Category Archives: General

Today’s cold North East winds have probably brought to an end one of the finest late Summer and Autumn periods that we have ever had. Everywhere you look there is an abundance of fruit and I couldn’t resist this week’s photo showing the Horse Chestnuts cracking open to reveal every school boy’s dream,  the conkers.

On Hopwood the blackberry crop has been exceptional with many Comma butterflies settling on the fruits. Once the wings of the Comma have been close it is remarkably camouflaged and the ‘ comma’ mark which gives it its name is clearly visible. Click here. During the week I have also seen several Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral. Peacock, Large White and Speckled Wood butterflies, all of which have had their best season for years. Also on Hopwood Marsh Cinquefoil has had a great flowering season and just recently the Autumn Crocus is showing well.

On the 10th, which was the sunniest day of the week, I spent three hours at Leighton Moss awaiting Bearded Tits coming to take grit from trays positioned in the reeds. At this time of the year they change their diet from invertebrates to seeds and to enable digestion of the seeds they have to ingest grit. Apparently they were very active early last week but I spent a very cold time waiting and they failed to arrive. Whilst waiting I did see my first Whooper Swans of Autumn as four flew over the reserve but they were no consolation for three hours stood around at only 6°C!

The star bird of the garden this week has been a female Great Spotted Woodpecker that has had two lengthy visits.

During the week I paid a visit to the Horwich moors to observe the four Glossy Ibises that had appeared a few days before. They are part of an influx that included a dozen at one locality in the Lake District and should have migrated in the opposite direction down to Iberia. The Ibises in the Lake District were very wary and unapproachable but the ones I watched were incredibly tame, feeding as close as fifteen feet on one occasion. They devoured masses of worms during their non stop feeding, I have to say they looked completely out of place and looked like they had just escaped from Chester Zoo! Click here.

On Hopwood a party of ten Bullfinches were feeding on the Rowan berries with twenty plus Goldfinches feeding on seeds in thistles and birches. A party of Long Tailed Tits numbered at least fifteen, plus Redpolls and one Siskin. No Redwings just yet but they are due anytime with a change in wind direction.

In the garden a female Great Spotted Woodpecker made a welcome visit but we can’t say the same for the male Sparrowhawk.

Until this last week I have seen very few Long Tailed Tits this Summer and I attributed this to an abundance of food in the woodlands. On Hopwood on the 25th at least a dozen were passing through the birches along with all the other tits so I would suspect that they have also had a good breeding season and will not be returning to the garden until they have exhausted their natural food source. In the last fifty years I have found well over five hundred Long Tailed Tits nests but never one quite like the one on this week’s blog. It was built through a mesh fence and may be quite unique. Needless to say like nine out of ten Long Tailed Tits nests it was predated by crows or Grey Squirrels.

With more good weather this week I could not resist the temptation to revisit Morecombe Bay. The two visits this week produced more good Wader sightings and photos with even an Avocet being present on one day. Click here. There was a steady stream of Swallows, Sand Martins and Skylarks heading South West. All this bird activity attracted raptors with Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Peregrine and even a Hen Harrier hunting the salt marsh.

This week’s photo shows what is now left of a vibrant larch plantation at Clough Bottom near Burnley. I have been monitoring the breeding birds in this plantation for more than thirty five years and on the fourteenth of May each year there would have been more than fifteen species of birds nesting in the pines comprising birds like Goldcrest and up to one pair of Sparrowhawks. I say would have been but not this year, as shortly after that date Tilhill Forestry acting on the approval of the landowners United Utilities cut down all the larch trees prior to their removal. As this was at the height of the breeding season you would have thought that they were contravening the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which was set up to protect all breeding birds and their nests. Well they got around this by sending in one of their employees on the fourteenth of May to look for any nests. He claims that,even though I know more than fifteen species of birds were breeding in the pines, he could not find any nests so the felling went ahead. To me this is a blatant abuse of the Countryside Act as there is no right of recourse and of course the trees have now gone. It would have been totally impossible in one day to examine each tree for the nests of such birds as Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Redpoll and Siskin that even to an expert nest- finder are hard to locate. Quite clearly Tilhill Forestry paid lip service to the Act and their only intention was to extract the timber as fast as possible. What has gone on at Clough Bottom is an absolute disgrace. Tilhill Forestry and United Utilities should be ashamed.

On a lighter note the Foxes on Hopwood are now dispersing. Click here for Fox photos.

Another visit to Morecambe Bay on the fourteenth produced this week’s distant view of not only one but two Pectoral Sandpipers as they fed happily next to a Snipe. The wader passage this Autumn has been exceptional and in addition to the Sandpipers there were still seven Greenshank, three Spotted Redshanks, four Curlew Sandpipers and a Green Sandpiper feeding in the Autumn sunshine, Butterflies had also continued to enjoy the sun with Small Copper,Wall and Brimstone all active. Click here.

On the local moors family parties of Stonechats are on the move with Whinchats now beginning to head South. A Redstart was also present and Grey Wagtails were moving out of the valleys. The Adder site still had five Adders enjoying the Autumn sunshine.

Whilst in the garden on the ninth I heard the alarm calls from the House Martins overhead and looking up was amazed to see a hunting Hobby. On Hopwood the planting of gorse has resulted in three pairs of Linnets breeding successfully for the first time. This morning along the canal a Kingfisher was present.

More good weather during the week . I spent a glorious four hours on Morecambe Bay filming up to ten species of wader. The undoubted highlight was filming twenty four Curlew Sandpipers which were birds I had never even seen before. Most were juvenile birds that had come from Siberia and usually pass through the area in just a couple of days. I count myself lucky to have spent a magical morning in perfectly calm conditions with those long distance migrants. Click here to view. At one point one was almost lost to a hunting Sparrowhawk that got within two foot of a catch. More than thirty Egrets were present at dawn together with a couple of Snipe that performed well for the camera.

The big news from the garden was that we had a new bird on the 2nd when a Whitethroat fed on the honeysuckle berries for a full five minutes giving us some good views. The Greenfinches have now suddenly increased to twenty three and on the 6th the Nuthatch made a welcome return. Also on the 6th twenty Swallows rested on the telephone wires outside the house. Positive signs of a movement South as Northerly winds set in. Has Summer come to an end?