As Queit As A Quiet Thing!

As Craig, Heather, Ian and I met at the 'obs' at 0600 we were greeted with a 'pea souper' of a mist that rolled out, rolled in and rolled out again before clearing completely. However to the south and east there was a huge cloud bank that was obviously having a blocking effect as we had no grounded migrants and very little 'vis'.

The vis we did have consisted of 13 Meadow Pipits, 2 Alba Wagtails, Knot, Lesser Redpoll, Lapwing and Curlew. The ringing was equally quiet as you might expect and we ringed two Goldfinch and recaptured a Blue Tit and Dunnock.

 Goldfinch

 The best birds of the morning were the pair of Sparrowhawks that were once again displaying over the fields demonstrating their mastery of the skies. The forecast looks better for tomorrow with the wind veering round to the south; so fingers crossed!

First Heralds

No birding for me this morning, although I do have a couple of site visits later, so hopefully I'll see a few bits and pieces then. I had my first Heralds, two of them, in the moth trap this morning. It wasn't my first Herald of 2012 as I had an over-wintering individual in my garage. The only other moths in the trap were 3 Hebrew Characters. I'm assuming there is some movement going on this morning as again when I went into the garden after breakfast to check my moth trap I had Lesser Redpolls going over.

Herald

Mountain Blackbird

Now a few days have passed since the clocks went forward Craig, Ian and I are enjoying the late 6.00 a.m. starts at the 'obs' and we were there this morning putting nets up under clear skies with a light ESE wind.

Although the number of Lesser Redpolls we had going over was an increase from Sunday (25th) the 'vis' was generally lighter and all we had were 55 Lesser Redpolls (an excellent count for March), 8 Meadow Pipits, 3 Alba Wags, 8 Siskins, 5 Linnets, 15 Woodpigeons and 440 Knot.

It wasn't really a morning for grounded migrants, but we did have 2 Chiffchaffs and the title bird a stonking male Ring Ouzel! Ian picked it up as it 'dropped' out of the sky and landed on the centre hedge. It then gave us excellent views feeding in a variety of habitats, flying and calling for a good few hours. They used to be regular, during spring in particular, as a coastal migrant but as they have declined they have sadly become scarce. You can still come by them annually on the coast, but you have to put the time in. I only had my 'point and shoot' camera with me so I have used one of Ian's pictures of a male in Spring last year.

 
On the ringing front it was quiet too and we ringed 9 birds as follows:

Lesser Redpoll - 4
Meadow Pipit - 3
Chiffchaff - 1
Wren - 1

Back home my moth trap held 4 Hebrew Characters and 3 Common Quakers.

Just Moths

When I say 'just moths' I'm not suggesting that they are in any way inferior to birds, but it is more of a statement to say that it was just moths that I recorded today. With work piling up I decided that I needed a day in the office and a third early morning on the bounce would make me look to the sofa rather than the office chair.

When I went out to check my moth trap after breakfast straight away I had Lesser Redpoll, Linnets, Greenfinch and Siskins going over, so I suspect there was a bit of a push this morning in the clear skies. In my moth trap were 4 Plume Moth sp. (I can't identify them), 3 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and Common Quaker.

 Plume Moth sp.

As I was loading my car with gear this evening in preparation for some ringing at the 'obs' tomorrow I spotted the two characters below on the house roof opposite.

 

 

Mixed Fortunes And Some Of It Was Yellow

Another visit to the 'obs' this morning for Ian and I, and it was very similar to yesterday in terms of the conditions and the birds recorded. At first light we had misty clear skies (if that makes sense) and it was calm. The 'vis' moved in fits and starts and we recorded 34 Lesser Redpolls, 3 Goldfinch, 6 Alba Wags, 65 Woodpigeon, 3 Carrion Crows, Reed Bunting, Golden Plover, Grey Wagtail, 224 Meadow Pipits, 2 Linnets, 3 Greenfinch and 39 Siskins.

The 'yellow' in my title refers to the two Yellowhammers we had this morning, which are fairly scarce on the coast on migration. Of course at my ringing site on Rawcliffe Moss they are common and as you know I get decent numbers at my feeding station and several pairs nest. We had a grounded male Yellowhammer, that moved off with some Meadow Pipits, and then we had a female going over. Nice!

Grounded birds other than the Yellowhammer included 5 male Wheatears, 3 Goldcrests and a stonking male Blackbird. I say 'stonking' because an adult male in the spring looks fantastic. We ringed 21 birds as follows:

Meadow Pipit - 15
Blackbird - 1
Greenfinch - 4
Goldcrest - 1

 Meadow Pipit

Back home my moth trap held just 2 Hebrew Characters and I forgot to mention yesterday that there were 4 Hebrew Characters! I have caught a Pug a couple of nights running but it escapes before I can identify it!

The forecast is looking good for the coming week so hopefully I will be able to fit some work around ringing, I mean ringing around work, and get out a couple of times before the dreaded 'w' word.

A Slow Start

It was a slow start this morning at the 'obs' until it warmed up a bit and the sun burnt some of the murk off. Craig, Ian and I met at 5.15 a.m. and it was fairly misty with a light southeasterly breeze. Just after we had put the nets up and had returned to the cars for that first welcoming morning coffee a pair of Sparrowhawks gave us a fantastic display as they courted each other in superb aerial fashion. The male was doing it's 'stalling' display and then chasing the female with some amazing low level flying. Awesome!

The first 'vis' started in the half-light and we had 69 Meadow Pipits, 15 Lesser Redpolls, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Grey Wagtails, 3 Alba Wags, Reed Bunting, 8 Siskins, Linnet, 46 Woodpigeon, Rook, 9 Jackdaws, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Golden Plover.

The only grounded migrants we noted were the three Goldcrests we extracted from the nets. We had no idea they were around as they never called whilst on site. We ringed 22 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Meadow Pipit - 15
Great Tit - 3 (1)
Goldfinch - 1
Goldcrest - 3
Dunnock - (3)

 Goldcrest

Weather permitting we will have another go tomorrow and I must try and remember that the clocks go forward tonight!

Bits and Pieces

As I had a site visit this morning I wasn't able to get out birding, so all I did first thing was to check my moth trap. In the trap were just two moths; Common Quaker and Hebrew Character. It looked as though there would be some birds on the move because as soon as I stepped out into my garden I had Siskin and Alba Wagtail going over.

 Common Quaker

Hebrew Character

It was a pleasure doing my site visit in the warm spring sunshine with 'tumbling' Lapwings for company and Skylarks singing from the heavens.

I made my last feed visit to my feeding station and then I had a walk round for a short while. It felt like a raptor afternoon, perhaps an early Osprey or Marsh Harrier I hoped, but the only raptors I had were Buzzard and Kestrel. Yellowhammers were in full song and I had three singing males plus a bird that flew over calling. As expected there were few birds at the feeding station, just 12 Tree Sparrows and 3 Chaffinch.

 I had 6 Brown Hares on my walk this afternoon

I had a few migrants on my walk, but not summer migrants from Africa, and these included 135 Fieldfares, 19 Curlews and 3 Golden Plovers. The Fieldfares were chattering excitedly from the tops of the trees in Curlew Wood, acting as though they would be departing later this evening.

 Whilst watching the Fieldfare five Roe Deer ran out from Curlew Wood 

(I know there are only three here!)

Two Grey Partridges, two Reed Buntings and two Stock Doves were all I could add and it was soon time for me to head home and get back working behind that PC.