Red-breasted Goose.

Red-breasted Goose. Copyright Granted. 

A Red-breasted Goose (RBG) is back in the Pilling area and showing well again today having been around and moved about quite a bit since it was first found at Martin Mere on 14 October 2010.

The RBG has a rather restricted distribution, principally close to the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia, and winters in the S.Caspian and Black Seas having recently expanded into Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece. In 1994 there was a remarkable count of 75,000 in Bulgaria.

It is a popular ornamental wildfowl and birds seen in Britain nearly always carry with them a doubt of origin. However, young birds in autumn along the east and south coasts of Britain in company with Dark-bellied Brent Geese are believed to be more likely wild. As is the case with the bird currently within our area they are often found in the company of Pink-footed Geese, though whether they arrive with the PFG can never be clear.

The first accepted records of RBG in Britain goes back into the distant 1776 when a bird was found near London, with another later in the same year at Cleveland in Yorkshire, this latter bird was actually kept on a small pond with Mallards and survived there until it died nine years later in 1785.

Up to the late 1960's RBG records in Britain were traditionally associated with Russian White-fronted Geese, but an upsurge since 1975 has coincided with the tendency to occur with Dark-bellied Brent Geese which themselves had increased in number in Britain between the mid-1960's and early 1990's.

It's all very tragic when you hear that numbers of RBG in the early 1970's had declined to 25,000 due to disturbance and hunting as was the decline also of the Peregrine Falcon near to which the RBG nested as a form of protection. However, as with the Dark-bellied Brent Goose the Red-breasted Goose has enjoyed an increase in recent years. And finally.... 

Yesterday whilst driving back from the Lakes I spotted  - whilst traveling at 60mph - a number of birds at the top of a tree....'I think I've just seen something interesting at the top of a tree, says me to KT'....I did a u-turn as soon as I safely could and my ID skills at 60mph were rewarded by excellent views of 14 Waxwings....great stuff!  

Wait until I get back!



A slim chance of a couple of hours birding for me tomorrow. Meanwhile until I get back, take a look at Falling from the sky an amazing - if sad - phenomenon about the mysterious demise of Blackbirds in the US on New Years Eve.

And....

Stonechat. John Bateman.

Yes....it's another Stonechat photograph, this one of the smart little creature seen last Friday and all the proof needed to show a bird having survived the return of the ice age to the UK. Thanks for the pic John, a nice reminder of seeing this 'Bird of the day' at Cockersands every time I look at it.

Surprise, Surprise!

Stonechat. David Cookson

On just about every birding day I've had over the years there's always been a surprise ranging from small to huge and I suppose the one to take me out of 2010 was the Stonechat I found at Conder Green on 29 December, a bird I didn't ever expect to see - following the harsh weather of the previous weeks - before March this year when the passage of this species begins.

Blackbird. Pete Woodruff. 

Another record which surprised me a little towards the end of 2010 was the 'at least' 90 Blackbirds counted on a coastal birding walk on 17 December.

Whooper Swans. David Cookson

Well I've only got two birding days in so far this New Year of 2011 but it was welcomed in on Tuesday 4 January by the amazing sight of what had started with just seven Whooper Swans in a stubble field on Fluke Hall Lane in the Pilling area with a nice flood at the back for the birds, and which - in the space of about fifteen minutes I spent there- developed into 282 of them all coming over my head from the south and sounding like every single one of them 'trumpeting' as they came to join the initial seven, amazing....magical....and memorable.

Twite. Phil Slade.

A sighting picked out at random from 11 April 2005 which surprised me greatly was the two Twite I found just north of Loyne Bridge at Gressingham. This record was a rare inland sighting for me, but I had seen inland Twite one summers day a few years earlier with my good friend and mentor John Leedal in the area of Pen-y-Ghent in the Yorkshire Dales. By way of a bonus one of the Lune Valley birds was ringed and information passed to the ringers/experts in the field of Twite confirmed it to have been a Pennine bred bird, one of thirty two ringed two years earlier in July 2003 at Cant Clough. 

And finally....

Bewick's Swan. Colin Bushell

Another of those kind of photographs I find hard to resist seeing and showing on Birds2blog, the Bewick's Swan at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. Just take a close look at the plumage of this bird....snow white and contrasting with the extreme black of the Coots - and isn't that a Moorhen facing the swan? - in the picture, and ponder where it may well have been during the summer/breeding season in Siberia.

Thanks to DC/PS/CB for the photographs.

Birding Notes.

I have decide to 'pass' on my records for today and leave them to JB who has posted them on the LDBWS website. As always his records will far exceed mine in their comprehensiveness whilst I take time to make some notes on the four hour event.

Nothing which follows is to be seen as ungrateful or critical just some truthfulness and an opinion, but I must say today's birding - which got off the ground at 10.00am and ended four hours later at around 2.00pm - was a little 'scrappy' to say the least, add to that the fact we lingered nowhere and you end up with a disappointing few hours birding.

If I'm really honest I think BT was working to a timetable today which I - nor JB as far as I know - knew anything about. To start with we did the days birding in reverse of the norm and started at the feeding station on Bradshaw Lane. Now whilst taking in a feeding station on a days birding may not be 'My Kind Of Birdwatching' I do think these stations are almost essential to the welfare of the birds, even more so given the recent severe weather we have had recently in the UK when undoubtedly many will have perished through the cold and starvation. I also hold those who maintain these areas in high regard and with admiration. From here we went to Fluke Hall where we lingered little, nor did we at Pilling Lane Ends to view Pilling Marsh for no more than five minutes.

 We then drove to Cockersands where I must record my bird of the day as a female Stonechat, being one of three  - Conder Green/Fluke Hall/Cockersands - I'm aware of in our entire recording area. OK, if I overlooked - or don't know about - some of this winters Stonechat records that you know about I'd love to hear about them. We had our 'butties and cuppa' here, followed by a short drive to spend five minutes on Bodie Hill, another five at Glasson Dock and Conder Green.

Chaffinch. Phil Slade

Another couple of notes from today was at least 100 Chaffinch on Gulf Lane. I can't recall the last time I saw a hundred Chaffinch in one flock.

Linnet. Phil Slade  

The other note is about the set-aside at Cockersands which still holds up to 90 Linnet and which prompts me once again to comment on the value of this small area which has obviously attracted these birds to stay at this food source of winter seed and most certainly helped them against the threats of starvation....would it be asking too much for more set-asides in the countryside for the benefit of our birds.

We were home again by 2.10pm, I was a little disappointed about the half day....perhaps I'm becoming hard to please! 

Red-necked Grebe.

Grebes. A. Thorburn.



An illustration of five grebe species by Archibald Thorburn, regarded by many as the best natural history artist of the 19th century and in particular of birds. The picture shows clockwise from the top right, Black-necked, Great-crested, Little, Slavonian, and Red-necked Grebes.

A Red-necked Grebe (RNG) was found on Fairhaven Lake, Lytham St Annes on Tuesday and remains there today though the species is generally a 'short stay' bird and this one may soon move off. However, there are exceptions to the short stay records, some are of birds staying more than two weeks and the most interesting one from a local perspective is the bird which lingered for sixteen days at Leighton Moss in 1979.

The RNG is essentially a winter visitor to the UK, but small numbers have been recorded in the past during the summer and breeding has been recorded on more than one occasion. The European population winters mainly off the coasts of the Baltic and North Seas though little is known about the species mainly attributed to the poor number of ringing and recovery data.   

There are other interesting past 'local' records, one of a RNG on the Lune Estuary in January 1955 - long before I ever considered any interest at all in birds - and since this particular record there have been others involving about ninety individuals including two together at Skerton Weir in Lancaster in 1979 when a cold weather influx was apparent. The RNG is by no means an annual occurrence in Lancashire - a scarce winter visitor - and there have been many 'blank years' in the record books.

Of all the grebes the RNG is the least likely to be found inland though there are of course some records to contradict this claim including some more up to date ones, but a period between 1985-89 was unusual in that out of twenty four birds recorded in Lancashire during this time, fourteen occurred far inland.

As will be gathered I've had no birding again since Tuesday....too much to do with too little time to do it in.... but hopefully a 'Trip To The Local' with JB/BT is on the cards for tomorrow Friday....fingers - and everything else - crossed.

Struggled again today....

....but ended with a nice record.

OK, so probably the worst photograph of Whooper Swans I'm ever likely to post, but visitors to Birds2blog have come to accept this....haven't you?

I pulled up opposite seven birds in the stubble field on Fluke Hall Lane this afternoon and lingered here for no more than fifteen minutes by which time I'd watched the number reach 282 Whooper Swans - pictured above - as they flew in from the south over my head in various group numbers to join the initial seven....amazing stuff! 

Not exactly brimming over with enthusiasm on a dark cold day I didn't get to Conder Green until 11 o'clock by which time the tide was almost at its height leaving most of the area under water, but undeterred I did the circuit to at least find the Common Sandpiper, 4 Little Grebe, and a Grey Plover. From the coastal path I noted just 2 Fieldfare and 2 Reed Bunting. Some distance inland from here I saw briefly what I 'took to have been'  a Buzzard. Surprisingly Conder Pool remains frozen over as does the canal basin at Glasson Dock where I noted 12 Pochard only two of which were female, also a Goldeneye. On Jeremy Lane c.150 Pink-footed Geese.

Pilling Marsh was deserted as far as viewable birds were concerned but I saw a Little Egret and noted - void of anything like a serious count - up to a three figure number of Shelduck. At Fluke Hall I did a short walk west along the embankment to estimate and grill c.3,5000 Pink-footed Geese on Preesall Sands. Also noted in the area just 2 Tree Sparrows - surely more around close by - a Reed Bunting and Wren, also at least 250 Jackdaws and a similar number of Wood Pigeon.

And finally.... 

Red-necked Grebe. SP.

A nice bird - the Red-necked Grebe - found today on Fairhaven Lake at Lytham St Annes. A scarce winter visitor in Lancashire but one was at Brockholes Wetland in May 2009 in immaculate full summer plumage. Thanks for the pic SP....thats 'Starting Price' with the bookmakers! 

Chinese Crested Tern.

Chinese Crested Tern. Craig Robson

This photograph is confirmation of the first wintering Chinese Crested Tern (CCT) for 70 years. The bird was seen in Pulau Lusaolate, Indonesia and represents the first record of the species outside the breeding season for over 70 years. The CCT was first discovered in 1861 and was largely presumed extinct until in 2000 when four adults and four chicks were found amongst a colony of other tern species on Matsu Island off the Fujian coast in China. Four years later it was discovered breeding on the Jiushan Islands and at present these islands along with the Wuzhishan Islands in Zhejiang province are the only known breeding sites of the CCT in the world.

Whilst leading a bird tour Craig Robson soon found a small group of roosting Greater Crested Terns amongst which he at first thought had been a Lesser Crested Tern, however, on checking through is telescope he immediately realised that he was perhaps looking at the first ever winter sighting of a CCT. A quick series of photographs clinched the ID of this amazing discovery.

The suggestion is that the record begs the question of how many more may be wintering in this region and further encourages birders to survey wintering groups of Greater Crested Terns around the islands in the Seram Sea and perhaps even further south in the Banda Sea.

The population of the CCT is estimated at little more than 50 and is China's most threatened bird and Critically Endangered, it is in fact much rarer than the Giant Panda, its greatest threat is by the fishermen who collect the eggs for food - a fact I personally find more than a little hard to believe in the 21st century - which continues despite the breeding sites being within protected areas. The CCT is one of the species benefiting from the 'Birdlife Preventing Endangered Species Programme'.

All this a long way removed from Conder Green perhaps but an excellent tale of discovery. 

And finally....

Whooper Swans. John Bateman.

An excellent photograph of the two adults with a juvenile on Moss Lane last Friday when JB enjoyed his first days birding with me in a month. A good shot of the bird exercising its wings John with my thanks.

Survival of the fittest.

If you've been following Birds2blog you'll know very well these photographs are - in my view - unique and it is hard to believe they depict a Stonechat engaged in the act of a fight for survival, it was eventually established it was catching and feeding on Common Backswimmer notonecta glauca a type of water boatman, so called because of its habit of swimming upside down.

This one is even harder to believe, it is the same Stonechat well on the way to submerging itself in water. As can be seen this individual is 'fishing' through an ice-hole as an ultimate act in order it may survive until its main diet of insects and other small invertebrates becomes available after the thaw which eventually follows such harsh weather conditions though not soon enough for many birds and other wildlife, take a look at 'Sad end for a film star' in the photo section on the LDBWS website for an example of just one bird which sadly didn't make it.

Over the years I've discovered a mass of interesting and often intriguing facts about one of our most complex bird species which is the Stonechat and whilst concentrating on the birds diet during the recent harsh weather the UK has experienced I am reminded of one or two of the more interesting facts about the species.

Even in the more average winter months the Stonechats choice of invertebrate is restricted, but in the harsh weather of late the birds food is - where available - supplemented by seeds and a variety of small fruits/berries. During observations the Stonechat has been seen to 'hammer' snails on a stone in winter, and on another occasion - during a week long freeze with snow cover in 2000 - to take hibernating caterpillars from the base of grass clumps.

Other interesting studies of feeding habits further afield and not related to weather conditions have shown two male European Stonechats in Israel which preyed together on a Scorpion measuring between 16-17mm which is at least 10mm above the average size of prey, on one occasion the Scorpion was seized and thrown against a stone by one of the birds which then retrieved it and repeated the process, it was eventually eaten by both birds though not including the claw.

In finding a Stonechat on Wednesday 29 December at Conder Green I was prompted to post this brief article. Initially I was quite amazed to find this bird and had been thinking of a date in March to be the first chance I'd have of finding one on passage. But my amazement was a little subdued when I gave myself the time to realise how complex,resilient, and adaptable the Stonechat really is.

Birds....they amaze me in a thousand ways!

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for these amazing images which - along with some accompanying text - were quite rightly published in an issue of British Birds

The hat-trick.

I scored a hat-trick today, my third day in a row with a pleasant days birding with JB/BT to end a pleasant years birding as is always the case....what would I be without my birding!

Barnacle Geese. John James Audubon.

We first paid a brief visit to Freeman's Pools where a Roe Deer was soon seen, ears pricked and the staring eyes of a creature which hears and sees things a mile away. As noted in my post yesterday the pools remain frozen and deserted. On Aldcliffe Marsh 12 Barnacle Geese seen again with the c.650 Greylag I should have been able to see yesterday but could'nt, along with today's uncounted Canada Geese and surprisingly just 4 Pink-footed Geese.

At Conder Green it was good to find the Spotted Redshank not seen since the big freeze, 5 Little Grebe were all I noted here today which prompts me to point out, if you really need to see a fully comprehensive list of today's sightings then all you need to do is visit HERE to see JB's list, always remembering JB doesn't see all that I see, and I don't see all that JB sees and therefore our records don't fully tally.

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary c.400 Bar-tailed Godwit were the only birds of note at a pretty void section of the river. On Jeremy Lane, 3 Whooper Swans including a juvenile. On Moss Lane, at least 350 Common Gull were of note. At Cockersands, c.90 Linnet still at/on the set-aside, 5 Black-tailed Godwit and a solitary Grey Plover posed the question....where are all the waders? 

Grey Partridge. Mike Watson

Thanks for the photograph Mike....On Gulf Lane it's always good to see Grey Partridge anywhere as we did here today in two coveys of eight and five. Pilling Marsh produced 3 Little Egrets - the first in many a days birding recently - with just c.120 Pink-footed Geese, and a smart little Merlin distant and looking not much bigger than a Mistle Thrush. At Fluke Hall c.6,500 Pink-footed Geese at close quarters allowed some detailed scrutiny.

BT's car seems to go into auto pilot from here every week and takes us to the feeding station on Bradshaw Lane where - whilst I tried to get to grips with a distant 'dark' raptor and failed to - JB recorded 8 Corn Bunting, 6 Yellowhammer, 30 Tree Sparrows and a Buzzard.

It was good to be out again with JB who surprised me to say it had been a month since he was last out with me....t'will soon be Easter John, and soon after that the summer with endless places to go to and endless birds to see. 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL BIRDS2BLOG'ERS....Whoever and wherever you are.

River And Marsh....

....and the old railway line, all excellent habitats for the birds. Today was - as always - enjoyable but routine stuff with a couple of excellent pics to add some nice colour to the post.

Blue Tit. Brian Rafferty 

I decided on the walk from Lancaster to Conder Green via St Georges Quay, Aldcliffe Marsh, and the coastal path which follows the old railway line to Glasson Dock, in the hope something 'unexpected' would be lurking along the way....dream on. Well birding isn't all about finding 'something lurking' and I noted the following birds.

Along the River Lune to Marsh Point I saw just 2 Goldeneye and 8 Goosanders. Freeman's Pools are still frozen and abandoned so I kept to the embankment along Aldcliffe Marsh where 12 Barnacle Geese are still with c.380 Canada Geese, I could count around 370 Greylag around the wildfowlers pool though there were more out of sight and inaccessable. I'd checked several hundred 'gulls' to Marsh Point again today to no avail.

Along the track to Conder Green from Aldcliffe, at least 27 Blackbirds was a much reduced count of 90 on December 17, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Song Thrush, 6 Goldfinch, 3 Great Tit, 2 Wren, 3 Robin, singles of Mistle Thrush, Blue Tit, and a Kestrel. I didn't get to grips with a flock of c.25 'finches' but mainly Goldfinch with Chaffinch. I had little time for Conder Green but did achieve confirmation that the Common Sandpiper survives and is still living here, 7 Little Grebe also seen.  

And finally....

Iceland Gull. Colin Bushell

Another excellent image with a reflection of the juvenile Iceland Gull which has taken a liking to - and stayed at - the docks at Preston. Thanks for the pics BR/CB. Sharing them and going round the world on your blogs and mine....Great stuff!