Down by the seaside.

Yesterday I had a ride over to Ainsdale beach, near Southport, with my son, Jack, and the dogs and although we had primarily gone there for a walk I had my camera gear with me, just in case we came across anything interesting. This is a very popular stretch of coast but there were very few people about, as is to be hoped during weekday working hours outside the school holidays. In fact we only saw about ten people in the four hours we were there and some of them were in the distance.

We walked south along the strandline for a mile or so before gradually working our way out towards the incoming tide. The dogs got a good run but they were brought under control well before we got near to any roosting or feeding birds to avoid causing any disturbance.

Good numbers of Cormorants were gathered at intervals along the beach.

The vast majority of the Cormorants were pale-bellied sub-adults.

The incoming tide pushed some waders towards us and they were soon left huddled on a small sand bar as the tide raced in and around them. The majority were Knot but there were smaller numbers of Oystercatchers and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits.

Surprisingly the longer legged Oystercatchers were the first to leave the rapidly shrinking sand bar.

The Knot pushed closer and closer together as the tide rose.

Eventually they had to move.

The Knot didn't go far and they landed closer to us so I grabbed a few shots in the hope of finding a colour-ringed or leg-flagged bird. On reviewing the photos at home I didn't manage to pick out any colour-marked birds.

It wasn't long before the tide moved them and us on again.

I estimated that there were about 400 Knot and no I haven't gone through them to check.

Having enjoyed the unexpected spectacle provided by the Knot we headed back up the beach to one of the higher strand lines before slowly making our way back north. We hadn't gone far when my eye was drawn to a photo opportunity provided by roosting gulls, Oystercatchers and Cormorants with Blackpool Tower and the 65m high 'Big One' roller coaster on the horizon behind them.

The roller coaster and tower are approximately 20km and 22km north from this part of Ainsdale beach.

There were about 100 Cormorants in this roost including a few that are just out of the frame. 

Still heading north we walked closer to the dune edge and associated marshy areas at the top of the beach. This is quite a good area for nesting Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Reed Buntings. It is also heavily walked which means the birds are used to seeing people and some of the Skylarks are particularly confiding.

I would like to claim that I intended to capture the flying bee in this photo but I obviously didn't. However, the Skylark is in there on purpose.

The Skylark was by a path and it allowed me to approach to within a few metres.

Squatting down changed the background to one of a hazy blue sky. The impressive hind claw can be clearly seen.

We moved on, leaving the Skylark to go about its business, and ventured further along the edge of the dunes. As we walked on a Little Egret flew south, to our left, along the top of the beach and a little while later a Grey Heron also flew south but this time to our right, over the edge of the dunes.

As big and as white as it is we nearly missed this Little Egret.

Grey Heron.

We ventured into the sand dunes for the final leg of the walk and the trail we followed was bordered with a good scattering of Pyramidal Orchids. Further along the trail our attention was drawn to the pink and white flowers of Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea that was growing up the side of one of the smaller dunes.

Pyramidal Orchid

Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea added a real splash of colour.

Almost back to the car park and the walk was rounded off with some feeding Jackdaws. That pale powder-blue eye on the lookout for any morsel of food.

Adult Jackdaw

All in all a good day and I am sure the dogs would say so too.

Up with the lark

I had to scrape frost off the car this morning before heading up to Billinge for a dawn start. I was hoping a few migrants had dropped in overnight and that there would be some visible migration but I soon realised there was very little of either. I didn't hear or see a single Chiffchaff and the gin clear skies were largely devoid of passage migrants. I took the nets down that that I had put up in the scrub and turned my attention to the many Skylarks that were chasing each other around in the adjacent grassland.

The Skylarks haven't started nesting yet but are in the process of pairing up and sorting out territories. There is quite a dense population at this site and there is clearly a lot of competition for the prime areas. I watched them for a while and decided to try a single panel net where several had been repeatedly chasing each other low over the ground. Skylarks are not easy to catch in mist-nets but a scattering of low willow saplings in this area helped give some background to the net.

I sat back at a discrete distance to watch and while I was waiting I noticed a male Wheatear, my first of the year, perched in the top of a willow beyond the net. It didn't hang around though and quickly moved on. There wasn't much moving overhead apart from large gulls (mainly Lesser Black-backs) with some moving north towards breeding sites and others moving in the opposite direction towards the nearest landfill sites. I did have 76 Starlings go south-east, 5 Redwings north and a single stratospheric Siskin was heard but that was about it otherwise. My attention quickly turned back to the net when one of the Skylarks headed straight for it and went in, much to my delight. 

Only 147 full grown Skylarks were ringed in the UK in 2013 and in some other years it has been less than that so ringing one counts as a success for me. To give it some context I would have to catch about 485 Blue Tits to ring an equivalent proportion of the national total of that species.

There was so much Skylark activity I thought I would try another spot and I quickly caught a second bird. Third time I was not so lucky and I decided to call it a day at that but I think there is scope to improve my technique and try again before they finally settle down to nest. It is a shame they are not easier to catch as they are a species that would benefit from further study.

It is not often that ringing two birds counts as a good morning's effort but this was one of those occasions. 

More Willow Tit wanderings and other stuff too

I hadn't planned to do any ringing yesterday so I didn't even try and get up early. I got up at what might be considered a normal time and took my son to college like a dutiful dad. However, on getting home the light wind and the overcast conditions got the better of me so I decided to throw some gear in the car and have a walk around one of my ringing sites near Billinge. Initially I was only going to look for nests but then I decided to put up a 40ft net to test out a net ride that I had prepared on a previous visit.

I didn't expect to catch much as I am usually taking nets down by mid-morning rather than putting them up but with the help of an MP3 lure it proved to be a very productive session. The highlight was, without doubt, a catch of 5 Willow Tits (1 adult and 4 juvs). I had heard one in the distance so I played the 'chey' call on the MP3 player. I thought I may catch it if I was lucky but it was so far away I didn't know if it would even react to the play-back lure. To then catch 5 together was unexpected and certainly unprecedented in terms of number. The nearest potential nesting site is at least 1km away but breeding wasn't confirmed there so these birds could have travelled further.

Juvenile Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)

This site is just in Merseyside and on checking the BTO online Ringing Reports these are potentially the first Willow Tits to have been ringed in that county since 2009 when only 1 was ringed!  In fact only 287 were ringed in the whole of the UK in 2013 such is the scarcity of this species these days!

Willow Tits often rear in the region of 7 to 9 young so the 4 juvs caught probably only represent half of the brood. The remainder of the brood may have been in the area with the other adult as some species split the brood between the parents shortly after fledging. If they were nearby they certainly didn't make themselves known by calling. Alternatively the single adult and 4 juveniles caught could be all that has survived from a breeding attempt with the other adult and young having perished. I may never know but it will be interesting to see how many more Willow Tits I catch at this site over the coming weeks.

The wind dropped almost completely by mid-afternoon and it remained overcast so I relocated to a much more open part of the site to see if I could catch any of the Skylarks or Meadow Pipits that breed there. It seemed a bit of a long shot but I wanted to see if it was possible and to see how the birds reacted to a net. It soon proved to be worthwhile with a Skylark being caught almost immediately followed by 3 Meadow Pipits a little while later. It has been a long time since I have mist-netted adults of these species locally and this site clearly has potential for catching good numbers of both given the right conditions. I will certainly be back to find out, weather permitting of course.

Skylark (Alauda arvensis),
Skylarks are a bit of a handful and this one wasn't keen on being photographed.

Skylarks have an impressive hind claw.

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis).

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Ringing totals for 17/06/14
Blackcap  2
Chiffchaff  4
Willow Warbler  2
Treecreeper  1
Willow Tit  5
Blue Tit  5
Great Tit  2
Coal Tit  1
Long-tailed Tit 15
Skylark  1
Meadow Pipit  3
Total 41