Lammergeier in the Peak District, oh my Lord!

Lammergeiers have been subject to a a captive breeding & release programme in the Alps for a number of years and there is now a self sustaining population that have been successfully breeding since 1997. See here for details of this long standing project to bring the Bearded Vulture (another name for the Lammergeier) back to the Alps where they'd become persecuted to extinction.

Young birds are prone to wandering before they settle down to breed and four years ago one ended up  on Dartmoor after first being seen perched on rocks alongside the River Severn in South Wales. It was extremely elusive and very few people got to see it.

Roll forward to 2020 when a sub-adult bird was photographed over Alderney - hopes were high it would fly the short distance across to the British mainland  but the trail went cold until it was seen flying over the midlands heading north. The assumption was that it would end up in the Peak District. That proved to be correct with several sightings since early July. The foul weather hadn't helped and it was only in the last few days since the weather cleared up that people returned to the Peaks to start looking again!

I was planning on going myself Saturday (today) but didn't hold out much hope as it was being very elusive and being seen very irregularly. All that changed Friday afternoon when Dan Pointon saw it seemingly land in a remote clough on the Howden Moors. Dan drove round and walked the area and found it roosting on a cliff and stayed with it until almost dark

That put a completely different perspective on the plans. We now knew where it was rather than looking for a needle in a haystack so plans were made to get there as early as possible and wathc it on the roost as dawn came and then, hopefully, watch it fly.

Not bothering going to bed I eventually met up with Fred, Malc & Mark for the relatively short journey down the M56 towards Tintwhistle and Glossop and on to Strines where we arrived around 3.30. An hours walk we were told........

Setting off before the sun had risen we expected to be on the site by 04.30. A steep climb and a beautiful sunrise was enhanced even more by sightings of Nightjar and roding Woodcock whilst higher up towards Back To we had our first and only Red Grouse.

 Fred, Malc & Mark looking back down the path towards where we'd parked the car at Strines.

The bird was roosting on the nearside of a clough with a footpath running along the top. However, the fear was that anyone getting close to the edge would flush the bird so the plan was to carry on further and then leave the path and head across the moors to a viewing point on the opposite side of the clough. By this time the sun was well and truly ip and we'd been yomping for an hour and forty five minutes laden with camera's, telescopes, tripods , food and drink!

We were still several hundred metres away when the bird took to the air! Luckily for us it had a fly round and even fed on a sheep carcass before settling off towards Back Tor. It only settled for a few minutes before it headed back towards us and dropped into its roost site again where it proceeded, over the next 2-3 hours, to put on a show - preening, crapping and even regurgitating its last meal and re-eating it again.

What a bird! I can honestly say seeing a wild bred Lammergeier in the UK is up there with the best experiences birding I've ever had.

The Lammergeier eventually took off again after a fell runner followed the footpath directly above its roost site and flew around before settling on another ridge about 1 km from where we stood and then flying out of sight.

More than satisfied with our views we set off for the long slog back to the car, but not before I managed to lose my footing and slip into a bog up to my knees and fill my wellington boot with smelly brown peaty water. It was a soggy, squelchy walk back the way we'd come. In total we'd walked 16 km with an elevation gain of 412 m. A great day.

Stock Doves

Stock Doves are the daintier and prettier relatives of the Wood Pigeon. Unlike Wood Pigeons, whose nest is a random collection of intercrossed sticks that barely looks strong enough to hold their eggs, Stock Doves nest in holes in trees and take to boxes easily. We had a pair take over a Little Owl box a few years ago and despite the attractive appearance of the adults the young are plug ugly and their box hygiene leaves a lot to be desired. They're absolutely rancid!

Above: young Stock Doves in a Little Owl box at Barry's place.

They nest near us but we rarely see them in the garden. They've inspected the Tawny Owl box we've got but I think the constant disturbance puts them off nesting. They have started visiting in the early morning or late evening and feeding on spilt seed beneath the bird feeders. They're very wary and if they see the slightest movement in the house they're off. Trying to get a photo from outside was impossible so I eventually managed to get a couple through the window.

Even more satisfying - I managed to ring one. A garden first.

Pigeons and doves moult throughout the year and can be difficult to age. This one was a 2nd calendar year (Euring 5) bird based on some of its browner retained juvenile median coverts and some older very worn & faded primaries.

Pied Wagtails

Pied Wagtails are regular visitors to our garden and in the last couple of years they've bred on a neighbours property but bring their newly fledged young to feed here. We also get a good passage in the autumn and winter and a few years ago I found a colour ringed bird, that had been ringed in Scotland, feeding with a flock on a flooded stubble field. See here for details.

Both our male and female local pair were ringed by me earlier in the year and both birds were present when the first brood of young wagtails fledged in early May. There was obviously a second brood as we've had another brood of 3 recently fledged young being fed by both adults in the garden. Intriguingly though the male bird is ringed but the female appears to be a new unringed bird.

The pair seemed to take responsibility for feeding individual young that begged whenever the parents came near with a beak full of insects. What happened to the original female I'll probably never know but its likely she was predated either by a cat or the local Sparrowhawk.

The Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) is a race of the nominate 'White" Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) that breeds on continental that is a common bird on passage in spring and autumn.

Pied Wagtails are relatively straight forward to age in the hand as they normally retain some juvenile greater coverts after their post juvenile moult. The male bird was aged as a 2nd calendar year bird (Euring 5) as he had a single retained juvenile greater covert thats duller and browner than the neighbouring adult type. He's done pretty well in his first breeding season to fledge two broods!

House Martins & Swallows.

Our neighbours get House Martins nesting in their eaves every year but we don't get any. I think the only suitable eaves we have face the wrong direction! This year there seems to be a few more House Martins around locally and with recent rain causing muddy puddles to form on the edge of the lane they've been coming in to collect beakfulls of mud to build their nests. Up to 20 have been zooming around then landing en-masse before flying off again.

Theyre feet and claws are amazing. The feathering covers the tarsus and feet whilst the claws are like little needles enabling them to cling to vertical wall surfaces.

Swallows seem to be having a good year as well and have taken advantage of the dry weather. I've ringed four broods on the farm I usually ring at so far in the last couple of weeks and all of the young seem to be well fed with good amounts of body fat. Hopefully the more recent thunder storms won't affect them too much. Some pairs have already fledged young and many will be starting 2nd broods.

 Above: recently fledged juvenile Swallow.
Below: a healthy brood of 5 chicks ringed in the nest.

Lovely birds & I really look forward to their arrival every spring.

Lockdown Starlings

One of the features of the lockdown wildlife in our garden has been the recent presence of a small flock of Starlings including both adults and juveniles. We often get flocks of Starlings feeding on the adjacent farmland in the winter but they are rarely seen in our garden and I haven't ringed any until this last few weeks - I've now ringed 12. Not a huge number but from 0 to 12 in a few days suggests somethings going on locally.

We have seen a few more pairs around the village during our daily exercise but this is probably because we were walking the same route everyday rather than a genuine increase in breeding pairs. Jane reckons hers have had a good breeding season and there does seem to be a general increase in the number of juveniles about. I do wonder though if the recent dry spell has meant their usual grubs are harder to find and they've been visiting the garden in search of food.

Its bee na nice distraction and given me an opportunity to hone my Starling sexing skills. See here for a blog post from last year when we were catching good numbers in Jane's garden. This time of year the white spots have worn off by abrasion leaving the glossy plumage seen in the photos below. They can still be sexed on the eye ring in the iris though.

 Male Starling above. Female with eyering in iris below. This can be see nat an early age in juveniles and the photo below shows a juvenile female

 Above: adult male Starling. Beautiful glossy breeding plumage where white spots abraded off.
Female below. Slightly duller and a few remnants of white spots

When the local Starling flock builds up, in the winter, I'll be keeping my usual close eye on them for a Rosy Starling! 

Rosy Starling in Cheshire.

I've often wondered why Cheshire doesn't seem to get many records of Rosy (also known asRose-coloured)Starling when they're almost annual in N Wales and Anglesey. Even Shetland and the Scilly's get more than their fair share of this irruptive species. From memory there have been less than 3-4 records and most have been in private gardens with news released after the birds had gone.

They breed in eastern Europe and irrupt across western Europe in response to food shortages. Since the middle of May there have been reports of flocks reaching Italy & southern France and in the last week or so individuals have been reaching the UK in small numbers.

Most of the birds I've seen are autumn juveniles and I can count on one hand the numbers of adults seen. One of the best was an adult male feeding on bird feeders in a front garden in Rhos-on-sea, N Wales. See here

Most Cheshire birders haven't seen one in the county and expectations were high that this could be our year. I fully expected the first one to be on the Wirral as Hoylake has good numbers and Rosy Starlings tend to get found in with flocks of Common Starlings.

Starlings of any persuasion are scarce near me apart from a few flocks in the winter. However, Sean O'Hara decided to go to Frodsham Marsh specifically to Frodsham Marsh to check out the large Starling Flock that had been recently building up and feeding around the Marsh Farm area and struck rose coloured gold with an adult Rosy Starling yesterday afternoon.

Mark tried ringing me with the news late afternoon but I was stuck under a 44 year old Landrover fitting a new speedo cable and trying to bleed the clutch so didn't get the call. The first I knew was when I'd finished making a mess of the towels in the utility room after wiping my oily hands and checked the phone.......

With thoughts of a mug of tea gone I quickly grabbed the camera and set off for the 20 minute drive to Frodsham. Malc was already watching the bird as it rested on the roof of a barn with the rest of the flock. Although distant it was easy enough to pick out and we watched the flock fly around a few times and settle on the roof before they all flew off and landed in pasture on the other side of the ship canal to feed. With the promise I'd only be gone an hour I left and got home just in time for dinner!

Anyway, a few record shots! Spot the pink blob.

 Photo below taken courtesy of @frodshambirder through his scope!

Unusual garden Blackbird activity.

Since early March I've noticed an increase in the numbers of Blackbirds using our garden. This is unusual as you'd expect the resident breeding pair(s) to chase off intruders. Only two have been re-traps of birds previously ringed and only one has been a juvenile (3J). In fact I've only seen two juveniles in the garden all spring. The ringing data is shown below and as can be seen there is a high incidence of 6M birds. These are males aged in at least their 3rd calendar year. As I write this I know there is at least one more un-ringed bird that appears only to have one eye.

16/03/2020	Blackbird	6	M
11/04/2020	Blackbird	5	M
21/04/2020	Blackbird	5	F
18/05/2020	Blackbird	6	F
19/05/2020	Blackbird	6	M
19/05/2020	Blackbird	3J	F
22/05/2020	Blackbird	6	M
27/05/2020	Blackbird	5	M
30/05/2020	Blackbird	6	M
30/05/2020	Blackbird	6	M
30/05/2020	Blackbird	6	M
02/06/2020	Blackbird	6	M

Other ringers have reported the same and it appears that the long hot dry spell may have caused a food shortage so local birds have given up breeding and coming into the garden to feed as I always feed throughout the summer and there is food available. Hopefully national ringing data will support this theory when its all collated. 

In addition we've had an influx of Starlings. Not many but when you ring 15 in a couple of weeks after not seeing any in the garden for the 3 years we've been here its significant. We are surrounded by improved pasture grazed by sheep and dairy cattle and the ground has been so dry theres probably not many grubs or worms they can find.

One 2nd calendar year male Blackbird (5M) had interesting plumage in that its underparts had brown tips giving it a scaly appearance.

It reminded me a bit of a stockamsel type first described at Heligoland bird observatory a few years ago to describe a bird that showed both male and female characteristics. A really ofd looking bird and I've seen a few 'continental' birds with silvery scaling on the underparts but never one brown like this.