Time flies when your busy. Especially when your working at home trying to improve things that should of been done two years earlier. A new look kitchen, roofing work and rendering outside soaks up time and that's without touching my electrical problems....but "Hey Ho", enough about that !
Since my last posting I have managed to venture out with the scope and camera but not as often as I would normally.
Preston docklands was a place I visited on a couple of short trips, Common Terns have chosen to nest upon the concrete rafts that span out across the docks. These have been laid out with painted white tyres, old logs and man made wooden platforms for the benefit of the Terns. It clearly works because on my first visit I estimated around 100 nesting pairs with 2 Pairs of Artic terns, though they didn't seem to be nesting at the time.
The Terns provide great practise for..( birds in flight photography), they wiz past you twisting and turning acrobatically sometimes yards from your camera. If you miss a handful of shots there is no need to worry more Terns will give you another chance with minutes.
My first visit this year was going well with Gulls and Terns flying peacefully around when all of a sudden the entire bird population of the docks rose from the water in a instance. Gulls and Terns in unison cried out in a mighty mass panic.
I scanned the air for a raptor, a passing Peregrine or something similar maybe...then I spotted what was causing this hysteria. A single Great Skua or Bonxie was descending towards the water above the nesting Terns across the other side of the docks. By the time it had landed upon the water it was nearer to me but far to my right hand side. I grabbed my gear and ran towards where I could see a host of Terns swooping. The Skua was close to the dock wall and below me when I re-found it. The Terns dive bombed it endlessly sometime covering it with excrement as they flew past. A group of Mallards floated over keeping a safe distance whilst voicing their displeasure at the Skuas arrival. Slowly the Skua drifted towards the open water and away from me passing through the noisy Mallards without a care. The Terns continued the attacks for several minutes as the Skua made it's way towards the far corner of the docks and further away from the Terns nesting rafts. The Skua constantly washed itself even after the Terns had retreated and I also noticed how this bird struggled when it tried to take off though it did look healthy at close quarters. After a few efforts it managed to fly onto the opposite dock wall and away again after that a little later.
The Great Skua is a scarce breeding bird in Britain confined to the far north of Scotland, Faroes, and Iceland. It is a thick set powerful bird that will pursue and out fly other sea birds making them surrender any food they may have earned..A true pirate of the air.
The same size as our largest Seagull the Great Black-Backed Gull. Though more agile, but less so than the other 3 Skuas..Pomerine, Artic and Long Tailed Skua.
Artic Terns : note ...Blood red bill with no black tip, very short legs,
Generally greyer below with pure white cheeks standing out.
Another local trip out was to see the Long eared owls near to where I live. They have bred at the same location now for a few years and when the evening draws in you can hear the young starting to make what has been described as a old rusty gate noise swinging in the wind. It really is a strange call. When the light started to fall the youngsters call grew a little louder and I could see one of the parent birds perched in a tree some distance away. The young birds at times sound very close but spotting where they are calling from is another mater, it can be very frustrating to find them. On this occasion I did take some shots but with the light failing and being unable to get a decent shutter speed the photos are quite poor...well that's my excuse and its the best excuse I can offer.
I went back again a few days later and realised that there was another breeding pair of owls further along the track and I estimated that between the two pairs they probably had 7 or maybe 8 young. Whilst looking out and listening I received a text from Casper our local birding hotline, a Rose Coloured Starling had been seen only two miles away perching upon aerials and chimney pots of several local houses. Running back to the car I found the location but had no sighting of the Starling....Damn.
The next day was Saturday and I arrived at the Rose Coloured Starling site early. Several other birders joined but after a few hours of looking around the residential area nothing was found. A break in the afternoon gave me chance to tidy the yard before returning in the evening. Pulling the car into Essex drive Burnley , I glanced at the roof top to my right hand side and there it was sat upon a aerial with several other Starlings. The contrast of pink upon this bird is quite strong when placed alongside our Common Starlings.
I managed only five shots at the Pink bird before it flew away over the houses. Sunday was spent again searching the neighbourhood without any luck really, but Monday evening gave us better views a few streets away for more than a few seconds this time. The Pink Starling spent sometime upon a aerial preening and sometimes looking like it ready for a good long sleep with its head tucked beneath its wing.
Other outings though few and infrequent produced some good birds but nothing rare. A drive around the "Trough of Bowland " gave decent views of Pied Flycatcher and Spotted Flycatcher. Common Buzzard, Common Sandpiper. Swallows, Swifts and Matins in abudance along with decent numbers of Goldfinch, Reed Buntings. Less numerous birds included Great spotted Woodpecker, Chiffchaff and even a couple of young Whinchat. A female Hen Harrier showed briefly along the road towards Bentham before disappearing into a gully and not being seen again.
Overall with limited time some good birds really.
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