Other Lancashire Wildlife News |
Below are aggregated posts from various wildlife blogs created by people within Lancashire (lancashirewildlife.org.uk accept no responsibility for any content not created directly by lancashirewildlife.org.uk). Leighton Moss RSPB, Lancs: 2nd Sept 2010. Post Origin "Bill Aspin Blog" added here on September 3rd, 2010   The last couple of hours of light was spent viewing the NE end of Leighton Moss RSPB from the road as I awaited the appearance of the roosting Osprey which duly appeared, cruising in to Island Mere from the NW at 19:55. The sight of Little Egrets flying in to roost was a delight to behold, with 56 in from the SW by 20:15. Ninety-two was the final count by observers in the Lower Hide. UK Diary 31 August – 3 September 2010 Post Origin "Mike Watson Blog" added here on September 3rd, 2010 Red Grouse (male), Pendle Hill 3 SEPTEMBER 2010 PENDLE HILL. On a beautiful still and sunny evening around 13 Northern Wheatears were the highlight of an evening walk from Pendleside to the north wall and back via the landslide trail and the trig point. Also at the summit were: Common Kestrel (three hunting widely between the landslide and the north wall, no doubt causing many passerines to keep a low profile); Red Grouse (two males); Eurasian Skylark (four); Meadow Pipit (only five) and Carrion Crow (one). 2 SEPTEMBER 2010. A juvenile Willow Warbler flycatching from the hedge below the cottage today hinted at the migration taking place at the moment. Unfortunately it takes place on such a broad front in East Lancashire that we usually only see glimpses of it. Also in the garden today were two Eurasian Nuthatches and the usual family of five Long-tailed Tits.  Northern Wheatear, Pendle Hill  A change…. Post Origin "Pete Woodruff Blog" added here on September 3rd, 2010
....is as good as a rest!
 Kingfisher. David Cookson. There's nowt like kicking off a post on a blog with a stunning photograph, and photographs don't come any more stunning than this one and that's official. Thanks for this David....bloody brilliant. With JB/BT today and by way of a change we set off North for Hale Moss a small reserve off the A6 towards Beetham, to say the least it was a little quiet but it was good to find another Marsh Tit - my second this week - a very localised resident breeder, and a bird you're only ever likely to see in the limestone woodlands of SE Cumbria, the Arnside and Silverdale AONB, and the Lune Valley, also a Buzzard over.  Black Darter. Pete Woodruff. On to Foulshaw Moss where we saw the distant Osprey which is almost certain to breed here one day soon, 3 Stonechat here were excellent in my book at least, the only other bird noted here - believe it or not - was a Willow Warbler, we saw 3 Red Deer one of which was snow white and another first for me. The only butterflies seen were a single Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell, there was a good number - recorders don't like that sort of language - of Black Darter and I achieved a - not very glamorous - pic of the one above which settled on the top of a gate. A visit to Witherslack was to be honest a little too late in the year but a single female Silver-washed Fritillary did eventually put in an appearance.  Brimstone. Pete Woodruff. Thirty minutes at the Latterbarrow Reserve gave us three butterfly species with a Small Tortoiseshell, Common Blue, and 3 Brimstone one of which is in the pic above and which - for the first time ever - I appreciated the perfection of this creatures camouflage as it fed on the Scabious 'Pink Mist'. Stonechat Behaviour. I observed some 'new' Stonechat behaviour today at Foulshaw Moss. BT picked up a very distant bird perched in a small tree on the moss which I instantly recognised as a Stonechat, the bird eventually flew off and joined two others and the three then fed on a swarm of small insects at the very top of a tall Scotch Pine. I would never have searched a tall Scotch Pine in order to locate the Stonechat....another first record for the book.  Winter Feed Post Origin "Fleetwood Birder Blog" added here on September 3rd, 2010
No you haven't slept through autumn and woke up in winter! The title refers to the fact that I put the first seed out at my feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss today. I don't intend to start any ringing at the feeding station until the end of October, but it takes a couple of months for the birds to find the food and for the flock to build up.
  Peanuts and Seed After I had put the food out I had a walk round the Moss but it was quiet. A number of Swallows, 223 to be precise, were feeding over of the wheat and barley. This anticyclonic weather that we have at the moment tends to build Swallow numbers up. A few butterflies were on the wing including numbers of Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood.  Peacock  Red Admiral  Small Tortoiseshell  Afternoon 'arable' Sunshine Ringing at the 'obs' tomorrow, so hopefully that will be better.  A Walk In The Park Post Origin "Phil Blog" added here on September 3rd, 2010I had an email. Lowell asked if I could post information on the blog about a series of forthcoming guided autumn bird watching walks in his local park. No problem, heck I’m all for encouraging people to get out and learn about birds and the environment. So I read on and the penny, or in this case the cent dropped, Lowell meant Central Park, New York, The Big Apple, with bird walks led by expert birders from the American Museum of Natural History.    Now either Lowell hadn’t read my blog in sufficient detail to realise that I and most of my readers are in the UK or he understands the power of the Internet more than I do. But then I thought about it a bit more and looked through my statistics and saw that in actual fact I have over 1000 visitors from the US since October last year from places as far apart as San Francisco, Kentucky, Idaho and yes, even New York. Geography was never my strongest subject but I do know that it’s more than a short bus ride or subway journey from Kentucky, San Francisco or Boise to Central Park so I hope Lowell doesn’t think I can get him a few dozen extra punters at the drop of a Stetson, but I guess he’d be happy with one or two. So right now I’m giving everyone plenty of notice because the walks don’t start until Tuesday 7th September, SEE HERE That’s time enough even for some of the more wealthy UK birders to hop on a plane and take part in support of a good cause. But Lowell you must realise UK birders are real tightwads, as many rarity collection buckets devoid of dollar bills but containing a myriad of ancient buttons and foreign coins long since obsolete can testify.     Maybe I should go myself, especially since I have just given Lowell a free ad and he owes me. I will need a Virgin Atlantic return ticket please Lowell, preferably business or first class, plus a Yellow Cab to and from JFK.  These boots were made for walking…. Post Origin "Pete Woodruff Blog" added here on September 2nd, 2010Nancy Sinatra....didn't do anything for me this song. Whilst the weather is this good I thought I'd do some legwork in the Forest of Bowland and check out a few hidden corners along the way.  Three Peaks. Peter Guy. Peter Guy is obviously a mind reader as today he sent me this brilliant B/W photograph of the Three Peaks taken from the top of Catlow Fell. An appropriate picture for this post on Birds2blog as the Forest of Bowland is where I've been today. I first called in at Christ Church at Abbeystead to find about 8 House Martins overhead all the time I was there but no breeding activity seen, a pair of Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Stoat running along a wall was surely in for a kill with several Rabbits in the churchyard. A couple of hours up the Hawthornthwaite access track from Marshaw was worth the effort if only to find a Painted Lady butterfly, only my fourth this year and only the fifth recorded in our area, 30 Meadow Pipits were seen in one hour on the outward leg and a 'large' number of Swallows > South, 2 Red Grouse, and a Dipper. Up the track behind Tower Lodge I found at least 3 Spotted Flycatchers - but had five sightings - but these three had to be relegated by the Whinchat I found thirty minutes later, also of note 2 Song Thrush, 2 Blackbirds, a Treecreeper, 6 Coal Tits, 8 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Kestrel, a Buzzard, and Peregrine Falcon. Heading towards Winfold Fell I saw 7 Red Grouse including a pair with three juveniles. And finally....  Little Egret. Gary Jones. Gary also appropriately supplied me with this photograph of the Little Egret of which an amazing ninety four went to roost at Leighton Moss last night, info from the LDBWS website. I suppose the title for this picture has to be 'Who ruffled your feathers then'. I have it on good authority of a juvenile Little Ringed Plover on Conder Pool yesterday, also on the same good authority of a pair of Stonechat with four young up from Cross of Greet Bridge which is excellent news.  September Start Post Origin "Phil Blog" added here on September 2nd, 2010Will and I kicked off the month with another ringing session at Out Rawcliffe. It was a slightly misty morning as the dull sun promised to burn off the thin layer of murk and leave us with clear conditions again.  Both the morning itself and our catch proved similar to other recent sessions, with not much on-going visible migration as the sun did its job. We had a mixed bag of birds, mainly warblers and finches, and for the second session in a row, no recaptures. We caught 23 new birds of 10 species: 1 Tree Pipit, our 7th of the year and 6th of the autumn, 10 Chaffinch, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff, 3 Great Tit, and singles of Blackcap, Robin, Wren, Long-tailed Tit and Blue Tit.      We kept eyes and ears open but logged little genuine migration with 4 Tree Pipits, 8 or more Meadow Pipits high overhead and 1 Alba wagtail, this paucity enlivened only by a party of 5 Sand Martins plus several Swallows heading rapidly south. Otherwise we thought even the local Swallow and House Martin numbers were down this morning with many birds having moved on following the several days of fine weather. Up high we also noted a dozen or two Chaffinch heading south, some we saw, and with others we just heard the characteristic autumn flight calls. Other birds logged this morning were 2 or possibly 3 Jays, 1 Kestrel, 2 Buzzard, 15 Tree Sparrow, and the inevitable Goldfinches, with the distant but local Marsh Harrier putting in another fleeting appearance as it headed off over miles of open country.   Running Late. Post Origin "Pete Woodruff Blog" added here on September 1st, 2010
I was waylaid last night and Tuesdays birding records come a day late.
 Water Vole. Courtesy of Kirkstall Creatures. As is often the case I have no appropriate pics for the day but Linda has HERE, a good blog which I follow. Please take a look and find excellent photographs like the one above of the exquisite Water Vole. At Conder Green 2 Little Egret were seen as I rounded the corner by the Stork Hotel. OK it's a few years ago now, but who would ever have thought the first bird you'd see at Conder Green would be the Little Egret, but ten years on an amazing eighty eight went to roost at Leighton Moss last night per LDBWS . Conder Pool was quiet although 7 Little Grebe are making their comeback on here but would have escaped any prying eye from the platform but didn't mine from the viewpoint at the west end, the 3 Wigeon are still here, a Kingfisher flew in, and a Common Sandpiper appears to be the only one left. On the circuit I found 3 Spotted Redshank two of which were juveniles, up to 6 Greenshank, 2 Ruff, 5 Snipe, 6 more Wigeon were in the Conder channel below the railway bridge, about 6 House Martins are still visiting nests at River Winds, and I watched a Stoat swim across the creeks with two Redshank wading after it, only the second one I ever saw swimming the first being ten years ago at Snettisham in Norfolk when a Coot went after it as the Redshank had done here. The Lune Estuary was uninspiring though I counted at least 800 Redshank conveniently close, and a Little Egret over by Waterloo Cottage which is where most of the gulls were in a heat haze. At Cockersands - where the Yellow Wagtails keep turning up but never whilst I'm here - I saw 5 Wheatear, and estimated at least 200 Golden Plover appropriately on Plover Scar, incredibly camouflaged and easily overlooked, whilst counting I heard a Whimbrel. On the circuit I found 15 Tree Sparrow, 25 Goldfinch, nearly a double figure of 8 Greenfinch and saw a Peregrine Falcon and 2 Buzzards soaring high. A detour round Gulf Lane produced another 2 Buzzard with another seen later at Fluke Hall where I found a Whitethroat, and another Little Egret. Butterflies today were c.30 Small Tortoiseshell, c.8 Speckled Wood, and a Wall Brown. And finally....  Migrant Hawker. Courtesy of Kirkstall Creatures. An excellent photograph of the female Migrant Hawker. Thanks again for these Linda they are much appreciated. National 'MEGA' news - all in East Yorkshire - is of an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Flamborough Head, a 'possible' Sykes Warbler at Spurn, and a 'probable' Collared Flycatcher also at Spurn. I'm about to check the Oxford English Dictionary meanwhile, does anyone know the difference between the definition of 'possible' and 'probable' please.  Arrivals And Departures Post Origin "Phil Blog" added here on September 1st, 2010All my birding spots are a bit like a UK airport or train station at the moment, bodies everywhere, arriving from all directions and leaving generally in a southerly direction towards the Mediterranean, or alternatively just hanging around and feeding up until it’s the time is right to go. Or, more likely in the in the current clear days and night conditions, many are the move but fly unseen and unheard at 30 thousand feet with no reason to break their journeys. The Swallows were clearly building up for departure this morning when I counted many parties of them on my way through Stalmine and Pilling, gathered on overhead wires as they chattered away to each other before some set off in flurries of excitement in mock departures to nowhere in particular, circling around for a while and then joining back with the rest of the assembly. It must be the continued fine weather that gets them going, both the urge to migrate and the enthusiasm they display, but there is no doubt something was in the hirundine air this morning.    I had an hour or two before babysitting duties so made my way to Lane Ends to walk the wall. There were Swallows and House Martins on the move here, with birds flying low over the salt marsh, heading west but pausing occasionally to rest up on the remains of a tree left on the marsh by recent high tides. I counted at least 140 Swallows and 25 House Martins, and whilst I half expected a Hobby to appear in the warm and calm conditions, the best I could muster was the usual Peregrine sat (or is that stood) a distance out on the marsh where it remained for the next hour or so. I guess the Peregrine had already eaten because it seemed in no hurry to eat again. The pools gave me 4 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret late departing the sometimes roost and the now resident but elusive Kingfisher. I had a couple of Grey Wagtails over plus 3 “albas” and 2 rasping Snipe as they flew high towards Cockerham. Along the sea wall it was a Meadow Pipit and wagtail morning with 30+ Meadow Pipits seemingly off-passage for a while, feeding in the area of Pilling Water and the UU dump. Likewise I found three Pied Wagtails here with a single Grey Wagtail and 2 more calling overhead, plus a single Wheatear on the rocks. Finches today were 25 Goldfinch and 15 Linnet, and I almost forgot, one calling but hopefully more than a single Greenfinch at Lane Ends.    A biggish count again of 11 Little Egrets here, plus the two earlier Lane Ends birds reflects the counts in North Lancashire and elsewhere this autumn as the species goes from strength to strength. Even the cold winter has not dented this bird’s growing population. I didn’t trespass to see the Greenshanks today, I didn’t fancy panicking 100 Red-legged Partridge, the numerous fattened-up Mallard and the wild and wary Teal, but even from the wall I clocked the Green Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Reed Buntings.  A very pleasant and productive hour or two, and even the babysitting wasn’t entirely without birds when “sans bins” I saw 3 Little Egrets on Knott End shore while waiting to treat Olivia to a ferry ride to Fleetwood. We certainly know how to live it up in these parts.  Them Thar Hills Post Origin "Fleetwood Birder Blog" added here on August 31st, 2010
No I am not referring to the 1930s comedy featuring Laurel and Hardy but to the hills I was wandering around in east Lancashire surveying today. It was very clear and a beautiful day for a wander, but I did have a job to do, but there's nothing to say that you can't enjoy it!
 Dean Clough Reservoir with Pendle Hill behind Several of the fields that I walked across were full of thistles that had seeded and I thought the farmer is going to have a bit of a problem with thistles in his pastures next year! However, it was good for Goldfinch and I had 20-30 in two flocks feeding on the thistle heads.  Goldfinch Meadow Pipits flushed from the rushy pastures and I probably had 60-80 and I also had 2 Tree Pipits go over. I couldn't see them, only hear them, as is often the case. Swallows were quite numerous and I had about 40 moving through during the day. Some were swooping low to feed over Dean Clough Reservoir.  Meadow Pipit On the reservoir itself I had 5 Great Crested Grebes, 9 Gadwall and along the bank 3 Grey Wagtails. I flushed a Little Owl from a ruined building and had cracking views as it perched up in a tree and looked back at me. It was then back to the car and back to the office. The only down side of spending time in the field is that the more time you spend out leads to more time writing up indoors! Then again I suppose it could be worse!  Little Owl  |
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