Smew-th Operator

Redhead smew - Freeman's Pools

The redhead smew continues at Freeman's Pools, showing well over the weekend.
I dragged my 'scope down on Saturday and managed to get a few crummy digiscope images, just for the record.
There wasn't much else going on around the parish other than the usual bits and pieces. There are still good numbers of golden plovers feeding in the fields with lapwing, redshank and curlew. The dunlin flock remains in situ at The Flood.

Pink-footed geese over Aldcliffe

I did bump into Tom Walkington who was out in search of the smew. While we were chatting we noticed a positive swarm of geese approaching from the south. There were at least 3000 birds and as they got closer we scanned through in search of anything other than pinkfeet. Unfortunately many headed over toward the Oxcliffe/Heysham area but a few hundred dropped onto Aldcliffe Marsh (though out of view from our where we were watching) and Tom picked up a single barnacle goose through his 'scope as they descended. Using just my bins I couldn't pick it out as they were just too distant and silhouetted against the white sky.  Presumably these geese were part of the flock that has been present on the other side of the river for a few days.   
On Sunday there were loads of fieldfare and redwing around. The latter particularly numerous around Admiralty Wood.
Now that everything's thawing out and temperatures are steadily climbing to something approaching 'mild', we should start to see more changes in and around Aldcliffe.  

Jon

Have I Got Smews For You

The 2012 redhead smew (pic by Dan H)

Sorry about the title; I don't have smews for you, but I do have smew (singular).
I managed to get out for an hour or so early afternoon and hopped on my bike and headed to Aldcliffe where my first stop was Freeman's Pools.
Scanning over the partially iced-over water I could see the usual coot, teal, gadwall, mute swan, wigeon and mallard. Then a small duck bobbed to the surface - chestnut crown, bright white cheeks and grey body. Lovely, a 'redhead' smew! The first I've seen for quite a few years and only the third I've ever seen in the Aldcliffe area.
Presumably this is the same returning bird that was been seen at the pools in the winters of 2010 and 2012 (where was it in 2011?). Let's hope it sticks around a while for others to enjoy.

Other aves of note included 2 pairs of shoveler on the Wildfowlers' Pools. There were also 12 meadow pipits feeding with pied wagtails in the wet fields around the pool edges - something of a surprise as I haven't seen any in the area recently.
The dunlin flock on the Flood continues to increase with 53 birds there today. With no rain recently, water levels at the Flood and the Wildfowlers' Pools are really low now and have left lovely large areas of muddy stuff that could well attract passing birds in the coming weeks.

Oh yes, the barn owl has been showing well and on cue in recent days but I have yet to locate where it is roosting...

Jon    

Morning Laps...

10 am.

Freeman’s Pool were quiet, the large stretch of water almost frozen over. Slurry spreading on maize stubble brought a number of gulls onto the scene, mainly black-headed. Wildfowlers’ Pool was less iced over and here were 6 Snipe, Redshank, Coot, Moorhen, Teal and Lapwing. Lapwing were a key feature today for me, they were in almost every field I scanned. The Flood saw 40 Dunlin, 7 Shelduck, Redshank, Lapwing, Half a dozen or so Robin and Pied Wagtail. On the marsh the geese were difficult to see as many were on the river. In the field near walled meadow Golden plover were mixed in with some Lapwing, and a solitary Fieldfare. Little Egret 3 on marsh and a handful of Goldeneye on the river. A Peregrine was eyeing things up from the pylons along with raven.

Steve

Twite Out in the White Out

Twite

I set out late this morning in the hope that a cold snowy Monday might be quiet enough to entice the geese back into the parish. Well, it was quiet alright and the geese were notable only in their absence.
Coot numbers had gone up a bit at Freeman's Pools - presumably pulling in birds from nearby frozen waters. There were 21 present on the main pool. Duck numbers were unremarkable, with the usual teal, gadwall, mallard, wigeon and tufted ducks plus a couple of little grebes, mute swans and several moorhen. The local sparrowhawk was sat keeping an eye on the place.
Along the edge of Freeman's Wood there was a small passerine flock made up of blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, wren, dunnock plus single bullfinch and treecreeper. A great-spotted woodpecker was 'chipping' away in the wood and several blackbirds were scrabbling around in the leaf litter.
Indeed, thrushes were much in evidence throughout the area today with blackbirds, song thrushes and fieldfare all over the place.

The Wildfowlers' Pools were unremarkable with just the expected mallard, teal and moorhens around the place. A pair of shoveler were back on the pools and a lone oystercatcher was parading around the edges while a couple of redshank probed in the thawing mud. A common buzzard was sat on a fencepost by the upper pool.
Wader activity on the Flood was minimal with just a few redshank and the dunlin flock now numbering 29 birds. Lapwing, curlew and golden plover were all feeding in the fields. A couple of pied wagtail were searching for food around the icy perimeter.

c500 greylag were in the field by Railway Crossing Lane with just a dozen or so pinkfeet among them.
I scanned through a sizable bunch of wigeon grazing on the marsh near the Channel. After spending the last 3 years regularly searching through American wigeon flocks in search of their Eurasian cousins (and often finding them) the tables have now completely turned and I was hoping to locate a yank here on the banks of the Lune. Naturally, that didn't happen...
All the typical marsh birds were present: little egret, mute swan, Canada goose, etc.

Making my way along the seawall back toward Marsh Point I came across a finch flock feeding on the tideline. The majority were goldfinch but there were also twite mixed in. I assume that these were the same birds that I saw the other day as there appeared to be 8 present. On closer inspection, I realised that I may have been over zealous with last Tuesday's '8 twite' claim as there were actually 7 twite and 1 linnet in the flock. In my defence I didn't see the birds on the deck last week.
Talking of which, I did get to observe them both on the strand line and perched up in the path-side trees today and noticed that 2 were colour-ringed. They were both sporting 'Heysham' blues on the left leg but unfortunately I wasn't able to determine the other colour before they flew off. Trying to see these bands on birds feeding in tideline debris is pretty tricky, and the light didn't help when they were briefly perched up. I'll try and get to grips with them another time, assuming they stick around.

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