Tuesday 20 April 2021

Redpolls and Redstart

Hardly any early morning breeze again. What there was came from the north. Early morning sea mist didn't clear till the breeze moved to west and freshened. Overcast for most of the day with some hazy sunshine.

Middleton Nature Reserve 
Report from Alan:
Ringing this morning produced:
Blackbird  1
Cetti's Warbler  1 retrap
Sedge Warbler  1 + 2 retrap
Lesser Redpoll   21  (12 caught together)
Willow Warbler   8 +  3 retrap
Blackcap  3
Wren   1 + 1 retrap
Long tailed Tit  1

11 Swallows seen moving north through the reserve.
Three Greylag Geese and two Canada Geese commuting noisily back and forth between the various water bodies.

North Shore
The early morning sea mist significantly reduced the viewing range
The buoys out from the north wall were just visible
(There are actually 4 Sandwich Tern resting on the buoy and another flying over)

There was no sign of any Arctic Terns again this morning, but the calls from Sandwich Terns were almost constant, occasionally drifting into view and flying in both directions so very hard to estimate the actual number passing through. Eight was the most I saw at once, but overall there seemed to be fewer than yesterday.

Swallow 2 singles flying north low along the water line.

Redstart 1 male in garden near the horse paddocks/sunny slopes (thanks to Dominic for this one)

South Shore
Wheatear 4 on Ocean Edge foreshore
A slightly unusual, albeit unmistakable, shot of two of theWheatears
Rock Pipit 1 displaying on Red Nab, no sign of the lighthouse birds