Over the past few days, we have been on the receiving end of some fairly strong southerlies, and the direction has been anywhere between south-east and south-west, and it as felt a good deal warmer as a result. More importantly, it has brought a few migrants in!
Last Thursday, Gail and I had a walk from the Quay and downstream along the Wyres estuary as usual. We had full cloud cover, and a light south-easterly wind, and I'm not sure why I am mentioning it really, because we didn't have a single migrant! There were only eleven Redshanks and 12 Oystercatchers on the mud in the Quay, and probably the best birds we had three pairs of Eider on the estuary.
The following day, we were at the Nature Park just after lunch, and the wind was now a stiff south-southeasterly, 15 - 20 mph, and it was raining. However, there were a few migrants.
As soon as we set off on our walk, we could hear a Chiffchaff singing, and two Willow Warblers. We stopped to have a look over the saltmarsh, and hanging round an old wreck, were a pair of Wheatears, with two male Reed Buntings that kept on driving them off the wreck, only for the Wheatears to return when the male Reed Bunts chased each other across the marsh. A male Stonechat out on the saltmarsh was another migrant that we recorded.
Just before the rain came in, three Skylarks were singing, and four Cetti's Warblers added their voices to the chorus. Out on the pools were four Little Grebes, ten Tufted Ducks, three Moorhens, 18 Coots, 46 Herring Gulls, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls and six Mallards.
Yesterday, I was at the Point for first light, with 6 oktas cloud cover, and a 25 - 30 mph south-southeasterly wind. And it was obvious from the start that it would be quite an interesting morning.
As Newton (2010) states, the proportion of birds flying within sight during migration, tend to be greatest in unfavourable conditions, and wind strength and direction are important factors. Wind speeds increase with altitude, and are slower closer to the ground, where friction slows the wind up. I've mentioned often on here, that at this time of the year you can hear Siskins or Linnets calling for example, but cannot see them, but this morning it was windy, and it would have been even windier at the altitude that the birds would have been flying at, and as a result, migrating finches were flying over, within visual range...just!
As I was walking up to the Point, I could hear Linnets, Goldfinches and Siskins calling overhead, and I wanted to stand at a good vantage point if I could. On top of the dunes would be my favoured location, but it was far too windy, so I tried second best, and tried standing on the sea-wall in front of the dunes, but it was still too windy. So, I had to resort to standing in front of the tower to get some shelter. I could see from west to east okay, but I couldn't see behind to the south.
Some of the finches that I heard calling would remain uncounted, because I just couldn't see them, but a few flocks were dropping out of the sky. Some tried to head east, but were then trying to fight a very strong cross-wind, and others just seemed to drift west, using the easterly component of the wind.
My totals of the birds that I could see were 87 Linnets, 51 Siskins (predominately made up of a single flock of 47 birds!), 115 Goldfinches, six Meadow Pipits, two Lesser Redpolls, a Tree Pipit (my first for the year), a Sand Martin, three Swallows (both hirundine species first for the year for me) and a Skylark.
Behind the tower are some stunted Elders, and I had a Chiffchaff drop into them, feed for a while, and then move on.
The sea was quiet, but we did have 211 Common Scoters, two Red-throated Divers, four Eiders, six Sandwich Terns, two Gannets and two Whimbrels over the sea flying into the Bay. We also had a Harbour Porpoise surface a few times in front of us, before disappearing completely.
A large group of runners, with a marshal shouting out words of encouragement to the participants, shattered the peace of the morning, so I decided to call it a day. On my way home, I decided to have a quick look in the cemetery, and other than a singing Chiffchaff, and a few Siskins and Meadow Pipits going over, it was quiet. I did have a male Blackbird carrying food, so that can go down as a successful breeding attempt.
It is looking largely unsettled during the coming week, with some strong westerly winds, but there are some southerlies as well. I'll just have to try and make the most of it.
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