...the Pinkie migration flows, but that's about it over here in the west when we get a series of northerlies. I've blogged many times before about how awful a northerly in the west is for migration in autumn, and two recent visits to the coastal farm fields demonstrated this.
At weekend, I headed along the sea wall at first light under 7 oktas cloud cover with a 10 mph north-easterly wind, and got set-up at my vis mig and sea watching vantage point. A few Swallows were moving, and after a while watching them, I decided that most of them weren't on the move, and they were just feeding on aerial insects over the fields and shore. I had 53 that I didn't consider were moving, and nine that were. In addition to the Swallows, ten House Martins and a Sand Martin headed north into the wind. The only other vis that I had were five Meadow Pipits south, and singles of Alba and Grey Wagtails.
The sea was equally as quiet, with a pair of Eiders, 23 Cormorants, two Gannets, five Common Scoters and a Sandwich Tern. I had a walk around the farm fields afterwards and I recorded no grounded migrants other than a single Wheatear.
This morning was when the Pink-footed Geese were heading south under 7 oktas cloud cover, with again a ten mph north-easterly wind. I had 1,467 Pinkies head south, and they were still heading south over my garden well into the afternoon.
A few more Meadow Pipits, although still woefully low numbers moved south, with a total of 13, plus eleven grounded individuals. And that was it for the vis! The sea was once again very quiet, although I did have a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver head south, and the sprinkling of other birds at sea included seven Cormorants, 16 Common Scoters and 7 male & 4 female Eiders.
A flock of 22 Linnets and 15 House Martins made it into my notebook, and a Little Egret entertained, as it ran around a tidal pool chasing food. I doubled the number of grounded Wheatears to two, and one was particularly confiding (see below).
It's forecast to be northerly again tomorrow, so even though I've semi-complained about these rubbish northerlies, I'll still have a look as it is September after all!
I've just pulled a notebook off my book shelf for 2010, as I am want to do, and how very different it was on 15th September that year. I was at the Point and the wind was a force 6 westerly, and it was producing a few seabirds. It must have been good as I had a session in the morning, and again in the evening! I won't go into detail, but just list some of the highlights in the order that they appeared on the day, and of course in my notebook:
Guillemot -9
Little Tern - 1 juv.
Common Scoter - 89
Leach's Petrel -29
Kittiwake -15
Manx Shearwater - 2
Gannet -6
Long-tailed Skua - 1 pale morph juv.
Great Skua -3
Red-breasted Merganser - 2
Arctic Skua - 3 dark morphs & 1 pale morph
Red-throated Diver - 1
Razorbill - 5
Sandwich Tern - 2
Pink-footed Goose - 76
A very different day indeed!
Over on the right you will see that I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing group up until the end of August. Three new species for the year were ringed during August, and these were Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Tree Pipit.
Below you will find the top five ringed during August and the top ten 'movers and shakers' for the year so far.
Top 5 Ringed in August
1. Linnet - 29
2. Willow Warbler - 21
3. Greenfinch - 16
4. Blackcap - 10
Robin - 10
Top 10 Movers and Shakers
1. Sand Martin - 160 (same position)
2. Blue Tit - 98 (same position)
3. Great Tit - 75 (same position)
4. Willow Warbler - 55 (same position)
5. Linnet - 46 (straight in)
6. Sedge Warbler - 33 (down from 5th)
7. Robin - 27 (straight in)
8. Pied Flycatcher - 26 (down from 5th)
Goldfinch - 26 (down from 7th)
10. Blackcap - 25 (straight in)
No comments:
Post a Comment