Birds on the move ... Crossbills ... Geese ...

With Crossbill numbers having been low recently it was good to see more birds in the Border Forest area recently ...

... and the presence of some juveniles was nice to see ...

... as usual many of the views were simple fly-overs ...

... yet some simply perched up, silently on bare branches ...

An unexpected flock of nine Barnacle Geese flew over the Spadeadam Forest three days ago and these were the first barnacles of the year for me after seeing Pink-footed Geese over the past few weeks ...

It's always fascinating to hear back from the ringers of CR gulls ... this Black-headed Gull was at Carr Beds on 9th September while I was there investigating some questionable rarity records ...

... ringed in South Lanarkshire as a pullus on 18th June 2019 this was the first resighting of the bird that had been reported ...

West Cumbrian Mediterranean Gulls today ... showing their diverse forms ...

The Workington area of West Cumbria has been the focus of autumn and wintering Mediterranean Gulls for over a decade but in the last few years numbers in autumn have far exceeded the handful of birds that previously occurred ...

Today I counted 74 but that is certainly a conservative count ... most (57) were adults but there were also at least 12 juv/ 1st W and  5  2nd W birds present ...

At least two carried Darvic colour rings ... this adult with a white ring ...

... juveniles can be strikingly attractive but this bird has started its moult into 1st winter ...

... another adult carried a yellow Darvic ...

... some bill colours were interesting as with this adult showing a lot of yellow rather than red ...

... and this 2ndW showed a distinctly orange bill ...

... and this 2nd S > W had a particuarly complex bill pattern ...

... and a 2nd W with a distinctly yellow bill ...

... most of these birds originate from the near Continent, from colonies in N Germany, Belgium, France and Holland ... many then winter in the Iberian peninsula before returning directly to their Continental breeding areas ...

mostly birds and words ... Sam Northwood's new edition ...

It's been some little while since I wrote a book review on this blog but it is something I do rather enjoy ... and when this book came out I was motivated to share my thoughts about it ...

The book is succinctly described below the title on the cover and when you open the book it becomes  apparent that the photographs are of exceptional quality ... but beyond their straightforward quality lies an aesthetic value that comes from the way that they are presented.

Some of the photos carry detail that is rarely seen ...

... but beyond that they evoke a deep sense of the bird ... this Grey Heron is just one example (the text looks wavy here as I didn't want to press the book flat) ... the words accompanying the photos are crafted to enhance the sense of the wild experience that comes from watching these wonderful creatures ...

It is worth mentioning that most of the species photographed are shy and difficult to approach as many frequent the wide open spaces of the Solway ... often it is difficult to see these birds well, let alone take good photographs of them ...

What comes across most powerfully in looking through the book is the pure sense of pleasure that Sam derives from simply watching these wild birds and absorbing their every detail and movement ... the book celebrates the essence of that pure pleasure ...

... as is the case with this Short-eared Owl, having a smaller image of the bird can evoke the strong sense of its presence within the habitat ...

For the second year running Sam has contributed photographs to the Cumbria County Wildlife Report ... Birds and Wildlife in Cumbria 2020 ...

He also produces calendars and framed prints of his photos ... you can contact him at  samalij@aol.com

 

Birdsong still in full flow in the North Pennines ...

 It has long been held that birdsong is all but finished by this time of the year ... Grasshopper Warblers have been described as becoming night-singers only by July ...

And yet in Spadeadam Forest at around 220m asl one was singing and displaying actively in the late morning ...

... the bird came into view surprisingly well as it emerged in a patch of Marsh Thistles ...

... and then some display ...

... with a cocked tail and wing-fluttering ...

... before continuing prolonged song ...

Crossbills were also singing well ... although always distantly in only the tallest treetops ...

... and not far away on the Geltsdale Reserve several Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings still sang ...

Geltsdale and the Solway ... breeders and passage migrants

At RSPB Geltsdale one of the colour ringed male Whinchats perched up nicely on a Marsh Thistle amid a buttercup meadow ... while alarming all the while ...

 

... and on the nearby Tindale Tarn the lack of rising water levels recently allowed two Common Gulls to fledge this year ...

In the bay to the east of Port Carlisle with the tide receded hundreds of Black-headed Gulls were feeding way out on the mud ... and among them three Avocets - a female and two juveniles ...

... and nearby a hybrid Carrion x Hooded Crow among the dozen or so Carrion Crows ...

Across Moricambe Bay on the edge of Skinburness Marsh a male Common Scoter lingered ...

... and way out at Anthorn on the Wampool bend a little group of birds comprised a Little Egret, Black-headed Gull, several Redshanks and a single Greenshank ...

Autumn wader passage and returning Mediterranean Gulls on the Solway

 Black-tailed Godwits were back on the Solway today with 11 at Port Carlisle and a single on Wedholme Flow ... always distant, they were in the company of some fine looking breeding plumage Bar-tailed Godwits ...

... as a Little Egret put in an appearance with more visual effect ...

While at Wedholme Flow the breeding season was very much in evidence ... Meadow Pipits still feeding young ...

... and Redshanks alarming overhead ...

... a few juvenile Skylarks looked very attractive as they fed among the tufts of vegetation ...

... and as the tide fell, among the many thousands of Black-headed Gulls, a single adult Mediterranean Gull appeared ...

Some Waders and other species in the North Pennines recently ...

 With the changing season the North Pennines spring to life ... and monitoring raptors and waders there has occupied me in recent weeks ...

In these big landscapes raptors are very wary at this time of year ( sadly not wary enough in the case of two male Hen Harriers which 'disappeared' from active nests a little while ago, causing the nesting attempts to fail ).  Typical views are very much like that of this Peregrine, perched up on a vantage point ...

... some of the waders are rather easier and Golden Plovers have been present in good numbers at some locations ...

... a little less frequent were Dunlin but this one was acting out its 'Plovers page' role ...

... while others were displaying with that amazing, almost electronic sounding song ... a drawn out 'chreeeeettt' that seems to echo across the wild expanses ...

Occasionally there will be a bird that gives unexpectedly close views, against all expectation ... and so it was this morning with this Woodcock that posed long enough for me to grab my camera from the back seat of my car and rattle off a few shots ...

... back onto the higher ground and the views of birds there were once again distant as this male Merlin

perched up having just plucked a hapless Meadow Pipit ...