June is bursting out all over....

....but after a more like summers day today is set to disappear again soon if not tomorrow.

Common Tern. Geoff Gradwell.

I was quite impressed by this image of the Common Tern at Preston Docks which appears to have bitten off more than it can chew. You do have to ask yourself what is going on here, has it not realised yet that this fish is really too large for it to down, can it actually swallow a fish this size, or is this bird really taking this catch....

Common Tern. Geoff Gradwell. 

....to feed to young chicks like these....Thanks for the pics GG

I was delighted to find a pair of Little Ringed Plover on Conder Pool this morning with at least one young chick. These birds have clearly illustrated again this year just how elusive they can be on a small complex like Conder Pool with its many hiding places. Despite in excess of twelve visits here since their arrival - many of which showed no sign of any birds - it took me until seven days ago to find the female sitting. Fingers crossed for a while now bearing in mind there are a pair of Lesser Back-backed Gulls nesting here and all manner of danger around, later today at Cockersands I watched a Magpie take a Lapwing chick only to drop the poor creature as it flew off with it. A Common Sandpiper was also on Conder Pool, with 7 Black-tailed Godwit in the creeks, I also saw my first Meadow Brown of the year here.

On the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock c.220 Bar-tailed Godwit and a Greenshank of note. And at Cockersands equally as quiet as Glasson Dock, I noted 7 Eider, Shelduck with eight young. Small birds on the circuit included c.12 Tree Sparrows widely scattered and surely many more in the area, 6 Sedge Warbler, 4 Skylark, a Reed Bunting, and a Blackbird in good song.

I've created a link in my sidebar to follow the journey if five Cuckoos back to Africa. You will see how amazed everyone involved in the study is that one of these birds is already on the southern tip of the south of France and had left this country a good month before anyone ever expected it to have done. Follow this incredible journey of Clement, Chris, Kasper, Lyster, and Martin here with Tracking Cuckoos

The Siskin.

Female Siskin. David Cookson.

A visit to Bowland in the Marshaw/Tower Lodge area on Thursday last produced excellent if brief views of Crossbills and better views of Lesser Redpolls later, both species of which are not very easy birds to find in our area and are always a delight when I do. But another bird which is equally difficult to connect with is the Siskin, a bird primarily of conifer forests/plantations of the north and west.

Male Siskin. Phil Slade.

The Siskins is more widespread during the winter months in the UK as it is joined by birds from continental Europe in large but varying numbers and distribution from year to year, the Siskin then becomes a more commonly know bird particularly as one which visits garden feeders like the one in the photograph above.

Breeding Siskins typically start nesting in early April, in Mitchells time he published just one breeding record when six pairs summered and raised young in the Lancaster area in 1836 after several hundred had wintered here. In the early 1990's a figure of up to 360,000 pairs of Siskin would have been in the record books, but the picture is now much reversed and there has been a decline of up to 40% in England and Scotland. In our own area of North Lancashire the bird is a scarce but resident breeder in suitable conifer stands in S.E. Cumbria and Bowland, but void of doing a search through my records I don't recall the last time I saw a Siskin but certainly in excess of twelve months ago at the latter location.

Juvenile Siskin. Phil Slade.

There are two interesting ringing recoveries made on the continent involving a bird ringed in the UK in March 1989 and controlled later that year in Belgium in October, another bird ringed in April 1995 was found dead in Norway in June 1998.

It would have been good to have been able to add the Siskin to my records of Crossbill and Lesser Redpoll last Thursday in the Trough of Bowland and I'm looking forward to finding my next, but it certainly won't be tomorrow and I'm not holding my breath for Tuesday either.

Thanks to DC and PS for the photographs....much appreciated.

Return to Bowland....again!

And what a good idea that was too, you just have to keep on plugging away at these locations to come up with the sightings/records and maybe find the ones you missed the last time around. 

Broad-bodied Chaser. Brian Rafferty

No appropriate photographs of birds but an excellent one for the top of the post of the female Broad-bodied Chaser thanks to BR, plus an excellent butterfly below and moth further down thanks to LG....all helps to add a little colour to Birds2blog.

Green Hairstreak. Linda Gilhespy.

I gave another 4.5 hours between Marshaw - Trough Bridge again today and started in fine style with 6 Crossbills over which came on to a conifer staying long enough for me to find two of them to be juveniles before they were off again. I found only 7 Spotted Flycatchers today but remain convinced of at least ten - I reckon more - in the area this year. One of today's sightings was that of a bird I could see clearly sitting on the nest, a pleasurable sight bearing in mind this is a species in serious decline. This observation didn't actually take the prize today, that was awarded to the male Pied Flycatcher feeding a recently fledged young bird. I also found a female Pied Flycatcher a quarter of a mile from the Oak tree in which the pair nested and am confident this bird was the female from that site on a wander. It was good to find 2 Lesser Redpoll, the only disappointment being they were both singletons. Another excellent record was that of 6 Redstart and 8 Grey Wagtail seen. I saw just 6 Willow Warblers which was a reminder of just how much harder this species is to find once they've 'shut up'. Also noted, a Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, and just one Common Sandpiper.

Common Heath. Linda Gilhespy   

I called in at Stoops Bridge in Abbeystead on the way home to find it very still and very silent save a Chiffchaff heard.

I have an uncomfortable feeling it may be next Monday before I get out birding again....Oh Dear!

Another Bad News Day.

OK....so its another 'Bad News' day on Birds2blog with some 'good' at the end.

British Ladybirds are in serious decline, they are being wiped out by a foreign invader that devours the eggs of its native relation in the UK of which at least ten species have declined dramatically in the past few years.

Well....for starters its not strictly a foreign invader at all, though there's little doubt it has found it's way into the UK via fruit packages etc, but it was also aided by yet more human interference with the natural world by introduction to the South-East in 2004 of the Asian Harlequin Ladybird as a pest controller which has spread across the country at an alarming rate. This aggressive creature breeds quickly and following behind the seven spot is then the most common of the Ladybirds. Other 'man made' problems have hit our Ladybirds, those of climate change, and changes of farming and gardening over the years which have triggered these problems.

So....there are contrasting fortunes for the different Ladybird species, and those on the increase include Harlequin, Pine, and Orange. Whilst on the decrease the species include the10/11/14/22 spots.

There's bad news with a little good news about this next one, about which I'll not make the kind of comments I would if you struck up a conversation with me in a bar about the subject, but I do need to say one or two things about this man and what he was found to be engaging in.

In the first place I think he got a least some just 'reward' for what he was engaged in, but a couple of things leave me - to say the least - uncomfortable....1) why was this mans gun license not revoked and, 2) why wasn't his employer - the landowner - not fined the same amount as this left-over from the Dark Ages. 

I feel it my duty as a birder and lover of wildlife to ask you to please read THIS

Now the good news.

Pied Flycatcher. Peter Guy.

I've ended the first half of 2011 on a high note, not least because Barbondale has produced the best ever record of Pied Flycatcher and with a little luck up to 35 will wing their way from here back to their wintering grounds mainly in western Africa. Thanks to PG for the photograph which incidentally shows another of those 'brown' 1st summer males....its the bird on the left. 

Spotted Flycatcher. David Cookson

I've also established the Marshaw/Tower Lodge area to be once again the best in our area for Spotted Flycatcher with the last count standing at 10 birds. All this is not to mention the Kentish Plover at Cockersands on 3 May, plus many other excellent records on many other birding days. I'm now looking forward to part two of 2011.  

The Short List.

I actually started my four hour Monday at Cockersands doing the traditional circuit including the nooks and crannies. If anyone had seen me on the headland today and asked what I was hoping to achieve there I'd have been posed a problem to come up with an intelligent answer. So I start with my 'weather whinge' which goes something like....I could have been fooled into thinking today was the 13 March whilst also thinking 'shouldn't I be doing something more useful in life than wandering around this place getting blown about in a force I don't know what westerly'.

Oystercatcher. David Cookson  

On the estuary the high tide didn't help and the waders were almost non existent, even the guardians of Plover Scar were reduced to no more than 25 Oystercatchers. From the road 5 Sedge Warbler were all in song as was a Skylark, and I saw a single Whitethroat....Flaming June!

But it was all worth while - as any birding is - when I arrived at Conder Green to find c.220 Bar-tailed Godwit in the creeks again with at least 20 Knot in their company, c.12 Swift were over, and I noted a male Reed Bunting. But the best came when I gave Conder Pool a serious grilling and after doing so for the past nine weeks found the Little Ringed Plover sitting - faint hearted me - but a few more weeks and a  fair measure of good fortune for this bird and any results from the breeding attempt before we can sing our Alleluias on seeing any fledged young.

Arctic Tern. Gary Jones  

At Glasson Dock on the Lune Estuary I watched a graceful Arctic Tern fishing opposite Waterloo Cottage though little else, but did count 7 Eider hauled out on to the shore.

Landart. Richard Shilling.

If you've been visiting Birds2blog for a while now you'll know RS, but whether you do or not he's the man with a keen eye, an inventive and creative mind, and a pair of hands to go with all this. You can find out the background to the artwork above HERE and some of his work is to be shown at this Exhibition....you may like to go and see it.

Old Books....Good Books!

I've mentioned before on Birds2blog about the book stall often on Market Street in Lancaster where KT finds some good second-hand books and occasionally buys them on my behalf.

This 'Wild Birds of the Americas' is now one of the latest additions to my library thanks to the stall and KT.

According to the introduction in the book published in 1977, Terence Michael Shortt is claimed to have probably seen and sketched from life more species of the worlds birds than any other person alive. Well I'm not too sure about such a claim, but thats not the purpose of this post. I chose a couple of colour plates from the book, the first of which is the Blue-footed Booby.

Blue-footed Booby. Terence Michael Shortt.

There are a couple of reasons why I chose this illustration, the first of which is because of the explanation why this species is so called. They suffer the maligning appellation of booby, 'a silly dull-witted fool' because the guileless birds often alighted on the deck or rigging of ships allowing themselves to be added to the ships larder, the implication being that any animal that has no fear of man is stupid....a sorry indictment of the human race I'd say.

The second reason I chose the 'booby' is because it reminded me of a rather large one which befell someone somewhere today when a Brown Booby was reported this morning to be later claimed as a being a Gannet. Take heart all ye who hath fallen into the trap of mis-id, a club I'm man enough to admit being a member of....are you!! 

    Peregrine Falcon. Terence Michael Shortt.

There are a number of excellent colour plates by this man and the Peregrine Falcon is another example.

Peregrine Falcon. Brian Rafferty.

But BR has achieved some excellent images of the Peregrine Falcons nesting on a church in Preston.

Peregrine Falcon. Brian Rafferty.

I think this is a brilliant photograph of the juvenile which appears to be looking skywards to its parent and wondering if the next meal is on its way. You can see more of these stunning birds on BR's website HERE  

Return to Bowland.

Yesterdays birding was in subdued mode as is often the case with BT....but thats not a complaint you understand, in any case the weather held us up at one point. BT suggested a visit to Bowland which meant a return for me having been there the day before....but thats not a complaint either you understand!

Redshank. John Bateman.

Lots of birds have become at least scarce - if not rare - in the uplands and the juvenile Redshank above is certainly one of them but was a welcome sight today with one of its parents feeding in a field near Marshaw. In the same field JB/BT and I were able to witness at first hand the dangers faced by young birds when a 'large' gull swooped down on a Lapwing chick, took the small creature in its gaping bill and consumed the unfortunate bird in less than five seconds....raw nature.

Sand Martin. Gary Jones

The Sand Martin colony at Cam Brow this year appears to consist of about four occupied nest holes in the small bank where they return to each year, a Mistle Thrush was noted here. Plenty of activity in the photograph at GJ's colony which is elsewhere I must add.

At Marshaw I established what I suspected in a particular area during recent visits here, that the Common Sandpipers have bred and one today was accompanied by a young bird. During the visit to the Tower Lodge area I added another two birds to Thursdays count which now stands at 10 Spotted Flycatcher. The pair of Pied Flycatchers seen Thursday were seen feeding young again. A brief visit to Langden produced a Dipper, 3 Grey Wagtail, a Common Sandpiper, and at least 4 House Martin hawking the beck.

Common Spotted Orchid. Pete Woodruff. 

At Blea Tarn Reservoir a Little Ringed Plover flew along the east side of the reservoir before banking to head over the fields towards Langthwaite Reservoir. There appears to be a healthy number of Common Spotted Orchids at the Wyresdale Road location this year with a 'large' number of spikes found and where in some seasons the Bee Orchid may also be seen.

It is interesting a Little Ringed Plover was reported at Conder Green on Thursday on the Fylde Bird Club website, not seen here by me since in flight on 6 May. There's never any telling whats going on in the world of LRP's on Conder Pool year on year and this one is no exception, they may yet surprise us all by bringing young into view one day soon, but somehow this year I'm not feeling confident....but its happened before! 

The Flycatchers Have It.

I gave Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge a good going over today and it took me 4.5 hours legwork to do so on a day more like 9 April than June....but what results!

Pied Flycatcher. Peter Guy.

The Flycatchers get the Gold Award for today, not least for the first record for the area of 3 Pied Flycatchers two of which were a pair feeding young 10 mtrs up an Oak Tree, the other was a female which I encountered briefly but couldn't find thereafter despite a 15 minute 'stand'.

Spotted Flycatcher. Brian Rafferty. 

Today this location established itself once again as the best in our area - and beyond - for the species when the final tally was of 8 Spotted Flycatcher suggesting the strong possibility of five pairs based on my observations. 

Redstart. Brian Rafferty.

Also noted on this excellent visit to this equally excellent area of Bowland, 2 Cuckoo were heard, one somewhere distant behind Tower Lodge, the other in the Trough Bridge area, 2 Redstart, 4 Common Sandpiper, 5 Grey Wagtail, 2 Dipper, 6 Mistle Thrush, a Song Thrush, 4 Nuthatch, 2 Red Grouse, and a Buzzard.

I gave a look in on Stoops Bridge at Abbeystead to find no activity at the Pied Flycatchers nest hole in a fifteen minute 'stand'. A Garden Warbler and 2 Blackcaps all sang half heartedly, not surprising given the positively lousy weather, the sight of a Nuthatch feeding a begging young bird was a delight and ended a day which can be best described in my book as one of many perfect examples of what I think birding is about. Having found a species in an area for the first time - being the Pied Flycatcher - possibly five pairs of a species in serious decline - being the Spotted Flycatcher - and hearing another species in serious decline, being the two Cuckoos.

    Christ Church Abbeystead. Pete Woodruff.

I couldn't resist putting up another pic of Christ Church at Abbeystead, home to at least 16 House Martin nests occupied in years past but not a bird in sight today, and few - if any - bred here in 2010....Mmmmm!

Thanks to Peter Guy and Brian Rafferty for the photographs. 

Bad Decision!

A very bad decision yesterday actually as I took too much notice of the weather man who got it badly wrong today and having planned to go 'uplanding' I decided that the showers - that never were - would be no good to me and stayed home and behaved like a couch potato all day, add to this no birding again today....not good for me, body, mind, or soul!

And to make matters worse I'm about to post an article unrelated to birds on a bird blog about some beetles found in Spain.

Photo Credit: SINC-Ignacio Ribera.

Two new endemic beetles have been discovered in the Iberian Peninsula.

With Spanish participation a European research team has described two new beetles measuring little more than 2.2 millimetres in length. The beetles were found in streams in the Pyrenees in the Sierra de la Demanda Mountains. Some experts had previously thought they had belonged to another European species.

One of the two new beetles species  - Hydraena diazi - was found in the Montseny National Park in Barcelona, it measured no more than 2.4 mm in length, the insect also inhabits the Pyrenees. The other new beetle - Hydraena fosterorum - was discovered in the Sierra de la Demanda 

An expert explained that they most probably originated in the same geographical regions that the are now found in, meaning we can use them to reconstruct their history and biogeography. Research has also suggested that all the species in the in this particular Hydraena group - including these two new ones - result from the splitting of a common ancestor which spread throughout the Iberian Peninsula half a million years ago. Today they still remain in their original distribution areas.

Puffin. Gary Jones. 

Shag. Gary Jones.



Gary kept his promise and posted some excellent photographs of the enigmatic Puffin and Shag seen on his recent visit to the Farne Islands....You'll find them HERE

Eyed-Hawk Moth. Brian Rafferty

Brian found this brilliant moth which I'd loved to have seen for myself.

And....

Large Skipper. Linda Gilhespy  

Linda got an excellent photograph of this smart little moth. Thanks to GJ/BR/LG for the excellent images....Many Thanks. 

Hopefully tomorrow, some serious birding somewhere in the Forest of Bowland perhaps! 

A pretty smart Robin!


'Click the pik'

I did get an hour or so birding today, but to be honest this bird created much more excitement for many a birder who has been  - or is going to be - burning the rubber on many a motorway whilst speeding off to Hartlepool Headland in Cleveland to see the female White-throated Robin as in the pic via the link above, the male is as usual a more attractive creature. 

'Click the pik'

The White-throated Robin  breeds from Turkey eastwards to Kirghizia, and winters in East Africa. There are only two previous records, a male on the Isle of Man in 1983, and a female in Pembrokeshire in 1990. It is interesting that both records are of birds on the west coast, pretty surprising that given this birds apparent north-south orientation of its migration route it is quite amazing that the species has ever occurred here at all.

Three people were involved in the finding of the first record in Britain, that of the bird above on the Isle of Man in 1983. The bird caught the eye of one of these three when he described it as a Wheatear-like bird, but all three noted the bird showed no white rump as it flew off. The bird re-appeared on a wall and they agreed the possibility of it being a White-throated Robin, but it soon flew off once again and out of sight and despite further searches it was never seen again.

As for my four hour birding stint today....

I did a circuit of Conder Green to find 2 Whitethroat, 2 Reed Bunting, a single Black-tailed Godwit was surely the bird I saw on 31 May as it dropped in on Conder Pool where the pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls are nesting, a Sand Martin over was a little unexpected. The Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock was as expected pretty quiet though it was rewarding to find the c.300 Bar-tailed Godwit here - recently they had graced the Conder creeks on a couple of my visits - a pair of Eider and 2 Shelduck with 17 young noted.

At Cockersands I can assure you the recent Quail is no more as every field in sight has been made to look like a 'Bowls Tournament' is about to take place any time soon. I noted c.20 Eider, the rest I found on a circuit, at least 15 Tree Sparrow, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Skylark, a Dunnock, 3 Sedge Warbler one of which gave me excellent views and was one of the best songsters I've heard in years, 2 Red Admiral also seen.