Scattering of Spring Migrants

A few highlights from a morning trawl today included: 

House Martin - my first of the year with with a few sand martins at Freeman's Pools
Sand martin - several passing through plus birds feeding at Freeman's pools. 
Wheatear - 11 (8 on tideline, 3 in fields)
Blackcap - 2 singing in Freeman's Wood 

Green sandpiper on Frog Pond
Black-tailed godwit c250 on The Flood & c300 on Wildfowlers' Pools 
Wildfowl included 4 goldeneye, 3 pink-footed geese, 3 shoveler, 4 tufted duck plus a fe gadwall and teal. 
Great White egret on Colloway Marsh 
Multiple chiffchaffs singing around the patch.

Sadly, no sign of any little ringed plover. 
Last year the first (late, thanks in part to the 'Beast from the East') arrival was on April 1. 
The Flood has no appealing muddy edges thanks to high water levels at the moment and although the Wildfowlers' Pools are crawling with waders it's presumably also too wet for LRPs. 

For context, recent years LRP arrival dates at Aldcliffe as follows - all March: 21st 2017, 18th 2016, 19th 2015 & 2014, 17th in 2013. 

Of note, I didn't find any evidence of breeding at Aldcliffe last year...

Jon

Bongo Bird

Having missed the spoonbill on the Lune estuary last summer, I was rather thrilled to hear that Pete Crooks had found one yesterday on Colloway Marsh.
Of course Colloway is on the other side of the river but as far as I'm concerned if one can see a bird from the Aldcliffe area, then it counts as a patch bird.
And so it was that I headed along the cycle track this morning in pursuit of the big white 'bongo bird'. I'd bumped into Ray Hobbs at the parking area, he wasn't aware of the spoonbill's discovery and he joined me in searching for it.

Spoonbill. No, really.

A 'scope along the marsh north of the pylons failed to locate anything other than a few little egrets, and so we continued down to the horse paddocks at Low Wood. 
'Scanning over the marsh on the opposite bank I soon found the spoonbill just south of the pylons, loosely keeping company with at least 5 egrets. It was quite active, wing-stretching and preening.
Through bins it was just another distant white blob and a 'scope was a definite necessity from this side of the river.
As you can see from the amazing photograph (almost as definitive as those infamous images of the Cottingley Fairies) the bird was some way away...
Anyway, it was an Aldcliffe tick for both Ray and I, so that's all that really matters!
 
Jon

Bean Counting

Bean goose

Saturday saw a huge increase in the number of geese in the Aldcliffe area. All the birds were grazing in the fields to the east of the cycle path and most of them were relatively easy to scan through. I estimated there to be around 3,500 pink-footed geese, c600 greylags and the 60 or so 'resident' Canada geese.
I scanned through the pinkfeet in search of ringed birds, plus any other species.
I only found one collared goose (LCT) - it'll be interesting to see where else this bird has been seen.
Searching through a mass of feeding pinkfeet my eyes were dazzled by a pair of bright orange legs, and within seconds the distinctive head of a bean goose loomed into view.

Bean goose

Barely annual in North Lancashire, bean geese are always a treat to find in the Aldcliffe area.
Of course, the worst thing about finding a bean goose is having to figure which bloody type it is; fabalis (taiga) or rossicus (tundra).
The latter is the most likely in our area, but both can occur.
This particular bird didn't strike me immediately as any one in particular, but now that I've had chance to look at the cruddy pics I got I'm definitely leaning toward rossicus.
Anyhoo, here are those same cruddy dodgi-scoped shots so please feel free to weigh in with any comments.
Incidentally, I had a look on Sunday afternoon and all the pinkfeet had cleared out.

Common snipe

The other minor highlights from Saturday included 6 dunlin on the Flood (22 there on Sunday) plus fields filled with lapwing, curlew and golden plovers. Snipe were present at the Wildfowlers' Pools, Flood (pictured), Darter Pool and Freeman's Pools.
I returned to the area later in the day where the barn owl once again made an appearance right on cue.

 

The Week In Review

On Tuesday I had a quick cycle around the main Aldcliffe locations to see what things were doing in the sub-zero frosty, sunny parish. Well, it was going to be a quick cycle until I got a puncture at Stodday which of course resulted in a leisurely stroll back along the path to Freeman's Wood and Pools.

Snowy Lake District mountains loom over Aldcliffe Marsh

The fields were attracting good numbers of black-headed and a few common gulls plus lots of waders including impressive numbers of lapwing and golden plover. Mixed in were curlew, redshank, dunlin and even 5 knot - not a bird I expect to see in the Aldcliffe area all that often, never mind feeding in fields.
A small flock of 8 twite were near the walled meadow but they were very flighty and unfortunately I couldn't see if any were colour-ringed.
Otherwise, it was pretty much business as usual with the expected wildfowl species, egrets, common buzzard, sparrowhawk and what-not. There were 5 common snipe roosting at the Wildfowlers' Pools.

In the late afternoon I returned to the Pools in search of the barn owl and once again it appeared just before 5pm. I went again on Wednesday (trying to figure out roughly where its roost might be) and I got great point-blank views, but better still picked up a woodcock - it flew in from Freeman's Wood over the pools and across the river, presumably to feed on the defunct tip.

Jon

The Waxwing Cometh

Bohemian waxwing

With no rain in the forecast Jenny and I decided to take advantage of the momentous occasion and walk along the cycle path from Aldcliffe to Conder today.
It was cold and overcast but calm, which made a gentle trundle quite pleasant.
We saw much the usual stuff along the route; wigeon, cormorant, grey heron, little grebe, pink-footed and greylag geese, redshank, curlew, lapwing and what-not.
Passerines were unremarkable with the highlights being 2 grey wagtail, 3 rock pipit and a couple of ravens seen along the way. There are absolutely loads of goldfinches around at the moment, easily the most numerous finch along the estuary.
We saw at least 7 little egrets en route - presumably the tip of the iceberg as far as real numbers of these wee white herons is concerned.

At Conder we walked along the track beyond the bridge a short way before being diverted by the distinctive sound of a calling spotted redshank. It soon appeared, flying up from the creek and over the bridge out onto the estuary.
We then bumped into a couple who had just seen 5 waxwings in the pathside hawthorns. We had a quick look but couldn't locate them, so set off to The Stork for some lunch. As we walked along the road a greenshank flew by, again betraying its presence with its diagnostic call.

Just as were were watching the wader drop down beyond the bridge I noticed a small group of starling sized birds flying in. A scan with bins revealed a grey rump as they vanished into the hedgerow. We wandered back up to the path and and got great views as the 5 waxwings fed on hawthorn and rosehips by the track. Unfortunately the horrible flat light made getting decent photos an absolute non-starter, but that never stops me from trying! As you can see, the results were barely worth the bother.
We celebrated with lunch at the aforementioned Stork, washed down with a fine pint of Black Sheep bitter.
The walk back to Lancaster was pleasant enough, despite the rather limited birding highlights. 

Jon

Life On Marsh

Lapwing

Despite the many pressing things that I find myself having to do as Jenny and I continue our repatriation, I am still finding a couple of hours most days to get out and refamiliarise myself with the neighbourhood birds.

On Monday I was on Aldcliffe Marsh for the high tide once again and it was another big one.

As on Sunday, lots of geese were grazing in the adjacent fields along with good numbers of curlew, lapwing (pictured), redshank and black-headed gulls.

The tideline by Walled Meadow had attracted a decent little feeding flock that contained chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, robin, wren, pied wagtail and 11 rock pipits. As I walked along the seawall up to Marsh Point and Freeman’s Pools I came across at least another 9 rock pipit. Checking through them, there was nothing to suggest they were anything but petrosus types, although one bird with a distinctive supercilium was certainly suggestive of littoralis. 

The European white-fronted goose was with greylags on the marsh opposite Snatchems.

Freeman’s Pools, now thawed, were starting to attract a few birds including common goldeneye, tufted duck and a pair of mute swans.

Bits of a little owl

On Tuesday I visited the marsh again, though walked via Aldcliffe village and down Railway Crossing Lane. As I passed Admiralty Wood I checked for little owls and eventually located a snoozing bird (pictured here). Nuthatch, treecreeper and great-spotted woodpecker also put in appearances.

I bumped into Steve Wallis in the village; he was on his way home having completed his WeBS count. After a good chat about what Aldcliffe birds I’d missed in the 3+ years I’ve been away and what changes had been observed around the patch we continued on our respective ways.

Late afternoon at Aldcliffe Marsh

The tide peak was considerably lower today and as a result there wasn’t much pushed off the main river. A handful of little egrets were scattered around the saltmarsh and once again there were loads of redshank and lapwing, plus a few dunlin, feeding around The Flood.

I can’t recall ever seeing quite so many moorhen as seem to be around at the moment – have they just been steadily increasing or are there simply a lot in the Aldcliffe area this year? Coot have certainly colonized in recent years (my first record was in the late 1980s and concerned a freshly dead bird along the seawall. I was quite excited.)

Talking of modern additions to Aldcliffe’s avifauna, as I bumbled along the pathway back to Willow Lane alongside Freeman’s Wood I noticed a little egret on the path ahead of me. It was searching for prey in the wet ditch and looked a bit out of place so close to the edge of town. They’ll be nicking koi carp out of garden ponds before we know it…   

This afternoon (Wednesday) I had to go to Morecambe and managed a quick walk down the Stone Jetty. There was nothing much going on offshore, and wader numbers were pretty unremarkable around the shore. Species present included the expected curlew, dunlin, redshank, turnstone, oystercatcher and knot.

Jon
 

Barnacle geese

Ray Hobbs had a flock of 16 barnacle geese at Aldcliffe on Thursday 18th Nov.
I'm pretty sure that's a record for the site. I assume they're Caerlaverock overshoots, rather than fence-hoppers?

Jon C.