At last, some birds to talk about, including a scarce migrant and breeder, but more spectacular, a huge movement of Fieldfares and Redwings!
As I have posted before, autumn has certainly been very quiet so far, well for me it has, with a lack of migrant birds, until yesterday. But before that, I need to rewind to the beginning of the week to one of my wintering bird survey sites in the northeast, not far from Middlesborough.
The site comprises of rank grassland, with some scrub and young Birch woodland. I did three surveys in the first three months of this year, and I am back to complete a whole winter of surveys at the original site, and at another site directly to the north of the original site that overlooks the Tees estuary, just!
Under mainly clear skies, with a light easterly wind, I completed my first survey at the original site. There was some vis, it was very light, and because of the clear conditions I suspect that there were birds moving beyond the range of my sight and hearing. In fact, the Skylarks, Chaffinches and Siskins were very high, and I could only hear them. The vis included 75 Pink-footed Geese, eight Woodpigeons, four Skylarks, one Swallow (singing away as it headed west), one Fieldfare, five Meadow Pipits, four Chaffinches, one Brambling, one Goldfinch and three Reed Buntings. I must admit that I was expecting more.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker and two Goldcrests calling from the Birch woodland made it onto the pages of my notebook, but very little else did.
I then moved to my second site, where I can just about see on to the Tees estuary. The cloud had now thickened, increasing to five oktas, and the wind had swung round to the north. The tide was in, and bobbing around in the water were at least six Harbour Seals. I see Atlantic Grey Seals from my local patch on the west coast of Lancashire, but only see Harbour's when I am away in other parts of the UK.
I had some more Pinkies heading south, 87 this time, and I also had two Barnacle Geese heading southwest. Other wildfowl included 37 Wigeon and two male Pintails. As the tide was in I had very few waders, other than 21 Curlews and twelve Dunlins.
The best bird of the day was undoubtedly the Woodlark that I had go over calling and head south. I had only just walked on to the site when I heard this bird, and it took a second for the old grey matter to register that it was a Woodlark. I used to see lots of Woodlarks when I lived in Norfolk, and I have carried out breeding surveys for them in the midlands, but it's been a few years since I last saw or heard one, hence the second delay in my brain registering the call! Although the views were flight views, it still made my morning.
The only potential grounded migrants that I had were two pairs of Stonechats that were on site, and it will be interesting to see if they are still present on site when I next go in November. A Rock Pipit called from the shore, and only five Meadow Pipits headed west.
Yesterday was the day of the autumn so far for me, and I have never witnessed as many Redwings and Fieldfares on the move as I did yesterday. I had planned to go birding yesterday morning, and as the wind was a fresh south-easterly, I was hopeful of a few birds. As I popped my head out in the garden at about 0730, I immediately heard Redwings, Fieldfares and Chaffinches calling, and I could see groups of all three species heading south/south-east. Little did I know what would unfold. A quick text to Ian to say that Redwings and Chaffinches were 'pouring' over my house, and I headed to the cemetery.
above picture of one in the hand. You can see its red 'wing' though
The wind had picked up, and it was a good 20 mph south-easterly and the vegetation certainly had a vigorous sway to it, not good for looking for migrants! Whilst in the cemetery, I had a couple of Grey Wagtails over and a single Brambling battled east. Based on my experience in my garden at first light, I decided to go to the Mount to get some elevation, and see what was going on with the vis. It was a good move.
Looking north from the Mount above, and west below. You get a good idea
of the elevation and aspect, and hence why it is good for vis in autumn
Straight away I had Redwings, Fieldfares and to a lesser extent Chaffinches on the move. They were heading east to the north of me, west to the south of me and southeast to the west of me! As I looked west, I could see large numbers of Redwings coming in off the sea and heading southeast into the wind. A quick chat with Ian who was further west than me, and I decided to change location, and see if I could intercept these south-easterly moving birds at the Nature Park.
Before I reveal the totals from the Nature Park, from the Mount I had 5,868 Redwings, 82 Chaffinches, two Siskins, a Grey Wagtail, 95 Pink-footed Geese, 1,260 Fieldfares, a Song Thrush and a Brambling all head between east and south.
At the Nature Park I found a mound that I could stand on with a little shelter from the now 25 mph south-easterly wind, and I had a pretty good view all the way from the Irish Sea coast to my west, to the Wyre estuary to my east, and I started counting. It was a hell of a spectacle, and the short snatch of video below doesn't really do it justice, it was phenomenal!
Redwings. Click for a better viewing experience
Over the couple of hours that I was counting I had 11,344 Redwings, 24 Chaffinches, 2,400 Fieldfares, two Song Thrushes, four Bramblings, five Meadow Pipits, four Pink-footed Geese, three Goldfinches and a Reed Bunting all head south-east.
A Sparrowhawk tried to intercept the thrushes, but was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of potential prey items. My observation point overlooked the main pool, and a Cetti's Warbler was giving its explosive song, and out on the water were six Teal, 22 Coots and three Shovelers.
Back home the amazing Redwing and Fieldfare movement continued until at least 1500, and I think that if I had remained at home, I would have recorded similar numbers as my garden was right underneath their direction of travel. Throughout the day, for all three sites that I watched from, I recorded an astounding 22,720 Redwings and 6,068 Fieldfares. Phew!
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