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Lancashire & Cheshire Fauna Society Registered Charity 500685 www.lacfs.org.uk Publication No. 113 Lancashire Bird Report 2009 The Birds of Lancashire and North Merseyside S. J. White (Editor) D. A. Bickerton, G. Clarkson, S. Dunstan, R. Harris C. Liggett, B. McCarthy, P. J. Marsh, S.J. Martin, T. Vaughan, J. F. Wright. 2 Lancashire Bird Report 2009 Contents Introduction.................................................................................................. Dave Bickerton ........... 3 Review of the Year ........................................................................................... John Wright ........... 4 Systematic List (in the revised BOU order) Swans ..................................................................................................... Charlie Liggett ........... 8 Geese and ducks ..................................................... Graham Clarkson & Steve White ......... 10 Gamebirds ............................................................................................... Steve Martin ......... 25 Divers to cormorants ................................................................................. Bob Harris ......... 28 Herons ............................................................................................... Stephen Dunstan ......... 31 Grebes .......................................................................................................... Bob Harris ......... 35 Birds of prey ..................................................................................... Stephen Dunstan ......... 36 Rails ......................................................................................................... Steve Martin ......... 42 Oystercatcher to plovers ....................................................................... Tim Vaughan ......... 45 Knot to phalaropes .................................................................................. Steve White ......... 49 Skuas .......................................................................................................... Pete Marsh ......... 63 Gulls ...................................................................................................... Dave Bickerton ......... 65 Terns to auks ............................................................................................ Steve White ......... 74 Doves to woodpeckers ..................................................................... Barry McCarthy ......... 79 Shrikes and crows ............................................................................... Dave Bickerton ......... 88 Goldcrest and Firecrest ........................................................................... Steve White ......... 92 Tits and Bearded Tit ........................................................................... Dave Bickerton ......... 92 Larks and hirundines ....................................................................... Barry McCarthy ......... 94 Warblers, Long‐tailed Tit and Waxwing .............................................. Steve White ......... 98 Nuthatch & Treecreeper .................................................................... Dave Bickerton ....... 105 Wren ................................................................................................... Barry McCarthy ....... 105 Starlings ................................................................................................ Dave Bickerton ....... 106 Thrushes, chats, flycatchers and Dunnock ................................... Barry McCarthy ....... 107 Sparrows .............................................................................................. Dave Bickerton ....... 117 Wagtails and pipits ........................................................................... Barry McCarthy ....... 118 Finches to buntings ............................................................................. Dave Bickerton ....... 123 Escapes and feral birds ........................................................................... Steve White ....... 134 Lancashire Ringing Report ............................................................................. Pete Marsh ....... 138 Firsts for Lancashire: Pallid Swift ............................................................................. C Sharratt & P Kinsella ....... 156 Wilson’s Petrel.................................................................... AJ Conway & T Vaughan ....... 157 Earliest and Latest Migrant Dates ................................................................. Steve White ....... 158 Submission of records, Society contacts .......................................................................... ....... 159 Birding sites, List of Contributors .................................................................................... ....... 163 Lancashire Bird Report 2009 3 Introduction Dave Bickerton First of all may I thank you for supporting the work of the Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Society in either being a member or purchasing this report. The cost of producing this journal of record is just about covered by membership subscriptions and sales. If you are a regular purchaser of the report, please consider joining the society (see the membership section towards the end of the report). The area covered by this report is one visited by many birdwatchers from the novice to the experienced ornithologist due to the many and varied habitats and the wealth of birds they support. Yet again we have had an incredible number of records submitted, all of which have been considered for inclusion in the report. Whether you send in just one or two records or you can offer comprehensive data on a regularly watched site, we welcome all your records These can contribute enormously to conservation efforts and we share them with national bodies like the BTO, RSPB and Natural England and the two county biological record centres, the Lancashire Environmental Records Network (LERN) and Merseyside Biobank. Work on the Atlas continues apace with the BTO and we have made significant headway towards our target of surveying every tetrad in the county. However, the approaching winter and summer periods are the last in the survey and so there is a final push to get every tetrad covered, especially in the east of the county. Please contact the recorder if you can help or, better still, go onto the BTO website and offer your services that way. There has been some debate recently on the role of the Society with the resources that have been going into the local authority record centres and the proposed accessibility of data. Once upon a time, the Society was the fulcrum of record collection for the region and put in place a series of recorders for all faunal groups. Times have certainly changed and many interest groups now collect data so it makes sense for the record centres to be the repository for all records, including the ones submitted to us directly. The Society will continue to be a conduit for the bird records of the area enabling us to produce regular readable reports on an annual basis. You will probably notice another change in the systematic list sequence in this year’s report. This brings us into line with the current BOU list and further changes are possibly in the pipeline. Another slight change is the use of black and white images in the body of the report due to the lamentable lack of line drawings. We hope to have a blend of the two in future reports if suitable material is available to us. I must thank the team of writers who give up many days of their own time to compile their sections of the report and to those on the rarities committee who sit in deliberation on records of Lancashire rarities. Most of all I must thank the recorder and editor of the report, Steve White, who puts in an incredible amount of effort in collating and disseminating the records, reviewing and editing the texts, co‐ordinating the production of the report as well as numerous other activities. If you would like to contribute an article, help in writing the species accounts or take a more active role in any way, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the editor. Thanks once again for supporting us and I hope you enjoy reading the report Front cover: Velvet Scoter, Barrow Lodge, December (Steve Young) Back cover: Cattle Egret, Plex Moss, April (Steve Young) 4 Lancashire Bird Report 2009 Review of the Year, 2009 John Wright JANUARY The first ten days were mostly dry but very cold with some unusually prolonged and severe frosts. Thereafter the weather became much more unsettled with rain at times. The first winter period produced regular sightings of scarcer geese, with an adult and two first‐winter Greenland White‐fronted Geese at Downholland Moss on the 1st, complemented by two adult and two first‐winter European White‐fronted Geese at Caton for most of the month. At least 2000 Whooper Swans were present in the county on the 7th. Fishmoor Reservoir produced an adult Caspian Gull on the 2nd followed by Iceland and Glaucous Gulls later in the month. The Long‐eared Owl roost at Marton Mere held up to nine birds. A record count of 1061 Cormorants was made at Seaforth on the 15th. A first‐winter Black Redstart was in the precincts of Blackburn Cathedral from the 12th – the first of a remarkable 23 birds recorded at 19 different locations during the year. FEBRUARY The first half of the month was very cold with some heavy snowfall but the weather became much milder and more settled in the second. Woodpigeons