Tuesday 23 April 2019

The wrong kind of music

Sometimes playing a tape hoping to ring Tree Pipit and Lesser Redpoll is counterproductive and this was one of those occasions.  The lower nets caught no birds on the first round despite willow warblers zipping past clearly avoiding the racket.  The equivalent round for the upper two nets saw eight phylloscs and a lesser throat.  It was the only real time period of any multiple action as opposed to the subsequent trickle

Migrants by office/non op land
Willow Warbler - 11 ringed, at least 20 passed through
Chiffchaff - at least one new arrival
Lesser whitethroat - 2-3 new arrivals
Whitethroat - ditto
Redstart - Male
Whinchat - almost certainly two with others on north wall and south end of tankfarm
Wheatear - just two seen
No hirundine passage in morning. 6 House martin north at 12:00

Vis mig
Lesser redpoll - at least four NE
Sparrowhawk - two NE
Meadow Pipit - 2 NE
Linnet - c5 NE

Sea dead again

Heysham skeer
Canada goose 2
Eider c20
Red-breasted Merganser 3

Cetti’s warbler still singing Heysham NR

Middleton Nature Reserve
Cetti's 3
Grasshopper warbler 2