Vis Variety

It was the Obs for me this morning after an absence of several days and I wasn't sure whether it would be a vis or grounded morning, or perhaps both. I had 6 oktas cloud cover, that cleared within an hour to 1 okta, and the wind was quite a stiff southeasterly.

It was too breezy for operating mist nets so I walked my usual circuit with pauses to count vis and to look on the sea. There did seem to be a few grounded migrants around and this was more obvious at the end of the morning when I totalled everything up in my notebook. Birds I considered grounded were a Goldcrest, seven Wrens, twelve Robins, nine Blackbirds, three Reed Buntings, a Jay, a Wheatear and a male Stonechat.

It was obvious very quickly that there was a reasonable passage of vis and also a reasonable variety too. My vis totals over two and half hours were 156 Meadow Pipits, 84 Jackdaws, nine Chaffinches, 20 Reed Buntings, eight Starlings, 155 Pink-footed Geese, two Sparrowhawks, ten Linnets, six Alba Wags, a Tree Sparrow, three Grey Wagtails, 27 Skylarks, four Carrion Crows, two Rock Pipits and eight Goldfinches.

 Jackdaws

 Meadow Pipit

The sea was quiet with just two Great Crested Grebes and seven Auk sp. The weather is looking calm enough for ringing in the morning, so I will be back at the Obs and hopefully kept busy; I'll let you know!