Lapwings and Skylarks

I was recently contacted by Barrie Roberts, a trainee bird ringer working towards his pulli (nestling) licence, about doing some Lapwing pulli ringing. Barrie has been doing plenty of other nestling birds with his trainer but had yet to ring many ground nesting birds. This morning I took him down to the site near Havant where I normally ring Lapwing chicks, to see what was happening there. It is always difficult to predict what stage the chicks will be at and I had seen that Lapwing chicks had hatched nearly a month ago on some sites, but he was keen to go. There are usually only low numbers of Lapwings at the site, despite the extensive amount of habitat and in recent years it has been increasingly difficult to find the birds that are there because the site is not grazed anymore and subsequently it is becoming dominated with rush. 

We arrived on site at 9am and almost immediately picked up two adult Lapwing on the edge of the rush pasture. At this point patience is required, because if the adults are spooked, they will alert the chicks, and they will sit tight. After a few minutes the first chick came into view and began feeding near one of the adults. I jumped the gate and edged my way along hedge keeping an eye on it. I was about 50m away when I picked up a second chick, but at the same time the adults saw me and began alarm calling. I kept a fix on the first bird whilst also occasionally glimpsing at the second bird; before long we had two Lapwing chicks for Barrie to ring.

The usual strategy of the chicks is to run for a bit of dense cover and then tuck themselves under it, although if there is no dense cover they will nestle down into a shallow depression. When settled down it is amazing how similar they look to a bit of horse dung and even though you have seen where they have gone down, it can take a few minutes to find them.

Can you see the Lapwing chick

A closer view of the second chick hiding from us

Juvenile Lapwing - one of two ringed

Once we had finished ringing the chicks we continued on with a circuit of the field, regularly scanning for more birds, but it appears that there was just the one pair this year, and only the two chicks. As well as Lapwings there are also fantastic numbers of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on the site. I have never ringed these species here, but this morning we decided to spend a bit of time looking for nests. There were so many Skylarks that it was difficult to assess the number of breeding territories, but none of the birds we watched seemed to be carrying prey. We did eventually find a nest, but that was more by luck than judgement; we were stood watching a bird on the ground when one flew off the nest just in front of us. The patience and skill required to find a nest is very evident when you look at the image below. A clutch of four eggs were in the nest, so we recorded it for the BTO nest Recording Scheme and quickly moved on.

Skylark nest is located centrally in the image

Cutch of Skylark eggs

We spent a good hour or so wandering around the site with the notable species recorded being Mistle Thrush (3), Stonechat (3), Yellowhammer (1 pair), Red Kite (1), Buzzard (2), Kestrel (2), Whitethroat (1), Linnet (several pairs) and Tawny Owl (1). A Dingy Skipper was the butterfly highlight.

Trevose Head, Cornwall - 27th April

For the final day of our long weekend I started with another pre-breakfast walk around Trevose Head in search of migrants. I started again by the golf course and on the road down to Boobies Bay there were a couple of Sedge Warblers, three Whitethroats and a Blackcap. There were good numbers of hirundines feeding over the fields but they were all Barn Swallows and Sand Martins. As I got to the beach 11 Whimbrel took off from one side of the golf course, flew over the road and landed the other side, they were the only Whimbrel I saw.

Whimbrel - Trevose Head

I worked my way around the fields towards the headland, there was a distinct lack of migrants, although two Wheatears put in a brief appearance. With very little evidence of migrating birds I spent my time looking at the residents. The Skylarks were being quite lazy birds and rather than flying up high to sing, they were just sitting on fence posts singing. They were evidently very used to people and allowed me to walk right up to them for a few pics.

Skylark - Trevose Head

It was a gloriously still and sunny morning and the light was fantastic.I was able to get some great shots, albeit of birds on posts.

Skylark - Trevose Head

A Meadow Pipit was also being quite lazy and sitting on a rock and singing, again it was very approachable, and allowed me to get a few images before it flew off.

Meadow Pipit - Trevose Head

Other than a constant stream of hirundines there was nothing to report of note, until that is I heard a singing Corn Bunting. There is a project on Trevose Head aimed at maintaining the dwindling population, but as with many schemes it seems to be failing in its aims. It seems that the conflicts with modern farming practices and farmland birds are not being resolved, and as is happening on my patch in Hampshire, species like Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer are disappearing.

Singing Corn Bunting 

In the end it was a very quiet morning with very few migrants to report, but overall I had had a fab weekend back in Cornwall.

Gunver Head and Stepper Point, St Merryn, Cornwall

The intention was to start early and go for a walk around Gunver Head and Stepper Point. A slight over indulgence of red wine the night before meant that we had a slightly later start than intended and arrived just after 9 am. We parked in the lay-by mid way between Crugmeer and Lellizzick and headed along the permissive path to Gunver Head. It was a dull and overcast start, but as we headed west along the path a couple of Barn Swallows drifted past. As we approached the cliff three Northern Wheatears flicked up and sat on a nearby fence, a good start, which built my anticipation for the rest of the walk.

Male Stonechat

Stonechat taking flight

Stonechat in flight

We worked our way around the cliff path, Spring Squill covered the cliff top giving it a subtle blue haze, and the sweet smell of Gorse filled the air. Herring Gulls, Shags, Fulmars and a pair of Oystercatchers had taken up the best nesting sites on the cliff. Linnets, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and several pairs of Stonechats were present in the gorse, and seemingly already on territory. 

Skylark

Skylark

A very approachable Raven provided me with an interesting diversion. It allowed me to get within two metres of it, I have never got this close to a Raven before. This unusual behaviour made me question the bird’s health as they are generally such shy birds, hopefully it was just used to people.

Raven

Other than the occasional passing Swallow there was little evidence of spring migration and it was only as we approached the car that I picked up our first Whitethroat and Chiffchaff.

In search of winter birds, Day 2 - Norfolk 2015

After the now traditional hearty breakfast we planned our day and prepared to head off. There were a few bits and pieces on the feeders in the garden but nothing of much note, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Coal Tit were probably the most notable. 

Wolferton

We started the day at Wolferton in search of the elusive Golden Pheasant. We have tried for this species in previous years but without success, but this year Paul's local knowledge gave us hope. We headed for the northern road that forms the Wolverton triangle and slowly  searched the area. Our first circuit was without success, but on our second circuit we flushed a stunning male bird, who was feeding right on the edge on a clearing. This was our second new species for our annual Norfolk trip and one we were very pleased to get.

Hunstanton

Our next destination was Hunstanton and the coach park opposite Tesco's. Two Waxwing had been visiting trees in the car park all week, but not today. We searched the area for a while but failed miserably. Our next stop was the cliffs at Hunstanton; this would give us a view of the sea in search of ducks and also views of Northern Fulmars. The sea was very quiet and other than a couple of flocks of Sanderling passing by there was nothing of note. We did get some cracking views of Fulmars though as the hung in the stiff breeze.

Fulmar - Hunstanton

Holme Beach

We are fortunate in that when we stay in Norfolk we stay in the home of a birder and are able too enjoy his choice of artwork. One of my favourite artists at the moment is Darren Woodhead (http://www.darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk/) and it was a very pleasant surprise to see one of his pictures hanging on the wall in the cottage. The painting is of a flock of Fieldfares, and a lone Waxwing, feeding in a clump of Sea Buckthorn. 

Darren Woodhead Painting of Fieldfares on Sea Buckthorn 

Our next stop of the day was Holme Beach and here the image on the wall came to life as we were greeted with a flock of Fieldfare, minus the Waxwing, feeding in a clump of Sea Buckthorn. As we enjoyed the birds we could just imagine Darren sat with us painting the scene.

Fieldfare - Holme Beach

Fieldfare - Holme Beach

Our main reason for going to Holme was to look for the flock of Snow Buntings that were known to be present. After spending a few minutes with the Fieldfares we headed on in search of our quarry. We first stubbled across a few Knot that were feeding in the nearby pools, they were extremely approachable, the individual below was the tamest.

Knot - Holme Beach

There were good numbers of Skylark feeding in the sand dunes and as we homed in on the Snow Buntings we stubbled across some pretty of approachable individuals.

Skylark - Holme Beach

There were about 20 Snow Buntings present but they were constantly moving back and forth along the beach. We eventually pinned them down and were able to get some cracking views before they took flight. 

Snow Buntings - Holme Beach

Snow Bunting - Holme Beach

Thornham

Thornham Point has been a regular site for Twite and Rock Pipit over the last few years, except last year that is. After Holme we headed there and were quickly on to a few Rock Pipits. A handful of wader species were present, mostly Redshank but also Grey Plover, Ringed Plover and Curlew. 

Redshank - Thornham

Curlew - Thornham

We eventually picked up the Twite flock, about 30 birds were feeding on vegetation on the salt-marsh. Typically they come to the gutter of the nearby building to drink, but that was not to be the case today.

Titchwell

Our next stop was the RSPB's Titchwell reserve, this is usually a great place for a variety of wader and duck species but also a good place to look out to sea for divers and sea duck. We arrived at Titchwell and headed straight out along the footpath to the beach. The scrape on the north had the best to offer with several Ruff, Snipe, Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits present. At the back of the scrape there were several pipits, including two Water Pipits, four Rock Pipits and a couple of Meadow Pipits, a Bearded Tit joined them for a while and gave good but distant views.

We continued along the footpath adding a few more species to our trip total and then picked up an Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit, both of which had colour rings. As regular readers will know I am constantly on the lookout for colour-ringed birds, so will endeavour to find out where these were from.

Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit - Titchwell

A quick check on the sea was disappointing, with only Common Scoter and Goldeneye recorded. It has been suggested that the storms of last years have changed the dynamics of the seabed and therefore there are no sea duck present, hopefully things will be back to normal next year.

A149 at Burham Overy Staithe
We intended to finish the day Lady Anne's Drive, but on the way we headed past Burham Overy Staithe on the A149. As we headed towards the lay-by there were a group of birders appearing to be watching something, so we pulled in to have a look. As it turns out they weren't watching anything but we stayed for a while. It was a good choice as we soon picked up a Short-eared Owl, several Marsh Harriers, three Common Buzzards, including a very pale individual similar to others I had seen on the continent, a Barn Owl and a Rough-legged Buzzard.

Lady Anne's Drive
We eventually arrived at Lady Anne's Drive and had another couple of Barn Owls and four Woodcocks, which was in fact our target bird.

We ended the day on 85 species bringing our total for the trip to 101.