Can't see the Wood?

 

 

Dan here. Took this shot of a rather handsome and very approachable pigeon in a very brief visit this evening.

Highlights were restricted to five or six Swifts, the distant cries of a Grey Partridge and a (possibly new) male Whitethroat singing from a sycamore which has been dominated by a male Blackcap for six weeks or so.

I'll be away for most of the next fortnight, so it's over to Jon, Guy et al till the end of the month, by which time I'm certain the patch will be crawling with Icterine Warblers.

Cheers.

DH.

Back To Basics

After the excitement of Thursday's woodchat shrike we're going to be hard-pressed to make any posts on this site seem all that interesting for some time I expect.
Nonetheless, the show must go on and I had a trawl around Aldcliffe after work today. To be honest, there was a residue of optimism that I may relocate the marvelous midweek Mediterranean migrant but sadly it wasn't to be. Given the weather it's not entirely impossible that the bird may still be around, hunkered down somewhere out of sight, although I do suspect it's rather unlikely now.

Equally, I was also keeping an extra special eye-out for the turtle dove reported by visiting shrike-seekers on Friday. For several years this has been my odds-on favourite for 'next new bird for Aldcliffe'... though I'd started to rethink that choice lately in light of the massive decline this species has suffered in the UK. 

Stuff actually seen today included a smart whimbrel that was feeding alongside a curlew in the fields above the upper path, giving a nice comparison for those who like that sort of thing.
Any lapwing and oystercatcher nests which may have survived the first assault of the maize fields (or consequent second layings) would have been well and truly hammered today as the full plough-treatment was inflicted upon the Darter Pool field. Only a handful of foraging wheatear and a few gulls and jackdaws seemed pleased with the change to the landscape.
The wind was keeping a lot of stuff down, so passerine activity was minimal. House martins, swallows and swifts were much in evidence, whizzing around and feeding at low levels.
One of the little ringed plover nests is still being carefully attended; youngsters should be out and about any day now.

Jon 
   

Aldcliffe TV

Aldcliffe Woodchat from Dee Hay on Vimeo.

Dan here. Vimeo is higher quality for this high quality bird. It was seen again early this morning.

Below is my footage of yesterday's passage Ruff feeding with a resident Little Ringed Plover. The soundtrack is provided by Chiffchaff, Blackbird and Goldfinches and the rumble of camera motor...

Aldcliffe Ruff from Dee Hay on Vimeo.

Woodchat Shrine

 

 

 

Dan again, with a rare but wholly justified second blog of the day... dedicated to the loveliness of this adult male Woodchat Shrike. Or perhaps it should be a Woodruff Shrike-- it was found by (birder-blogger of some renown) Pete Woodruff as he prowled along Dawsons Bank early this afternoon.

The birding grapevine worked well and soon myself and Willow Lane's best bird photographer Jo Bradley (top three pics) were admiring and snapping it as it hunted the hedgerows just inland of the bank.

As well as being a bonnie bird, it is of course a rare one too. This bird (a first for Aldcliffe) is one of the scarcest passerine species to be seen in the parish. The last local Woodchat was in Bowland back in 2009. For the previous area records (an adult at Heysham and a juv. at Leighton) we're talking latter years of the last millennium...

A overshooting spring migrant, this one will be hard-pressed finding a mate much closer than Toulouse, the species being most common in the Mediterranean. It certainly didn't look best pleased when a hefty dose of cold Lancastrian rain began to fall just after these pictures were taken, and it became a little elusive... sulking beneath bushes as the next bedraggled birders began to arrive.

DH.

Ruff Patch

Dan here.

I thought that spring wader-finding would be the name of the game today, and I checked most of the area's muddy fringes this morning. Two small grey-backed waders at Freeman's Pools had the temerity to be Common Sandpipers (and not stints), and this Ruff had the nerve not to be....well.. I'll let it off because; a) it's so good-looking-- and b) Ruffs are scarce here in spring.

It was on 'the flood' where the local Little Ringed Plovers and another Common Sandpiper were also feeding. I got a few pics with my new camera which just about do it justice.

To expand the wadery theme Guy had an impressive flock of 29 Whimbrels flying over this evening. The biggest party in Lancaster and district so far this year?

A passerine influx was evidenced by 3 'new' Sedge Warblers (in addition to the 2 Freeman's Pools males) four Wheatears and a Garden Warbler by Freeman's Pools--the latter was a welcome and slightly overdue year-tick for Aldcliffe. A Chiffchaff singing in the scrub just NW of Keyline also seemed to be new in.

Up to thirty Swifts and fifteen House Martins were hawking low over the patch early on and c15 each of Sand Martin and Swallow headed north.

A Stock Dove was seen twice mid-morning. Is it my imagination or is this species seen here more often these days?

 

 

DH.