B'dale....Part 3.

On a third visit to Barbondale, I found an excellent 10 Pied Flycatcher, it also gave me my first Spotted Flycatcher here which I saw from the gate into the plantation where I stood for several minutes to also see, 4 of the 10 Pied Flycatcher seen on the day, one of 4 Redstart, a Nuthatch, and heard the Garden Warbler singing again. 

Willow Warbler. Cliff Raby @ Fylde Coast Wildlife 

Singing Willow Warblers were resounding through the woods, 3 Dunnock were in pursuit zipping through the trees, a male Great-spotted Woodpecker seen, and a Dipper on Barbon Beck over which was a lone Swallow, notably seen as the only one on the visit, 2 Meadow Pipit, a singing Reed Bunting, Buzzard and kestrel. With the exception of a few Large White, a Small Heath was my first this year, and the only other butterfly seen....Thanks for the Willow Warbler Cliff.

Bull Beck.

Broad-bodied Chaser. Warren Baker.

I called in at Bull Beck on the way back to Lancaster. Along the path through the trees to the river, 2 Garden Warbler, and 2 Blackcap. I found a lone Little Ringed Plover on the shingle bank, with 55 Lesser Black-backed Gull loafing further upstream, a healthy looking uncounted colony of Sand Martin, and a Broad-bodied Chaser patrolling a shallow stagnant pool which it had to itself, with no competition to chase off.    

Missing.

Birds missing from my records at Barbondale include, Common Sandpiper not seen here for up to 10 years when I previously saw them breeding here, Whinchat not seen since 2015, no Wheatear, and no Stonechat.

Many thanks to Paul Foster for his Serin header.

Butterflies And Birds.

A nice day Thursday on which I decided to have a look for butterflies in Witherslack Wood.

Speckled Wood/Ringlet. Pete Woodruff. 

Though I took on no counting in a couple of hours in the wood, the highest was the Speckled Wood of which I probably saw up to forty. It was good to find the Ringlet followed with the next best number and I saw at least twenty of these with just one Small Skipper seen. 

But best of the day had to be a High Brown Fritillary which was an obliging individual allowing me to get to grips with the underwing to note a row of brown spots between the outer margin and the silver spangles which are missing in the Dark Green Fritillary. These two butterflies are difficult to tell apart void of good views of the underwing, so I can only suppose another ten seen in flight or distant were the same species, one thing for sure, none of them was a Silver-washed Fritillary as I found not a single one as a big disappointment. 

I get the impression this woodland is not noted for it's birdlife, but I heard a singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff, a Great-spotted Woodpecker seen flying away from me, and a Wren.

Whilst in the area I had earlier called in at Foulshaw Moss to see the Osprey, but to be honest should'nt have bothered as the haze had turned what I could see into a couple of shimmering anythings a mile away. The nest site give-away is the two huge webcams set up to give brilliant images on the internet, but I ended up much more impressed by the views of 2 distant Stonechat than I was of the Osprey.

Unable to resist I drove back to Conder Green and had to go to the west end of Conder Pool to see an adult and two young Common Tern at the back side of the island. I found just 6 Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank in the creeks, and noted 2 Greenfinch by the viewing platform. 

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock I saw 27 Black-tailed Godwit, these birds are really stunning in full breeding plumage, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 8 Little Egret were my only other notes here.

Saturday 11 July.   

I'm informed of one of the young Conder Common Terns airborne in the early afternoon yesterday. I had seen this bird having a wing flapping exercise on Wednesday and had thoughts at the time that the bird might fledge before the week was out, presumably the advanced eldest of the three....Thanks for the text Andrew.  

Thanks to Simon Hawtin for the excellent Swallows header.

Buzzin Up Clougha.

Another decent day weatherwise on Wednesday got me buzzing, and although the Lune Estuary magnet had a strong pull on me again, in the end Clougha was the winner and off I went. 

I managed a 26 species count in the six hours I was away from the motor. Though it was upland birding I can't say that's a good count, never the area to 'get a bag full', though that's a pretty sick pun.

Stonechat Marc Heath  

Hard to believe I've not been on Clougha since 20 June 2014, but good news on Wednesday was of 5 Stonechat found, seen as two pair and a lone male, so possibilities of three pair here in the last week of March with hopefully more to come. Also of note, a Great-spotted Woodpecker was in the car park, and 4 Jay were in the area of the bog. Also seen before I reached the moor, 5 Robin, 3 Wren, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 2 Great Tit, and a Song Thrush.

Red Grouse. Pete Woodruff.    

At least 16 Red Grouse seen, including the one pictured which was the most confiding one I ever saw, a couple more paces closer and I could have grabbed the bird. Although hard to come by yet on the coast, 3 Wheatear were at least 400m up on Clougha Pike, two seen as a pair with the male chasing the female around, and 16 Meadow Pipit noted. Not a single raptor seen in the entire six hours.

Birk Bank.

Land Management. Pete Woodruff.

This is what I found Birk Bank looking like on Wednesday....a wasteland burnt to the ground by the 'Guardians of the Countryside'.

When Clougha/Birk Bank was in its prime as a stronghold for the Lancashire Stonechat just a few years ago, and I surveyed the area in the images above, I walked through shoulder height bracken and other suitable ground nesting bird habitat. 

Please 'clik the pik' and see the bigger picture of the damage these people do to the uplands in our area and beyond. They can legally continue to do this until 31 March - and into mid-April in some cases - which is beyond the first egg laying date for the Stonechat, a past nest record of which had eggs in it on 13 March. 

If it's wildlife you're looking for - and in particular the Stonechat - you can delete Birk Bank from your list....I've deleted it from mine.

Bowland'ing.

Yet another compromise was needed again on Friday in the Woodruff household. As there was to be absolutely nothing on this earth that was going to get in the way of my planned birding in Bowland. But a request was put to me for the use of the motor, it was either yes....but you have to take me to Marshaw and collect me at 5.00pm to come home, or no....I'm off to do some serious birding today, you'll have to have the motor some other time....the former offer was accepted and away we went.

Spotted Flycatcher Country. Pete Woodruff.

A most enjoyable seven hour birding wander, with some considerable legwork, standing around staring at and looking into trees, and checking the Marshaw Wyre in the Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge area which ended with 27 species found.

Dipper Martin Jump

I was pleased to find 5 Spotted Flycatcher, including a young bird being fed around the area of the nest I found 13 June. Good counts of 11 Mistle Thrush, 9 Grey Wagtail, 7 Nuthatch, 5 Treecreeper, 4 Kestrel, and a Great-spotted Woodpecker. Young birds were represented by a Goldcrest and 3 Coal Tit. I saw just 2 Willow Warbler, and it took me 4.5 hours to find 2 Dipper on the Marshaw Wyre. Six Red Grouse were on the moor edge above Trough Bridge. 

I was back at my transport pick-up point by the cattle grid near Marshaw Farm where there appears to be a decent House Martin colony. But the plan was to give the east side of Hawthornthwaite a couple of hours which turned out to be a good idea as it actually rewarded me with a Grand Finale.

Stonechat Ana Minguez  

Having counted at least 20 Meadow Pipit and 7 Red Grouse up to arriving at the shooting lodge where my day was well made up by the sight of a pair of Stonechat and at least five young.

Butterflies seen on the day were, 3 Meadow Brown and 2 Small Heath....where are all the butterflies. A Golden-ringed Dragonfly was the only dragonfly seen.

Redstarts and Stonechats.

Of note, I found no Redstart again as I hadn't on 13 June. Other than a Fylde birder who has seen them here, I don't recall seeing any other reports of Redstart in this area this year.

I recorded today's Stonechats on Hawthornthwaite as 'at least five young'. I never succeeded with an accurate count, the birds were very mobile, never seen together, and often disappeared from view. Though the majority of clutch size is five, there was a distinct possibility of a family party of eight here today.

Clutches of seven are extremely rare in Stonechats, but interestingly a female holds the record in England and possibly Europe, when she laid a collective total of 19 eggs in one breeding season in 1994 with clutches of 6/7/6, all three nests were successful. 

Thanks to Martin for the young dipper being fed by the parent bird, and to Ana for the male and female Stonechats....Excellent and much appreciated.