The Terrys Are Back

It was cold in the northerly wind this morning looking over Morecambe Bay and to be honest there was little moving on the sea. Nineteen Cormorants headed west after the rising tide had flushed them off their roost and seven Auk sp. headed east into the Bay. Even wildfowl were thin on the ground with just a handful of Common Scoters and Eiders.

The only unusual sighting on, or should I say in, the sea was the guy below who went in for a dip. I was cold enough to start with, but felt even colder after watching him wade into the surf!

 That looks cold!

Waders were fairly thin on the ground too and all I had were 120 Oystercatchers, five Turnstones, five Redshanks, a Grey Plover, a Ringed Plover. two Curlews and 26 Sanderling.

 Oycs

The only vis I had was a single Grey Wagtail west and 90 Jackdaws heading northeast into the wind.

Before I looked on the sea this morning I'd put some food out for the Turnstones in the half-light and when I went back to have a look there were about 20 'Terrys' feeding on the seed. We have a colour marking project registered with the International Wader Study Group and over the winter we will hopefully be catching the Turnstones and fitting leg flags to them as part of the project.

The aims of the project are to:

- generate some information on wintering sites and distribution of wintering Turnstones in the northwest of
   England or further afield
- attempt to find out what the turnover of the birds wintering at the site is; where are they coming from to
   roost/forage at the site
- measure winter site fidelity and implications of disturbance if they show high winter site fidelity
- generate re-sightings to look at migration routes
- try to ascertain whether there are any relationships between wintering areas and breeding areas
- possibly measure phenology if we can catch them over a number years

Last winter we carried out a bit of a pilot study mainly to see if we could catch them and we managed to ring 50. The aim is to try and mark 100 per year for five years, but I would be very happy indeed if we could do just 50 per year! I am just waiting for the leg flags to come through that are being made for us and then we can make a start. I think it has the makings of a great project.

The 20 Turnstones feeding on the food that I had put out were just part of a larger group of 160 comprised of two flocks of 80. One group of 80 were roosting with 51 Redshanks on the south side of the island where it was sheltered from the northerly wind and also in full sun.

 Terrys

 Redshanks and Turnstones

I then had a look at the Mount as I knew it would be sheltered and I was hoping for a few passerines. I came across a flock of about 15 Long-tailed Tits and amongst them were two Goldcrests, a Coal Tit and several Blue and Great Tits. Chaffinches fed in the tops of Sycamores and were accompanied by a calling Brambling.

The forecast is looking a bit grim for tomorrow with 20-25 mph westerly winds and rain. It might be worth a look on the sea in the morning, but I doubt it will be fit for anything else.

Post Script to 'That Feeling'

I mentioned yesterday about a large arrival of migrants at Spurn Bird Observatory. For the full details, and they are very spectacular, have a look HERE. Enjoy!

That Feeling

It was one of those mornings this morning that felt that there should be a few birds around. As I went to bed last night the sky was clear with an easterly wind and at first light this morning there was full cloud cover with a light northeasterly wind and occasional light drizzle. I didn't have long to spare before I was chaining myself to my desk so I just checked a couple of sites within the obs recording area.

In the cemetery a Coal Tit, four Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff was all I could muster. There was some vis in the form of Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches and Redpolls. I then headed to The Mount and had a further two Coal Tits, three Goldcrests and another Chiffchaff. Unfortunately I didn't have time to go anywhere else and reluctantly headed home.

News has been coming in during the day of a huge fall at Spurn Bird Observatory with counts of 10,000 Redwings, 5,000 Fieldfares and 2,000 Bramblings! Let's hope that some of them find their way over to us in here in the west.

Hopefully coming soon to a ringing site near us:

Brambling

 Fieldfare

 Redwing

Still Green

Huw and I ventured forth to the obs this morning and just before first light there was quite a dense fog and we thought that would put the mockers on any passage. However, as the sun got up the fog cleared leaving clear skies and virtually calm conditions.

A few birds were on vis this morning including two Redwings, 128 Meadow Pipits, two Song Thrushes, four Alba Wags, four Chaffinches, six Siskins, 46 Greenfinches, 133 Jackdaws, eight Carrion Crows, a Brambling, a Reed Bunting, a Grey Wagtail and four Skylarks.

Grounded birds were restricted to four Long-tailed Tits, a Song Thrush, a Short-eared Owl, a Goldcrest, seven Blackbirds and a Jay. The 'Shortie' spent part of the morning hunting over the fields that are usually cut for haylage, but haven't this year, so are probably full of small mammals.

The only raptors we had this morning were a single Kestrel and two Sparrowhawks. Pink-footed Geese numbers steadily built up during the morning and at least 520 dropped in to feed on farm fields across the road. 

From a ringing perspective we still very much 'green' because we had another good catch of Greenfinches. We ringed 45 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Blackbird - 4
Goldcrest - 1
Meadow Pipit - 8
Greenfinch - 31
Blue Tit - 1
Robin - (1)
Dunnock - (1)

It's remaining easterly into next week so I will make sure that I get out birding for a morning or three!

Where Did The Week Go?

I can't believe it's been a week since I was last ringing at the obs! Unfortunately I've been busy with work this week and it has meant time working rather than time birding! At the obs this morning I had a bit of a disastrous start when my head torch packed up, so it was a case of erecting nets by touch!

I had full cloud cover this morning with a stiffish southeasterly breeze. First up was a Fieldfare calling in the darkness, but that would be it in terms of Thrushes on the move for me. In fact the vis was particularly slowly, probably due to the dark mass of black cloud to the north that would have been sitting over Morecambe Bay and the south Lakes. What I did have on vis were three Chaffinches, two Alba Wags, 48 Greenfinches, a Coal Tit, three Grey Wagtails, two Reed Buntings, a Redpoll sp., 40 Jackdaws, five Swallows and ten Meadow Pipits.

 Coal Tit

The only birds that I could consider grounded were a Coal Tit, 12 Long-tailed Tits and a Goldcrest. I ringed 25 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Blackbird - 3 (two were continental males)
Greenfinch - 8
Long-tailed Tit - 11 (1)
Song Thrush - 1
Coal Tit - 1
Robin - 1
Great Tit - (1)

 Long-tailed Tit

I was working in the uplands yesterday on the Lancashire and North Yorkshire border and it was quiet, birdwise as expected at this time of year, on the particular area of moorland I was surveying. I did have good numbers of Red Grouse and had 50 in total. On a largish wet flush as I walked round it trying to find a place to cross I flushed 122 Snipe and when I stopped for a coffee in the afternoon a party of three Stonechats moved through and then silence descended again.

 Looking towards North Yorkshire from God's Own County!

The forecast is looking okay for the morning so I'll have another try ringing and birding at the obs. The easterlies are continuing into next week, but typically I have a lot of work on, but I'll see if I can squeeze a few mornings birding in!

And Still They Come

Huw and I worked the southern part of the obs this morning and as we put the nets up in the semi-darkness there was a 5 mph ESE wind with 7 oktas cloud cover.

Redwings were calling in the darkness, but none of them could be lured down by MP3. A few Redwings, namely eight, would feature in the vis this morning and in addition to the Redwings we had five Alba Wags, 63 Meadow Pipits, 98 Greenfinch, two Reed Buntings, four Chaffinch, four Grey Wagtails, 302 Jackdaws, eight Carrion Crows, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, five Skylarks and a Rock Pipit.

We managed to ring 63 birds and this included yet more Greenfinch. We processed the following new birds (recaptures in brackets):

Wren - 2 (1)
Blackbird - 2
Greenfinch - 42 (1)
Reed Bunting - 1
Meadow Pipit - 7
Song Thrush - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 6
Dunnock - 1
Blue Tit - 1

 Meadow Pipit

There was no evidence of any grounded migrants as such and the male Stonechat we had could have been the bird from earlier in the week. The wind is swinging to the southwest in the morning, although remaining light, there could be some rain around so I might sneak a couple of hours birding in before a day's report writing!

Buff Tip Moth Caterpillars

For a while now I have been following the fortunes of some fairly numerous caterpillars on the Willows in my garden. Some weeks ago I wrongly identified them as Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars when in fact I have since found out they are the caterpillars of the Buff Tip moth. Below is a picture of how they looked a few weeks ago. Initially they feed in groups by day and night, and later singly.

At the moment they are a good 4-5 cm long and are dropping off the Willows one by one and heading across the garden looking for a location to pupate. I'll look forward to a decent catch off Buff Tips in my trap next summer! Below is how they look now and this is a photograph of an individual that I took on Gail's hand that was heading out across the garden in search of a pupation site.

The forecast is looking as though it should be mainly clear over night, although there is still the chance of a shower or two along the coast, with the wind starting SE at 0600, becoming E by 1000 and NE by 1200. That's the forecast on the BBC, but rather confusingly XC shows it being W - NW. Ah well, I'll just have to get up, take a look and decide whether to bird or ring, or both. Whichever it is I will be at the obs.