Return of the Goldeneye

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   
      

Better Gate Than Never

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

5 chiffchaff
1 green sandpiper
17 house martin (appeared to be moving through as opposed to lingering local birds)
7 gadwall
5 tufted duck

Better gate than never

Though perhaps most significant was the appearance of the new gate by Keyline. Will this be enough to stop the increasing number of rat-runners using the cycle track as a short-cut? Let's hope so. 

I can't help but think this is the absolute least that could have been done to solve the problem of unauthorised vehicle use on this track. 

I expect one or two farm contractors will soon 'forget' the lock the gate behind them and it isn't beyond some drivers (such as those who clearly removed the no vehicle signage at the Aldcliffe Hall Lane end) to just cut through the locks. A couple of set-in bollards part way along the track may have been preferable... 

Talking of house martins (see above), there were still 7 birds at the Willow Lane colony on Sunday 8 October. I haven't seen any since so I expect they've finally headed south.

This morning I had a good wander around the area, starting at FAUNA. I was pleased to my first local patch redwings of the autumn (already spotted on North Ron and at Leighton Moss earlier this week) - 3 were with 5 mistle thrush. I coudn't see any little owls in the usual spot.

After the initial promise provided by the redwings the next couple of hours were something of a dreary slog. A lone chiffchaff was the scant highlight from the cycle track while a kingfisher brightened up an otherwise dull Freeman's Pools. 

Other typical odds and sods included sparrowhawk, gadwall, little egret, reed bunting etc. 

Meanwhile, my day job allows me to see regular bearded tits, purple heron, marsh harrier and the like, so I'm not doing too badly. I will try to get down the patch a bit more frequently, and after one or comments about the lack of posts here of late will endeavour to keep Birding Aldcliffe up to date!  

Jon