What, no Wheatears?

The Safari has been wearing a track along the promenade in the hunt for an early Wheatear for days now. The weather has been mostly pants for migration but in between the bouts of rain and strong winds, usually from the 'wrong' direction, there have been short interludes of decent weather. Our 'cliffs' with their (artificial) rocky face are an ideal stopping off area for any hungry Wheatears to stop and feed after passing the habitat free zone of the town centre promenade.

Looking South

Looking North

They like to perch on the upper wooden rail and the concrete sea walls but are very rarely spotted perched on the steel handrail for some reason. The grassy areas provide the foraging area, obviously. Twice a day, day after day we've searched to no avail. What we have seen is somewhat disconcerting; the cliffs are designated a County Biological Heritage Site on account of them being some of the only remaining soft cliffs in Lancashire and having a unique and county-wide scarce vegetation community and that's despite them being cut off from the beach so their natural processes of erosion and re-deposition has been stopped. In the pre-seawall days erosion meant there was continual slumping and a corresponding dynamisism (is that word?) of the vegetation. Now the vegetation community is fairly stable...until earlier this year when someone has started encouraging their dog to dig massive holes. Some areas of Sea Thrift and Yellow Meadow Ant nests have been almost totally destroyed.

Some bio-purturbation is a good thing, breaking up the sward allowing the seed bank to germinate or new incoming seeds to settle and providing different niches for a multitude of invertebrates, like solitary mining bees, and even basking areas for reptiles (if only we had some along this bit of coast). But if this dog is digging say 10 holes a day, that's 3500 a year and it tdoes this for (assuming it's a young dog) another 7 years thats 24,500 holes on an area only a few yards across and a mile and a half long, some will recover in that time but how many won't? We've never seen the culprit and it remains to be seen how well any areas recover and which do and which don't, certainly some of the badly damaged Yellow Meadow Ant nests will be decades old. We know it's probably a case of 'forgive them as they know not what they do' but it's still Ecocide.

Anyway rant over, did we see any Wheatears in all the miles we've walked up n down there...yes, we spotted two on a grotty day when we had no camera and a few days later caught up with a very flighty male when we did have the camera with us. #126 for our Challenge.

Later in the week we did another stint of volunteering at Marton Mere, coming in from the north east again. A good walk in with lots of Chiffchaffs still singing, and we almost got on a Cetti's Warbler out in the open.

It was perched in full view but someone approached from behind and distracted us for a fraction of a second and when we eventually pressed the shutter button the bird had flown. Drat! Our spirits were lifted a bit further on when we heard our first Blackcap of the year, their fluty rich song is a joy to hear. Couldn't find it in the trees though and there's still no foliage for it to hide behind.

Coming into the reserve we heard another unseen one and then another, they'd arrived in force and a WhatsApp message told us there was a Willow Warbler singing at the top end of the reserve, which we wouldn't be visiting but it's all starting to happen now! 

We joined the volunteer group and started to get stuck in to the last of the dead hedging of the year. A guided walk was being led by other volunteers and they even caught us working when they passed by, blue jumper. We must have been really grafting - our sleeves are rolled up!

While we were working a Jay called a few times from the scrub on the other side of the path behind us but never showed itself. What did we say about them being this year's bogey bird? A gull commotion over the mere drew our attention to a north-bound raptor which turned out to be a Buzzard rather than the hoped for Osprey. The gulls at Base Camp have so far ony been able to find us the local Sparrowhawks too.

The following day started well in the garden when a male Blackbird showed up and began to find some worms.

They have a nest in the shrub just over our back fence so we're hoping for some good worm collecting shots in due course, assuming the local cats (of which there are far too many), Grey Squirrels and Magpies don't find them.
Then we set off up the coast to Rossall Point to see what might be about, including some more Wheatears, fingers crossed. The tide was coming in but there was still enough beach for the new sea defence works to continue, at least for another half hour or so.

After we passed the noisy machinery we saw the first of the morning's Wheatears perched on the next groyne along the beach but too far away for a pic. Skylarks sang from high above the golf course but other than that it was fairly quite, no Stonechats, no Meadow Pipits, no Linnets to be seen nor heard. We tried to get a pic of a Wheatear on the beach at our furthest point of our walk, there were two there but both were very flighty spending much time flying up to catch airborne insects on the breeze so we failed miserably. Far easier to get a snap of was a flock of Sanderlings that flew in from the east and landed on the beach.

83 of them all told. We counted them back at Base Camp from the photograph.

A few more yards furtheron a small group of Ringed Plovers were very vocal and doing display flights as well as displaying on the ground, lovely to watch. One of them broke away from the group and came much closer.

We really hope they'll be able to nest this summer with all the disturbance going on.

That's about it for now apart from to say we were out on the prom with the camera again this morning hoping for another Wheatear after the rain had stopped and the sun had come out but no luck...however we did get our first Sandwich Tern of the year, and we think the first for the Fylde coast - we've not seen any other reports so far. We did get a pic but you really don't want to see it it was beyond awful.

Oh and we got our first butterfly of the year this week too, a Small Tortoiseshell nectaring on a neighbour's Dandelions so it's a good time to remind you not to get the hoe or sprayer out, our bees and butterflies, and a  whole host of insects need the early nectar provided  Dandelions, they're not weeds but very important wild flowers.

Where to next? A safari with CR is coming up tomorrow, venue still weather dependent at the mo.

In the meantime let us know who's digging the holes and witrh what in your outback.

Rummaging around the foothills

The Safari has been on the trail of some early summer migrant birds. For the most part we've been traipsing up n down the prom on the search for Wheatears. For the most part we've been thwarted by poor weather conditions though. One grotty, grey morning we saw a small group of Common Scoters sat on the sea not far beyond the low water mark. That's at least half a mile from the seawall but easily the nearest we'd seen this species this year, normally they are just black dots out on the horizon. T'mutt was hastily returned to Base Camp and swapped for the camera, luckily the flock hadn't flown off. Not the best pic but still #122 for our Challenge.

 

Despite the weather not improving we continued our promenade Wheatear quest failing to find any but did bump into the local male Kestrel hovering almost at eye level along thr cliffs. We usually see him in great conditions when we don't have the camera, or if we do the wind is in the wrong direction and we don't bother to take 'bum shots'. Today the wind was right but the light was pants and he was a little more distant than we would have liked.

A couple of unsuccessful Wheatear days later we had a wander to Marton Mere to join the volunteers, something we've been meaning to do for some time. We walked in from the north east passing a veritable plethora of Chiffchaffs, they were singing everywhere, and some were even showing themselves!

Also singing were a few Cetti's Warblers, Wrens and a couple of Robins, from deep in the scrub one of the small local population of  Bullfinches called.

We arrived at the worksite a little before the volunteers so sat on the nearby bench soaking up the spring atmosphere . We were joined by old mate AL and just as he sat down a Jay all to briefly landed in the bushes in front of us, far too quick for us to raise the camera, we've got a sneaking feeling that Jay is going to be this years Challenge bogey bird!
The volunteers arrived and we got stuck in to some dead hedging for a couple of hours. That's us at the back wandering around aimlessly. The deadhedging is made from cut back Bramble and other sgrub trimmings to help keep mostly dogs but also unleashed people out of the scrub areas during the nesting season.

We couldn't stay more than a couple of hours, it was a very pleasant spring day and t'mutt was beginning to get a bit hot so even if we had been able to continue working a longer we'd have had to have stopped to take him back to Base Camp sooner rather than later anyway. The walk back to the car gave us a couple of opportunities to try to get a pic of a Cetti's Warbler, but they were either too obscured in the vegetation or posing very nicely for the briefest of seconds and flitting off, like the Jay, far too quickly for us to raise the camera. We did another pic of a Chiffchaff though. #123 and March target of six new species reached, better still four of those weren't on our target list but 'bonus birds' if you will.

Another bird that wasn't on our radar for March, and one we didn't see at all last year never mind photograph, was a Green Sandpiper that dedicated local patch worker TS had found on a flooded field which was on our route back from the Mere so we stopped for a quick look but had no joy. We decided that if it was reported the following day we'd try again after getting some more detailed info about its exact whereabouts.We did go back the next day and had a look from where we'd unsuccessfully looked from the previous day and Bingo there it was and like most scarcer birds seem to be it was the furthest bird from us by far. A good addition to the tally, #124, and a big thank you to TS for finding a local one, putting the news out and the extra info.

And so onto the continuing saga of no Wheatears...we took the camera on every dog walk with half decent weather to no avail. And then a grotty no camera morning there was what we were looking for stood on the seawall not five yards in front of us - could we get a phone pic...no chance! And then before we'd got half way down our usual dog walking route we found another that soon disappeared when another dog walker came the other way. Just our luck it was a grim camera-free morning. Drat, drat and double drat. 

The next day the weather was morev conducive to carting a heavy camera round and much less  likely to get it water damaged, but there wasn't a sniff of a Wheatear to be had, We console ourself with taking some snaps of the passing Herring Gulls.

Further Wheatear meanders with t'mutt continued to prove fruitless, just as well really as they were mostly camera-less too.

Friday came around, and that's the week's day out  on safari with CR and IH. We had hoped to go up to south Cumbria but the weather had other plans for us so we stayed relatively local and had a day out on the foothills of Bowland, meeting IH at Beacon Fell's Visitor Centre. There was addition exctiement here as the North West Stages rally was being set up for the weekend. Here's a bit of what they got upto on the lanes we'd be driving later in the day. There going nearly as fast as we do if we've had news of a good bird in the area.

Once IH had arrived we had a look at the feeders at the visitor centre and they didn't disappoint. It's a bit of a shame you have to view them from inside the VC and there's a net acrosss the window to stop the birds trying to fly through the VC and hurting themselves crashing into the glass but you are up close and personal to the action just a few short feet away. The usual feeder suspects are there, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Chaffinches with the added excitement of lots of Siskins, a odd Nuthatch and the stars of the show, the speedy Bank Voles.

A walk through the forest to the Trig Point at the top and then down around the back produced very little, just a smattering of Coal Tits, Siskins and Robins, the strongcold wind not helping at all. So it was onward to our next port of call, Brock Bottoms - there's an ointment for that in the first aid kit in the car!

Here there wasn't as much water in the river as we feared which was good but at the car park a fair portion of the riverbank had been cordoned off where a flood had washed away several trees and taken away a good few yards of riverbank with them. The flood hadn't seemded to have changed the island in the stream there and Butterbur flowers were beginning to show through the shingle.

Walking down towards the first proper bend in the river, Dipper Corner, we came across a goodly patch of Wood Anemones, an indicator of Ancient Woodland.

We did see a Dipper at Dipper Corner but the bankside vegatation makes it difficult to get pics from there and at this time of day you're looking straight down the barrel of the light reflection off the water. So we hoped we'd see some more further on. We've already had Dipper for our Challenge but it's always good to get an improved pic which we hoped to do. The bird we really 'needed' was a Grey Wagtail having seen only one so far this year and that, weirdly, was in the garden at Base Camp during the Big Garden Bird Count. It wasn't long before IH saw some movement in a large fallen tree straddling the river, a pair of displaying Grey Wagtails. Nice but tricky to get anything like a decent shot of. #125

Continuing our walk through the fairly quiet riverside woods past the archaeolgical remains of the old mill workers' cottages we did finally meet up with another Dipper.

Great to listen to it singing too.

There were more Grey Wagtails here too.

We stayed a while trying to improve our pics of both species, having much more luck with the Dipper.

Wouldja look at those nictitating membranes, they protect it's eyes when foraging underwater.

And a typical 'on a rock' pose

And the other way round

We carried on downstream towards the old mill renewing our aquaintance with an old friend, the smallest plant with the biggest name - Opposite Leaved Golden Saxifrage.

Believe it or not there is an Alternate Leaved Golden Saxifrage, and it occurs at this site but we've never been able to find it here - or anywhere else for that matter. It's a much scarcer and less widespread plant. The nectar in the tiny flowers of our 'OLGS' was being enjoyed by a few Drone Flies, Eristalis pertinax.

Beside them on a patch of emerging Wild Garlic was a shiny blue beetle, possible an Alder Beetle off the adjacent bankside Alder trees.

In the afternoon sunshine and down in the steep valley sheltered from the cold wind we had hoped for our first butterfly of the year but these were just about all the invertebrates we came across. 

We went as far as the old mill before heading back to the cars and lunch. Passsing the same Grey Wagtail and Dipper on the way but with butties beckoning we didn't hang around too long.

While eating lunch we watched the feeders in the car park but they didn't give any photo opportunities. A procession of rally cars went past presumably reccying the route for pace notes for the event tomorrow, while a cheeky Spaniel appeared and began to hassle IH for some titbits, good job it didn't come to us - we're to mean to give t'mutt owt to eat away from his mealtimes.

Two sites were in the offing after lunch, Lydiate Lane or Grizedale (correctly with a Z this time) we opted for the latter as the former would have been just a smaller version of what we had just done and the latter held the prospect of finding some scaly things.

We drove more rally lanes to get to the parking area for Grizedale where we found safety tape on the tight bend warning any potential spectators not to stand there. No standing around for us we were off down the hill towards the river. It was fairly warm and still sheltered as we came up to the Slow Worm site. Unfortuantely turning over several of the rocks they like to hide under didn't produce any, perhaps they weren't out of hibernation yet. We've not been here for a couple of years and it was a shock to see the damage that mountain bikers had done in the big gully there, churned up tracks all over the place, trees cut down and obviously lots of disturbance to a formerly quiet area.

Working our way carefully down the steep valley side back to the main path we saw a Buzzard overhead, just about the first bird of the afternoon. Down in the woods all was deadly quiet, the most exciting thing we found was this rather large Scarlet Elf Cup fungus.

The reservoir dam didn't have any Common Sandpipers working theirv way along its edge, still a week too early we guess but IH did hear a Green Woodpecker yaffle in the distance, a good tick for here and good to know they're still around it's a good few years since we've seen or even heard one here. The res itself was devoid of life, no Goosanders - not even a Mallard. We should have taken a photo of the absolute butcvhery someone with a tractor mounted flail someone had done to the pathside shrubs and trees - horrific, it was really bad and whoever did it shouldn't have been allowed out with anything more than a pair of secateurs!

Back at Base Camp we've been continuing our unsuccessful quest to photograph a Wheatear, it's hard to photograph the invisible. We did see a promenade mega rarity this morning though, a Wren was hopping around the seawall, never seen one here before in several years of wandering up and down Chat Alley and beyond.

We've got another rant coming but we'll leave that til next time.

Where to next? Yet more grotty weather is forecast so it;ll probaly be more tales of unsuccessful Wheatear hunting and maybe another visit to the Mere volunteers...weather permitting!

 

In the meantime let us know who's been dipping in and out of the water in your outback.

 

Southbound to the long distance marshes

The Safari has been out n about trying to increase our tally for our Challenge, our target for March is just six new species now that the Law of Diminishing Returns has kicked in after our ridiculously fast start in January and coninuing succcess in February. Last week's pair of Lesser Scaup were a nice 'bonus bird', one that was completely off the radar so to speak, so we now only have five to get from our March 'target list'. One of those is Purple Sandpiper, they've successfully eluded us all winter so far so with an errand to run up Fleetwood way it was time for (yet) another attempt for them. We hoped that the raising tide would mean that there would be waders on the beach close to the sea wall but when we arrived...disaster! The crew building ther new sea defences had their giant Tonka toys out on the sands building giant mud pies and so not a wader, or anything else, to be seen. No Purple Sandipers here for us today so we concentrated on the golf course behind the sae wall hoping we might get some better Skylark shots or even fluke an early Wheatear, the latter's median date of arrival is next weekend so one could pop up at any moment. One didn't and all the Skylarks were either too far away or exaulting from on high up in the ether but at least there were a couple of Stonechats and a few Meadow Pipits to keep us entertained.

On the way back we saw that the rapidly rising tide had forced the Tonka toys to higher ground and back to their compound. With much of the beach now under water we had a quick look at the wader roost on the island in the Marine Lake. There were loads of Turnstones, and many more on the bankside being fed handouts from a lovely lady armed with hundredweights of bird food. No sign of any Purple Sandpipers for us...again, or should that be as usual?

The tides are huge this week - the biggest of the year, well over 10m, so we had already arranged to meet IH down on the Dee estuary at Parkgate Marsh, famed for it's high tide birding spectacles. Picking up CR on the way we hit the motorways; M55 - heavy rain, nothing doing, M6 - still raining lots of spray, lots of traffic, nothing doing, M56 - brightening up, less traffic, a Buzzard off to the left, then another one oh no wait - - that's a Red Kite said CR. Excellent, our very first Chrshire Red Kite - if only we had a dash cam it would probaly have been recorded and perhaps a usable still made for our Challenge. While driving you're very much supposed to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel unless you're a birder in which case it's one eye on the road the other scanning for anything moving either side of the road and one hand ready at the firing of a neuron to point a distant bird. We arrived bang on time and sliding into a side street in the village saw IH's car already parked there. 

As we walked down towards the promenade we could see that the sea was still way way out so we'd have a bit of a wait before the action happened. We'd arranged to meet IH in the Old Baths car park and walking into there saw a familiar face, not IH at first but renowned wildlife cameraman and film maker Simon King and next to him...we had a little giggle, was IH, who has told us several times in the past he's never been keen on SK for no particular reason - he just prefers other wildlife film makers. Anyways we joined up with IH and chatted away. We asked SK's helper if he'd brought a net to whisk out any Water Rails struggling to get up the wall and onto dry land when the tide came in - he shook his head and that was about the end of the conversation between him and us. We got the impression SK had him reined in as a spotter and needed to be concentrating not engaging with the riff-raff. 

The tide began to rise and the birds on the outer marsh became increasing agitated, Thousands of Pink Footed Geese, more egrets than the Danube and Ebro deltas, Curlews, Redshank, a twinkling flock of Golden Plovers all in the air together, the sight and more-so the sound was fantastic.

We scanned left and right but could only find a couple of distant Marsh Harriers, other than an overhead Kestrel hanging about where were all the raptors? We were hoping for Peregrines, Merlin, Hen Harrier and Short Eared Owl and hopefully the latter two or even three would be close enough for some pics. Skylark song filled the air amid the pip-it calls of Meadow Pipits, a pair of Stonechats hoped around the tall vegetation beside the car park as did a flock of Goldfinches and a couple of Reed Buntings flitted in and out of the Hawthorn bush to our right never landing on the right twig for their pic to be taken. As the tide inexorably rose we heard the chew-chew-chew of a distant Greenshank flost over the increasingly watery scene. The pool in front of us began to enlarge as the tide reached it bringing in a flock of Redshank wanting to roost on its still dry margins, where they'd come from was now well under water.

Then, off to our right, we saw an unusual sight, three small boats were making their way towards us. We've not been here very often over the years but have never seen anyone out boating before. One of them passed right in front of us.

The tide was now racing in towards us all bubbling, gurgling and slooshing. Unseen birds began to flee, first some previously hidden Snipe, then a Jack Snipe and then a second which dropped down right under our noses but hid under dense vegetation...not for long two minutes later it was washed out by the rushing water, too quick for us to even think about raising the camera. The tzide hit the wall the other side of our toes as a couple of Redshank raced past on a clump of floating vegetation - they were still feeding! Our still photo doesn't give any indication of the immense speed their little raft was travelling.

Herons, Great White Egrets, Little Egrets and a plethora of gulls looked for the best postions in which to pounce on the swimming or drowning small mammals, of which we only saw a small vole which made it to safety.

Remember earlier we'd asked SK's helper if he'd brought a net? Well he should have done - it was needed. A Water Rail did indeed appear just as predicted right below our feet and in desperate need of somewhere dry to climb out on to.

Point blank views were had by all.

The tide turned, SK and his helper left and we still hadn't seen a Hen Harrier. Short Eared Owl or a Merlin, just two Marsh Harriers, we didn't even hear the cronking of any Ravens all morning. On the flotsam and jetsam floating around on the ebbing waters several pipits, Skylarks and Reed Buntings poked about. SK's position was taken by a friendly lady who was scanning these hoping to pick out a Water Pipit. They were a little distant and tricky hopping in and out of clumps of half submerged vegetation. She thought she'd found one but when we had a scan with IH's scope could only find Meadow Pipits and then a single Rock Pipit, which we were able to get her on to but it wan't what she'd seen a few minutes earlier. We continued to scan, using a washed up milk bottle as a landmark, and persistance paid off, we found, or should that be re-found, the missing Water Pipit, far too distant for 'proper' photographs it looked much better in the 'flesh'. It's still a bit moulty and the dark streak along the flank above its leg is actually wind ruffled feathers, it was a lot 'cleaner' than this pic suggests. #119.

A quick lunch was eaten before IH suggested heading out of town and going a couple of miles up the coast to look for the Brent Geese that hang around Hilbre Island. It would be good to explore this area again; we've not been since saw a Great Northern Diver on West Kirby marine lake probably in the early 90's and not been over onto Hilbre Island since the early 80's.

As soon as we got to the beach we had a scan of the sea, the tide was dropping fast here now and there was plenty of mud exposed. Over towards the main island there was a flock of Brent Geese bobbing about on the water but far far far too far to even think about a photo. But scanning further to the right we found another flock, this time on the mud a good bit nearer. A slippery shoreline walk took us that way, we could see the strandline left by the tide we'd just watched well up the bank on our inland side. Where we were walking would have been waist deep only an hour or so ago. We reached two enclosed ponds, dug for Natterjack Toads, which was the limit of our exploration as none of us were shod in the necessary wellies or waders to get any further. The Brent Geese were still a bit distant but at least now identifiable. #120.

The walk back gave us a pair of Stonechats, the female landed extremely close to us but soon scarpered, the male was more obliging landing on the fence seperating us lowly minions from the Royal Liverpool golf course.

A wander round the giant 'infinity pool' that is West Kirby marine lake with its water level walkway followed. There was very little on the lake, according to IH there are often Goldeneys, Red Breasted Mergansers and more but perhaps today's extremely high tide had made them seek more sheltered waters. Walk round we did. A group of Turnstones was photogenic on the rocks but got flushed by young mums with prams and toddlers before we could get there. A nearby group of Knot were settled enough though.

Once our circumnavigation of the lake was completed it was mid-afternoon and time to head back to the car and then back to Base Camp. A rather spectacular day out!

The following day we were back in Fleetwood, this time with a different plan. The tide would be more out but still coming in so we rightly or wrongly assumed the heavy machinery would be on the beach again so we attacked from the southern end of the golf course for a change. The walk out we did on the golf course side of the sea wall. Not much doing appart from singing Skylarks and a few flitting Meadow Pipits until we got about two thirds of the way to the Observation Tower when we started to find group of Skylarks with the odd Meadow Pipit thrown in feeding on the golf course fairways. It looked like there might have been a hatch of some insects that was attracting them. We tried some pics hoping for an improvement on our previous Challenge effort but they were more or less useless, probably not even as good as we already had, everything was too far away really.

Three Linnets were flushed by a dog walker before we saw them just ahead of us on the track and two pairs of Stonechats were similarly flighty for the same reason.

We reached the tower and saw the water was beginning to reach the wall back where we had come from so walked back along the prom to see if, in the absence of Tonka toys, there were any waders moving back on to the drier areas of the remaining beach...there was...one Turnstone and a bit further on one Ringed Plover. Because we'd parked the car at the bottom end of the golf course for a change it meant we had to cover the new seawall and its huge boulder protection. We've occasionally seen waders roosting here before during high tides and before long came across a small group of Turnstones...and with them were...wait for it.....not one but two Purple Sandpipers...yippeee...at last! Needless to say we filled our boots #121.

Shame the light was so iffy but hey ho you can't have it all your own way all the time.

Where to next? Local safaris for the foreseeeable mostly in search of the newly arrived Wheatear.

In the meantime let us know who's turned up in the nick of time in your outback.