Elusive Osprey tops bill

Photos:

Buzzard at Waterworks Lane, Winwick
Views of the Lune from Bull Beck to Claughton and over towards Ingleborough
Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, leucistic Canada Goose all on the river here plus Pied Wagtail and Grey Heron downriver at Halton

4^th April 

In the space of a couple of days the weather has changed considerably and this morning at HGF it was very cold, windy and just a bit wet. Most of the birds seem to have snapped back into winter mode with migration movements slowing somewhat and bird song either muted or disappearing. 

At least this morning I did see my first House Martins of the year along with 4 Sand Martins over the pool. The wader line up constituted pairs of Little Ringed Plover, Redshank and Oystercatcher. On the water were the usual Tufties, Great Crested Grebes and a handful of Coots. A single Common Gull was also present. 

Around 50 Tree Sparrows were observed at the feeding station on my way past into work – a pair of Grey Partridges also there.

Late afternoon I headed over to Pennington Flash to see if the Osprey reported earlier was still around. While walking towards Horrocks Hide with Bill I met a few birders leaving, all with the comment “it flew off half an hour ago and went that way”. I plonked myself down in Horrocks anyway – my feeling was that it could just as easily have gone and perched up somewhere for an hour or two, especially after having caught a fish just before it flew off. Jason Atkinson was also there so we had a natter while watching other stuff including a Kingfisher on the little pond and a Willow Warbler which looked slightly odd – a bit too brownish for a typical bird but otherwise had the right structure and call etc. 

After a while, a chap on a bike arrived to say that he and another birder had been watching the Osprey for the last hour or so perched up at Teal Hide. Jason and I were the only birders left at this point so we headed around to Teal Hide, arriving to find the Osprey had just left there and headed back in the direction of the main flash. So we went back and didn’t see an Osprey there. Jason then headed off up towards Rammies while I went back to Teal Hide and we both drew a blank and returned to Horrocks. 

I then noticed a bird down at the far end, past the yacht club but couldn’t be certain with the bins. I got my scope onto it and confirmed it was the Osprey. The bird then flew around the flash for 10-15 minutes giving good views, occasionally hovering over a stretch of water but not making any attempt at catching fish. Jason also picked up two adult Meds flying down onto the spit. The Osprey flew out of site over Rammies so Jason and I split up again with Jason heading for Teal Hide and me going up towards Rammies. Again nothing but a bunch of Black-headed Gulls and a few corvids were clearly having a pop at something between Edmondson and Teal Hides. 

I went back to Horrocks, arriving a few minutes after Jason had just left and heard all the gulls go bananas and there was the Osprey again just hanging in the wind over the spit and surrounded by gulls. And just as quickly it was gone again only to reappear over the ruck 2 minutes later where it glided down into the trees. It was getting late by now and the Osprey had probably gone to roost so we headed home. 

5^th April 

10 Sand Martins at HGF this morning were the only birds of note at this site. Around 20 Tree Sparrows were noted at the feeding station plus usual Buzzard showing quite well on the nearby fence line. Later on we headed up to the van. 

This afternoon on an extremely sunny day I took Bill for a walk along the Lune from Bull Beck towards Claughton. Around 9 Sand Martins were present at the colony with all of the birds busy inspecting nest holes. Two Ringed Plovers were present along with numerous Oystercatchers and Redshanks plus Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher. Over Aughton Woods four Buzzards were aloft and I watched two having some fisticuffs while one of two Ravens present flew with them and had also had a pop at one of the fighting Buzzards. Interesting. 

Late afternoon at the van I noted 8 Buzzards and 2 Ravens in the air over to the SE – probably over Flodden Hill Wood. Also over the fields to the south were 140+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls. This prompted the usual discussion with Karen: 

“Are they seagulls?”

“There is no such thing as a seagull!” 

Karen has subsequently carried out her own research into gull taxa and has reclassified gulls as follows: 

Sea gulls

Land gulls
Tip gulls
Chimney gulls
Raid the sweet shop at the seaside gulls
Crap on your car gulls 

This evening at least 19 Greenfinches were seen waiting to go to roost and a late evening walk by the Lune past Woodies produced another Kingfisher. 

6^th April 

This morning, when I finally crawled out of bed, I went over to Heysham for a bit and did a spot of sea watching over the high tide. The highlight was a Razorbill flying out of the bay – I also noted 8 Common Scoters flying out with 4 Red-throated Divers also seen. The 2cy Shag was still in the harbour. I checked Morecambe groynes but they have been disappointing this winter and today was no exception. 4 Red-breasted Mergansers off Broadway was the pick of a poor selection. 

This afternoon I walked by the Lune up to Forge Bank Weir at Halton and spent some time watching the Dipper. 16 Goosanders were flitting up and down on the river – 4 adult-plumaged drakes and 12 redheads, all of which I think were immature drakes. Just a single Grey Wagtail was seen but I did find a Nuthatch nesting in the same tree as last year. 6 singing Chiffchaffs were detected along this stretch and a single Swallow flew by. 

I also watched two Robins by the van today engaged in a courtship display. Both were on the ground beneath a tree and facing each other. Both birds then stretched out their heads & necks and started swaying slowly from side to side while still facing each other. I have never seen this before and a bit of research suggests one bird doing this is a begging behaviour for food. In this case both birds behaved identically so I don’t necessarily agree with that hypothesis in this instance. I also wonder if this is regular behaviour and I have simply not seen it due to “common bird syndrome” i.e. not paying enough attention to species we see every day.