Free Pij!

Pij in the large Ash tree in the garden immediately after escape

Laughing Gull, Marton Mere

Laughing Gull

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Tufted Duck

Moorhen

Moorhen chick - look at the size of those feet!

Male Whitethroat, Warrington

Whitethroat

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The big news - 17 days after being horrifically mauled by a cat, Pij the Woodpigeon is free! I had a good look at the bird late last week and decided it was well enough to be released at the weekend. Obviously the bird had the same idea - on Saturday when I opened the cage door to check it again, Pij made a break for it and managed to escape anyway. It flew straight up into the larger of the two Ash trees in our garden.

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Ever since Pij was rescued, three Woodies have been present in the garden - a pair which is nesting across the road and a single bird which the pair have tried to evict several times. I have also seen at least one bird on the ground in front of Pij's cage on numerous occasions. Within minutes of Pij flying into the tree it was joined by another Woodie. Both stayed all afternoon and most of the evening together, with Pij taking the odd short flight, before both flew off together late on. I haven't seen them since. There was a lucky escape shortly after Pij got loose. A female Sparrowhawk came bombing over the field towards the garden - I warned her off by jumping up and down waving my arms.

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Pij will clearly need some time and luck to survive, especially as it will need to regain a lot of strength - I do think this bird has several lives though. In my mind I have no doubt that its mate has been hanging around while it was recovering and they are now reunited.

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HGF recently has been monotonous with the same birds over and over again. The Black-necked Grebes have been doing their version of the hokey kokey - they have been in, out, in, out etc etc. Each time they stay for a day, disappear for a day and then return again. None now since Saturday though. Yellow Wagtails are less frequently seen though it is clear at least two pairs are breeding locally. A new female was seen yesterday - different plumage characteristics to the usual females though, after some consultation, apparently within the diverse range of female Yellow Wags. This takes the number of individuals this year to at least seven. Two male Corn Buntings are now present.

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This evening, in a break from the monotony, a pair of Shovelers were present, along with a Canada Goose and 2 new Swans. In the 3.5 yrs I have been watching the pool, I have recorded Shovelers only 15 times, 13 of these sightings being in winter and very early Spring. They are very rare here in summer.

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On Saturday morning I paid a visit to Woolsten Eyes. It was, as usual when I go there, very quiet and I ws reduced to counting singing warblers. I got the following:

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40 Whitethroats

23 Blackcaps

21 Willow Warblers

17 Reed Warblers

14 Sedge Warblers

11 Chiffchaffs

2 Garden Warblers

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In addition to these I also had 2 Kingfishers, 1 Green Woodpecker, 3 Buzzards, 12 Black-necked Grebes, 14 Pochard and a range of other waterfowl.

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This morning I finally had a decent spell of birding. I started off with a trip to Swillington Ings and quickly got distant views of the Collared Pratincole - I would guess this is the same bird Jonathan was watching last week in Norfolk. At one point the bird just seemed to disappear in front of 20 or so birders - none of us saw it go. And that, unfortunately, was the last sighting of the bird.

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Also at Swillington was a single Whiskered Tern and good views of a female Marsh Harrier hunting. I picked up a Garden Warbler singing in dense bushes by the path. The final good bird of the day was the Laughing Gull - this is only the second of this species I have seen and a cracking bird for someone like me who finds gulls interesting!