Welcome to the most uninspiring spring of all time. Which is quite fitting I suppose, given that this winter was possibly the dullest I can remember as far as birding around Aldcliffe is concerned.
The lack of posts here has been solely down to a lack of enthusiasm on my part - I've been out around the patch on plenty of occasions but the birds have barely differed from one visit to the next.

In summary:
There was loads of water, the pools were high and the cycle track was flooded for most of the season. Water levels have now dropped. Of note, the smaller rear pool at the Wildfowlers' Pools has been 'de-vegetated' and re-landscaped for the benefit of ducks but little else.  

Duck numbers were relatively unremarkable although we had a decent mix of species. Highlights have included double figure shovelers and up to five pintail throughout and a pair of pochard for a couple of days and a high count of 29 goldeneye in early March.
Goose numbers were disappointing on the whole with no real large peak of pinkfeet (fewer than 3000) and as such no attendant scarce species. 

Ringed plover

At least one jack snipe was present for most of the winter and up to four were at FAUNA.
Other wader records worth noting included occasional green sandpiper, multiple (up to 90) black-tailed godwits, an incredibly 400 or so dunlin on The Flood on March 5 along with 20 snipe and local patch scarcities knot (1) and ringed plover (3) by the Wildfowlers' Pools the same day.
Also in the area were around 100 golden plover. These unusual wader numbers came in the wake of the so-called 'Beast From The East' or as I like to call it, 'weather'. 

Peregrine, sparrowhawk, buzzard and kestrel have all been present here and there along with occasional sightings of a female merlin out on the marsh. 

Tideline passerines have been very thin on the ground with no finch flocks to speak of and no twite or redpoll (other than odd flyovers of the latter) as yet. A wandering group of c25-35 linnet have been in and out of the maize fields frequently.
One notable event on March 3 involved a flock of 32 skylarks; common enough here in small numbers but these days a grounded flock of that size is exceptional. The same day a single rock pipit was also seen nearby - both presumably pushed onto Aldcliffe Marsh by the high tide.
The first stonechat I clocked was a single bird on March 5 with a further three present on 12th.

Stonecat

Chiffchaff wave trickled in but given the state of the weather at the moment it's hardly surprising they've been slow to arrive.
Yesterday (April 1) saw my first, late, wheatear of the year and the arrival finally of the first little ringed plovers with a pair on The Flood.
Given the arrival dates for these dinky shorebirds for last few years have been March 17th in 2013, 19th in 2014 and 2015, 18th in 2016 and 21st last year, these were well overdue!

Other odds and sods include a fabulous barn owl which has shown well regularly and another unusual species in a strictly patch context, red-legged partridge which I have seen a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, yet unusually I haven't spotted any grey partridge yet this year... 

With a promising change in the forecast, I think we can hope to see a few more migrants heading our way shortly.  The lingering winter visitors will head off and our resident birds can get on with the job of nesting. Let's hope that we have a memorable spring for all the right reasons.

Jon  

I've never been very good at making New Year's resolutions. And it turns out, I'm not that good at keeping them. My intention was to ensure more regular updates on the Birding Aldcliffe blog during 2018  but I haven't exactly got off to a good start...

I do have some excuses; the first two weeks of January saw Jenny and I heading off to Cuba for a spot of post Christmas respite. A spot of winter sunshine and a handful of new birds seemed most appealing. Despite some unseasonal rain and rather cool conditions on some days, the overall trip was great with relaxation and exploration enjoyed in equal measure.
And yes, I saw a few 'new' birds. Highlights were of course the endemic species, such as Cuban tody, seen here in my short video:


As well as the endemic and near-endemic specialities, Cuba is also the wintering site for several species of North American warblers and so seeing a multitude of dazzling 'Yank' warblers was a daily treat. I do enjoy birding overseas, and I must admit that I often find my return to the local patch a little underwhelming when I get back from a trip somewhere.
After black-throated blue warblers, magnificent frigatebirds, Cuban emeralds, great lizard cuckoos and the like it's hard to get excited about dunnocks and coots.

Nonetheless, I have been out to scour the Aldcliffe patch a couple of times in the past week or so. Frankly, little has changed since December. The Wildfowlers' Pools are still flooded, as is the cycle track. Last week I had a look and there were seven shoveler there. This morning I could see just a pair but a further three were on Darter Pool. Four goldeneye were present on the Wildfowlers' Pools along with eight tufted duck. Another six goldeneye were on Freeman's Pools and a pair were on the Lune. Also on Freeman's Pools were around 40 wigeon and 20 gadwall.
A buzzard was floating around the fields, much to the annoyance of the carrion crows.
A couple of hundred pink-footed geese were grazing on the drumlins before settling on Aldcliffe Marsh.
A scan through the gulls on the river revealed nothing of note - we see far fewer large gulls on the Lune since the closure of the tip and as a consequence such finds as glaucous and Iceland gull are now a thing of the past.
Not so just a few miles away; Heysham Harbour continues its enviable track record as the place in our region to locate such scarce beasts. Both Iceland and glaucous gulls have graced the site in recent days. The long-staying chough too is still hanging around over there... For details see here: Heysham Bird Observatory
Closer to home, the black-throated diver remains faithful to Blea Tarn reservoir near Hala. I actually found time yesterday to nip out and have a look at it. This s a very rare bird in our neck of the woods and I suspect I haven't seen one in Lancashire for about 20 years!
The windy conditions made my attempts at getting a pic through my 'scope even more pitiful than usual. After a couple of fuzzy head-shots and several pics that looked like those Loch Ness monster shots from the 70s, I managed the following snap.

Black-throated diver

Back at work, things have been pretty good at RSPB Leighton Moss in recent weeks with an impressive starling murmuration pleasing the crowds most evenings.
Added to that very frequent otter sightings along with great white egrets, marsh harriers, bitterns, Cetti's warblers and bearded tits there's rarely a dull moment.
Check out the Leighton Moss blog for the latest news.

Jon 


  
       

Wishing all readers of this blog a very merry Christmas and a bird-filled New Year.

Sunset over the flooded Wildfowlers' Pools

My own resolution for 2018 will be to try and post on here a bit more often than I have of late... to summarise the past few weeks: rain, rain, ice, rain, drizzle.

Flooded Wildfowlers' Pools

Nothing much has changed birds-wise beyond a few ducks dropping in here and there.
The high water levels have attracted a few more dabblers than we normally get at Aldcliffe and the Wildfowlers' Pools have seen several pintail (not a common bird on this stretch of the Lune) and a few shoveler too. Teal numbers have been impressive at times and last week there was a mass arrival of mallard with in excess of a hundred birds present.
A few pink-footed geese have commuted over from the Oxcliffe area or stopped off briefly while heading through but as is the norm here at this time of year no big numbers yet.

Whooper swan at the Wildfowlers' Pools

Whooper swans have been sporadic; a family group flew in and landed on the Wildfowlers' Pools this morning while other small parties have come and gone in recent weeks.
Still no short-eared or barn owls in the area as far as I can tell - please let me know if you have seen any. I was pleased to relocate the little owls near FAUNA following their post-breeding vanishing act.
The cycle track is still well under water (probably the best vehicle deterrent there is and certainly more effective than that next-to-useless gate by Keyline).
 

Flooded cycle track

Now, let's hope for another nice prolonged cold spell to get things moving around a bit!

Jon

Great to see a green sandpiper back on the patch this morning. I was beginning to think that we wouldn't have one in the Aldcliffe area this winter. I suspect that it will remain elusive in the coming weeks but we'll wait and see. Today it was on The Flood.
The Flood, along with the fields by the Wildfowlers' Pools, are looking fabulous at the moment. The high water levels of recent weeks have receded and as a result the fields are nicely boggy and seemingly hooching with invertebrates. There were loads of teal dabbling in the muddy shallows this morning along with multiple redshanks, curlews, snipe, up to 11 dunlin and a couple of black-tailed godwits.
It could be well worth keeping an eye on these wet fields as anything could potentially turn up - past winters have seen such oddities as lesser yellowlegs, wood sandpiper, knot and little stint here.

The nearby hedgerows were bustling with blackbirds, despite the relative paucity of berries in the hawthorns. A sprinkling of both mistle and song thrushes along with small parties of redwings and fieldfares were a welcome sight as always. Another feature of this late autumn period is the encouraging number of greenfinches and bullfinches along the cycle track. Greenfinches in particular are comparatively scarce these days so any sign of improvement in the local population is a blessing.
Tree sparrows continue to be seen in the maize fields with plenty of chaffinches and several reed buntings.

A solitary jack snipe was at Snipe Bog and the incoming tide pushed a rock pipit my way.    

Freeman's Pools remain fairly quiet. Coot numbers are noticeably down with just 14 present. A female shoveler was new in while other wildfowl included 5 goldeneye, 7 tufted duck and 19 gadwall plus 3 little grebe.

42 wigeon were on Frog Pond yesterday late afternoon.

Jon

Had a couple of hours mooching around the patch yesterday (Saturday) morning.

Things were looking slightly livelier at Freeman's Pools with some more goldeneye new in (now 8 birds present) along with 22 coot, 4 tufted duck, 3 little grebe and 19 gadwall. A little egret was on the island.

Checking the Lune at Marsh Point, a pair of great crested grebes drifted by on the incoming tide.

With the maize fields now fully cut, good numbers of corvids, woodpigeons and geese were rooting around in them. Also there were plenty of chaffinches and a few reed buntings and greenfinches searching for food. I could hear tree sparrows calling and eventually tracked two down in the hedge near Darter Pool.

Whooper swan

As I made my way along the cycle track a couple of skeins (comprised approx 70 & 130 birds) of pink-footed geese went over, heading south.

A drake shoveler was on the Wildfowlers' Pools, keeping company with teal and mallard. In the adjacent field a lone whooper swan was with a mute swan. I tried a couple of dodgy digi-scope shots.

Sheep

I was rather pleased with my picture of a sheep... The whooper later took off, flew around in a large circle and landed on the pools with a group of mutes.

All along the track, small numbers of redwing were feeding in the hawthorns and a sprinkling of goldcrests were also seen and heard.

Two grey partridge were in fields near Walled Meadow - always good to see this increasingly scarce bird.

Walking back along Dawson's Bank I came across a single rock pipit amongst 14 meadow pipit & 6 pied wagtails feeding on the tideline.

Jon

The clear winner of the 'Highlight of the Day' category was the pair of goldeneyes on Freeman's Pools this morning. Generally duck numbers seem to be rather low so far this autumn, not only at Aldcliffe but other places too. The cooler air from the north this weekend will have no doubt brought more wildfowl in but on the whole I expect we'll need a spell of prolonged wintry weather before we see any really significant changes. Also with water levels being so high, the traditional ponds are likely too deep for dabbling ducks to feed so flooded fields may be attracting more birds than usual.

Collared greylag

The usual 20-odd gadwall were at Freeman's Pools along with 3 wigeon, a handful of tufted duck, a few coot and 5 little grebes.

The maize was being harvested today so hopefully we'll get some finch and sparrow action in these fields in the next couple of weeks - always worth looking out for brambling, tree sparrow and maybe even an interesting bunting.

Greylags too will congregate in search of spilled corn and it's a good time to check for collared birds. So far I've got the details of 10 of the collared birds I've seen this season but it's not always easy to read the digits when the geese are way out on Aldcliffe Marsh.

Flooded cycle track

A week or so ago I found a single jack snipe along with 4 common snipe at the somewhat appropriately monikered Snipe Bog and my first autumn rock pipit was also there. 11 black-tailed godwit were at the flooded Reedy Corner. This area has once again retained tons of water with the result that the cycle track is submerged again for a good 100 metres or so.

Snipe Bog

Redwings and fieldfares are now an almost regular sight in small numbers but sightings should increase in number and frequency in the coming weeks as birds head west and south.

Good to see that the little owls are remaining faithful to the area they nested in and all being well, should stick around now. Talking of owls, with a good breeding season under their belt we can hope for some barn and short-eared owls on and around the patch this winter - fingers crossed!

Jon   
      

Boy, where has the time gone? One minute it's early September and I'm looking forward to lots of exciting autumn birding, then it's suddenly mid-October and it feels like I've hardly been out!
Well, that's not strictly true - I have had a few visits to Aldcliffe and environs but I've not exactly come back with a bulging notebook.

North Ronaldsay

Plus, I spent the last week of September on North Ronaldsay, in Orkney. And that was pretty much dawn till dusk birding for 6 days. Our stay on this magical isle didn't coincide with The Big One (that came several days later) but we still found and / or saw plenty to entertain us.

Rustic bunting by Mark Witherall

Highlights included rustic, little and ortolan bunting  olive-backed pipit, bluethroat, red-breasted flycatcher, barred and yellow-browed warblers plus plenty of birds I don't see enough of in this part of the world; great northern diver, great skua, black guillemot, purple sandpiper, Lapland and snow bunting, ring ouzel, grasshopper warbler and common migrants such as redstart and spotted flyctacher. Not too bad really.

Back in Lancaster and a trundle around the patch on October 1 revealed the following highlights: 
1 whinchat

It certainly felt autumnal again this morning, not so much weather-wise but bird-wise.
A few migrants hinted at the real onset of passage.

Distant whinchat & wheatear

Two redstarts were the highlight, both dazzling males.
The whinchat remains by the Wildfowlers' Pools - I assume it's the same bird I first saw on 27th and again on Saturday, when it was with a wheatear.
I could see 5 wheatear out on Aldcliffe Marsh though I suspect there were more around.
A few other bits and bobs in the hedges included a lesser whitethroat and a male blackcap plus several willow warblers and chiffchaffs. Swallows were moving south in good numbers.

A green sandpiper was on the Flood but given the reported national influx of pectoral sandpipers it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped to find!
Similarly, the mass of waders on the Lune in recent days has yet to attract anything beyond the expected species; lapwing, redshank, curlew, dunlin and the odd golden plover and common sandpiper. Even so, it's great fun scanning through the large gatherings of birds as they feed on the mud or roost on the river bank.
And it's early days of course, so there's plenty of time for something a little bit out of the ordinary to drop in. 

I had a pleasant couple of hours around Fairfield Orchard and FAUNA yesterday morning, leading a bird walk. Although the rather stiff breeze kept most smaller birds hunkered down, the little owls performed beautifully for the group. We also saw common buzzard and sparrowhawk and noted at least 20 rooks still picking their way through the stubble in the arable field.  

Jon

   

My last few rummages around around the local patch have certainly had a feeling of impending autumn about them.
This morning, the undoubted highlight was a lovely whinchat with 3 wheatears by the Wildfowlers' Pools. Oddly, I didn't find any other obvious grounded migrants anywhere else though overhead, swallows were clearly on the move.
A green sandpiper was on the pools too. There were 2 here yesterday morning.

Kingfisher, Freeman's Pools

Also yesterday, there was a pair of kingfishers at Freeman's Pools though I couldn't see them this morning.
Wader numbers continue to creep up with good numbers of curlew, lapwing and redshank on the estuary. A few black-tailed godwit have been dropping in and ones or two's of dunlin and greenshank have been on the river. Just 3 golden plover have appeared so far.
An adult great crested grebe was on the Lune yesterday, and the resident 10 or so little grebes have scattered around the patch to occupy the various ponds and pools.

A nice find early last week was a juvenile marsh harrier which was hunting around Freeman's Pools on Tuesday morning. It left the pools and headed off toward the river where it spooked everything, sending up clouds of panicking gulls, waders and starlings in its wake.      
That same morning, the hedges were full of migrants; lots of chiffchaffs and willow warblers were flitting around in the hawthorns. At least 3 lesser whitethroat, 2 common whitethroat and 1 blackcap were also seen. My first autumn wheatear was on Aldcliffe Marsh.

Purple heron at RSPB Leighton Moss

And - I can't post on here without mentioning the purple heron currently attracting hordes of birdwatchers at Leighton Moss.
I've been fortunate enough to see this great rarity on a near daily basis but I haven't yet managed to get a decent pic of it.
However, that won't stop me from putting a rather iffy record shot on here! 

Jon

Well, it's certainly been an interesting few days!
On Friday, shortly before I was due to catch my train to Oakham for the Birdfair a juvenile purple heron was discovered in front of the Grisedale Hide at Leighton Moss. Now, given that the last purple heron at the reserve (and in this area) was back in 1996 (I saw that one too) this was not a bird to be missed.
So, I duly legged it up the Skytower - following intel from Kev Kelly that it had flow into reeds 'behind Lilian's' - and scanned the vista. Kev decided to join me as it was no longer visible from the hide and we had no idea what it was going to do next.

Purple heron (not the Leighton Moss one...)

After a few gruelling minutes the heron rose from the reeds and flew a short distance before pitching down, out of sight once more. It did this a couple more times before relocating to Grisedale, much to the delight of visiting birders who had hot-tailed it to the reserve in the hope of seeing the rarity.
As I write, it's still present and has shown exceedingly well for many admirers over the past 3 days. I hope to get better views and couple of record shots when I get back to work... in the meantime here's an adult purple heron I photographed elsewhere, previously. All being well, I'll have a pic of the Leighton bird here soon!

Birdfair was fun, as always. I spent all of Saturday and Sunday on the RSPB stand, catching up with old faces and meeting lots of new ones.
Among the book signings hosted on our stand, we had Bill Oddie join us on Saturday afternoon.

Goodie & Baddie

I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to have a pic with him; the last time I'd done this was several years ago when I interviewed him in Morecambe for The Visitor newspaper. I expect I remember that occasion more than he does.

Back in North Lancs, I had a mooch around the patch this morning.
Freeman's Pools was a bit livelier than it has been lately with the first notable returning wildfowl; 9 gadwall and a pair of tufted duck. The usual little grebes, coots and moorhens were present.

Frog Pond and Darter Pool were quiet. Water levels still being high at the Wildfowlers' Pools, there was little on offer beyond a few mallard. A small number of teal were snoozing near Reedy Corner.
A group of 6 snipe flew over and the tell-tale calls of a green sandpiper were audible though I couldn't see the bird.
A check of the Flood failed to reveal the anticipated sandpiper, just 2 little egrets were picking around the muddy pool.
Yet more egrets were out on Aldcliffe Marsh. It's pretty normal these days to be able to stand in one spot and casually count up to 30 egrets...
With the tide at its peak, the river's edge was punctuated with roosting and feeding redshanks, lapwings, curlew and gulls. Scanning through the birds, I found a couple of Mediterranean gulls (adult & 2nd winter) and a common sandpiper but nothing else.
Out on the river there was a group of 10 goosander and 18 cormorants. 

Collared greylags

The number of greylag and Canada geese have been steadily building in recent weeks but today was the first time I've had the opportunity (and inclination) to read any collars. I suppose it gives me something to do on those slow winter days!   
Kestrels appear to have had a pretty good season locally (for a change) with up to 6 different birds seen in the area today. They've presumably taken full advantage of the good vole year - I hear that short-eared and barn owls have enjoyed high productivity in the county this year. Hopefully we'll see some on the patch this autumn and winter?
On my way home I spotted the green sandpiper as it flew noisily onto the Flood.

After a spot of lunch I had a walk through the FAUNA reserve and had a look at the little owls. Just two were visible today. The cut arable was filled with birds - lesser black-back gulls, herring gulls, black-headed gulls and one each of common and Mediterranean gulls (the latter and adult with a limp) were feeding alongside jackdaws, carrion crows and 7 rooks. Surprisingly, I couldn't find any stock doves among the mass of wood pigeons and feral pigeons.

Jon