The Working Week That Was

Most of my birding of late has been in order to keep the wolf from the door and I am in the middle of a number of wintering bird surveys. I'm not going to complain, but when it comes to weekend the weather hasn't played ball and I have struggled to get out. I think it's called sod's law, but I suppose I shouldn't complain as I am doing some birding!

About a week ago I was surveying inland at a farmland site, and it was fairly mundane, but as I am fond of saying there is always something to look at. On this particular morning there did seem to be good numbers of thrushes along the hedgerows and I counted 25 Blackbirds, 96 Fieldfares, two Redwings and two Song Thrushes.

Raptors were represented by a male and female Sparrowhawk and a Buzzard being mobbed by two Carrion Crows. Grey Wagtail and Siskin put in a appearance, as did six Tree Sparrows, so it wasn't all bad.

I have another survey site on some farmland adjacent to a tidal stretch of river and I was there a few days ago. Tree Sparrows were apparent here as well and I had ten going over on vis heading southwest. It never ceases to amaze me seeing these relatively sedentary farmland birds on the move in the autumn.

Thrushes weren't as obvious on this morning with 37 Fieldfares, seven Song Thrushes, five Redwings, a Mistle Thrush and another 25 Blackbirds, so actually fairly similar! Pink-footed Geese were moving between roosting and feeding sites and I had 2130 overhead in all directions. A Raven and three Siskins over made it in to my notebook as did three Little Egrets.

 Little Egret

The tide was in down on the estuary and there was limited mud available for any waders, consequently all I had was eleven Curlews, two Redshanks and eleven Snipe. A flock of ten Reed Buntings were in some Phragmites fringing a watercourse and 21 Whooper Swans flew northeast bugling away; magic!

 Reed Bunting

At the end of the week I was inland again on some mossland with intensive agriculture ranging from cereals to field vegetables. Two each of Kestrel and Buzzard flew the raptor flag and quite a number of Goldfinches were present. In total I had 64 Goldfinches and 25 of these were with 75 Linnets in some veg stubbles.

I rarely see Grey Partridge these days, so a covey of five was noteworthy, and a male and female Stonechat were still occupying a feeding territory in rank vegetation alongside a ditch and a pond. This vegetation would be harbouring over-wintering inverts, and therefore food for the Chats!

 Stonechat

It's a mixed week weather-wise coming up, but fingers crossed I'll get out!

 The sun sets on another week of surveys

Waggies

This afternoon Ian and I headed to the reedbeds to try and ring some roosting Pied Wagtails. We had full cloud cover and 10 mph north-northwesterly wind. Whilst waiting for Ian to arrive I had a quick look on one of the pools and there was an impressive 59 Coots and the now ubiquitous calling Cetti's Warbler.

A couple of Goldcrests called from some willows adjacent to the reedbed and a female Sparrowhawk coasted across the pool. Another raptor made an appearance in the form of a Buzzard mobbed by Corvids heading towards the river.

Before the Pied Wags came in to roost we ringed a few Greenfinches that were on their way to roost in the water treatment works, and at least 30 or so showed some interest in the MP3 player. It was difficult to estimate the numbers of Wagtails roosting, but there must have been at least 180.

 Greenfinch

We ringed 29 birds as follows:

Greenfinch - 6
Pied Wagtail - 23

 Pied Wagtail

I'm not sure what to do in the morning as it is forecast for a brisk northwesterly. I'll see how many Orkney brewery beers I sample this evening and then make a decision!

October's Ringing Totals

Over on the right you will see that I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing Group up until the end of October. To date we have ringed 2,378 birds of 54 species. New additions for the year in October were Sparrowhawk, Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrush.

Below you will find the 'Top 5' ringed in October and the 'Top 10 Movers and Shakers' for the year.

Top 5 Ringed in October

1. Goldfinch - 62
2. Redwing - 54
3. Goldcrest - 50
4. Pied Wagtail - 45
5. Blue Tit - 32

Top 10 Movers and Shakers

1. Goldfinch - 264 (up from 2nd)
2. Linnet - 241 (down from 1st)
3. Blue Tit - 166 (up from 4th)
4. Swallow - 145 (down from 3rd)
5. Lesser Redpoll - 139 (up from 6th)
6. Goldcrest - 128 (up from 8th)
7. Meadow Pipit - 124 (down from 5th)
8. Great Tit - 96 (up from 10th)
9. Reed Warbler - 92 (down from 7th)
10. Chaffinch - 80 (straight in)

More Thrushes

This is just a quick post to report on yesterday's ringing activities at the Obs. Ian and me were back in the reedbeds at first light with full cloud cover and 5 - 10 mph northerly wind.

Other than the ringing details I have recorded very little in my notebook. There was a good movement of Pink-footed Geese and several skeins were leaving their estuarine roost, and as a couple of days ago others were arriving from the north.

There was probably 70 grounded Redwings and 15 - 20 Fieldfares, and they featured prominently in the ringing totals for the morning. We ringed 28 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Fieldfare - 2
Wren - 1
Redwing - 13
Reed Bunting - 8
Greenfinch - 4

 Fieldfare

 Redwing

It's looking more of a seawatching kind of day tomorrow, with the possibility of some thrushes Sunday morning.