8th-22nd July Summary

Another catch up post to try and get up to date. This post will cover the 8th to the 22nd July during which time I was doing my work experience for school with the countryside ranger and fellow local birder Len Blacow.

8th July
We went to Out Rawcliffe to survey an area where we would be doing a walk with the local school children the following week. Not many birds around however afterwards Len took me to a place where there was a Little Owl box where the adults usually sit in the tree around the box. They weren't there at the time however I managed to persuade my dad to take my down there later in the evening and we were rewarded with the male Little Owl (yeartick) giving great views.

11th July
Len was doing his monthly WEBS count at Fluke Hall and invited me along to experience what it was like (it being my first WEBS count). Beforehand we met up with another local birder Mark Farrar at Skippool Creek to see what waders were about and look through the ever present gull flock. A couple of Yellow Legged Gulls had been seen regularly but there was no sign while we were there. The usual build up of Common Sandpipers had begun and we counted 17 over 30 minutes. A single Whimbrel flew over calling as did a flock of 13 Mistle Thrushes, briefly looking like a very early Fieldfare flock.
We then headed to Fluke hall to do the count. I must have brought bad look as Len said it was the worse count he had ever done there with hardly any birds coming to roost. However he managed to pick out a dark morph Arctic Skua battling against the raging wind out of the bay. A juvenile Gannet also took this route soon afterwards.

12th July
Back to work and we did a strand line survey (a look at the different shells, natural object, etc that had washed up on the beach) with a group of local school children south of Rossall school. While Len was talking to the children I picked out a stunning summer plumaged Mediterranean Gull on the sea with a group of its browner cousins. At least 8 Sandwich Terns flew south giving their characteristic calls and another recognisable call was coming from the beach and after a bit of looking I spotted a Ringed Plover calling and running away from an area of shingle. On closer inspection I could see another adult sitting down in the stones, on a nest! It's not common for them to breed on the north Fylde coast so Len moved the kids further down the beach to not disturb them. I don't know how this pair fared however later on we were walking near the coastguard tower at Rossall and we found another pair of Ringed Plover, this time with 4 eggs in the nest. We decided to come back the next day and check up on them.

13th July
A check on the Ringed Plovers around midday revealed 1 egg in the nest and 1 check that had evidently just hatched. A check later in the day revealed all 4 chicks out of the nest and following the adults on the beach. How they managed to survive I don't know with dogs going past every minute or so; however the parents were very attentive and saw off anything that came to close. Me and Len decided to keep them a secret as if the local birders got whiff of them the ringers would be down to catch and ring them. This happened about 2 weeks later with all 4 chicks being ringed and I believe all successfully fledging. So no matter what anyone else sys it was me and Len that found them first ;).

17th July
My first visit to Brockholes Quarry of the year to look for a Hobby that had been seen in the days previously. A group of birders were on the track looking over the main pool so I joined them in the hope that they would spot something interesting. 2 Ringed and 4 Little Ringed Plovers were on the rocks around the water and a pair of Jays screeched from the woods behind me. However a lack of anything of note lead to me leaving early and call in at the flood at Mythop on the way home. The hoped for Green Sandpiper (yeartick) was showing well but apart from that it was very quiet so off home it was.

22nd July
My first pelagic, an interesting experience of which I would like to repeat, however on a larger craft next time! The Fylde Bird Club organised the trip from Fleetwood so 12 of us got onto this small fishing vessel (whilst under attack from the local kids throwing stones!) and set off out to sea. We went out about 8 miles before deploying the chum and following the slick back towards land. The first half of the trip wasn't a pleasurable experience due to my feeling really ill however after getting rid of my dinner I felt much better and was able to enjoy the birds as they fed on the chum close to the boat. A few Manx Shearwaters were flying past but not really taking much notice of the food however a Fulmar and at least 4 Kittiwakes gave brilliant close quarter views. Every now and then a Gannet would fly over and a single Whimbrel flew south very high up while calling. Some more unusual sightings were a Feral Pigeon flying rapidly east towards the coast, coming from a westerly direction (how far had it already flown across the sea?), and a large bee which landed on the boat and continued to hang onto a piece of rope throughout. On the way back we saw a few Sandwich and a pair of Arctic Terns and 3 Guillemots on the sea, and when we finally reached dry land the bee was put in the sand dunes on the beach to recover.