BTO WeBS Wetland Bird Survey - Binn Pond, Jan 2020

As detailed in my previous blog post here, I carry out two once-a-month volunteer bird surveys for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The survey is the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). This year I'm going to try to put a quick blog post about each count each month.

I volunteer for two monthly counts. This post is about my Binn Pond count on the hill above Burntisland in Fife.

A good Scotland By Rail Binn Pond circle walk here. Start and finish at Burntisland train station.

BTO WeBS Wetland Bird Survey - Binn Pond, Jan 2020

Time:

09:40 - 10:10

Comment:

as always, very poor visibility caused by more and more reeds /rush growing every year. There are probably pretty much always more birds than I am able to log in my results.

Results:

Coot 1

Moorhen 1

Teal 7

The teal are so nice. Britain's smallest duck. A call like the twinkling of delicate silver bells. Through winter there are often a small number of them here. I wonder each time about how this particular little group came to find the pond... Is it the same group as last visit? Is it the same group each year?

I forgot to take a pond photo so you'll have to wait until next month :)

BTO WeBS Wetland Bird Survey - Union Canal Linlithgow to Philpstoun, Jan 2020

c.230 wigeon on Flood Field near Philpstoun

Another New Year. Resolutions and all that.

One of mine is (probably?) to see if I can put up a quick post each month summarising my British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). Partly as a way of encouraging me to stick to another resolution - make sure I do carry out the surveys!

I volunteer for two monthly counts:

1 

- a linear there-and-back 11km ish walk along the Union Canal towpath from Linlithgow to Philpstoun, in Lothian. All waterbirds making use of canal AND making use of one field width on either side of canal. Read more about it in my 2012 post which introduces the route - http://landscapeartnaturebirds.blogspot.com/2012/10/counting-canal-birds-linlithgow-to.html

NB - this is also a really good Scotland By Rail walk. Get the train to Linlithgow, visit a cafe before you start and another cafe (or a nice pub) when you get back. Don't forget The Line Gallery, Far From The Madding Crowd independent bookshop, Linlithgow Palace, great charity shops, wholefood shop, Fairtrade shop...

2 

- a small pond, the Binn Pond, above Burntisland, in Fife. All waterbirds on or around the pond. I'm not sure if I will or won't blog this one.

Wetland Bird Survey - Union Canal Linlithgow to Philpstoun, Jan 2020

Time: 
09:30 - 13:00
Comment: 
quite strong wind from west. Flood Field east of Park Farm very substantial - main flood is currently large, plus 3 or 4 small patches

Results:
Cormorant - 1
Curlew - 8               - on Flood Field
Goosander - 1
Grey Heron - 1
Greylag Goose - 16       - on Flood Field
Mallard - 21               - on Flood Field
Moorhen - 2
Mute Swan - 3
Wigeon - c.230               - on Flood Field
Black-headed Gull - 2   - on Flood Field
Common Gull - 2       - on Flood Field
Grey Wagtail - 1       - on Flood Field
Reed Bunting - 2

I reckon there will have been snipe on the Flood Field too but they're so hard to spot at this distance.

Linlithgow Canal Basin (visitable, cafe, boat trips). My count starts here

Childhood patch.Where the canal leaves Linlithgow. I understand this whole long field may (will?) soon be houses.
What about our favourite sledging spot? What about the fox cubs I watched here? What about the huge flock of linnets I see here? What about the yellowhammers?

Narrowboat Farm Market Garden

the Flood Field! Wonderful spot. This is where the vast majority of birds on my count are spotted.

more the Flood Field

yellowhammer male (yellow face)

reed bunting, back of

song thrush singing

my turnaround at the end of the route.
A mysterious dry, squeeky, creaky, cracky wood, sided by Philpstoun shale bings

spot the bing

touch of red

coffee spot sketch spot

coffee spot sketch.
Great tits, blue tits, blackbird.
One great tit alarm calling right at me, coming gradually closer and closer. Not sure if curious or if trying to get rid of me.

------------------

How to get there:

Linlithgow is very well served on the flagship Edinburgh - Glasgow line. 

Enough trains that you really don't need to check the timetable, but if you do want to - 'Central Belt' here.

Many thanks to ScotRail for their support of my Scotland By Rail work.

an almost ex-cormorant, Linlithgow Loch

I just can't bear the things we do to nature. Here's a cormorant today on Linlithgow Loch, a metre or more of fishing tackle trailing behind as it flies, entwined around foot and tail. 

I wonder whether it'll have a quick drowning, trapped below the water, or whether it'll starve over days, dangling from a tree.

Please take home your plastics. Please take home other people's too.

___________________________________________________________________________


www.beachclean.net

www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Clean+seas+and+beaches/Campaigns+and+policy/Hang+on+to+your+tackle

www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=4489

www.keepbritaintidy.org/breakthebaghabit/1027

www.snufflelodge.org.uk/?page_id=39


Chris Packham & Keep Britain Tidy - www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153888945738798.1073741855.88051928797&type=3

www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/propertyoverview?PropID=PL_199

www.lct.org.uk/burgh_beautiful

www.westlothian.gov.uk/environmental-health

www.linlithgowgazette.co.uk

2016 - January BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow to Philpstoun

Linlithgow Canal Basin - the start of my count

 
Although I haven't been getting round to blogging it I do still carry out my monthly British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count on the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun.

WeBS is a UK-wide count of waterbirds, carried out each month by around 3,000 volunteers. The science gathered is vitally important in the conservation of populations and habitat.

Because of our relatively mild winters a lot of these waterbird species come here from their Arctic breeding territories and either spend the whole winter with us or feed up then continue southwards. Winter is definitely the best time to see waterbirds on my particular count route, because of the flood field. Flood field (my name) lies a kilometre west of Philpstoun and during winter becomes, well, flooded. Birds flock to it. Today it held 153 wigeon, 5 greylag geese, 15 mallards, 1 curlew, 2 black-headed gulls, 2 herring gulls, 1 buzzard, 1 starling.

spot (some of) the 153 wigeon

5 greylag geese

Over the past four years I've counted lapwings, oystercatchers, grey wagtails, pied wagtails, pink-footed geese, moorhens, coots, common gull, lesser black-backed gull, teal, shelduck, pochard, grey heron, all on the flood field, some of them in very high numbers. And snipe. It's the only place I've ever found to fairly regularly see and watch snipe, though they're small and camouflaged and a telescope would be very helpful!

Unfortunately every spring/summer I look at fresh drainage channels being dug and water draining to be replaced by cows which surely often trample the breeding attempts of the lapwings that try to nest there. (On which - aren't lapwings wonderful! Watch the short clip half way down this old blog post.)

I wish there was a way for flood field, even just its flooded centre, to be set aside and developed as a mini wetland nature reserve. There's an ideal spot for a bird hide up on the canal bank and people could leave vehicles in the car park at Park Farm then make the short walk along, finishing off afterwards with coffee and cake in The Park Bistro. Or they could travel by water taxi. Many people use this stretch of canal, by bike and foot - and barge! - and would stumble upon the hide. The hide and reserve could become a feature and a selling point for Scottish Canals and Linlithgow Union Canal Society and The Park Bistro.

mute swan, no ring

Elsewhere along the canal today I saw little in the way of waterbirds:

- 2 goosander, one male one female

- 4 mute swans
(- two unringed adults on canal in area of the first road bridge west of Philpstoun.
- two adults just west of Philpstoun bings. Smaller one unringed. Larger one with light green ring, black letters PLF.)

- 1 cormorant flying overhead following the line of the canal east to west, then veering right to head presumably towards its fellows on Linlithgow Loch.

2 reed buntings (almost definitely several more)
 

And ALL birds seen along my route today:

Black-headed Gull
Blue Tit
Buzzard - 1
Chaffinch
Collared Dove - 2
Curlew - 1
Feral Pigeon
Goldcrest - 3
Goosander - 2
Great Tit
Greylag Goose - 5
House Sparrow
Linnet - 40
Magpie
Mute Swan - 4
Redwing
Robin - 2
Song Thrush - 2
Treecreeper - 1
Woodpigeon
Yellowhammer
Blackbird
Bullfinch
Carrion Crow
Coal Tit
Cormorant - 1
Dunnock
Fieldfare
Goldfinch - 5
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Greenfinch - 4
Herring Gull
Jackdaw
Long-tailed Tit
Mallard - 17
Pink-footed Goose
Reed Bunting
Rook
Starling
Wigeon - 153
Wren

Total - 41 species

old nest by the canal-side

earthstars are among my favourite fungi. Such alien shapes. I think this is a collared earthstar (Geastrum triplex)...

 

I think this is a collared earthstar (Geastrum triplex)...

For scale. (Hand is human not hobbit, I don't think he ever wore it on that finger. And we wouldn't see the hand anyway.)

only a second before I pressed 'take' there was a treecreeper on the right of that main trunk and a goldcrest on the stump on the left

from the top of the more northerly Philstoun shale bing, smoke puff trees

Has anyone lost Hamish? I have his tag.

Older WeBS canal count posts by clicking the BTO WeBS wetland bird count link on the left hand side of blog.

Leo
23rd Jan 2016

2014 - February BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow - Philpstoun

 

My monthly BTO WeBS count along the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun.

 

 

As part of efforts to improve screen vs. canvas balance I'm going to try to keep most of my canal-count blogs much shorter in the past. Just the basics of what I saw, perhaps primarily as a record for myself. If anything really exciting comes up I'll try to include it. Like January's mole.

Friday 21st Feb

Start time 8.20am
turnaround time 10am

End time 11am

 

Weather - cold and windy from east to west. Sometimes a little rain.

The flood field - quite extensively flooded - 119 wigeon making use of it. On my route this is a very hight count for any species.




Waterbirds seen: 

Curlew 2 - on flood field
Goosander 5    
Mallard 3    
Moorhen 5    
Wigeon 119 - on flood field
Black-headed Gull 2    
Common Gull 2    
Dipper 1 - zoomed past on stream below canal bridge just east of Philpstoun. I heard rather than saw it.




All birds seen:

Black-headed Gull
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Coal Tit
Common Gull
Curlew
Dipper
Dunnock
Feral Pigeon
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Goosander
Great Tit
Greenfinch
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Magpie
Mallard
Moorhen

Pheasant - a black one, as you sometimes see. Other than the red facial wattles it's whole body was in iridescent greeny, purple-y, blue-y blacks.

Robin
Song Thrush
Starling
Treecreeper
Wigeon
Woodpigeon
Wren
Yellowhammer

32 species

This is spot the black pheasant. The black spot is this pheasant.

identify the fungi. on an uprooted tree

lots of them. growing from earth around the now air-exposed roos

A mole, on towpath, in water, now back in its hole.

Me and a Mole

An amazing thing when on the return leg of my BTO monthly WeBS waterbird count this morning. I count along the Union canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun. A kilometer east of Linlithgow, approaching Wilcoxholm Farm bridge I spotted a mole scurrying along the path away from me. It was close in against the banking, away from the canal side of the path, trying to dig back into darkness as it moved forward in a rapid, jerky, side-to-side way. I stopped and watched through my binoculars for fear of scaring it towards the water. It continued towards the bridge, never finding a place to burrow because of the old stone wall that holds up the embankment here.

As the mole approached the bridge I was increasingly worried it was going to end up in the canal, and I knew that in a couple of minutes a boat would be chugging round the corner behind me. I tried to get my gloves on, still not wanting to run forwards and make a grab in case I made things worse. My decision was taken away - mole bumped into the base of the bridge, made a sharp left turn, trundled across the narrow path, over the few inches of grass, and splash, plop, straight into the water.

Now I ran forwards, dropping rucksack and binoculars to the ground at the side of the path. Luckily luckily after several seconds splashing out towards the centre of the canal mole turned and swam back towards shore, making contact with the vertical edge and scrabbling there. Because of the bridge there was no chance of clambering up vegetation or slope here. I knelt in the least muddy patch of mud and reached down with both hands, scooping mole from the water.

I stood up and mole struggled against my hands, not exactly difficult to hold but very squiggly and squirmy. When those huge but soft baby-pink hands find purchase between your fingers the mole prises and shovels at the gap, quite easily widening it. The claws are long but didn't seem to scratch. It was not unlike holding a hamster, though much stronger in its burrowing. The snout is long and tapering, reminiscent of a shrew's, and bright moist pink at the end. The eyes are pinpricks and I couldn't spot them. The body is small and tubby, like a beanbag sausage. The tail is a tight length of thin black rope, not very furry. The velvet is as soft as soft. I couldn't believe I was holding a mole! I don't know if I've ever even seen one before and I'll likely never have opportunity to be this close to one again. I held it for several minutes just looking.

I walked along the banking until I found what I think was its hole. I put my mole-holding hand to the entrance, watched black bottom and tail wiggle away from me into more black, then it was gone. What a beautiful creature.


When you type 'mole' into Google a lot of the information you get is about how to kill them.


More info about moles here: www.mammal.org.uk/mole





The Mole

 
The Hole (for Mole)

2013 - December BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow - Philpstoun

My monthly BTO WeBS count along the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun.

Tuesday 17th December 2013 

Start time 9am

End time 11.50am

approaching Philpstoun, the lovely Shirvalee at berth

Weather fine after heavy rain on preceding days. The flood field does now have a small pool in it but nothing like in previous winters, pre-draining.

The count:

- waterbirds were pretty scarce but lack of quantity was made up for in quality - nine beautiful crisp goosanders and a kingfisher kingfisher kingfisher! There on the canal behind my house and studio when I set out at 9am, there again or still when I returned around noon. Sometimes difficult to spot, rust-red chest blending into dead winter undergrowth when it perched. Then when it flew its metallic blue back flashed like a jewel.

spot the kingfisher.

Actually, that's a crisp packet. It was almost immediately after I'd taken this photo that I spotted the real kingfisher. 

- Fieldfares and redwings all around, as last month. Larger flocks now, at least 100 fieldfares and 50 redwings, taking full advantage of the red berries of canalside hawthorn hedgerows. 

N.B. If you haven't tried hawthorn berries you should. They have a nice nutty creamy texture and taste. Take care not to crunch on the big stone in the middle. Don't eat them all though, the thrushes need some.

fieldfare and black ash buds

hawthorn heaven for fieldfares (and maybe you too)

fieldfares and Forth Bridge (rail)

All water birds eligible for count:

moorhen - 2

goosander - 9

kingfisher - 1

black headed gulls present, not very many

Nothing on the flood field

All birds seen:

Black-headed Gull
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Buzzard
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Dunnock
Fieldfare
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Goosander
Great Tit
Greenfinch
House Sparrow
Jackdaw
Kingfisher
Magpie
Moorhen
Redwing
Robin
Rook
Wren
Yellowhammer
Unidentified geese flying over

24 - species

In the woods, heavy flow:

  

A Very Happy Sprouty Christmas To You All

2013 - November BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow - Philpstoun

My monthly BTO WeBS count along the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun.

Tuesday 12th November 2013.

Start time 8.20am

End time 11.10am

Low winter sun. Cold wind – especially on the fingers when using binoculars. Wind perhaps hiding some birds. A speck or two of rain.

Is there a flood-field?:

Yes! Though it's a minor flood compared to previous years. The draining appears to have largely worked. Nevertheless, there were some birds...

Flood field. Greylag geese, oystercatchers, gulls.

count notes 12.11.2013

The count:

- A beautiful winter morning but sun strongly in my eyes at times, difficult to look for birds on the canal.

- A large number of gulls - hundreds; black-headed, common and herring - were following a plough.

- Fieldfares 'chacking' and redwings 'tseeping' all over, seen and heard the whole length of the count. No more than a month since they arrived from northern Europe.

In Philpstoun woods:

A mistle thrush was shouting at redwings, chasing them off its ivy cloaked sycamore. On the ground chaffinches of both sexes plus a lady great tit with her slimmer-than-the-male black breast stripe foraged the beech leaf litter, almost invisible without binoculars. A robin hopped close as I wrote these notes and goldcrests squeaked high up to my right. A blue tit performed acrobatics lower down in the same sycamore, searching leaves and bark for grubs. A wren was singing loudly and a squirrel (grey) was scolding. A second grey approached through the trees, attracted by the noise of the first.

Tree sparrows:

A tree sparrow – a little smarter than his/her cousin house sparrow. Tree sparrows have a fully chestnut head, the house sparrow (male) has a grey-cap on top of his chestnut. Tree are the more delicate of the two and have crisp black patches on white cheeks, house sparrows are overall more grey. Male and female tree sparrows are identical whereas house sparrow male and female are quite different from each other - the female is fairly indistinct, what birders refer to as an lbj ('little brown job'). 

House sparrows are more associated with urban areas, tree sparrows with farmland. I've only a handful of times seen tree sparrows in our garden but half a kilometre east along the towpath, out of Linlithgow, and suddenly they become as common as house sparrows. There are good numbers of tree and house sparrows in the hedgerows around Park Farm, half way along my count, though sadly no longer in the immediate grounds of the large house since feeders were removed and most of the garden shrubs and hedging replaced with lawn.

All water birds eligible for count:

moorhen - 5

goosander - 1

grey wagtail – 1

greylag goose – 33

oystercatcher – 48

curlew - 10

black headed gull – 10

common gull – 5

herring gull – 1

(Plus the hundreds of uncounted gulls following that plough) 

Of the above, the following were on flood field:

black headed gull – 10

common gull – 5

herring gull – 1

oystercatcher - 48

curlew - 10

All birds seen:

Black-headed Gull

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Collared Dove

Common Gull

Curlew

Feral Pigeon

Fieldfare

Goldcrest

Goldfinch

Goosander

Great Tit

Grey Wagtail

Greylag Goose

Herring Gull

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie

Mistle Thrush

Moorhen

Oystercatcher

Redwing

Robin

Rook

Skylark

Starling

Tree Sparrow

Treecreeper

Woodpigeon

Wren

34 - species

Starling. Spot the spots.

Spot the redwings. No, those are hawthorn berries. The redwings are much bigger, and fewer in number, and birds.

An interesting tree:

Look closely. This tree has grown a loop.

The large branch grows downwards then left. At the very edge of the photo a small branch, um, branches right and heads back up towards photo top-right. The photo below shows the joining point, close-up.

Not in the woods:

a train, 'Clearing Britain's Railways'