Showing posts with label Grey Plover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grey Plover. Show all posts

Friday, March 7, 2014

March Madness

I hope this isn’t getting monotonous for blog readers but there isn’t much to thrill today after a quiet morning up Conder and Cockerham way. It’s just that time of year, early March when the winter birds thin out but before the arrival of the first true spring migrants in mid to late March. 

We enjoyed an awful lot of heavy overnight showers, a couple of sleepless spells as windswept rain lashed the bedroom window. When driving this morning there were lots of new roadside muddy puddles through which to splash. I made a mental note to leave time in the day for yet another bucketful of car shampoo, my unvarying chore of the past three months. 

When I arrived at Conder Green the River Conder was flowing towards the estuary both fast and high, filling the creeks to way above low water level, a sure sign of a night’s deluge. 

The regular birds were there, some in now smaller numbers as winter finally abates: 28 Redshank, 70 Teal, 4 Little Grebe, 3 Goldeneye, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Grey Plover, 4 Curlew, 1 Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Little Egret, 4 Shelduck, 6 Wigeon and 4 Oystercatcher. The Oystercatchers comprised two pairs, each taking up residence on the topmost points of the almost submerged islands where both Oystercatchers and Lapwings nest. After the winter rain and storms and using the sluice wall as a reference point it looks as though the water level of the pool is now higher by some 18 inches or more. 

Oystercatcher

Grey Plover

Teal

It remained pretty windy this morning whereby the often serene Glasson Dock had waves a plenty to hide the wildfowl. Receding numbers but still 30+ Tufted Duck, 7 Goldeneye and 8 Cormorants, the Cormorants lined motionless along a single landing stage, waiting for the signal to dive in if the photographer moved closer. 

Cormorant

Goldeneye

The fields at Jeremy Lane were stacked with mainly smaller gulls and Starlings. When I stopped to look closer I estimated 750 Black-headed Gull, 75 Common Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Little Egret and 1500 Starlings. 

Little Egret

Every so often there was a “dread” as all the birds took to the air before settling again to resume feeding on the saturated fields. It wasn’t until the third time that I saw the cause of their panic, a female Merlin dashing low and fast close to the throng of birds but failing to take anything. 

Somewhere in the distant fields was a flock of Black-tailed Godwits too, at one point about 300 of them flying around together before settling far away. 

It was good to see Brown Hares about this morning, just 3, but two of them engaged in their March Madness, chasing through the fields in the near distance. 

Brown Hare

There’s more Insanity in March very soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Camera CrittersEileen's Saturday Blog and Anni's birding blog.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland - Looking North West

This is it folks, and if you reached here today via Princeton University Press Blog or Birding Frontiers you will know what this is all about. For regular readers of Another Bird Blog today’s post is a little different in the form of a whistle-stop on a tour of UK birding blogs which features Richard Crossley’s new book The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland. Also today, blog readers can enter a free draw at the bottom of this page to win a signed copy of the book.


Following on from a sneak peek from Another Bird Blog in October, it’s time for another look at The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland, this time featuring waders and wildfowl, the staple diet of North West birders. 

For readers who don’t know, Another Bird Blog is based geographically just a mile or two from arguably the two most important wetland sites of the whole of the UK & Ireland, Morecambe Bay and the Ribble/Alt estuary complex. Both are Special Protection Areas, Special Area of Conservation, and Ramsar sites which support high densities of waterbirds including swans, ducks, geese and waders. In this region of England waders and wildfowl form a backdrop to daily lives, where a simple road journey or an unassuming walk inevitably leads to encounters with wild and wonderful birds. 

However, not everyone who lives in these parts knows their birds, and in recent years it has become something of a mission of my life that more people should appreciate the wildlife that surrounds them. Hence my interest in discovering if this latest Crossley can appeal to not only those already hooked on birding, but to anyone with barely a casual or passing curiosity about birds.

I am reminded of a morning at Knott End-On Sea when I overheard two people discussing the black and white "penguins" walking ahead of the fastly approaching tide. Should I stop and explain about Morecambe Bay and its importance to Oystercatchers, then show them a picture of an Oystercatcher in my traditional field guide with drawings of 600 species, in the hope it might inspire them to learn about the birds literally on their doorstep? More likely the complexity of the book with its numbers of birds in seemingly identical pages would simply overwhelm them, so to my shame I did nothing. 

The new Crossley claims to be directed at novice and intermediate birders. Perhaps if at the time I had carried a copy of this book I could have used it to good advantage in winning over converts? Here are those Oystercatchers at Knott End-On-Sea again, this time in a scene from The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland. Well it’s not really Knott End but a near perfect match for it with the Wyre Estuary in the background, the sand-lined shingle and mussel beds, the tidal pools, and on the shore the ever present Oystercatchers. 


Now wouldn’t sharing that page be a near perfect way to explain about Oystercatchers and encourage Jill and Joe Public to think about the birds they had just seen? 

To continue this theme, I selected more plates from the latest Crossley with a view to seeing how they stack up as an ID guide and/or as a way to help people learn about British and Irish birds and how to identify them.

This new book covers more than 300 species by way of a user friendly approach based upon habitat and physical similarities rather than the more usual taxonomic approach of a traditional field guide. For instance a couple of plates which face each other in the book are Sanderling and Dunlin, placed side by side as the two most common and widespread small shore birds of the UK and Ireland, two species which novices may struggle to separate. Look closely and not only are the birds true to life but the backdrops to both images are entirely realistic. This look and learn technique helps to reinforce the similarities and differences in the reader’s mind of the two species behaviour and environment. 



At Page 114 are a number of Grey Plovers in various stages of black, white and grey, feeding in the shallow water of an estuary situation, the ones in flight showing their diagnostic white rumps and black armpits. It’s a highly accurate scene and one which is repeated on a daily basis here in Lancashire and also in the many estuaries of the UK and Ireland. 

Facing the Grey Plovers at Page 115 are some first-rate Golden Plovers. The picture shows the species at different stages of their sparkly gold and brown plumage, some birds with a hint or two of black, others much blacker, just as they occur in springtime. The distant ones are still recognisable as Golden Plovers, as are the ones just taking off. There’s a Lapwing or two in the field with the goldies as well as a couple of Starlings and cattle. Spot on Mr Crossley. 

For a novice birder faced with IDing a dumpy plover, and apart from the obvious colour differences, studying the side-by-side pages gives an immediate pictorial distinction by way of the different habitats the two species use. Here lies the strength of the Crossley guides, the look and learn, the visual experience whereby the mental image stays in the mind to be retrieved later and where habitat is often the key to clinching the final ID. 
 
 


The wader pages of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland are admirable, space limitations meaning it’s not possible to show here many of the other excellent and full page spreads given to the likes of godwits, sandpipers, shanks and stints. Uncommon birds like Pectoral Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and White-rumped Sandpiper make it into the 300 species, even though limited to one third of a page each. 

Major rarities of the wader family do not qualify for an appearance in the book, but then after all this is a volume aimed at beginner and intermediate birders, not those likely to hop on a plane to Ireland or the Northern Isles to see a one-off disorientated stray. 

I know that novice birders struggle with wildfowl, “brown” ducks in particular which for many people are a bit of a turn off. Along their migration routes and in the winter months ducks are so subject to the constant attention of human beings with guns that their sheer wildness makes them a difficult subject to study at close quarters. So I explored the ducks in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland so as to find a couple of common species to examine, species which upon closer inspection might also reward a yet to be convinced novice birder of the value of learning our beautiful wildfowl. 

I found the Wigeon at Page 51 to be the sort of true representation I was looking for. A mass of Wigeon on the far bank of the water, a multi-coloured mowing machine moving across the sward, and in the middle distance the orange foreheads of the males with their entourage of “nondescript” females. It’s the classic advice for an experienced, intermediate or novice birder in how to identify a brown duck - take note of the male it accompanies. One thing missing from this scene are the pure and haunting whistles of Wigeon, unmistakeable sounds which alert birders to the presence of the species. Now there would be a truly interactive innovation for a future Crossley or any other guide - press a button on the page to hear the species call or sing. 


I next studied Teal at page 53, to the uninitiated another “brown job.” There they are at my local patch of Rawcliffe Moss, the farm buildings behind, the flooded field, the tight flock of tiny, wader-like duck already twisting and turning off at my approach. Equally, the scene is almost any winter wetland or flooded salt marsh anywhere in the UK or Ireland not just here in the North West. It’s another truthful and winning scene and one guaranteed to make someone study and absorb the finer detail.

 
The multi-image scenes of wildfowl in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland are especially praiseworthy and I would pick out the pages for Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Scaup, Eider, Long-tailed Duck and Goldeneye for special mention. 

There really are very many exceptional pages in this whole book, especially so in the pages of wildfowl and waders discussed here. While it would be easy to nit-pick through a few pages of the passerines I have nothing but overall praise for the book and its authors Richard Crossley & Dominic Couzens and the way that their product does exactly what it says on the packaging. I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for an introductory guide and learning tool to British and Irish birds, and at £16.95 or less, it’s a steal.


Read about the rest of the UK and Ireland blog tour  at Princeton's blog tour schedule, but next on the tour is Friday's visit to The Biggest Twitch in North Wales and a look at some of that region's speciality birds as portrayed in The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland. 

Finally, I saved the best for last. Publishers Princeton University Press are offering five signed copies of The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland in a free to enter draw at the bottom of this page. There's  also a live Internet video chat presentation at Shindig on Thursday 21st November at 19.00-20.00 hours  GMT where all are invited as Richard & Dominic discuss the book and take questions from the audience.

I also have a spare copy of this splendid book for a blog reader to win in a draw in the next week or so, actual day yet to be decided. Keep logging in to Another Bird Blog for details. 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Mainly Swallows

A nine metre tide at 11am meant a three hour birding stint at Pilling, a session which produced a few more waders together with a noticeable south-easterly movement of Swallows. 

Passerine numbers improved today, probably as result of the tide pushing the finches off the marsh where they often feed, 20+ Linnet, 30 Goldfinch and 4 Greenfinch. Still 2 Skylark, but a single Pied Wagtail and nil Meadow Pipits. Gangs of Canada Geese are quite unusual at Lane Ends but 50+ today, and also a separate flock of 21 Greylag Geese, the latter having bred hereabouts, with the only other wildfowl of note being 22 Shelduck. Others, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Cormorant and 3 Grey Heron. 

Grey Heron

Yesterday I had an email from someone local who told me of a couple of yet-to-fledge but wildly flapping Grey Heron chicks in a Knott End nest. It seems inordinately late in the year as around here Grey Heron chicks are normally long gone from nests by May. Reading up BWP it seems that Grey Herons are normally single brooded but may replace a clutch of eggs if they or subsequent young are lost. Maybe the weird weather of May, June and July is a factor. 

Waders on the wildfowler’s pools, 1 Green Sandpiper and 1 Common Sandpiper. Waders on the shore, 110 Curlew, 15 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher, 22 Dunlin and 4 Grey Plover. 

Dunlin

Grey Plover

A Peregrine put in a fleeting but star appearance when it chased a feral pigeon from off the marsh and almost over my head. It gave up the pursuit when spotting me just ahead of its trajectory, leaving me with the clatter of wings of the fleeing pigeon and sight of the peg heading back out to sit on the marsh. 

The movement of Swallows was more or less constant, birds feeding low over the marsh or heading east along the sea wall before flying more distantly into the stiff south-easterly wind, an estimated 160 in three hours. Just 2 Swift today flying high and directly south. 

More from Another Bird Blog tomorrow I hope.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

On Ice

With any plans for ringing literally "on ice" there were two places on my keep moving itinerary this morning, a look at Lane Ends followed by a walk along Knott End promenade for the incoming midday tide.

I didn’t hang around at Lane Ends, where standing around for more than few minutes invited hypothermia, but walked the sea wall to Pilling Water then back to the car park on the lookout for just about anything that still survives the extreme weather. Whooper Swans this morning, about 140, then quick, rough counts of 550 Shelduck, 400 Teal, 180 Wigeon, 40 Lapwing, 25 Curlew and 15 or so Redshank. Of the small birds I still found 40 or more Skylarks and 5 Meadow Pipits braving the elements but nothing else save the Blackbirds, Robins and Dunnocks that survive around the car park.

It was a good bright morning and I thought I might have better luck with the tide and waders at Knott End where the ice and snow covered the beach, foreshore, the walkways and the jetty. It didn’t take long to find a good but not especially numerous selection of waders either roosting or feeding, but I was careful not to disturb them nor venture too far onto the treacherous icy surfaces.

Ringed Plover

Knot, Turnstone

Grey Plover, Redshank, Dunlin, Turnstone, Knot

Redshank

Turnstone

Knot

Redshank

For the record my counts were 30 Turnstone, 1 Grey Plover, 48 Redshank, 22 Knot, 14 Ringed Plover and 3 Oystercatcher.

A few Shelduck in amongst the ice floes sailed past the end of the jetty, as they looked for food at the tide edges.

Shelduck

Also along the foreshore were approximately 45 Twite and a single Rock Pipit.

Twite

I’d spent an hour or more taking pictures and I was pretty much frozen to the core so headed home for a hot drink and a sit down in the warmth, unlike the birds I’d just seen.

Friday, July 16, 2010

What's Next

There wasn’t a lot of point birding this morning with rain lashing down and a 30mph westerly so I did some IPMR work and saved the birding until lunch time when the at least the rain stopped, even though it remained windy. There was a likely looking tide due at about 3.15pm so I went to check it out at Pilling.

After an interval of a couple of months Little Egrets put in an appearance with 2 autumn birds out on the marsh so it will be interesting to see how their numbers build up here. In recent years the autumn Little Egrets outnumber the Grey Herons, as they did today with only one of the grey variety counted. The waders came in with the tide as they always do, but now as July moves on a bit more variety ensues. The Common Sandpipers have been back since 27th June but in small numbers, 6 today. Along the outflow I spotted a bird in unfamiliar summer plumage, a Turnstone, a bird we are more accustomed to seeing in winter plumage. Unfortunately I can’t claim to have taken the picture on the Arctic tundra where they breed but from where some leave about now. There were a number of Dunlin again today and I estimated 90 birds, with a single Golden Plover and coming in from across the north of the bay, 4 Grey Plover. Curlew numbers continue rising with 600 today plus 40 Redshanks and a single Greenshank.

Turnstone

Turnstone

Common Sandpiper

Dunlin

Grey Plover

Little Egret

On the incoming tide I counted 6 Great-crested Grebe, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Mallard and 9 Eider, all brown females or juveniles. Eiders are much more common here than formerly so I guess the Walney colony has finally expanded to take in south Morecambe Bay.

Eider

Three very vocal Kestrels patrolled the sea wall and the marsh today; it was probably the two juveniles making all the noise as they looked to have very fresh plumage.

Wind-blown or sheltering passerines were hard to find but 4 very green Greenfinch, several Linnets and the still displaying Meadow Pipit were duly noted.

Of course if we get even more rain, the tide comes in too far or the birding gets a bit quiet there’s always the option of trying some extreme motoring in my Suzuki.



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