A Good Decision

Last night I deliberated long and hard over the weather forecasts for today. I checked my 5 favourite Internet forecasts and it was 4:1 against going ringing to Rossall this morning based on wind strength and direction. Part of me didn't want to believe them because every time I looked out of the window the wind seemed to be dropping and also I wanted to do some ringing at the 'obs'. In the end after a phone call to Ian we decided not to bother ringing this morning.

At first light at Rossall this morning I thought we had cocked up as it wasn't too windy, but within 30 minutes it was far too windy and then it wasn't long before I had a prolonged heavy rain shower. So I did make a good decision after all, but I was still disappointed not to be doing some ringing. Anyway, back to Rossall this morning.

Visible Migration

I had a similar number of Meadow Pipits to yesterday and had 372 heading in a general northerly direction. When I checked my count for yesterday I couldn't believe that it was 374, so close to today's! Other birds on the move included 4,200 Knot, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 35 Linnets, 4 Alba Wags, 99 Woodpigeons, 28 Golden Plovers, Curlew, Swallow and 5 Siskins.

 Lesser Redpoll

Offshore

I suppose the biggest feature were the movement of Little Gulls out of the bay and I had 110 head west, but unfortunately they were a long way out. Other counts offshore included 22 Cormorants, 21 Red-breasted Mergansers, 6 Red-throated Divers, Great Crested Grebe, 231 Common Scoters, 180 Eiders, 8 Gannets and 2 Auk sp. 

 Red-throated Diver (Simon Hawtin)

There were no grounded migrants and after a few hours I headed off to the cemetery. It was fairly quiet in the cemetery and all I had were 2 Chiffchaffs and 3 Swallows whizzing through.

More Mipits on the Move

What a funny old morning it was this morning weather wise and it certainly had the Mipits confused. At first light at Rossall Point I had full cloud cover with a force 3 southerly wind. This later veered to southwest and for the first couple of hours I had a number of showers and the visibility out in the bay was poor.

I had Meadow Pipits heading east, northeast, straight north, west and south! It really did seem to depend on what was happening with the weather. They were wanting to generally head between north and east across Morecambe Bay, but the squally showers were forcing birds back to Rossall after attempting to cross the bay. I was even picking Mipits up in my scope heading west out of the bay, presumably after getting disorientated and trying to make landfall.

There was a supporting cast of a few other species on 'vis' and I had the following totals:

Meadow Pipit - 374
Alba Wagtail - 6
Linnet - 17
Sand Martin - 1
White Wagtail - 1
Golden Plover - 10
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Chaffinch - 1
Siskin - 1
Swallow - 1

 Pied Wagtail

Waders built up as the tide ran in and I had 89 Oystercatchers, 76 Sanderlings, 192 Turnstones, 300 Dunlin and 2 Grey Plovers. The sea was very quiet as it was 'locked up' in murk most of the morning and all I could manage were 126 Eiders, Sandwich Tern, 44 Common Scoters, 10 Gannets, Red-throated Diver and a Grey Seal. The only grounded migrant I had was a single Goldcrest calling from an isolated bush on top of the dunes.

 Turnstone (Ken Hindmarch)

I then called at the Cemetery to see if there were any grounded migrants, but I didn't hold up much hope because of the weather. I was wrong as I had 2 Goldcrests and 4 Wheatears. My second Swallow of the day headed west towards the coast as well.

Buoyed up by the Wheatears I decided to call at the Nature Park on my way home to see if there were any there as I just happened to have a couple of spring traps and some meal worms with me! No Wheatears but I did have singing Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Out on the pools were 15 Tufted Ducks, 8 Coots and 3 Little Grebes.

It's looking too windy again tomorrow for ringing so it will probably be another sea watch for me. In fact looking at the charts through until next Wednesday it is looking like it will be quite breezy from the southwest each morning.

Not Bad!

I have just updated the totals for our group, Fylde Ringing Group that is, and we have ringed 819 birds so far in 2011 with 424 ringed in March alone. You can find the individual species totals below:

Sparrowhawk - 1, Kestrel - 1, Coot - 4, Woodpigeon - 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker - 4,  Meadow Pipit - 108 (from two sites; Rossall & Rawcliffe Moss), Pied Wagtail - 1, Wren - 3, Dunnock - 11, Robin - 9, Blackbird - 60, Fieldfare - 1, Chiffchaff - 6, Goldcrest - 2, Long-tailed Tit - 11, Coal Tit - 5, Blue Tit - 21, Great Tit - 20, Treecreeper - 3, Jay - 1, Starling - 3, House Sparrow - 1, Tree Sparrow - 11, Chaffinch - 136, Brambling - 23 (mainly Will's garden), Greenfinch - 10, Goldfinch - 58, Siskin - 260 (again mainly in Will's garden!), Linnet - 10, Lesser Redpoll - 22, Bullfinch - 1 (a good one for us in the Fylde), Yellowhammer - 5 and Reed Bunting - 6.

 We've ringed 60 Meadow Pipits at Rossall so far this year compared with 4 in 2010!

It's going to be too windy for ringing tomorrow, but the isobars look like they might open a bit on Sunday so there is a chance then. I think tomorrow it will be a case of looking on the sea to catch up with some Sandwich Terns!

Two Nets Two Species

Ian and I ventured forth to Rossall again this morning and it was a completely different day. The forecasters had got the timing wrong with the weather and at first light we had complete cloud cover with a stiff south-southeasterly wind. In fact the wind was so stiff we could only put two and a half nets up. I say two and a half, because the 'half' was a 30 foot net where we would normally use a 60. It wasn't long before that net came down and we just had two nets up.

The first hour was spent looking at empty nets and gazing up at empty skies! There was no 'vis' at first light, but eventually the Meadow Pipits started to move and we started to catch. We ringed 32 birds in the form of 2 Chiffchaffs and 30 Meadow Pipits.

 Chiffchaff

Meadow Pipit

Grounded migrants were limited to the two Chiffchaffs ringed plus a third bird heard calling away from the nets. 'Vis' consisited of 6 Goldfinches, 210 Meadow Pipits, 2 Alba Wags, 2 Siskin and a Lesser Redpoll. So it was an interesting morning but very different from yesterday.

Mountain Blackbird

Ian sent me some pictures (see below) of a cracking singing male Ring Ouzel that was the highlight of a small arrival of migrants in Fleetwood yesterday. These birds have declined somewhat over the years, but they are still possible to see in the Fylde for those prepared to put a bit of time in rather than sitting on their arses waiting for a phone call so that they can twitch one! 

Walking the Plank

Craig, Ian and I were back at Rossall again this morning and we had full cloud cover at first with light east-southeasterly winds. By 0900 the winds had picked up and we started to take the nets down. We put up a new net today which has become known as the 'plank net', as it is a net dissecting the central hedgerow over the ditch and we have had to put in place two 12 foot planks to enable us to put it up. It didn't break it's duck today but I have high hopes for it. Full marks to Ian for sorting out the planks!

 Walking the plank!

The visible migration was a little slow today, although we did have more Meadow Pipits than earlier in the week but less finches. Vis mig totals included 131 Meadow Pipits, 17 Lesser Redpolls, 2 Alba Wags, 3 Siskins and a female Goosander east! Probably the best bird of the morning.

The only grounded migrants we had were the Chiffchaff that we ringed and 5 male Wheatears. We observed some migratory behaviour from a group of 4 Blue Tits and 6 Great Tits that dropped in, moved through, and headed north.

We ringed 18 birds as follows:

Chiffchaff - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Meadow Pipit - 7
Linnet - 2
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - 3

 Blue Tit

Chiffchaff

Great Tit

Lesser Redpoll

Linnet

Meadow Pipit

Back at home my moth trap held Hebrew Character and 2 each of Common Quaker and Early Grey. The forecast looks okay for tomorrow so Ian and I will be back at the 'obs'.

Back at the 'Obs'

It was a 5.30 a.m. start for Craig, Ian and I at Rossall this morning. When the clocks go forward early on Sunday morning we will get a brief respite from very early mornings, but it doesn't last long! We had clear skies this morning with a light south-southeasterly wind and a light ground frost.

As soon as it was light birds, Lesser Redpoll being the first, were on the move. The 'vis' wasn't heavy but did include 19 Lesser Redpolls, 5 Alba Wags, 109 Meadow Pipits, 2 Chaffinch, Grey Wagtail, 5 Siskins and Reed Bunting. The only grounded birds were two mega's, of the same species, for the site in the shape of Tree Sparrows! We always get a few going over on 'vis' in autumn but it was good to have 2 birds grounded for a while. They were perched up in the central hedgerow and then after a couple of minutes they took off, circled round climbing and headed north. Migration in the raw; brilliant!

Of course we had our mist nets up and we processed 15 new birds (recaptures in brackets) as follows:

Greenfinch - 1
Meadow Pipit - 5
Pied Wagtail - 1
Dunnock - 1 (1)
Chaffinch - 1
Linnet - 6
Robin - (1)

 Linnet

 Pied Wagtail

Unfortunately I am working tomorrow morning so it will be Saturday before I can back to the 'obs' again but thankfully the forecast at the moment looks okay for both Saturday and Sunday, so another weekend of migration monitoring is hopefully in store!