[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: LDBWS May Day Sea, Land and Skywatch Highlights #3114

A good summing up Jean! I think we can do better tomorrow. Went to delete my posting but don’t know how!

LDBWS Heysham ‘open weekend’ this Sat & Sun May 1st and 2nd

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[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: LDBWS Aldcliffe Open Morning: Highlights #3068

Another three to add to our day list; Little Grebe, Common Gull and Cormorant. Thans Shaun, John & Jill.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Clougha cuckoos #3064

Crag Wood (SD541614) is often good for Cuckoos. Pied Flycatcher and Redstart on territory there last week.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: LDBWS Aldcliffe Open Morning: Highlights #3047

Four species to add (thanks Andrew):

Treecreeper, Rook, Jay and Dunlin– so 82 species and counting….

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe #2961

Flock of twelve Whooper Swans N over the Marsh Estate, Lancaster yesterday evening (16 April).

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Common Scoters moving tonight #2930

More Common Scoter movement heard over Lancaster this evening.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Common Scoters moving tonight #2924

small or less vocal party over 1048PM….amd so to bed.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Common Scoters moving tonight #2923

…1039 PM…

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe again #2913

Forgot to mention 135 Pink-footed Goose NW over the estuary this morning.

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[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe marsh #2821

Up to four Little Ringed Plovers interacting today.

Eight Swallows over The Flood (A14) at one point.

Small numbers Siskins, redpoll sp, Sand Martins and Meadow Pipits moving N but not counted.

At Fairfield, 25 Linnets, two Stock Doves and seven Reed Buntings at the LDBWS feeding area. The Fairfield Association is keen to keep our station going to the year’s end and are donating some seed money.

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[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Halton to Bull Beck cycle ride #2805

Thanks. Were they on the grass or in the river channel itself?

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Halton to Bull Beck cycle ride #2802

A good haul there Steve.

Could you give us a six-figure for the 190 Black-tailed Godwits please?

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Blackbird ‘Police Siren’ vocalisations #2687

Hi Matthew.

The king of the siren imitators is the Starling– they mimic all sorts of bird calls and man-made sounds including speech. I remember one in Ullapool that imitated the sound indicating that Stornoway ferry doors were closing so well that we thought we’d missed our crossing.

The song of the Blackbird is much more mellow and melodic and I’ve never heard them mimic but I believe that they can.

As one of the purposes of bird song is to hold and maintain territory, perhaps increasing its repertoire by copying this jarring element from its environment gives it some ‘edge’ as it competes for space and mates.

It’s also possible that this call has been passed down through the Blackbird generations!

Cheers.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Fairfield etc. #2686

I promise this is the *last* LDBWS feeding station vid I'll post before autumn. Linnets and Reed Buntings noshing. We're winding down this winter project soon. pic.twitter.com/5jSY9ByG58

— Lancaster & District Birdwatching (@LDBWSnews) March 23, 2021

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Goshawk migration #2642

Blimey. Was it an adult male, Matt?

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2615

What did you name your Raven, Eddy?

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2591

I made the mistake of mentioning seeing this Raven (pictured over Lancaster this morning) to my dentist today. 'Ravens?! I thought they were fantasy birds!'… by which he meant mythical. I assured him they were quite real, but I don't think he believed me. Kronk! pic.twitter.com/biFTxLqrOR

— Lancaster & District Birdwatching (@LDBWSnews) March 15, 2021

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit #2581

320 Black-tailed Godwits feeding in A13 (field N of The Flood field) at 1430. None at latter site (A14) by this time .

16 Tufted Duck A4 S (Wildfowlers Pools S).

34 Redshank and 28 Wigeon feeding in A5 (field containing Frog Pond).

36 Linnets and 20 Reed Buntings feeding at LDBWS feeding station.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Lancaster ravens #2572

Poe – try in motion.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Selected Aldcliffe bits yesterday and today. #2554

For interest, here are the histories of two Black-tailed Godwits ringed at the Wash that have been seen by the Lune estuary and Lune valley of late. Thanks Pete, Jean, Richard Du Feu and Jennifer Gill.

O-GW//W
01.09.19 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
01.03.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
06.03.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
28.03.20 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
01.09.20 Titchwell, Norfolk, E England
24.09.20 Titchwell, Norfolk, E England
01.12.20 Cockerham Sands, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
24.12.20 Newton Marsh, Preston, Lancashire, NW England
15.02.21 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
06.03.21 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
09.03.21 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England

O-YW//W
01.09.19 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
08.11.19 Genêts, Dragey-Ronthon, Normandy, N France
19.11.19 Baie du Mont St Michel, Manche, N France
14.03.20 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
25.03.20 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England
08.08.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
09.08.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
23.08.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
19.09.20 Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk, E England
13.02.21 Pilling Marsh, Lancashire, NW England
09.03.21 Aldcliffe, Lune estuary, Lancashire, NW England

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe / Fairfield this morning #2537

We do have a birding battleships league Alasdair– but at the moment it’s committee members only.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe / Fairfield this morning #2532

We’ll look into doing some spring / summer guided walks, Alasdair. Maybe some vis mig and seawatching sessions too.

LDBWS feeding station good once more with close views of ground feeding Linnets more and more reliable (c25 today) and still good numbers of Reed Buntings (18 today) and Chaffinches.

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe Knot #2519

Nice. I think Knot might be a new species for The Flood list. Any thoughts, Jon?

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Aldcliffe / Fairfield this morning #2508

Hi Alasdair– greetings from parallel Lancaster!

The club is currently working to provide data on land it deems ‘functionally linked’ to Morecambe Bay SPA– ie used by species that make the bay special in a conservation sense.

We’ve been getting as precise as we can (to field level where possible) so we’ve been devising maps which split up key areas for wetland bird species. I’ve been sorting through / winkling out Aldcliffe data from the last ten years and have divvied up what we might call Aldcliffe into 23 fields or clusters ie A1 to A23. For instance, A2 is Freeman’s Pools and A14 is the field that contains ‘The Flood’ just N of the foot of Aldcliffe Hall Lane.

Every time records are placed on this site Rosie (hi Rosie!) and others assimilate, interpret and cut and paste to a database which forms the backbone of the annual reports and other projects. At the moment we’re on a drive to up our data quality.

So for example if a developer asks us which records we have for a relatively obscure spot because they wish to build houses on ‘X43’ we can pull out our relevant records more easily and with added confidence.

I mentioned to Rosie that I would trial a system for my frequent Aldcliffe records and she welcomed the idea as it would her save time and head-scratching when transferring data from the site to the database.

At the moment it’s just between me and her but I plan to devise / upload a map of the Aldcliffe area which will reveal all– and which could be adopted as a recording system by others. There are familiar hotspots like the Wildfowlers Pools but also lots of nooks and crannies and near-identical fields so perhaps next time we have a Tundra Bean Goose at ‘Aldcliffe’ and someone asks yes but where exactly? we might reply ‘A5’ and both know what’s what.

Re: missing birds no two visitors to any site find or indeed record exactly the same thing and these sites can be quite dynamic: ‘You should’ve been here five minutes ago!’.

I’ve had 20+ years of practice of getting the most out of each trip to Aldcliffe and I still miss stuff. I’m very familiar and think I know what to look / listen out for– and where. Perhaps me and / or others could do a guided outing when restrictions allow. Would you be interested? The club committee is currently looking to see how the society can benefit our members, the wider community and the base of knowledge we’re acquiring from being in the field since 1959!

[Dan Haywood]

in reply to: Heversham Moss birds/Silverdale Tortoiseshell #2507

Hi Chris,

Good records!

The club is doing some work on land we deem ‘functionally linked’ to Morecambe Bay SPA– and for records for key species (most waders and wildfowl) we’re trying to map the usage to field level if possible.

Are you able to pinpoint the sites you mention for Whooper Swans and Snipe respectively?

https://gridreferencefinder.com/ is easy to use and we’d really welcome a 6 or 10 figure grid ref for each precise spot.

Many thanks,
Dan.

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