A Barny Start

It’s always good to begin the day with a Barn Owl although the light at dawn or soon after is mostly imperfect for photographs. I tried 400, 800 and then ended up with ISO1600 for a few shots as the owl used a fence post from which to launch itself into the rough grass below. The owl didn’t get much in the way of food and I didn’t get too much in the way of pictures, so we both went our separate ways. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

I made my way to Fluke Hall where things seemed quiet, so perhaps the overnight clear skies had sent Thursday's birds on their way? Slowly along the road I reached similar counts of the now apparently resident Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps. The Mistle Thrushes and Song Thrushes are still feeding young, and although I’ve narrowed down the possibilities, both nests remain secret. 

Song Thrush

At the car park were 2 Whitethroats in song and in the ploughed field 5+ Wheatears and 8 or more White Wagtails, both species feeding in and out of the deep furrows effectively so as to ruin any chance of accurate counts. A dozen or more Linnets plus a couple of both Meadow Pipits and Skylarks completed the picture. 

White Wagtail

I was ready for leaving when a Grasshopper Warbler began its reeling song from somewhere along the back of the hedgerow. The skulking and secretive Grasshopper Warbler is most infrequent here at Fluke Hall, but is in any case more likely to be glimpsed or heard in brief rather than seen in regular performance of its insect like song. Try as I might I didn’t see the “gropper”, it went silent and I suspect it slipped off unseen to try its luck at a more suitable location. 

Grasshopper Warbler - Photo credit: Sergey Pisarevskiy / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Things were fairly quiet at Conder Green too, to all intents and purposes the wader and wildfowl count identical to Thursday, with c200 Black-tailed Godwit, 12 Oystercatcher, 2 Lapwing, 15 Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshank, 3 Common Sandpiper, 20 Tufted Duck, 8 Shelduck and 2 Wigeon. Just like Thursday there was a single black-tail in the creek and another one closer to my usual  viewing spot.

 Tufted Ducks

Black-tailed Godwit

In the “little brown jobs” line I couldn’t do any better than 3 Whitethroat, 3 Sedge Warbler, 4 Reed Bunting, 6 Linnet and 2 Greenfinch. 

I’ve stopped counting Swallows because they now seem to be well and truly “in”, as usual arriving  under birders’ radar but to turn up knocking at most farmers’ barn doors. What a welcome sight after a truly awful winter.

There’s a pair or two already nest building under the lock gates at Glasson Dock, the birds resting up on the rusty old handrails while giving each other advice on how best to get the job done. There's no rush boys and girls, you’ve got all summer. 

Barn Swallow

The weather forecast for the weekend isn’t suggesting much in the way of balmy Summer days. 

Never mind, if it’s at all possible will be birding and report here in due course.

Linking this post to Camera Critters and Eileen's Saturday Blog.