Sunday 4 September 2011

Low Key Autumn Morning

Ian and I were at Rossall for first light this morning and in terms of wind strength, virtually zero, it was perfect for mist nets. However, the weather synopsis over night wasn't conducive for any grounded migrants, but we did hope for some vis.

The lack of vis, other than it being early in the autumn, was a little baffling as it had been murky all day yesterday and we thought it would have blocked a number of migrants and that they would have been on the move this morning in the clear conditions. Thankfully we don't know everything! Birds on 'vis' included 7 Pied Wagtails, 4 Grey Wagtails, 9 Meadow Pipits and even smaller numbers of Goldfinch and Linnet.

 Dunnock

We processed 14 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Whitethroat - 3
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 3 (1)
Reed Bunting - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Wren - 1 (1)
Blackbird - 1
Blue Tit - 1

 Reed Bunting

The fact that we ringed a few Whitethroats, Dunnocks and Robins showed there were some migrants around, but it is likely that they were birds that had been around from the previous day. One of the Whitethroats had a fat score of 4 and weighed just short of 18 g, when normally they would be between 12 and 14 g.

 Whitethroat

Other than that there was very little to report except for a female Sparrowhawk that 'coasted' through causing mayhem amongst the Swallows.

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