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Big time roost building up

Posted by on December 11, 2007 6:29 AM | 

magpie1112.jpg

Very large Magpie roost starting to build up as I came down the Coast Road yesterday afternoon - about 200 yards south of the Pontins roundabout on the inland side of the road.
Hard to say how many birds, but at least 60 perched up in the bushes...shame you can't stop along there without causing a major pile-up.
May get down there at the weekend - it looked quite impressive.
A few Pinkies in the fields round Ince Blundell but not much else to report.
On Sunday I went for a stroll with Mrs D along the Green Beach, usual Stonechats, Carrion Crows etc and a hunting Sparrowhawk.

linn1012.jpg

About 20 Linnets feeding on the tideline doing their best to impersonate Snow Buntings, but they fooled no one.
No sign of the real Snow Bunts, but there were huge numbers of gulls stretching north towards Southport at the low tide water's edge, scoffing razorshell wreck bounty presumably.
Too far off to work through, but could repay checking if someone's got a spare hour or three.

green1012.jpg

Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...

Comments (7)

Victoria Guinan wrote...

WWT Martin Mere has seen the return of approximately 5000 starlings at the Centre. The birds disperse during the day but return to the Centre at approximately 4pm everyday with a fantastic ten minute spectacle, creating shapes in the sky as they prepare to roost for the evening by the Chilean flamingo house.

Last year numbers rose steadily until they peaked at 10,000 in January, so the Centre can expect to see a further rise in numbers over the Christmas period.

The best views of the birds display is either from the Pond House or outside the greenwood building from 3.45pm onwards. Starlings spend a lot of the year in flocks, and a flock of 20,000 was shown on Autumnwatch this year when Simon King attempted to infiltrate a starling roost in Gloucestershire.

Starlings are smaller than blackbirds, with a short tail, pointed head, triangular wings. They look black at a distance but when seen closer they are very glossy with a sheen of purples and greens.

WWT Martin Mere is open every day from 9.30am to 5.00pm and parking is free of charge. Situated off the A59, it is signposted from the M61, M58 and M6. The Centre is also accessible via the Southport to Manchester and the Liverpool to Preston line by train from Burscough Rail Stations. Visit the web site http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/martinmere/ to find out what’s on all year round at Martin Mere and the other eight centres.

Posted by: Victoria Guinan  | December 11, 2007 10:20 AM

mike bird wrote...

Hi John, one male Bullfinch, and one Nuthatch, in Southport Hospital grounds this afternoon.(11.12.07.)
Mike

Posted by: mike bird  | December 11, 2007 9:00 PM

Bazzo wrote...

Anyone notice a sudden influx of Blackbirds into SW Lancashire just lately?
En route from Southport to Preston this morning numerous small parties in roadside hedgerows and trees, or flying over.
A few Fieldfares with them.

Posted by: Bazzo  | December 12, 2007 11:17 AM

andy bunting wrote...

Although I've not been counting them, I would agree there has been an influx of Blackbirds in the last couple of days at Martin Mere WWT.

Posted by: andy bunting  | December 12, 2007 7:11 PM

John Bannon wrote...

Reply to Bazzo.
Out in SD41 winter tetrading over the last few days and in SD41A (Hurlston Hall GC) - east of Scarisbrick counted 48 Blackbirds in 2 hour walk around the 2km square tetrad, of 4 sq kms.
Assuming I missed at least two, so make it 50, would give an average 12.5 Blackbirds per square kilometre.
The area of Lancashire & North Merseyside, which according to the Lancs Breeding Atlas (2001) has 428 complete -ish 10 kilometre squares = 100 square kilometres gives a total area of 4,800 square kms
Multiply by 12.5 Blackbirds per pie ( sorry wrong nursery rhyme) would give a total estimated current population of Blackbirds in Lancs of 60,012.
Absolutely certain that this postulation is probably not ornithologically scientific enough (aka rollocks).
But as the breeding population is given in the Lancs Atlas as 45,000 pairs = 90,000 birds, plus just one surviving young still around post-nuptials, there should be 135,000 Blackbirds - or 28.125 per square km, or 112.5 per 2km square tetrad.
Of course, have not taken many factors into account, such as unsuitable habitat such high moors, lakes, the Irish Sea, marshes, etc, but like Bazzo I have noticed a large influx of Blackbirds recently.
Do (some of) ours migrate, or as it's now milder generally, do they opt to stay to play with their Continental and Scandinavian cousins.
Scandinavian Song Thrushes by the way can be instantly recognised by the way they hurtle away from the bottom of hedges, as soon as you get to within 100 metres of them.
TTFN John Bannon

Posted by: John Bannon  | December 12, 2007 9:44 PM

neil wrote...

re: Nuthatches. I've had one visiting the bird feeders in Banks this year, first since 2001, maybe they've had a good year and are expanding north ??
It seems to be associating with Coal Tits or maybe that's just my imagination ??
p.s. brill blog, John, keeps us 'sometime' birders in touch, keep it up, well done

Posted by: neil  | December 13, 2007 9:49 AM

Peter Mallon wrote...

What is happening here in Wigan? We have had three rare warbler species turn up this autumn on the Wigan Flashes Local Nature Reserve. To have this number of unusual birds is just amazing and shows the unique nature of the Wigan Flashes. To this can be added the now-resident bitterns, which can be seen flying above the reedbeds

A Yellow-browed Warbler, one of Europe’s smallest birds, was the first to be found, at the Wigan Flashes in September. This tiny green bird is named because of a yellow stripe, called a supercillium, over its eyes. It also has a bright yellowy cream double bar in its wings. The bright colouration means that bird watchers often call these birds Siberian Jewels.
The bird should have been making its way from its breeding grounds in northern Russia, to Asia for the winter but has apparently taken a wrong turning somewhere and ended up in Wigan by mistake. These tiny birds, which are only four inches long, are extremely rare visitors to Britain in the autumn months and are more regularly found on the East Coast of the country rather than in the North West.
The bird is spending its time with our local long-tailed tits feeding on insects in the willows and sycamores adjacent to Scotmans Flash. It is common for small birds to form flocks in the winter so they can hunt for insects more efficiently, and keep a mutual eye out for any marauding sparrow hawk or other predators looking for an easy meal. It is their excited contact calls that attract other birds to join the flock for protection.
Hot on the tail of the first ‘Siberian jewel’ came another Yellow-browed, seen with long tailed tits at Poolstock Lock near Westwood on Monday last week; the chances of this happening are so slight as to be incalculable.

If this pair of rarities was not enough, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust site manager, Mark Champion, found two Firecrests at Wellham Road, right next to the Hawkley Hall School.
These are the smallest British birds by weight, and incredibly tiny, but the small size is made up for by their colouration. A bright white eye stripe, copper coloured shoulders and a bright orangey red crown, distinguish these birds from the similar Goldcrest found at the Wigan Flashes each winter and that also breeds locally in The Wigan Borough. The weather conditions must have helped push these birds, normally found in Scandinavia, across the country to The Wigan Flashes, where they found the scrubby bushes and woodland to their liking.
A number of birdwatchers were around at the weekend trying to snatch a glimpse of these rare wanderers, which are quite special in the Lancashire and Greater Manchester area. The fine weather on Sunday meant that, at any one time, there were about twenty people looking into the bushes, with telescopes and binoculars.

A third rare visitor, a Cetti’s Warbler, has been seen in the newly managed reedbeds, where it is presently singing. This warbler is unusual in that it does not migrate and stays resident within its wetland home. The warbler is around nine centimetres long and a rich rust brown colour, but otherwise quite plain. The Cetti’s warbler is notoriously difficult to see but gives away its location by having a distinctive and very loud, explosive song, which it continues to deliver from the willow scrub at the edge of reedbeds throughout the winter months.
Local birdwatchers flocked to see and hear this warbler, which is the first for the Wigan Flashes. Although the Cetti’s Warbler is not a migrant they are pushing northwest across the country having first bred in Kent in the early 1970s.

Conservationists from The Lancashire Wild Life Trust and its Partners at Wigan Council are welcoming the natural colonisation by this marshland bird as it shows the continuing development and importance of our wetlands to native species.
The arrival of the three warbler species is something of a coincidence in one autumn period as the Cettie’s will have moved here from the southeast and both the firecrest and yellow-browed warblers are true autumn migrants from the northern tundras and forests of Northern Europe and Asia.
It is hoped the with the improved habitats the Cettie’s will stay and breed now we have developed the area of reedbed and the willow fringes that are this fantastic bird’s preferred habitat.

Of course, the bitterns have enjoyed the habitat improvements we have recently made at the Wigan Flashes and they have being seen in the area of Moss Bridge several times a week, with another hiding in the reeds at Ince Moss, also seen quite regularly. The bittern has been part of a complex and exciting conservation programme at the Wigan Flashes that has seen us lowering the reedbed to make it wetter and increasing the amount of ditches and other available open water. A marsh harrier has also graced the site a couple of times in the last month.
It is a good time to get out and enjoy a walk at The Wigan Flashes, and hopefully you may see one of our exciting visitors.
Peter Mallon,
Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside

Posted by: Peter Mallon  | December 14, 2007 6:23 AM

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