Double Gloss-ster.

Dan here with a late evening report on events just a few hundred metres south of the ARA (Aldcliffe recording area!).

This evening, while listening out for passage Wood Warblers at Meldham Wood (no such luck) a Glossy Ibis whistled over my head and over the treetops.... Half an hour later the same thing happened again as Whimbrel titters filled the air.

I suspect that the duo were headed to roost in the plantation by Ashton Hall lake where several Little Egrets dropped in and nesting Grey Herons were croaking . There's no public access to the lake, but I'll be on the shared use path again tomorrow armed with camera.... and a scope for scanning Colloway Marsh, which is presumably where the vagrants had been feeding.

Late news for yesterday regards yet another Yellow Wagtail heading through Aldcliffe airspace- I saw and heard one as it bounded NNW over the estuary off Marsh Point.

DH.

Plover Roll-Over

A couple of visits to Aldcliffe over the last two days haven't turned much up as far as new arrivals are concerned.
The many whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, blackcap, willow warbler and chiffchaff are now so embedded in their respective patches that it's easy to forget that they were still en route from distant wintering grounds just a short time ago.
A handful of wheatear can still be found on the saltmarsh, particularly around the Creek but otherwise you'd be hard-pushed to find much to suggest we're in the middle of migration season.
However, there's still plenty of time for plenty more birds to move through and we may well yet see a few notable species such as reed warbler, hobby and spotted flycatcher dropping by. Swifts will soon be making their local debuts and of course May is a great month for finding a rarity!     
Local breeders seem to be taking full advantage of the decent early spring and as well as the few lapwing chicks that have already been seen I noticed the first Aldcliffe coot hatchlings yesterday.
Talking of lapwing, I really hope that there weren't too many ready-to-hatch eggs in the maize fields when the shit-spreader rumbled over them yesterday afternoon and today. There seemed to be much noisy wheeling around by adults and very little sign of scattering young when I was there. This afternoon, they were ploughing in the wake of the muck-raking so any nests that may have escaped yesterday were likely walloped today.
There are still at least 3 little ringed plover in the area but they do seem mobile; frequently moving between Freeman's Pools, the Flood and the Wildfowlers' Pools. I found another bird nearby yesterday, seemingly sitting on eggs.
A couple of pairs of grey partridge were in evidence today, so let's hope for another successful breeding season for these increasingly scarce gamebirds.

Jon

Martins Freemans

Dan again.

A stiff east-north-easterly with lots of cloud seemed promising this morning, but (for the Aldcliffe area at least) no Black Terns went through the only action was visible migration of small birds.

There has been so little vis mig for the last week or so that although this mornings traffic wasn't spectacular, it was an enjoyable change nonetheless.

Hirundines headed the tables, with around 140 Swallows noted heading NNE between eight and eleven AM. 55 Sand Martins headed through too, as did 19 House Martins--the strongest showing of the latter species so far this year. The breeze was a strong enough headwind for the birds to use a low more river-oriented routing than is usual here-- presumably getting some shelter from the estuary banks.

A late April resurgence of northbound Meadow Pipits (25) and two Lesser Redpolls almost completed the picture, but Goldfinches and Linnets seemed to be on the move too. Because both of the latter finches breed in the parish it's harder to monitor what's what, but I suspect some light passage was underway.

Whimbrels were quite conspicuous today, with 2 on Colloway Marsh, 5 by Stodday picnic area and a party of four which dropped in from the south for a couple of minutes then headed off quite high to the east.

I ventured south of the parish boundary hoping to hear a passage Wood Warbler in the bluebell carpeted Meldham Wood (no luck of course), and kept going until I hit evidence of a night-migrant influx in the Crook Farm/ Crook Cottage area near Cockersands. A cluster of symptoms indicating a small fall included 5 Willow Warblers (very scarce there), 3 Whinchats and a babbling Blackcap (again--a rare sight in such an open Fylde habitat).

Just goes to show how hit and miss things can be...just a few miles away, Aldcliffe's hedgerows and marshes seemed pretty new arrival-free.

DH.

Rubetra? You betcha!

Dan here.

Timed today's visit to coincide with the rain clearing. I harboured a faint hope that every bough would be decked with flycatchers and every field festooned with chats, but that didn't come to pass.

There were a few of the latter family to be found; two Whinchats were at the saltmarsh edge with five Wheatears. The Whinchats could have been yesterday's birds, but perhaps not-- four out of five of this morning's Wheatears were female (after yesterday's macho-fest).

Two Sedge Warblers were singing near Freeman's Pools, where the dainty, slightly paler LBB-thing was seen once more.

Two Little Ringed Plovers were on the flood and a Stock Dove was drinking from the Wildfowlers Pools, where 3 Teals and 2 Gadwalls were noted.

Vis mig seemed restricted to a very few NE-bound Swallows and Meadow Pipits.

DH

Ga-ga for Cuc-koo

Above: Whinchat, Red-breasted Merganser, Wheatears.

 

Dan here.

 

There were plenty of pretty things to look at this morning, but highlight was the sound of a male Cuckoo in song at the north end of Ashton golf course. As I heard it from Stodday sewage works it just about qualifies as an Aldcliffe record, and as Jon later heard it from the north of the patch it must have been heading that way anyway.

 

It didn't seem to linger, which sadly is to be expected for what is nowadays an almost exclusively upland species in England.  

 

Other songsters included Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats, with five males each holding territory along the main drag. I ventured a daring 300m south of the Stodday picnic area and added two singing Common Whitethroats to that tally.

 

Much chatisfaction was gained when I bumped into Guy, who put me onto two male Whinchats near Darter Pool, where I got some beauty and the beast shots of one dazzler atop a monster shite-heap.

 

A few Wheatears were scattered around and making the place look tidy; two in the maize fields (where 3 Lapwing chicks were seen), two on the saltmarsh, two in the flood field and, over in the NE of the parish, a flock of six in the newly-acquired FLORA site.

 

Vis mig was as dead as can be first thing (ie one mipit), but as the morning progressed a few redpolls (6) siskins (2-3) and sand martins (15 noted) started slipping north.

 

The estuary was pleasantly ducky, with eleven Eiders (nine drakes) four Red-breasted Mergansers and 28 Shelducks. Two Whimbrels nipped south over the rising tide.

 

 

DH.