Ribblehead valley
Med Gull, Heysham tempted by a butty!
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Heysham
Pink-footed Goose, Lancaster
Scaup, Morecambe
Teal Bay groyne, Morecambe just after high tide. Just a few rocks sticking up out of the water
Grey Plover, Bolton-Le-Sands
Bolton-Le-Sands salt marsh at high tide
Med Gull, Caton
Brambling, Halton. One of at least 13 birds - most of my digiscoping attempts just produced blurry orange shapes in the trees!
Dippers, Halton
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After what seems like an eternity we finally got access back to the van in Caton at the weekend following the statutory shut down. It was great to be back in N Lancs – we really did miss the place.
Xxxxx
On Saturday morning before leaving for the van I walked Bill down to HGF. Not much change though a couple of Lapwings could have been birds returning to territory plus at least 6 Skylarks in the south field and a couple of Grey Partridges. A single drake Teal was also on the water. I parked briefly on Waterworks Lane to watch the feeding station. There wasn’t much about, however my eye was caught by a flock of around 90 Linnets which flew over Waterworks Lane and headed off at speed in the direction of Highfield Lane. The cause of their haste appeared just a few seconds later as a female Merlin bombed across the lane and off over the fields after the Linnets. I never saw whether she caught any of them.
Xxxxx
Saturday 19th
Xxxx
On arrival at the van virtually the first thing I did was put the feeders back up. In less than an hour a Nuthatch was on them plus a flock of various tits including 3 Coal Tits! A Jay was screaming from the nearby trees and a small flock of Redwings were feeding in the field behind the van. I didn’t get out birding today, however I did observe that the Greenfinch flock was still roosting at the site with 54 birds present this evening. I also spotted 4 Goosanders on the river while walking Bill. After dusk 2 Tawny Owls began calling somewhere on the site.
Xxxxxx
Sunday morning I got up early and headed off down to the river at Halton with Bill in tow. We did the usual walk from the weir by the old mills. Interestingly here there is an eco-development going on with eco-friendly houses scheduled to be built. This is on a stretch of unspoilt river and to achieve this they are chopping down trees and removing allsorts of habitat from the banking. Meanwhile just 100 metres away there is a small housing estate with at least 20 houses uninhabited after the developers went bump presumably. So the answer to being eco-friendly is to ignore the houses which are already there and just need finishing off and instead tear up lots of trees, shrubs and other habitat to build new ones just 100 metres away. As the Americans would say – go figure!
Xxxx
Anyway back to the birds which seemed to appear in threes this morning. Three Treecreepers, 3 Nuthatches, 3 drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Bullfinches (2 males) and 3 Goldeneyes (1 drake) flying up the river completed the set. To be fair there were birds everywhere this morning and despite being very cold this weekend there was still a spring fell about the place. I wandered into the small wood which follows the river up to Crook O’Lune picnic spot and I could hear birds which sounded like a subdued Starling roost. I eventually found them in some distant trees and realised they were singing Redwings! The local Buzzard pair kept gliding over the tree tops and seven Goosanders flew up river. I spent quite a bit of time watching the local pair of Dippers feeding together. No Kingfishers today though.
Xxxxx
After leaving the river I stopped to scan the Black-headed Gull flock which seems to always feed early in the morning in the fields west of the village. I soon found the bird I sought – an adult Med Gull. Next stop was Heysham, however the visibility here was poor and the place was lifting with fishermen. I threw the obligatory slices of bread onto the sea and sure enough the local Med Gull turned up. I had seen around 1500 Pink-footed Geese in the fields off the bypass – unfortunately there was nowhere to stop and scan them. I then headed off to Morecambe where I arrived at Teal Bay just in time to see 3 Scaup drifting away down the shore. Quite a few waders on the groyne though and the tide still pushing up – a few Eiders and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers too. I came back here later on, briefly, to find virtually the whole groyne under water.
Xxxxx
I then moved over to Bolton-Le-Sands where the tide completely flooded the salt marsh. Lots of birds moving around though nothing special – it was good to just sit and chill watching birds instead of chasing a Ring-necked Duck at Fleetwood or something similar which is what I all to often do. Sightings at BLS were:
Xxxx
1 Little Egret
400+ Shelduck
15 Pintails
45+ Wigeon
4000+ Oystercatcher
180+ Curlew
160+ Redshank
300+ Dunlin
80+ Knot
1 Grey Plover
8 Bar-tailed Godwits
Xxxxx
Bolton-Le-Sands was bitterly cold so I left early afternoon and headed back to the van. Late afternoon I ventured out again to Leighton Moss – noting that there were 62 Greenfinches hanging around the roost site in the holiday park. LM was quietish – I arrived at 16:40, parked up at the laybye on the road above the reserve and spotted that there were already 10 Little Egrets in the roost. No others turned up and almost immediately the Starlings began arriving. Tonight they almost all arrived from the opposite side of the valley and they also roosted at the far end of the reserve. They did show some spectacular shapes in the gloomy sky – I estimate I saw around 50-60,000 birds. Two Buzzards and a Peregrine were the only raptors seen – I also heard at least 8 squealing Water Rails.
Xxxxx
Monday morning I wandered back down to the river. As soon as I arrived I watched a flock of finches swirl above the river before alighting in trees at the top of the opposite banking. I set the scope up to view them and was delighted to find at least 13 Bramblings with 50+ Chaffinches. Four Goldeneyes were messing about on the river and the pair of Dippers entertained for a while. I didn’t do any birding for the rest of the day – instead Karen and I took a drive out to Muker in the dales. When we hit the Ribblehead area there was snow on the fells. On the road out past Hawes the weather closed in on the top road with thick cloud restricting visibility and snow falling heavily. Clearly winter is not quite done in some areas.
Xxxxx
This morning and back to reality and work. Nothing much doing at HGF first thing, however the garden was busy early on. I assume that the seed that I put down at the feeding station last Friday has gone – 7 Yellowhammers and 35+ Tree Sparrows were feeding at the back of the garden. Unfortunately 11 Jackdaws dropped in and scattered the flock. 13 Blackbirds emerged from the roost in the garden first thing.
Xxxxx
On Saturday morning before leaving for the van I walked Bill down to HGF. Not much change though a couple of Lapwings could have been birds returning to territory plus at least 6 Skylarks in the south field and a couple of Grey Partridges. A single drake Teal was also on the water. I parked briefly on Waterworks Lane to watch the feeding station. There wasn’t much about, however my eye was caught by a flock of around 90 Linnets which flew over Waterworks Lane and headed off at speed in the direction of Highfield Lane. The cause of their haste appeared just a few seconds later as a female Merlin bombed across the lane and off over the fields after the Linnets. I never saw whether she caught any of them.
Xxxxx
Saturday 19th
Xxxx
On arrival at the van virtually the first thing I did was put the feeders back up. In less than an hour a Nuthatch was on them plus a flock of various tits including 3 Coal Tits! A Jay was screaming from the nearby trees and a small flock of Redwings were feeding in the field behind the van. I didn’t get out birding today, however I did observe that the Greenfinch flock was still roosting at the site with 54 birds present this evening. I also spotted 4 Goosanders on the river while walking Bill. After dusk 2 Tawny Owls began calling somewhere on the site.
Xxxxxx
Sunday morning I got up early and headed off down to the river at Halton with Bill in tow. We did the usual walk from the weir by the old mills. Interestingly here there is an eco-development going on with eco-friendly houses scheduled to be built. This is on a stretch of unspoilt river and to achieve this they are chopping down trees and removing allsorts of habitat from the banking. Meanwhile just 100 metres away there is a small housing estate with at least 20 houses uninhabited after the developers went bump presumably. So the answer to being eco-friendly is to ignore the houses which are already there and just need finishing off and instead tear up lots of trees, shrubs and other habitat to build new ones just 100 metres away. As the Americans would say – go figure!
Xxxx
Anyway back to the birds which seemed to appear in threes this morning. Three Treecreepers, 3 Nuthatches, 3 drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Bullfinches (2 males) and 3 Goldeneyes (1 drake) flying up the river completed the set. To be fair there were birds everywhere this morning and despite being very cold this weekend there was still a spring fell about the place. I wandered into the small wood which follows the river up to Crook O’Lune picnic spot and I could hear birds which sounded like a subdued Starling roost. I eventually found them in some distant trees and realised they were singing Redwings! The local Buzzard pair kept gliding over the tree tops and seven Goosanders flew up river. I spent quite a bit of time watching the local pair of Dippers feeding together. No Kingfishers today though.
Xxxxx
After leaving the river I stopped to scan the Black-headed Gull flock which seems to always feed early in the morning in the fields west of the village. I soon found the bird I sought – an adult Med Gull. Next stop was Heysham, however the visibility here was poor and the place was lifting with fishermen. I threw the obligatory slices of bread onto the sea and sure enough the local Med Gull turned up. I had seen around 1500 Pink-footed Geese in the fields off the bypass – unfortunately there was nowhere to stop and scan them. I then headed off to Morecambe where I arrived at Teal Bay just in time to see 3 Scaup drifting away down the shore. Quite a few waders on the groyne though and the tide still pushing up – a few Eiders and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers too. I came back here later on, briefly, to find virtually the whole groyne under water.
Xxxxx
I then moved over to Bolton-Le-Sands where the tide completely flooded the salt marsh. Lots of birds moving around though nothing special – it was good to just sit and chill watching birds instead of chasing a Ring-necked Duck at Fleetwood or something similar which is what I all to often do. Sightings at BLS were:
Xxxx
1 Little Egret
400+ Shelduck
15 Pintails
45+ Wigeon
4000+ Oystercatcher
180+ Curlew
160+ Redshank
300+ Dunlin
80+ Knot
1 Grey Plover
8 Bar-tailed Godwits
Xxxxx
Bolton-Le-Sands was bitterly cold so I left early afternoon and headed back to the van. Late afternoon I ventured out again to Leighton Moss – noting that there were 62 Greenfinches hanging around the roost site in the holiday park. LM was quietish – I arrived at 16:40, parked up at the laybye on the road above the reserve and spotted that there were already 10 Little Egrets in the roost. No others turned up and almost immediately the Starlings began arriving. Tonight they almost all arrived from the opposite side of the valley and they also roosted at the far end of the reserve. They did show some spectacular shapes in the gloomy sky – I estimate I saw around 50-60,000 birds. Two Buzzards and a Peregrine were the only raptors seen – I also heard at least 8 squealing Water Rails.
Xxxxx
Monday morning I wandered back down to the river. As soon as I arrived I watched a flock of finches swirl above the river before alighting in trees at the top of the opposite banking. I set the scope up to view them and was delighted to find at least 13 Bramblings with 50+ Chaffinches. Four Goldeneyes were messing about on the river and the pair of Dippers entertained for a while. I didn’t do any birding for the rest of the day – instead Karen and I took a drive out to Muker in the dales. When we hit the Ribblehead area there was snow on the fells. On the road out past Hawes the weather closed in on the top road with thick cloud restricting visibility and snow falling heavily. Clearly winter is not quite done in some areas.
Xxxxx
This morning and back to reality and work. Nothing much doing at HGF first thing, however the garden was busy early on. I assume that the seed that I put down at the feeding station last Friday has gone – 7 Yellowhammers and 35+ Tree Sparrows were feeding at the back of the garden. Unfortunately 11 Jackdaws dropped in and scattered the flock. 13 Blackbirds emerged from the roost in the garden first thing.
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