Onward, here, there, and everywhere and even further afield

The Safari mentioned at the very end of our last blog that theres not much change in the local birdlife at this time of year, the birds are pretty much settled down in their favoured spots waiting for the winter to draw to a close, saving energy and staying warm are order of the day. Well that was about to change. As all UK based readers will know this winter has been a 'Waxwing Winter' and these birds do move around...some so quickly they've moved on before we'd finished reading the news of their whereabouts on several occasions so far. Then news broke of two not too far away but we couldn't go that day, panic was setting in, this looked like it wasn't even going to be our fourth dip of the winter.                                          We were mightily relieved to learn they had stuck overnight so picked up CR and off we went...arriving at the site, after a minor detour, we spotted a couple of birders who told us we should have been there five minutes earlier...ARRRRGGHHH. They pointed in the direction thwe birds had flown off in and we had a drive round the local housing estate being viewed with some suspicion by a few of the residents. Then we went up the lane we'd detoured down earlier (at least we were in the right area) but there was no sign of our quarry. It was indeed fourth time unlucky. Thankfully the birding gods were with us as again there was positive news the following morning so off we went again. This time as we approached we could see a birder on the other side of the road who looked to be looking at something...we waved and made a thumbs up and then a thumbs down sign...she replied with a thumbs up. Happy Days. A quick dash across the raod and two minutes later we were enjoying poor views of two Waxwings high up in the tree tops. #111

Better was to come, they stayed another night and we were able to go back with the intention of getting some shots of them feeding on the Guelder Rose berries down at eye-level like everyone else was putting on social media. (That puts paid to the widely accepted theory that nothing eats Guelder Rose berries). Anyway we arrived on site, the birds were still there...and when we say there they were still high in the tree tops. Guess what..yep, the birders on site told us they'd been down to feed on the berries and were now up there digesting them, should have been here ten minutes ago...AAARRRGGGHHH. Best hang around until they drop down again. In the meantime we took some more, slightly better, tree top shots.

Nearly two hours we stood by the roadside waiting for them to drop onto the berries. The Waxwings had other ideas, they started calling persistantly then flew off away over the houses... AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH. At least our dips had been broken, it would have been dreadful to be the only birder in the country not to have connected with them this winter.

For our nest safari we had been hoping to head up north to Leighton Moss again but the coninuing wet weather meant we'd be wading through knee deep water to see the same few birds as last time so we decided to head back to (the much drier underfoot) Martin Mere to see the same few birds as last time. 

As usual we met IH in the Discovery Hide were we tried our hand at getting some gull in flight shots. There were many more Black Headed Gulls than last week and they were in the early stages of their pairing/breeding behaviour so there was lots of noisy activity. We've got a beginners talk on gulls coming up later in the spring (all will be revealed in due course) so took the opportunity to get a load of hopefully useful shots.

A cold wet wind blew through the window of the hide so we soon decamped to the more sheltered feeders. It was fairly busy with the usual suspects but without the Great Spotted Woodpecker of our previous visit.

As you can see the ringing team have been very active, almost all the birds we saw sported brand new shiny bling. Including this Siskin which was a good spot, we've never seen one on the feeders here before.

The Reed Buntings were still glreaning from the surface of the water

And some had found the table top with its nicely positioned perch

All this excitement was proving too much so IH suggested moving on to nearby Mere Sands Wood just for a bit of a change...and there might be a Jay which we needed for our Challenge.

It was wet and grey in the woods with little to point our cameras at until we reached the first hide where in the gloom beyond gloom, through the heavy drizzle, at the farthest point away from us, a tiny orange spot sheltering under the dark branches of a huge Rhododendron bush was a male Mandarin, but could it be captured on digital film? The answer was yes - just - #112 but only after a lot of deleting absolutely dire shots that could have been nail varnish on Bigfoot's toe and some serious processing we ended up with this single useable identifiable pic.

The rest of our visit continued in the same gloomy veinbut there was some good stuff to be seen like several Goosanders.

IH found the first Toad we've seen this year and AH found what's probably a Geen Shieldbug but still in its winter garb.

So a wet but still fun day out with good mates. Only one new species was added to our Challenge tally but that now leaves just three more to reach our February target with half the month (and we get an extra day this year) to go.

A couple of days later we had an errand to run up Fleetwood way so took t'mutt for a walk along the prom to see if we could catch up with any waders, in particular the Purple Sandpiper that's been hanging around with the large Turnstone flock. No such luck and we've not had any joy with it at the high tide roost on the old boating pool wall close to Base Camp this winter either. The only waders we found were small numbers of Sanderlings and even fewer Ringed Plovers.

There's always something to see though and our attention was turned inland when the sky brightened up a bity and the Skylarks on the adjacent golf course started singing from their lofty song flights. Eventually one landed almost within range of our lens. #113

On the way back to Base Camp we had a quick stop at the old boating pool but there was very few waders in the roost. The next day we tried again but again very few waders were on the wall, where are they all going these days? Not to be outdone and ever hopefully we went again the following day. Yet again there were no more than a handful of waders but there was a small bird sat just beyond them...and one we wanted...a Rock Pipit #114.

A couple of Pied Wagtails mooched around the artificial rocks.

The Rock Pipit left just one more species to photograph for our February target of 15 and well over a week left in which to find it. What would it be...we put a plan together for it to be a biggy, but would the plan hold???

Our initial thought was to head back to Leighton Moss and see if there were any showy Water Rails along the causeway. Once again the weather had other ideas, heavy rain for 36 hours before meant that much of the reserve would be flooded so an alternative was quickly arranged. We were to meet IH at Sizergh Castle for a rendezvous with their elusive Hawfinches, where they had been very elsusive for the safai and CR over recent years being either unlucky, thwarted by deep snow and even turning up one year to find the car park closed for re-tarmacing - you couldn't write it! 

Today was different IH was there well before us and as we pulled into the car park he was sat on the cafe verrandah pointing excitedly skywards. From where the car was parked we could only see the low sun burning out our retinas so car doors were thrown open optics gathered and we dashed over to where he was sat to be shown a lone Hawfinch high in a Hornbeam tree in the middle odf the car park. Getting a pic of it was tricky with lots of branches and twigs in the way. CR managed this shot

but we couldn't get a way through to it so moved slowly to the other side of the tree. As we did so another car load of birders was diembarking their vehicle so we pointed it out to them...maybe we shouldn't have as no sooner had we got round to the other side of the tree withe the sun now behind us and far fewer twigs in the way it flew just as we began to lift the camera; those 60 seconds showing the new arrivals the bird cost us dearly...and worse most of them didn't see it when we asked them later. We hung around for a good hour more as IH had seen them coming and going all morning before we arrived, even a flock of five at one point but sadly we only got a couple more fleeting glimpses of fly-over birds and a couple of maybes that disappeared into the foliage never to be seen again. Ah well c'est la vie - no doubt we'll be back for another look before March is out.

Plan A failed but the day was young and we had another site or two to visit. From Sizergh we drove the few miles further to Fowlshaw Moss were the car park feeders were busy with a nice mix of finches, a few Tree Sparrows and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

And then,while eating a tasty looking pasty, CR said there's a Water Rail under the end feeder. Stretching up on tippy-toes leaning on the car roof we could just about see it in the gloom of the ditch at far side of the car park.

Thoughts of nearly but not quite submitting the Hawfinch to the SD card were (almost) banished as we hit our target for February, and with the very same species we'd hoped but in a different location. 115 reached, now what? Do we stop for a few days or carry on and potentially eat into March's target which is only another six. That Law of Diminishing Returns is really biting hard now! At Fowlshaw there is another species that isn't on the 'list of potentials for March, Lesser Redpoll. So far we hadn't got out of the car park and we'd not seen one come down to the feeders nor heard any in the trees nearby nor flying over. Only one thing for it - go and have a look at their other feeding station a few yards away. That one wasn't so busy and again no sight nor sound of any Redpolls. The sun was out but the wind was cold as we hit the boardwalk trail. Last year we'd found our very first February Common Lizard at this site so it was deffo worth a look today particularly in any sunny sheltered spots. We searched high and low, well exclusively low, in sunny spots under sheltered bracken, along the sunny edge of the boardwalk, which we flet with the back of our hand and it had some warmth to it, and at the base of likely looking trees to no avail...but IH did spot a small group of Lesser Redpolls making their way through a copse of thick Hawthorn and Silver Birch, we struggled to get the bins on them in the deep cover and none of us managed to get a lens on them, another one for next time. We did find some likely looking lizardy/snaky spots that we'd not come across before that are worthy of further investigation in a few weeks time when the weather has warmed up a bit. Back at the not car park feeding station we had a chat with the Rangers while they had their lunch break away from boardwalk repairs. Still no Lesser Redpolls but a couple of Coal Tits and at least one Marsh Tit darted in and out.

Once the possibilities of Fowlshaw had been exhausted there was still plenty of time to do another site. IH really didn't want to do Leighton Moss so suggested we follow him to a nearby riverside walk he knew. Once off the road and over the stile we were in a different world, the river running wide beside us as we walked up the hill past some impressive veteran trees. Eagle eyed IH came up trumps again when he spotted a Dipper close to the river bank. It flew but a  bit of stealthy stalking found it downstream on the other side but now much more distant.

#116, we watched it for a few minutes before it flew further downstream and was lost to view. A top spot by IH again! He was certainly earning his Spotters Badge today. Now Dipper was on our list of March potentials so we've made our meagre target of just six perhaps a wee bit harder. What else could we find on this wander through riversides and woods? We'd not gone far when a herd of Fallow Deer came into view as we came to the crest of a rise along the path. Not unexpected as we were in a deer park and these are captive animals but not really domesticated as cows or sheep. Their dark colour took us aback at first and we thought they may be Sika Deer but no they are in fact a 'black' form of Fallow Deer and have been on the estate for about 300 years.

Many of the trees were planted at that time too and some of them have been damaged by big the storms of recent years. There's certainly some weird and wonderful shapes.

Continuing on along the footpath we came across another group of deer lazily chewing the cud taking it all very easy. You can tell they're used to people as they hardly bothered to look up as we stopped to get some snaps.

A few yards further on we got a better angle on him

Another one looked bizarrely Kangaroo like.

After leaving the estae and crossing a rather wet and fruitily scented field - looking at the tractor tyre marks we surmise it had recently been slurried, we ended up on a track leading back down to the river where the patch would take us under the main road on a ledge buit into the bridge stanchions. Above the track before we reached the bridge a pair of Buzzards circled over our heads.

Passing under the bridge we came out on a lane looking down into a bit of a gorge in the river which looked vaguelly familar. IH consulted his map telling us we were about to cross a bridge in a 100 yards or so and whe nit came into view we recognised it as the place we really ought to spend some time looking for leaping Salmon, Sedgewick Force. Now that is east of Sizergh Castle, it didn't feel like we'd walked that far but now we were at the furthest point all of a sudden the way back on the other side of the river felt like a bit of a hike.

Our route back was fairly uneventful other than for passing some very impressive Oak, Beech, Lime and Sweet Chestnut trees until we neared the road where our cars were parked. There we found another group of the balck Fallow Deer.

Again they went about their business oblivious to our presence and we were able to get some really close full frame shots. 

In the distance from the trees close to where the cars were parrked we could hear a Jay calling repeatedly, a species that's eluded our lens so far this year, in fact we've only had one fleeting glimpse of one. It is on the Potentials for March list but it was slightly annoying that it kept itself hidden all the while we walked back to the cars. Wonder if we'll get it in March??? And so ended a fabulous and diverse day out in south Cumbria.

Back at Base Camp the following morning we caught sight of the Snow Bunting on the dunes while out with t'mutt again. As per usual we didn't have the camera with us and it was way to far away for even contemplating as phone pic especially after our previous 'Weasel' attempt. There ws no sign of it on our late afternoon dog walk, however the next morning there it was again. This time we cut the dog walk short and went back for the camera only to walk up and down the prom for an hour or more without so much as a glimpse of the darned thing...where does it go??? Lunchtime saw us do another hour or so, again without any joy. The sun was more or less still out for our late afternoon dog walk so again we took the camera and this time after only half an hour we struck gold after seeing it being fluched by another dog walker. Unusually this time it didn't disappear to who knows where but stayed low down on the dune edge and began feeding. It was still very flighty having a little feed here before either flying or running mouse-like through the vegetation to start feeding in a new spot. Keeping up with it while dragging a reluctant 30+kg dog was easy but we did at long last manage to get some shots off. #117

With two species now crossed off our 'Wanted for March' list we've reduced our target to 6 out of the 10 remaining potential 'victims'.

Where to next? Another further flung safari is coming up but one that is still within our 75 mile Challenge radius - just.

In the meantime let us know who's finally fallen in your outback.

The ton is up

The Safari left you on a cliffhanger at the end of our last blog, would we or wouldn't we get 100 species of birds photographed by the end of January. Well it's now the end of the first week of February and we're on 103 but have been plagued by two weeks of seriously grotty weather...did we or didn't we...read on...

Desperate for a safari away from our usual haunts with some better shelter we had Pennington Flash near Wigan suggested to us. Now we've not been there since 2019 mostly due to the fear of getting caught in humungous motorway traffic jams on the way back to Base Camp at the end of the day. These road works have been going on for years now and we have been stuck in them on non-safari days, once for five hours! So you can understand our reluctance to venturte that way...But after umming and ahhing at IH's suggestion we plugged the post code into the sat nav and knock us down with a feather it suggested an alternative route we could have been using in all those intervening years...dohhhhh. We picked up CR without further ado and followed the sat nav's very easy route to our destination with IH turning up from the Southside a few minutes later.

A bitterly cold strong wind was blowing across the lake but we headed for the shelter of the wooded areas passing a well watched Siskin in a bankside Alder tree.

The Feeding Station was awash with Grey Squirrels, at least a dozen of them. There was plenty of food for the birds but with that many squirrels gorging themselves on it it wasn't going to last very long...and there was a similar number of Mallards enticed off the adjecent pond by the copius free handout too. The smaller birds flitted in and out as best they could when the opportunites arose.

But there was no sign of the one we really wanted to see, the local Willow Tits. After a very enjoyable lengthy watch we moved on down an extremely muddy track to the next hide passing another small feeding station of four small bird tables secreted in the edge of the scrub. This was very active with Blue, Great and Coal Tits but still no Willow Tits. The hide overlooks a fairly large pool with an island in the middle much favoured by the local Goosanders.

Everything else on the pool was tucked up in the margins on the far side Tufted Ducks, a couple of Pochards, Little Grebes, Teal, a few Shoveler and Mallard, a nice selection of waterfowl. A Wren acted like a mouse along the side of the ditch below the hide window diappearing under the thick layer of fallen grass in the hunt for whatever invertebrates it could find but no Kingfishers were perched on the ditchside twigs nor flew along it. Continuing our circuit the wooded areas were indeed pleasantly sheltered but sadly lacking in birdlife. The next hide was good though with eight Herons stood on the bankwith one Little Egret, it's not often you see more herons than egrets these days. Then a flash of blue shot by followed by a second and this one perched in a nearby tree but well hidden by intervening twigs and branches requiring that scariest of photographic techniques - manual focus!

Not the best but Kingfisher became bird #94, Little Grebe at the previous hide would have been had it not been so far away as to only about three pixels in the frame. By now it was lunch time so back to our vehicles to collect the butties/pies etc. Lunch was devoured at the small hide we'd not visited on the morning lap. It overlooks a different part of the pool we saw the Kingfisher and probaly one of the same two from early appeared in a slightly more open position in a nearby bush.

From there it was round to the Feeding Station again, crossing our fingers that Willow Tit would turn up. None did although there were plenty of Reed Buntings to keep us entertained

It was soon time to have another look at those small bird tables. The usual suspects were still there.

And then...BINGO...a Willow Tit appeared...#95

Followed soon after by a Great Spotted Woodpecker annoyingly keeping round the back of the tree at first

Before showing itself in all its glory...#96

Discression is the better part of valour so it is said and this time we left the little feeding station by the way we came instead of traipsing through the thick mud again. This time the 'Goosander Island' Hide came up trumps with the Little Grebes now more active and had moved a lot closer although still a bit distant for 'proper' shots.

Leaving the Goosanders to their island

we moved on passing a tiny pool, not much more tha na puddle really which was well illuminated by the afternoon sun. "It would be good if a Kingfisher was sitting on those well lit branches" said CR not realising a few feet away in the gloomy side of the pool there was one!

We edged forwards as stealthily as possible

The pics would have been so much better had the bird been sat 20 feet to the left. We managed to get a couple of passers-by on to it too which was good. Continuing on in to the sheltrered wooded area either CR or IH spotted a Siskin high in the tops of the trees but we couldn't find it and before we'd finished searching one of them had spotted a Goldcrest low in the trees on the opposite side of the track. This was in the better light...at times!

A nice bonus for #98 as we'd missed one up Beacon Fell a couple of days earlier.

We had another look from the hide where we first saw the Kingfisher and this time watched a female Bullfinch acrobatically stripping buds from a Hawthorn tree close to where the Kingfisher had been sat erlier.

As time was now pressing and it was getting gloomier by the minute there was just enough time for a last look at the little bird tables. We did see another Willow Tit but it was in and out too fast for us.

And then like this Nuthatch it was time for us to leave.

Another great safari in the bag, loads seen and another few added to the Challenge tally; now standing at 98 with five days left, surely we can get the last two in that time...but the weather had other ideas and poor conditions kept us stuck at Base Camp although we did bump into another Snow Bunting while walking the dog yes you've guessed it - no camera! It wasn't until the penultimate day of  the year we were able to get out for an impromptu safari picking up CR on the way to Middleton up north. The sun was shining and we had the morning ahead of us. Arriving on site CR said he could see our target even before we'd drawn the car to a stop...Glossy Ibis - not a bad 'from the car' tick. After getting out of said car we couldn't see it for a while - we were looking too far away and the bird was hidden behind a fence rail. But then there it was in all its multi-coloured finery shimmering the sunshine.

What a beauty for #99 but could we get the ton up today? With a bit of  time to spare we had a look at the nearby Heysham nature reserve and Red Rocks while giving the pooch a bit of a run at the same time. It was deadly quite apart from a singing Chaffinch, the first we've heard this year. We were hoping for something like a Jackdaw or maybe the Brent Geese on the rocks but the tide was out there and there were very few birds within any sort of range. Maybe we should havev gone round to Half  Moon Bay but unfortunately we didn't have enough time and had to high tail it back to Base Camp with the tally stuck on 99 with one day to go. That evening we saw two Snow Buntings fly into the remnant dunes on the prom in the very last of the daylight, we tried to get a phone pic of one of them but it flitted off to somewhere unseen before we'd got the phone out of our pocket...One day to get one species - we had a plan!

The 31st was an average grey sort of a January day without much wind thankfully. We loaded up the camera, dog, and half a loaf of bread and headed to the shopper's car park in the nearby village of Poulton-le-Fylde. St Chad's church is a well known Jackdaw haunt. We did see some on a roof top not far from Base Camp while en route but the pics weren't great, it's a bit awkward pointing a long lens towards bedroom windows while sttod beside a busy road.

We'd got our ton, happy days, but could do with a better pic so we carried on to Poulton where the Jackdaws were indeed in the churchyard and showing much better than the roadside ones earlier.

One of them even got to sample the bait we'd brought just in case...

Mission accomplished 100 species of birds photographed during January and with about 6 hours of daylight to spare - Result!!!

And then reality hit home. All that hard work will mean progreesing with our Challenge during February and into March isn't going to be easy, we've sort of shot ourselves in the foot a bit. Well we've got to give the other challengers time to catch up before the summer visitors arrive in the spring.

Target for February will be 15 and only 5 more for March...how will we fare?

 

Where to next? Another safari northwards beckons.  

In the meantime let us know who's got the taste for bread in your outback.