UK Diary 11-14 November 2009

Snow Buntings, Pendle Hill

14 November 2009 Bowland With the weather unsuitable for atlassing a whistle-stop tour of the patch from dawn produced little of note. Stocks Reservoir was again brim full and without any shoreline to speak of if appears to have been deserted by most waterbirds. Only four Eurasian Wigeon and a handful of Mallards remained, riding the waves in the Hodder inlet. Five Western Roe Deer crossed the road in the forest and a couple of Common Kestrels were hunting in the wind over Champion Moor. The fells have also been left to the sheep and grouse and a drive around in the hope of Snow Bunting at Bowland Knotts and Cross of Greet resulted in only three Red Grouse on Clapham Common (not to be confused with the notorious London site of the same name!). After a nice bacon and egg butty at the Riverbank Tearooms in Slaidburn I headed for Pendle Hill via an old friend, the barn Tawny Owl. By now the weather had deteriorated further, the wind had grown stronger, the rain heavier and the visibility had diminished (more evidence that I must be completely insane). Nevertheless in the blasting southerly wind it was not too cold and I pressed on to the summit via the landslide trail, seeing two Common Stonechats on the way up. A tame pair of Red Grouse was again in the summit area, eating grass seeds and allowed approach to around two metres! In a strong wind between south and west the Downham Moor screes on the northwest shoulder of the hill are a good bet and this is where I relocated the five Snow Buntings from a couple of days ago. They were quite active in the wind and difficult to approach but a delight to watch as they scuttled about in the grass above the scree slope, eating the same seeds as the grouse. Wonderful! With a spring in my step the walk back was a breeze.

Top two: Red Grouse (male and female) and bottom: Tawny Owl

11 November 2009 Pendle Hill Out of the airport taxi, grab some lunch and head straight for Pendle, a good 30 degrees celsius cooler than Bahrain! In the fading light of the afternoon I was delighted to catch up with five Snow Buntings near the trig point, however, as soon as I saw them they took flight, towards the north wall and way out of sight. The couple reported earlier in the week had probably been joined by some more, although these five birds could also easily represent a new party as there seem to be plenty on the move in the northwest this week. Also here were 69 European Golden Plovers flying around the summit. A weather front was approaching from the southwest and the sky turning almost as dark as night signalled it was time to leave.

UK Diary 12-22 October 2009

Long-billed Dowitcher, Cockersand - thanks to the finder Stuart Piner

17 October 2009 Lancashire Long-billed Dowitchers. Increasingly frustrated by the meagre returns for my efforts inland I headed for the coast again, starting at the mouth of the Lune Estuary at Cockersand where the dawn air was filled with the bubbling calls of curlews and the excited cackling of Pink-footed Geese getting ready to leave their roosting grounds for the green grass of the Fylde. A pair of Twite (at least one of which was un-ringed) was foraging on the piles of tide line flotsam with Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails at Bank Houses. Four Little Egrets were out in the channels on the incoming tide, two Grey Wagtails and another Twite flew south, calling, a Rock Pipit was along the sea wall and on Crook Skeer small flocks of waders were scattered across the mud, mostly Common Redshanks and Dunlins. Eventually the smart juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher was located amongst the redshanks, feeding actively, probing the wet mud in a snipe-like fashion. A couple of juvenile Grey Plovers and a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper had also joined the gathering. As the tidal surge raced past us upriver the waders were forced closer but as the mudflats were covered they eventually dispersed, the dowitcher to the south around Plover Scar and out of sight. Also here were: Great Crested Grebe (two offshore); Common Shelduck; Common Eider (drake); Common Kestrel (two); Common Goldeneye (female); Grey Partridge (three in a grassy field next to the Abbey from Plover Hill); ten more Grey Plovers flew north with a group of Dunlins; Ruddy Turnstone (c.30); European Golden Plover (c.100 in fields inland along Slack Lane with c.300 Northern Lapwings); Common Oystercatcher; Black-tailed Godwit (four); Tree Sparrow (four around Bank Houses with several chaffinches and greenfinches) and Common Reed Bunting (c.10).

Top two: Long-billed Dowitcher (juvenile), Cockersand and below Twite and Pied Wagtail, Bank Houses

Upstream the Conder Pool was strangely deserted at the highest tide, with only three Little Grebes. There were, however, some high-tide-roosting waders on the saltmarsh at Conder Green, which included: Spotted Redshank (one); Bar-tailed Godwit (two juveniles) and Black-tailed Godwit (five) in the company of Eurasian Curlews, Common Redshanks, Dunlins and Common Snipes as well as Common Teal, Eurasian Wigeon and Mallards. Drifting past on the river were a redhead Goosander and a Red-breasted Merganser, within a few metres of each other at one stage and a female Merlin was perched on a log of the opposite side of the river.


Long-billed Dowitcher (juvenile), Banks

At Old Hollow Farm on Banks Marsh on the south side of the Ribble Estuary, I met up with East Lancs birders Bill Aspin, Dave Bickerton and John Wright. At first we were hampered by a heat haze in the afternoon sun but after a couple of hours Bill’s persistence paid off when he picked up the juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher (presumably one of two he and John had found here last week), sneakily hunched against a mud bank with a handful of Black-tailed Godwits. Soon after its discovery it obliged by feeding in the shallow water of the pools for a while, another juvenile again with rather plain tertials. Prior to this year’s amazing sequence in the northwest there were ten records of Long-billed Dowitcher in Lancashire, four of which were on the Ribble marshes. The grazing marshes here are very atmospheric, one of the few places on the Lancashire coast where one can ‘get away from it all’ and we enjoyed some excellent birding in addition to the main attraction with two lingering summer visitors in the form of a fly-over Yellow Wagtail, seen and heard calling very nicely several times plus a Northern Wheatear. Other waders included: Curlew Sandpiper (three juveniles); Spotted Redshank (one); European Golden Plover (two); Red Knot (one); Dunlin (c.50); Green Sandpiper (two) and Common Snipe (c.10). Also here were: Little Egret (three); Grey Heron; Pink-footed Goose (c.300 over); Common Shelduck; Common Teal; a juvenile Marsh Harrier was mobbed as it crossed the wader pools; a female Merlin caused havoc amongst the waders and eventually whacked a small passerine, presumably a Meadow Pipit; a pair of Common Ravens and a Common Buzzard appeared to have found something interesting out on the marsh; Stock Dove (four with several Common Wood Pigeons and Common Skylarks (c.50). I didn’t manage any hirundines today and neither yet winter thrushes nor Goldcrests.

Above: one of the last Northern Wheatears of the year and below: Dave and John at Banks

We also paid a visit to the RPSB’s brand new Hesketh Out Marsh reserve in the later afternoon. The reserve was opened to the public on 10 October and is part of their Ribble Estuary strategy. Its vast tidal scrape, which will also act as a sea defence, screams potential. Bill said, ‘we are looking at the future of Lancashire birding’. There were a few pioneers already on the society’s embryonic mud creation including a Little Egret and Black-tailed Godwit with several Common Redshanks and Eurasian Curlews. Towards dusk the two ravens flew east calling and a distant Common Stonechat perched a top some distant dead flower stems and as the sun set a female Merlin dashed across the reserve from the direction of Longton. We are all looking forward to returning soon.

Hesketh Out Marsh

UK Diary 4-11 October 2009

European Goldfinch, Sunderland Point - they can be oblivious to passers by when busy feeding

11 October 2009 Pendle Hill. As soon as I started up the track from the Barley pull in towards Pendleside a lovely male Merlin dashed across the fields in front of me and like a wind-propelled missile it zoomed away, downhill towards Black Moss Reservoirs. At this point I should have turned around and gone home, knowing I was unlikely to better the sighting. However, the walk is good exercise and I continued to the trig point and the summit area beyond towards the north wall, via the landslide trail, which has been widened and ‘ironed’ out recently. The only bird at the windswept summit itself was a lone Meadow Pipit and ironically as I returned to the car a male Northern Wheatear popped up on a fence post in a sheep field, almost exactly where I had seen the merlin. I didn’t get a good enough view to check its age as the wind took it about 200 metres away and out of sight.

10 October 2009 Morecambe Bay. A dawn to dusk effort in the bay started at a very misty Heysham. The sea and mudflats remained shrouded until after 1000 so the coastal bushes and tide line was the only alternative early on. A Northern Wheatear on Ocean Edge and two Common Chiffchaffs were the only notable sightings during this period but there seemed to be a lot of European Robins (c.15) and Song Thrushes (three) grounded. Pete tells me that at least the latter would be migrants. I also heard around five Redwings in the mist. Sunderland Point was similarly covered in mist and a circular walk from the village to Sambo’s Grave and around the point produced: Little Egret (one); Mute Swan; Common Shelduck; Eurasian Wigeon; Common Oystercatcher; Common Ringed Plover (ten); Common Redshank; Bar-tailed Godwit (45 on the Lune); Common Kingfisher (one or two); Eurasian Skylark and Meadow Pipit (several of each heard); Grey Wagtail (two south past the village); Pied Wagtail; Winter Wren, Dunnock; Common Blackbird (c.10); European Greenfinch (15); Common Linnet (two); European Goldfinch (two) and Eurasian Siskin (one over south calling). Butterflies at Sunderland once the sun came out were two Red Admirals and a Painted Lady.


European Goldfinch on teasel, Sunderland Point

Sambo's Grave is situated in a field on the seaward side of the village and belongs to a slave who died at Sunderland in 1736, his presence here harking back to a time when Sunderland was a port serving cotton, sugar and slave ships from the West Indies and North America. There is an inscription on the grave, using a strange mixture of italics and block capitals (perhaps someone can explain this to me) ‘Here lies Poor SAMBOO A faithfull NEGRO Who (Attending his Mafter from the Weft Indies) DIED on his Arrival at SUNDERLAND’. Poor Samboo indeed! It is nice to see that local school children have decorated his grave with brightly painted stones and are obviously learning something about the truth of our miserable past.

Samboo's grave, Sunderland Point

By now the sky had cleared and from the north harbour wall back at Heysham I managed an adult Mediterranean Gull and three Common Eiders. After a welcome cup of tea at the observatory we checked Red Nab, with Martin, a birder from Preston. The tide was still way out and therefore few birds were on the rocks but four distant Bar-tailed Godwits and several thousand Red Knots were scattered along the water’s edge far out in the bay, a wonderful sight! A Common Kingfisher was perched on the seaweed-covered rocks and also here were: Great Cormorant; Common Shelduck (c.100); Common Oystercatcher; Ruddy Turnstone; Black-headed, Common, Herring, Lesser and Great Black-backed Gulls.


Great Egret, Leighton Moss

After a quick stop at Carnforth’s excellent North Road chippy, I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at Leighton Moss, where the Eric Morecambe complex was excellent. A massive count of 1005 islandica Black-tailed Godwits was my highest ever here and was well above the internationally significant threshold of 470 (although this is presumably more relevant to birds of the nominate form). The UK hosts up to a maximum of around 30,000 of these Icelandic-breeding birds, with the most important sites being the Wash (8203), Dee (4854), Thames (4418) and Ribble (4134) estuaries – as per 2007/8 WEBS figures. Morecambe Bay lags behind in 21st place. It is interesting to note that their numbers are increasing in the UK at the same time as the overall species has been classified as ‘near-threatened’, following a rapid decline in parts of its range (in Europe) owing to changes in agricultural practices contributing to a decline in its overall population, which qualifies it for this worrying status. A regular topic of chat in the office at work is how the eastern form has been split as a separate species in Rasmussen and Anderton's 'Birds of South Asia' yet it does not appear to be any more distinctive than islandica.


islandica Black-tailed Godwits (a lovely ginger-collared juvenile in the centre of the photo) and Common Redshanks

Other highlights were: Great Egret (two, one of which was the red-colour-ringed bird from Loire Atlantique in France that was seen earlier at Brockholes Quarry); Little Egret (c.30, again great to see them in Mediterranean numbers!); Merlin (a juvenile perched on fence posts on the grazing marsh); Red Knot (three); Spotted Redshank (two); Common Greenshank (seven); Bar-tailed Godwit (one with the black tails); Also here were: Northern Shoveler; Eurasian Wigeon; Common Teal; Common Buzzard (up to seven together); Eurasian Sparrowhawk (male); Common Kestrel (one); Peregrine Falcon (one); Northern Lapwing; Dunlin (two); Common Redshank (c.200); Eurasian Curlew and Common Kingfisher (one).

Top four: Little Egret; next: Merlin (juvenile - large bold and blotchy underpart markings) and bottom: a bedraggled Common Kingfisher

The day ended watching the egrets coming in to roost in the bushes on the island mere from the Yealand Redmayne road. I counted 54 Little Egrets, although this may not be an accurate reflection of their true numbers as some were coming in low and may have landed on the other side of the bushes and others changed position, flew around the bushes and may have been double counted. Certainly 50+ seems a good estimate. Almost the last bird to arrive was one of the Great Egrets, however, I did not see a second one here. Also here a Eurasian Bittern (un-ringed and in pristine condition) worked its way furtively along the reed edge of the pool below the egrets and a Grey Heron roosted with them. Four heron species from one spot is not too shabby in the UK! The large numbers of Greylag Geese departing north to roost at dusk included a single Pink-footed Goose and seven Northern Shoveler, two Common Pochard and several moorhens and coots. As the sky grew darker a large female Eurasian Sparrowhawk glided low over the field in front of me, a flock of 29 Redwings flew over calling, four Mistle Thrushes did likewise, a noisy European Green Woodpecker called from trees nearby and both the squeals of Water Rails and pinging calls of Bearded Tits were heard coming from the shadows of the reed bed. Also here was a late Migrant Hawker dragonfly. A fitting end to an enjoyable day in the field. It is interesting to note no Goldcrests at all today. Pete asked ‘what has happened to them this autumn?’




Above: Little Egrets gathering to roost and below: Eurasian Bittern

UK Diary 1-3 October 2009

Leach's Storm-petrel, Heysham north harbour wall

3 October 2009 Heysham Leach’s Storm-petrels. After several weeks in the doldrums at last I have something inspiring to write about! A howling westerly wind had continued all night, rattling the door of the cottage and blowing over the neighbour’s wheely bin, which I almost fell over in the darkness as I left for my usual Saturday morning tour of the patch. After a quick stop at the local Scottish restaurant for breakfast I was soon at Lower Foulridge Reservoir for dawn in the hope of something blown inland or a westbound migrant grounded by the bad weather. This place continues to disappoint after promising so much earlier in the autumn and all I could muster of interest was a fairly high count of 330 Northern Lapwings. Upper Foulridge Reservoir was even quieter with no sign of the recent shovelers. In the rain at ‘o-o-a’ Hellifield Flash, which is in great condition at the moment now the water level has dropped again exposing lots of mud, amongst a throng of ducks, a Northern Pintail and 27 Northern Shovelers were notable. Also here were: Little Grebe (two); Dunlin (four), Common Ringed Plover (two 1cy), Common Snipe (27) and Northern Lapwing (520). Whilst continuing to Stocks Reservoir the weather worsened further and the rain became heavier. There was little of interest here either, with two Northern Pintails the highlight. A quick call to Pete Marsh confirmed that the sea at Heysham might be productive today with a well-timed high tide just before midday combined with the overnight gale and rain. I dashed over the Knotts and down the Lune valley, arriving at the north wall just after 1100 and within about two minutes there was a Leach’s Storm-petrel heading out of the bay, struggling into the wind quite close offshore. Pete arrived minutes later and fortunately it was still in sight. There had been another earlier in the morning plus he had just seen one from Ocean Edge, boding well for our prospects. My first Leach’s was in the hand at Boulmer in Northumberland, on the first ever petrel trapping session in the northeast and in addition to a scatter of inland birds plus a few off Norfolk, I had only experienced a Leach’s passage once before, in 1997 at the same time the Black-winged Pratincole was at Martin Mere. Even then we only saw a handful of distant birds coming out of the River Mersey from New Brighton so I have been keen to see them again since I moved here four years ago.




Leach's Storm-petrel, Heysham north harbour wall - the first of 36 for me and below the wooden jetty takes another battering

Parked on the north wall the mountainous sea at high tide was pretty exciting as huge waves almost covered the wooden jetty at times and broke over the end of the wall. Pete confirmed that as high tide had actually passed we should be OK and after another squall passed through we eventually had another Leach’s Storm-petrel at 1152, again following a similar line out of the bay to the first one. The falling tide and improving visibility aided our scanning and what followed was a thrilling procession of another 35 of these enigmatic petrels as they left the bay on the falling tide, heading back to the open water of the Irish Sea. Most were single birds but occasionally two together zig-zagged their way through the wave troughs past us, some of the later birds pausing to feed, foot-pattering over the water. The wind remained strong and it was impossible to remain steady on your feet so the finer details of many of the birds were hard to discern. The sickle-shaped wings, however, and prominent pale-edged great covert patches were very obvious and sometimes the forked tail as well. A couple of features I had not noticed before were that the under wing can show a pale line down its centre and also from certain angles the tail can look quite square and the white rump can look ‘wrapped around’, which could be potentially confusing. Also the dark line on the centre of the rump was not at all easy to see on most birds. It was very educational sea watching with Guru Pete as his experience showed that it is much easier to watch from towards the end of the north wall looking down the wave troughs in a westerly as many of the petrels would be hidden otherwise. Pete had a couple after I left but otherwise the movement ended as the tide fell lower.

Leach's Storm-petrels, Heysham north harbour wall

Other highlights of the sea watch were: Great Crested Grebe (one); Red-throated Diver (one); shearwater sp. (probably Manx); Common Guillemot (two); Kittiwake (two adults behind the IOM ferry); Mediterranean Gull (three, two adults and a first winter); Little Gull (two juveniles out); Northern Pintail (three out); Northern Eider (c.10) and it also ended on a high note with a Bonxie into the bay at just after 1400. Further up the coast at the windblown Leighton Moss Eric Morecambe complex two Spotted Redshank and three Black-tailed Godwits were amongst a large flock of Common Redshank and c.10 Little Egrets were scattered in the ditches beyond. I also checked Pine Lake and Alston Reservoirs on the way home in the hope of a seabird to no avail. As Dave Bickerton commented, it was probably not blowing for long enough to wreck something inland.

Mediterranean Gull, Heysham (1cy)