Charlotte1
Member
Hi Andrea. I use public transport a lot and I think your posts are really interesting. Well done on the Peregrine
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Views from a train driving cab (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Andrea Collins
- Start date
Deb Burhinus
Used to be well known! 😎
I can almost hear the train rambling along the tracks through cold landscapes as you describe the scenes from the cab.
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
After we leave the West Coast Main Line and the end of civilisation we certainly ramble along at fairly leisurely speeds. It was a bit annoying a few years back when Network Rail renewed the decking on the Kent and Leven viaducts which allowed them to raise the speed limits across the viaducts from 30mph to 60mph. 30mph was great for looking at the birds. 60mph is way too fast!
At the risk of sounding a bit repetitive there was another ghostly Barn Owl at 0630 this morning near Carnforth.
At the risk of sounding a bit repetitive there was another ghostly Barn Owl at 0630 this morning near Carnforth.
Green Sandpiper
Well-known member
Can't believe I lived in Lancaster for a year and didn't bother my a*se to go birding. 1990s Green Sand was a feckin idiot.
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
The last few weeks have been rather quiet. I'm a bit concerned about what appear to be very low numbers of wildfowl on the estuaries. At this time of year there would normally be decent numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers, Wigeon, Pintails and Goldeneyes. Some Wigeon are present most days but in very small numbers compared to usual, whilst Goldeneyes are almost completely absent. Perhaps I have just been unlucky with my shift patterns this year. I seem to have done an awful lot of driving in the dark in the past few weeks.
A couple of days ago there were large numbers of wildfowl on the saltmarsh pools at Leighton Moss so perhaps the birds are just elsewhere at the moment. On the same day a male Marsh Harrier quartering the reedbeds was a nice treat, whilst a Little Grebe below the viaduct on the salt waters of the Kent estuary, and a long way from any sort of cover, caught my attention.
If you don't want to know about the unpleasant stuff, DO NOT click on the spoiler box below.
A couple of days ago there were large numbers of wildfowl on the saltmarsh pools at Leighton Moss so perhaps the birds are just elsewhere at the moment. On the same day a male Marsh Harrier quartering the reedbeds was a nice treat, whilst a Little Grebe below the viaduct on the salt waters of the Kent estuary, and a long way from any sort of cover, caught my attention.
If you don't want to know about the unpleasant stuff, DO NOT click on the spoiler box below.
On Friday evening I hit yet another Barn Owl, this time on the Windermere line near Staveley. Nothing I could do and it hit the middle of the windscreen at 60mph. I could clearly see it lying beside the track as I passed the same spot on Saturday afternoon. As I've said before I tend not to get sentimental about wildlife but I am starting to get a little depressed about the number of Barn/Tawny Owls I've killed over the last three years. I'm sure I never used to kill so many. Perhaps though that's a good sign about the local populations and despite the fact that I kill quite a few of them, there are still plenty of birds without territories ready to move in to the vacant spots?
Stephen Dunstan
Registered User
Grange duck pond with the ornamental collection is a lot nearer to the train line!Mega Rarity Lesser White-Fronted Goose spotted close to the West Coast Main Line just south of Lancaster centre - keep you eyes open for it Andrea
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
.....Lesser White-Fronted Goose spotted close to the West Coast Main Line just south of Lancaster centre - keep you eyes open for it Andrea
Kept a look out but didn't see any geese at all around Lancaster today. There were hundreds in the fields near Leighton Moss though. As far as I could see they looked to be mostly Greylags and Pink-foots. I haven't seen a Lesser White-front since I lived in the south east of England thirty years ago and that may well have been an escape!
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
A few years back one of the Bar-headed Geese from the ornamental collection had managed to get over the fence from the park onto the Lancaster bound platform. As I set off from the other platform it flew across in front of me and crash landed on the Barrow bound platform. I stopped and told the guard there would be a short delay whilst I attempted a spot of goose wrestling. Luckily for me as I approached it managed to get airborne again and made it back over the fence into the park. I've no idea what I might have done with it if I had actually managed to catch it!
Richard Prior
Halfway up an Alp
Good job you didn’t slip and injure yourself Andrea, imagine the guard’s announcement to the passengers then .........
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
We seem to have reached the time of year again when far too many Mallards start hanging about on railway lines. They do seem to like nesting in the vegetation on railway embankments. During the modest amount of driving I did yesterday I saw a dozen pairs milling about on the track and several extra male hanger's-on. A few lone males were also hanging about in a way that suggested their mate was either sitting on newly laid eggs in the nearby vegetation or was close to laying, and they were just lurking nearby to make sure their partner didn't get up to anything inappropriate.
A Peregrine circling over a small crag beside the railway at a well known Peregrine nesting location was nice to see. It was also nice to see some decent sized flocks of Pintails and Wigeon on the Leven estuary at last. The fields near Carnforth held quite a few Pink-footed Geese, near enough to the line to be sure of the ID.
At Kendal on the Windermere line I again saw a female Sparrowhawk. She gave me a lovely demonstration of Sparrowhawk hunting technique, hugging the ground in a carpark, accelerating suddenly over a wall, then repeating the exercise with some scrubby vegetation, and again with the vans parked in the industrial unit that was once the railway goods yard. Having drawn a blank she settled briefly on the roof of the old railway goods shed for a few seconds until a passing Lesser Black-backed Gull took an interest in her and she was away through the buildings towards the town centre.
Further along the Windermere line a Kestrel was perched in a lineside tree but made no effort to move as I passed by. A few seconds later a lone Long-tailed Tit flew across just in front of me. Further on again a Common Buzzard burst out of the trees with something dangling from its talons. I wasn't sure if it was a small mammal or bird but it looked a pretty meagre mid morning snack either way. Another Buzzard was perched in a prominent pine on the approach to Windermere and was still in the same spot on my return journey half an hour later. Over the nearly three decades I have been working this route I'm sure a Buzzard must have been perched in this particular spot on at least half the occasions I have been past. A few minutes later the Kestrel was still perched in the same tree as earlier.
Today, on a trip to Manchester Airport in the rain there was rather less to see, although coming back along the Chat Moss line out of Manchester there was another Common Buzzard with a small snack dangling from its talons. A couple of Magpies had been giving it some grief but Buzzard and Magpies went opposite ways at the approach of my train so maybe the Buzzard at least got to enjoy its snack in peace.
Nothing spectacular perhaps but I always enjoy these little encounters and they do add interest to what can at times be a very repetitive job.
A Peregrine circling over a small crag beside the railway at a well known Peregrine nesting location was nice to see. It was also nice to see some decent sized flocks of Pintails and Wigeon on the Leven estuary at last. The fields near Carnforth held quite a few Pink-footed Geese, near enough to the line to be sure of the ID.
At Kendal on the Windermere line I again saw a female Sparrowhawk. She gave me a lovely demonstration of Sparrowhawk hunting technique, hugging the ground in a carpark, accelerating suddenly over a wall, then repeating the exercise with some scrubby vegetation, and again with the vans parked in the industrial unit that was once the railway goods yard. Having drawn a blank she settled briefly on the roof of the old railway goods shed for a few seconds until a passing Lesser Black-backed Gull took an interest in her and she was away through the buildings towards the town centre.
Further along the Windermere line a Kestrel was perched in a lineside tree but made no effort to move as I passed by. A few seconds later a lone Long-tailed Tit flew across just in front of me. Further on again a Common Buzzard burst out of the trees with something dangling from its talons. I wasn't sure if it was a small mammal or bird but it looked a pretty meagre mid morning snack either way. Another Buzzard was perched in a prominent pine on the approach to Windermere and was still in the same spot on my return journey half an hour later. Over the nearly three decades I have been working this route I'm sure a Buzzard must have been perched in this particular spot on at least half the occasions I have been past. A few minutes later the Kestrel was still perched in the same tree as earlier.
Today, on a trip to Manchester Airport in the rain there was rather less to see, although coming back along the Chat Moss line out of Manchester there was another Common Buzzard with a small snack dangling from its talons. A couple of Magpies had been giving it some grief but Buzzard and Magpies went opposite ways at the approach of my train so maybe the Buzzard at least got to enjoy its snack in peace.
Nothing spectacular perhaps but I always enjoy these little encounters and they do add interest to what can at times be a very repetitive job.
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
^ Most of the birds I see do move away but tend to leave it very late to do so and they don't always fly.
A flock of Pink-footed Geese in a field yesterday just waddled away across the field.
There was a bit of a comedy moment involving a Moorhen which was crossing the somewhat complex high speed section just south of Wigan on foot. Caught in between the rails of the line I was approaching on, it decided that walking was the best way of escaping. First it went right, back the way it had come, then left, then right again, then finally left and just managed to hop over the rail in time as my train went past at 95mph.
Flying raptors often leave it very late to take avoiding action and frequently fly across right in front of an approaching train.
Sometimes birds are spooked by a passing train one day, then the next they show no reaction at all at the same location. This often happens with flocks of Eurasian Wigeon where my core route crosses the River Leven estuary on a long viaduct.
I suspect birds don't see trains as a threat until they are very close which is probably partly due to the way birds perceive the world visually and partly due to them not having any evolutionary reason to view such recent intruders into their world as a threat. For birds standing on the rails, something that owls like to do rather a lot, an approaching train may not appear to be moving at all even though in reality it may be approaching at 100mph or more. Even if they are aware that it is moving, they have no evolutionary reason to believe it will continue to follow the same path.
Most birds seem to be largely unbothered by stationary or slow moving trains. Feral pigeons are happy to get on board to look for food as often happens at Blackpool North. Small passerines pick dead insects from the front of stationary trains at many locations in summer. In many areas sidings offer good nesting sites for some species even where the sidings are still in use. My own depot has Eurasian Oystercatches, and Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls nesting on the track. Mallards often nest very close to the track, just tucked inside a little bit of lineside vegetation. Common Shelducks nest successfully in old rabbit burrows in railway embankments, which must be "interesting" when a heavy freight train passes above.
A flock of Pink-footed Geese in a field yesterday just waddled away across the field.
There was a bit of a comedy moment involving a Moorhen which was crossing the somewhat complex high speed section just south of Wigan on foot. Caught in between the rails of the line I was approaching on, it decided that walking was the best way of escaping. First it went right, back the way it had come, then left, then right again, then finally left and just managed to hop over the rail in time as my train went past at 95mph.
Flying raptors often leave it very late to take avoiding action and frequently fly across right in front of an approaching train.
Sometimes birds are spooked by a passing train one day, then the next they show no reaction at all at the same location. This often happens with flocks of Eurasian Wigeon where my core route crosses the River Leven estuary on a long viaduct.
I suspect birds don't see trains as a threat until they are very close which is probably partly due to the way birds perceive the world visually and partly due to them not having any evolutionary reason to view such recent intruders into their world as a threat. For birds standing on the rails, something that owls like to do rather a lot, an approaching train may not appear to be moving at all even though in reality it may be approaching at 100mph or more. Even if they are aware that it is moving, they have no evolutionary reason to believe it will continue to follow the same path.
Most birds seem to be largely unbothered by stationary or slow moving trains. Feral pigeons are happy to get on board to look for food as often happens at Blackpool North. Small passerines pick dead insects from the front of stationary trains at many locations in summer. In many areas sidings offer good nesting sites for some species even where the sidings are still in use. My own depot has Eurasian Oystercatches, and Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls nesting on the track. Mallards often nest very close to the track, just tucked inside a little bit of lineside vegetation. Common Shelducks nest successfully in old rabbit burrows in railway embankments, which must be "interesting" when a heavy freight train passes above.
Jay C
Member
I once saw a dead kite or buzzard on train tracks just outside a station, sad to see but I guess it supports the fact that birds don't always see trains as a threat. Also it was featured on Springwatch a few years ago that Common Sandpipers had nested on the gravel right next to the tracks and would fly off whenever a train approached. Despite the disturbance, the eggs hatched successfully.
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
I haven't seen Common Sandpipers nesting on or near the tracks but Eurasian Oystercatchers used to nest in the middle of the tracks beside the Leven estuary every year. The adults would fly off when a train approached so I always focused on that particular spot to see if I could see the eggs and usually managed to spot them. Many years ago I often saw newly hatched chicks too, but in recent years the local gulls and crows seem to have cottoned on to the fact that there are unguarded eggs available immediately after a train has gone past. Although a couple of pairs still attempt to nest from time to time the eggs seem to disappear pretty quickly.
Today I saw my first Avocet of the year on the saltmarsh pools at Leighton Moss. A few seconds later a Great White Egret flew up from the reed beds on the opposite side of the line.
Today I saw my first Avocet of the year on the saltmarsh pools at Leighton Moss. A few seconds later a Great White Egret flew up from the reed beds on the opposite side of the line.
Andrea Collins
Well-known member
Over the last week the single Avocet at Leighton Moss has been joined by several more. There looked to be about a dozen yesterday.
A couple of swans on the Leven estuary caught my attention as they definitely weren't Mute. Unfortunately I didn't quite have a good enough view to be certain of which species they were. Something about them said Bewick's but Whooper would be more likely at that location. There was nothing else close to them to help with judging their size. Lovely to see them though whichever species they were.
A couple of swans on the Leven estuary caught my attention as they definitely weren't Mute. Unfortunately I didn't quite have a good enough view to be certain of which species they were. Something about them said Bewick's but Whooper would be more likely at that location. There was nothing else close to them to help with judging their size. Lovely to see them though whichever species they were.
Similar threads
