian Mitchell.

To say butterflies and bees were sparse would be an understatement, with only singles of Orange Tip, Speckled Wood, and Small White, but the Common Heath moth was out in force.

I found my first Large Red Damselflies of the year, when a f. melanotum was basking on the boardwalk at Birk Bank bog, and at least 12 teneral drying out and warming up amongst the bilberries along the path and away from the bog....interesting.   

More Probable/Possible in Bowland!

Ring Ouzel Bowland. Ian Mitchell.

A bit of double checking in Bowland again this week, when amongst other things, I managed a trek half way up Hawthornthwaite Fell with scant reward, to assemble a bit more of a comprehensive list to exceed what is usually the norm for me.

The number of waders presumably there to breed was pitiful, with no more than six birds seen in 2 hours, 4 Lapwing, a single Curlew and an Oystercatcher. There was a build up of 6 Sand Martin around the bank on Catshaw Greave, and 8 Wheatear were seen, one of which was taking a wash and brush up in Cam Brook.

There was a better count of 18 Meadow Pipit compared to eight on my last visit 24 April, 2 Wren, a pair of Mistle Thrush were something of a surprise, 3 Red Grouse, male Reed Bunting, and a Wood Pigeon, 2 Kestrel and a Buzzard. I saw just one male Stonechat, almost certainly one of the two 24 April birds, and I never really expect my first House Martin of the year was going to be seen flying east over a fell in Bowland. 

Grey Wagtail Bowland. Howard Stockdale.

A Grey Wagtail on Cam Brook, and at Cam Brow I heard a Cuckoo to the east which soon flew over the road to the woodlands west of here, also a Willow Warbler in song, and a Red Admiral.

Dipper Bowland. Martin Jump.

Calling in at Abbeystead, a Dipper was seen flying upstream on the Marshaw Wyre, and 2 Orange Tip butterflies seen. But the excellent news is, that I gathered more evidence to add to my previous claim which now reads, the probability of 5 Pied Flycatcher breeding pairs. 

A brief look in on the bog at Birk Bank hopefully for a Large Red Damselfly was fruitless despite the warm sunny May day, but a single Green Hairstreak and a small colony of Ashy Mining Bee were of note. A Cuckoo heard distant was probably around the Ottergear Bridge area.

My take on these two Ashy Mining Bees, is that they were a mating pair until the male dislodged!....Other theories welcome.

I'm grateful to Ian, Howard, and Martin, who by coincidence sent me images on the same day, and all taken in Bowland....They are much appreciated.