Seek And Ye Shall Find....But Not This Time.

Since the beginning of September, I have personally found or lifted 143 Stonechat records off Lancaster/Fylde bird club websites to date, they include 16 Stonechat seen in our recording area of South Cumbria during Sept/Oct. Thanks to Garry Sharples for being in touch with me regarding details of these sixteen records.

Stonechat Birk Bank 9 Nov 2020. Pete Woodruff.

In my quest to locate any wintering Stonechats, I managed a couple of follow-on visits to Bowland again this week, one to Birk Bank, and the following day to Hawthornthwaite Fell. These visits brought about a disappointing result, with a solitary male Stonechat found on Birk Bank being the only bird seen, with none found on Hawthornthwaite. Seek and ye shall find....I don't think so.

But on the east and west side of Hawthornthwaite, I found at least 60 Red Grouse. Simon Hawtin tells me of at least 100 Red Grouse, seen between Lee and Tarnbrook Fell in one session recently. These numbers added to my 78 Red Grouse on 5 October are unprecedented in my records, and I'm reliably informed Bowland shoot days have been much reduced in 2020, with possibly no more than four taking place.

Red Grouse. Pete Woodruff.

I managed some more piks of Red Grouse, and this short video clip has the bird obliging with it's characteristic 'bouncing bark' at the end....Pump up the volume.

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Fungi Diversion.

After the Stonechat negatives, it was my lucky day when I bumped into Ross who knows a thing or two about fungi, and obligingly showed me a specimen he found. 

Boletus erythropus Scarletina Bolete. Pete Woodruff.

Ross decided to give me a demonstration, he cut the fungi out and sliced it in half to show when the flesh is damaged the Scarletina Bolete oxidises and turns blue very quickly. 

After Ross left, I decided to abandon the Stonechats, and felt inspired to divert my attention to eventually find two more to fungi to identify.

Russula atropurpurea Purple Brittlegill (the remains of). Pete Woodruff.

Clavulina rugosa Wrinkled Club. Pete Woodruff. 

And Finally.

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As I came off Hawthornthwaite Fell, I saw an airliner high and flying west, as I attempted to make a video, at 20secs on the timer, a strange phenomenon occurred which I'm unable to explain....See what you think happened here.

A Bowland Double.

There's a bit of hesitation with my words in this video, and a little humour in there too. I think to have a script might be a good bet until I get used to the idea of commentary. 

Meanwhile, a little introduction to Fridays visit to Bowland. View the videos Full Screen.

A Bowland double today, when I found a couple of goodies up the track from Tower Lodge. I saw a bird flitting around in the trees, and although my views were brief before it disappeared from view it was clearly a Marsh Tit. Not 10 minutes later up the track, I spotted a cracking male Bullfinch soon followed by a female.

Marsh Tit Jan Larsson 

I've never seen either of these species in our recording area in the Forest of Bowland, and I'm not aware of any records here in recent years if ever. The Marsh Tit is an uncommon localised breeder in our area, restricted to the limestone woodlands of Arnside, Silverdale, and the Wray area. The Bullfinch is more of a common breeder in similar areas to the Marsh Tit....But these two records are in autumn in the Forest of Bowland.

I was a bit too busy having fun with the camera today, and noted just 14 species of birds in the hours spent in the Marshaw-Tower Lodge-Trough Bridge area. But this Grey Wagtail gave me a little therapeutic moment....

The other eleven....a Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Nuthatch, Coal Tit, Great Tit, 6 Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, and Robin. About 8 Mallard were on the Marshaw Wyre, and 4 Red Grouse from the track to Winfold Fell, with Buzzard and Kestrel seen.

I noted an excellent record of 10 Stonechat on Lytham Moss yesterday per F. Bird at Fylde Bird Club.

Must Watch!

Most of us have probably seen this, but if you haven't, this is a must watch film. It's 7 mins 35 secs long, but hang on in there. It is brilliant, and deals with the tragic subject of too many lunatics under the umbrella of 'Guardians of the Countryside'....The perfect gap filler for B2B.

Dragon's Government's Den. 

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Egrets & Scilly Stonechats.

On a lighter and much more enjoyable note....As ever, I was grateful to Howard Stockdale for the video of the Cattle Egret at Cockersand. 

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Prompted by a comment in my last post about Stonechats seen on the Scillies, and having no idea of the status there. I was interested in whether or not they bred there. I made contact and received a reply with this brief information.... 

The Stonechat is recorded in the Annual Review and described as: Uncommon to common, a breeding resident, spring and autumn migrant, and winter visitor. The Stonechat breeds in reasonable numbers, and with a little effort can be seen most days. This autumn saw a very rare Siberian Stonechat, and the Scillies have also recorded Caspian Stonechat.

 

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My birding is often full of gratitude, and on this occasion the gratitude goes to Alan Hannington at Scilly Birding 

Winter Chats And A Nice One At Heysham.

Since reading an article I've had since 2015 on observations of the Stonechat,  I've been able to add more interesting facts to my learning about this enigmatic little gem.

Juvenile Stonechat. Ana Minguez.

The Stonechat is unique among passerines, in that they generally winter in establish territories, often in pairs. There seems no obvious explanation as to why any pair bonds are maintained in winter, other than two birds rather than one, are able to defend a territory. Data has shown that the winter pair bond appears strong, and birds seldom seen more than 20m apart, seems to suggest that extra vigilance in upland winter habitats - which is open and with limited cover - is a distinct advantage.

Interesting colour-ringed sightings confirm that some adults, and some 1st winter birds, overwinter in upland areas. Records of colour-ringed chicks from upland sites show that they have wintered within 2km of their natal site, others that have moved to the coast, and some which have migrated to continental Europe. Such is the variation in the Stonechat migratory behaviour, evidence has also shown that an individual retains a pattern for life.

In a personal quest to find wintering Stonechat, I'm now seeing fewer birds than I saw during September at the five locations visited in Bowland. The flocking behaviour - my best early example being 18 Caton Moor 26 August - has ceased, the birds have dispersed, sometimes into the winter territories that I'm looking for, or to migrate to the Mediterranean.

Up to 5 Stonechat have already been seen at Cockersand through Sept/Oct, and records passed on to me or collected from Lanc's/Fylde websites during this period amount to 20 records of 39 Stonechat.

All that I need now, is for the weather to buck up, so I can get on with the business in hand.

I'm grateful to John Callion for corresponding with me, and for allowing me to make some references to his article Observations of breeding European Stonechats in Cumbria. British Birds 2015.

Heysham 'Golden Oldie'.

OK, so this record is now ancient, but this Thursday 5 November, sees 15 years since I found a nice little job at Heysham where I had decided to pay one of my occasional visits.

Grey Phalarope. Martin Lofgren.

Arriving at the power station Stage 2 outfall, I had excellent views of an adult Little Gull. At Stage 1, another adult Little Gull was accompanied by a juvenile Arctic Tern which found itself in the records book as being the latest one ever in Lancashire, where it remained at Heysham until 12 November. As I walked away from the outfall toward the south harbour wall, I saw a bird between the outfall and the old wooden jetty, for a moment I thought it was another Little Gull, but soon realised it was a 1st winter Grey Phalarope behaving in it's typical spinning habit whilst feeding....Nice.

Some brilliant autumn gold around now, as in the header, taken in Bowland in a previous life!

Picture Gallery.

The header image is a 22 year old from my file labeled 'Golden Oldie Birds'. The Long-billed Dowitcher at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve in October 1998, courtesy of the late John Leedal. 

Whilst I plan my next bid for freedom, I selected a few piks taken over the years, but don't expect any world beating images, they only just got past quality control.

1.   Snow Bunting Plover Scar

2.   Whinchat Newby Moor N.York's

3.   Spotted Flycatcher Bowland

4.   Wheatear Bowland

5.   Black Redstart Fluke Hall

6.   Eastern Black Eared Wheatear Fluke Hall

7.   Skylark Fluke Hall

8.   Blackbird Home Garden

9.   Little Ringed Plover Conder Pool

10. Turnstone Plover Scar

11. Snipe Conder Pool

12. Brent Geese Heysham

13. Little Owl Roeburndale

14. Purple Heron Eagland Hill

    

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Stonechats.

My records to date now stands at 95 Stonechat since I found 18 on Caton Moor 2 months ago on 26 August, mostly in Bowland, with some records taken from local websites. This is a good indication that the species has had a good breeding season in 2020, though I tried twice without success to contact the RSPB, to find out what their records - if any - showed to get a handle on numbers in Bowland.

Black-tailed Godwits. 

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I was grateful to Howard Stockdale for the video of the Black-tailed Godwits, including this one ringed OL-RZ, Arnessysla, Austurey, Iceland, 4 July 2012. The bird has collected 58 sightings, none of which were in our area until this one at Cockersand Wednesday 20 October. Otherwise it favoured Essex and Merseyside, and was seen twice back in Iceland in June 2013 and August 2018.

Conservation.

Below is an excellent post I copied from a website which touched on one of my favourite subjects on conservation and farming practices. I'm also aware of some ongoing local and bigger conservation issues which I intend to follow. 

'34 Fieldfare were a welcome sight this morning, these Scandinavian travelers on their annual visit to forage on the winter berries, however the dreaded hedge munching machine had other ideas and has now destroyed all the food that was lying in wait to keep our visiting Fieldfare well fed along with many others that would have foraged on same, no need to look very hard for the demise of wildlife when this goes on country wide, modern farming practices indeed' 

More Moorland Ventures.

I had another venture to Bowland again this week, a very enjoyable venture, they always are.

If I'm doing revisits of the five moorland locations of Caton Moor/Harrisend/Catlow/Hawthornthwaite/and Birk Bank, the 75 Bowland Stonechat record now has to stand, but I need to visit again to establish the number of wintering birds.

On Thursday Harrisend produced 5 Stonechat, ten short of the count on 1 September. Also a decent count of 8 Reed Bunting, a Blackbird and Robin were the only other birds noted. Later on Hawthornthwaite Fell, I found no Stonechat despite a count of nine on 5 October, but noted 9 Red Grouse. 

At Birk Bank on Friday, 4 Stonechat compared to 14 seen on 21 September. Also noted, 5 Red Grouse, and a Raven and Buzzard overhead. Off Rigg Lane, a mix of c.40 Fieldfare and Redwing seen.

The Preston Willow Tit.

I reckon Martin Jump was well pleased to find a smart Willow Tit on the feeders on his allotment at Haslam Park in his home town of Preston last Monday 12 October....Beat that for a garden allotment tick! 

Martins record was soon followed four days later, when Malcolm Evans found another Willow Tit at Carr House Green Common on 16 October, as the crow flies about six miles away from Haslam Park.

Only the Turtle Dove is more imperiled than the Willow Tit as Britain's fastest declining passerine. The RSPB launched a national survey that is currently at the midway point. At this point the survey has revealed that the breeding population of the Willow Tit in Lancashire is similar to that of 10 years ago, bucking the national steep downward decline. Ref:Steve White/Lancashire Bird Report 2019

Thanks to the late Geoff Gradwell for his image of the Willow Tit.

Fungi. Pete Woodruff.

This fungi caught my eye in damp moss on Harrisend Fell on Thursday. It was unable to be specifically identified without seeing the gills, but assuming some colouration in the gills, the suggestion is that it is possibly either Mycena epipterygia or Galerina paludosa. 

Thanks to Pat O'Reilly MBE at for the invaluable fungi help First Nature 

There's no relationship between my header image and the current post, but it's just a nice one of the Black-tailed Godwits on the Lune Estuary at Glasson Dock in April 2016.

Mid-Week Crisis!....

....well, sort of.

I was grateful to Howard Stockdale for sharing this video with me, it shows the horde on and around the heliport at Heysham at high tide. The first in a series of planned short videos to promote the birdlife of Morecambe Bay during the winter months. Interestingly, Howard found a colour ringed Knot amongst the mass, marked this year in August at Ainsdale, North Merseyside.

The videos are best viewed full screen.

I enjoyed editing this short video of the gull roost on Red Nab at Heysham. I counted 7 Mediterranean Gulls as I panned through the film. Have a bit of fun and count them for yourself....Go on, do it!

 

The Turnstones living up to their name and turning over the pebbles at Cockersand. 

The Weeks Moorland Venture.

I gave Catshaw Fell a couple of hours during the week, one of a few areas I've previously neglected in Bowland. 

The visit was quite interesting, and started soon after I had put the plantation behind me and set off on the track where I met Rob Foster coming off Catshaw Fell, Rob's post at the Grosvenor Estate is in conservation. We had an interesting conversation which of course me being Pete Woodruff, soon turned to the subject of the Stonechat. Rob gave me a list of birds he had noted, but it didn't include any Stonechat, this numbed my enthusiasm for continuing the climb, but I did it anyway. 

As I reached the summit of Catshaw Fell, through my binoculars I could see Rob on the top of Hawthornthwaite, presumably doing the same check for Red Grouse. Meanwhile, Catshaw produced just the one Stonechat which took me an hour to find when I was coming back down later. Other birds of note, 4 Raven overhead, 38 Red Grouse, 11 Meadow Pipit, a Buzzard, and a Peregrine Falcon which I didn't see until I had almost got back to the car by the plantation.

Hawthornthwaite Fell produced three good records, the first of which was another excellent count of 9 Stonechat, pumping up the tally to 75 Stonechat seen in a little over five weeks in Bowland. The second record came with a Ring Ouzel seen distant in flight which soon went to ground.

Red Grouse Hawthornthwaite. Pete Woodruff.
 

The third record came when I counted 40 Red Grouse, 35 of which were seen together in a flight across the moorland, the highest number I've ever seen at any one time, and brings the total number on Catshaw/H'thwaite to 78 Red Grouse seen on the day. 

The Ring Ouzel. 

This is my fourth consecutive year for records of Ring Ouzel on Hawthornthwaite, and includes a male singing atop of a tree earlier this year on 17 May. I'm becoming convinced the Ring Ouzel breeds on Hawthornthwaite, next year I plan to attempt to find the evidence. 

The Ring Ouzel can be seen on moorlands well into October, with four records in 2019, the latest one being on 19 October at Winter Hill. The mean date is 4 November, but the latest ever Ring Ouzel in Lancashire was of one seen over Darwen Moor on 11 December 2000. These records are sourced from the annually best and most comprehensive report available Lancashire Bird Report 2019

The therapeutic value for this visit to Bowland was huge once again for me, in particular when I came to the water falling down Catshaw Greave with a little autumn gold showing on the 'Ouzel' Oak in the background.

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And finally....

Morecambe Stone Jetty. Pete Woodruff. 

A view of the Stone Jetty at Morecambe last week, with the stunning backdrop of the mountains in the Lake District.

September Chats.

Having found 18 Stonechat on Caton Moor on 26 August, I was determined to carry out a plan to visit four more of the best Stonechat hotspots in the area during September, to find if Caton Moor was a precursor to something good about the Stonechats in 2020.

So I was off up the east side of Clougha during the week, only the third time I've ever been on this side of Clougha. Truly chuffed once more as I was able to add to the tally which now stands at 65 Stonechat in four weeks.

To note in addition to the 10 Stonechat seen, it was good to hear the Chiffchaff in song by Ottergear Bridge. In the trees leading down to the boardwalk, at least 20 Long-tailed Tit, a Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Blackbird, Robin, and Wren. Enroute to the Clougha track, a few Swallow south, a lone Meadow Pipit, 4 Red Grouse, and a Kestrel.

Dragonflies over and around the bog, 3 Common Darter and 2 Black Darter, the only butterflies seen were singles of Red Admiral and Peacock.

Where have all the butterflies been this year?

Big Butterfly Count.

One theory for a disappointing result, perhaps an unusually warm spring brought species of butterfly to emerge earlier than is usual. This would lead to have only caught the tail-end of the flight period for many species during this years count.

But the truth is, the Big Butterfly Count saw a reduction in the average number of butterflies logged per count of -34% in comparison with 2019, and the lowest average number of butterflies logged overall since the counts began 11 years ago in 2009. One example of percentage of change from 2019 was -99% for Painted Lady, a butterfly I regarded myself as being one of a lucky few to record in our area this year.

Garden Scarcity. 

In our garden on Friday, it was good to see a male Siskin on the feeders. The last two sightings here was, a juvenile 31 July and three days later a male 3 August in 2018. Also our garden Robin (Bob) gave good photo opportunities in the header, and the resident Carrion Crow most of the year, is still around and calling persistently 'krrah krrah krrah' all day long.

Heysham Brent Geese

I quite enjoyed editing this video of the Brent Geese present at the beginning of the year at Heysham. 

The film is a smaller format 1280x720, suitable to meet the requirements of the limit of 100mb upload to Blogger, and therefore loses a little quality. It's a combination of two videos, the first section is of the Brents off Knowleys Road on a blue Mediterranean sea, the second section at Red Nab on a dull day.

It all helps to keep B2B afloat...Excuse the pun!

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