At weekend Gail and I were back on the Wyre estuary adjacent to the Quay, and it was another glorious, if not cold morning, with clear skies and a cool 10 mph north-westerly wind.
The tide was running in again, and the usual wader suspects gathered on diminishing areas of exposed mud to frantically feed before the tide covered everything. There are two areas where they linger to feed before the tide eventually pushes them off these areas; within the Quay itself, in some of the muddy creeks, and on an area of exposed higher sediment on the edge of the river where the channel runs into the Quay. We recorded 30 Oystercatchers, with a further 50 flying upstream, 149 Redshanks and 30 Turnstones. The most interesting wader species that we had in terms of the late date, was a Common Sandpiper that we flushed from underneath the old ferry pier.
We had our first couple of Wigeons for the autumn/winter, and Mallard numbers had increased to 23. There was very little vis, but then again, we were there later in the morning, just 28 Jackdaws, six Meadow Pipits, two Skylarks, three Whooper Swans and a Chaffinch all heading south-ish.
A couple of butterflies were on the wing in the form of very worn individuals of Peacock and Comma. And that was that, a pleasant hour or two in the sunshine.
It was sunning itself on vegetation well above the height of my head!
The following morning, I was at the Nature Park, and the conditions were completely different, the wind had swung round to the south-east and I had complete cloud cover. I got there at about 6:30 a.m., so I could ensure that I could get a couple of mist nets up in the dark in the hope of a few Redwings, but I didn't hear any calling. I had been listening periodically the night before from home, but nothing was going over. So that didn't bode well!
From pre-dawn, and throughout the morning, I could hear Pink-footed Geese calling. The pre-dawn birds will have been roosting on the river and then calling as they flew off towards feeding areas. I did see a few high-flying birds heading south, but these just numbered 150.
In addition to the Pinkies, there was a little bit of visible migration, and this included a few more visitors from the north, including three Bramblings that I had heading southeast. My vis totals, excluding the Pinkies and Bramblings, were five Woodpigeons, eight Goldfinches, 163 Jackdaws, three Carrion Crows, nine Redwings (there were a few around), three Chaffinches, three Greenfinches, two Alba Wags, five Skylarks, a Grey Wagtail and five Meadow Pipits.
As always, a couple of Cetti's Warblers were singing as I put my nets up, and I ringed 21 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):
Goldfinch - 11
Blackcap - 2
Reed Bunting - 7
Chaffinch - 1
Blue Tit - (1)
The best bird that I didn't ring, was a Woodcock that escaped from one of my nets before I could get to it.
The forecast is not looking great for the next few days and I've got a wintering bird survey to do and six trail cams to set up on one of my clients' farms. I will have to keep checking and hope for a weather window!
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