Rare Goose Revisited

White-fronted & red-breasted goose, Pilling

I managed an hour and a half or so down at Aldcliffe on Wednesday where the most notable thing was the reduction in the number of geese.  Just c550 pinkfeet were grazing on the drumlins.
A group of 7 adult whooper swans were on bathing and preening in one of the flashes on Aldcliffe Marsh, before they flew off westwards.
There was quite a bit of skylark movement throughout with 1s & 2s plus a flock of 11 going in all directions.
Ultra-scarce this winter, a single rock pipit feeding in the marsh channels was a nice find and the drake shoveler was once again on Darter Pool.

I had a good walk around the patch this morning but it was pretty quiet. The reduced goose flock was still on the hill and the shoveler was remaining faithful to Darter Pool.
Freeman's Pools continues to host a handful each of goldeneye and tufted duck, plus the usual 20ish coot and a couple of little grebes.
The peregrine pair were again keeping sentinel on the marsh.
The drake shoveler was still present and a small number of skylarks were again passing over.

I walked back up through Aldcliffe village and along the patch toward the Fairfield Orchard. The annual influx of redwing and fieldfare was well in evidence with around 120 birds in a mixed flock by Admiralty Wood.
As I trudged along the muddy path the wintering finch flock got up from the arable field and landed in the small tree by the path. A female brambling was among the expected chaffinches and linnets - the first I've seen locally this winter.

After a good dousing by rain and hail I headed home for a warming brew. Suitably refreshed, I decided to pop over to Pilling to have another look at the red-breasted goose which was apparently showing well in fields by Backsands Lane.
As I passed by Conder I was treated to the sight of a great egret as it flew over the road and heading in the direction of Glasson. This bird has been seen in the area a number of times in recent weeks.

Red-breasted goose

I arrived at the goose-spot and soon picked out the dinky rarity from the flock of pink-footed and 23 Eurasian white-fronted geese. It showed brilliantly in good light and I was able to get a couple of record shots using my compact digital camera held up to my 'scope. My last visit to see this bird was something of a mad-dash and we had distant views of the birds so to see it closer and with more time on my hands was a real joy. I still want it to make its way over to the Lune though...

Jon   

Goose Influx Excites

Barnacle goose

An intended quick scout around the patch yesterday morning turned into a longer visit courtesy of a large gaggle of newly-arrived pink-footed geese.
Around 1,400 birds had ditched down in the fields immediately east of the cycle track and I spent a good deal of time scrutinising the flock.
The only birds to stand out from the crowd were a smart barnacle goose and a rather irritating pinkfoot with orange legs and a slightly orangey bill (pictured) which was doing a half-decent job of suggesting rossicus bean goose.

Fox, having a good scratch

Along the hedgeline a dog fox kept the birds on alert but he didn't seem particularly interested in a goose dinner.
Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me so  the collection of shoddy shots here were taken using my phone held up to my 'scope. 

A return visit to the fields today revealed a significant increase in the number of geese. I estimated somewhere in the region of 3,500. My optimism-o-meter went into overdrive.

An hour or so of careful 'scoping later and all I could say with any conviction was there was nowt else among the mass of pinks.
Well, that's not entirely true, the barnacle was still there, as was the orange-legged pinkfoot.

Orange-footed goose...

A lone greylag was also grazing among the geese (an Icelandic bird?) and a particularly dark pinkfoot stood out from the crowd.
Hopefully the numbers will continue to rise and we'll see something really interesting among them...

In other non-goose news: yesterday highlights included a pair of peregrines and the wintering greenshank on Aldcliffe Marsh and a kingfisher at Freeman's Pools.
Today, I didn't really see much else as I was rather fixated on the geese!   

Jon
     

Spellbinding Merlin

I toured the patch by bike today and with a bit of time at my disposal ventured beyond Aldcliffe's exalted boundaries.
First stop was an icy Freeman's Pools where the birds were concentrated into one relatively small area of open water. Here 20 coots dived alongside a couple of little grebe and three each of goldeneye and tufted duck. A squad of snoozing teal were on the ice.
Oddly, the smaller Frog Pond wasn't as frozen and 50 or so wigeon were paddling about with a handful of Canada geese.
The cycle track was pretty quiet with the just the usual blackbirds, song thrushes, robins, wrens, tits, dunnocks, goldfinches and a couple of bullfinches seen.
A gaggle of 140 rather edgy pink-footed geese were grazing in the fields to the east of the track. The activities of a couple of wildfowlers on the estuary possibly contributed to their wariness.
The river itself was pretty quiet beyond the expected gulls, waders and ducks.
A fair amount of work was going on in one of the fields near Low Wood. It appears to be another phase of the solar farm... It will be interesting to see if, and how, this affects local wildlife.

Spotted redshank

I carried on down to Conder Green and Glasson Dock stopping frequently along the way. To be honest, the high tide did little to enhance the experience and I hardly saw anything worth mentioning.
One of the few highlights was the wintering spotted redshank roosting at the Conder.
I checked Jeremy Lane for any swans but found only mutes and Glasson Marina offered little beyond a couple of goosander.

Distant merlin!

On my way back to Lancaster along the cycle track I stopped to 'scope a peregrine sat out on Colloway and then noticed a dashing female merlin hunting over Aldcliffe Marsh. She soon sat and I was able to get good views (and a bad 'scope pic!).
As I passed the Wildfowlers' Pools I added a kingfisher to the day's tally.

Earlier, I'd been called by Paul Brady to say that he'd bumped into a flock of 42 waxwings near Skerton Bridge. I later got another call from Ken Green to say that a friend of his had reported the same flock near PC World.

Waxwing, Lancaster

Around 3pm I popped along and soon found a group of waxwings in the trees adjacent to the cycle track just by Skerton Bridge.
As I walked around trying to assess the size of the flock they took off and headed over the road toward the Kingsway Retail Park. I tracked them down to a small rowan that miraculously still had lots of fruit on offer - the last berried rowan in town?

Waxwing

Here a group of 20 or so fed happily at the entrance of the Bathstore car park as two lanes of traffic passed by just feet away; the waxwings and commuters were seemingly completely oblivious of one another.


Don't forget - it's the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. For more info about this massive countrywide event see here: Big Garden Birdwatch and to find out what's happening in the Lancaster area click here.
If you're taking part, keep an extra eye out - you never know you might have a waxwing drop by!

Jon
  

Canal King

Kingfisher near Whte Cross, Lancaster

There's been little change in the bird life of the Aldcliffe area over the last few days, as far as I can tell.
Highlights have included the arrival of a solitary drake shoveler on Freeman's Pools (yesterday) and a mini-influx of pink-footed geese with a whopping 80 in the fields this morning.
Hopefully goose numbers will increase substantially over the next few weeks - do keep an eye out for any odd stragglers among the commoner species. The Fylde still is still hosting thousands of pinkfeet, plus several Eurasian white-fronts, both taiga and tundra bean geese, barnacle geese and a Todd's Canada goose and the much-twitched red-breasted goose.

Tawny owl. Can you see me? Can you see me now?

I've added a few patch 'year-ticks' in the past couple of days such as kestrel and stock dove while a Sunday stroll along the canal rewarded me with corking views of a kingfisher near White Cross.
A quick check of a known roost near Lancaster Castle gave me my first views of tawny owl for 2017.

Last week while in Lancaster there were 4 waxwings feeding in the white rowans off Bulk Street, behind Dalton Square. A male blackcap was also seen feeding on the berries there.
Most of the city's berry-filled trees have been well stripped now so finding waxwings locally will doubtless become increasingly difficult from here on in; up to 12 were still in the Scotforth area yesterday (Sunday).

Jon    

Time & Tide

I finally found a chiffchaff this morning, the first I've come across this winter. It was in the company of a goldcrest (interestingly, I saw more of these today than I have for quite some time) feeding at the far end of Lucy Brook at the northern edge of Freeman's Wood.

I spent a good 3 hours rummaging around the area altogether but little else of significant note was to be found.
Freeman's Pools continues to host a few goldeneye, tufted duck, teal, gadwall and wigeon while a gaggle of greylags and Canada geese remain faithful to Frog Pond field.

Lapwings

A couple of jack snipe were with a pair of common snipe at Snipe Bog and good numbers of waders were on the estuary; lapwing, golden plover, redshank, curlew and dunlin.
The regular greenshank was on the Aldcliffe Marsh flashes.
A flock of some 900 pink-footed geese were grazing in fields between Heaton and Overton. At range, I couldn't pick out anything else among them and when a farm vehicle flushed them I scanned through them in flight and nothing stood out as different.

Yesterday, I managed to get down to Aldcliffe during the high tide. And what a high tide it was, with the saltmarsh mostly submerged.
Once again, I was surprised that I couldn't find any rock pipits.
I checked the tideline between Stodday and Marsh Point and didn't find a single pipit. A few years ago this would have been unthinkable - what has happened to them? Given that we believe that all the birds that winter on our estuaries are of Scandinavian origin, as opposed to sedentary British birds, what has changed to reduce the number arriving here?

Jon