Mon 17th Aug `15.   Crown Point.    6.30 - 10.30am.

Overcast then sunny. Flat calm to 5 NW.  3 Nets set up. 36 birds caught.

Another good morning for Tree Pipits with a min of 17 coming down to the nets then moving off South, 9 of which being caught and ringed. A lovely moulting Adult Redstart was a nice surprise being the 1st caught in "Rossendale" for many years. Another bonus was yesterdays ?? Whitethroat ending up in a net. Also plenty of Willow Warbler around.

Other birds-

Tree Pipit - 17 S. (9 ringed.)

Redstart - 1 Adult male. (ringed.)

W Warb - 15+. (10 ringed.)

Swallow - 100+ S. Small parties drifting south throughout session.

Redpoll - 20+ S. (9 ringed.)

Goldfinch - 15+ S. 1-2`s. (1 ringed.)

SWIFT - Decent numbers - 100+ - moving S in 5-10`s.

M Pipit - 20+ in singles.. A few more than yesterday.

Others present - Blackcap (2 ringed.), Dunnock 3+ (2 ringed.), Whitethroat (1 ringed.), Coal Tit (1 ringed.), Sparrowhawk 1 N, Jay 1.

Pics from today..

Adult Redstart

Adult Male and Juv Redpoll..

Goldfinch, Coal Tit and a net ride..

Juv Whitethroat..

Craig.

Hi Sarfraz,

I think the large numbers of Tree Pipits is purely down to the lure. They are reasonably common in suitable habitat from Bowland and further North. The birds are passing over, on the last 2 morning anyway, at a very high altitude in the sunny clear conditions and dropping down to the lure/nets. They are passing over South, leaving, as this is their time of year to go, much earlier than many other species.

There doesn`t seem to be much else obvious passing over head just yet apart from Swallow, Swift and a few Finches.

Sun 23rd Aug `15..   Crown Point site.    6.30 - 10am.  with R Archer (Kiss of Death!) and Archie.

Clear, sunny but 20 Easterly..  2 nets.   8 birds ringed.

A lovely sunny morning which was spoilt by a far too strong Easterly wind picking up throughout. No shelter for the nets meant very few birds caught.  In reality very few birds were about to catch! Virtually no movement, Swallows being the only noticeable birds moving in any numbers. A few M Pipits went South but only low double figures.

Birds moving -

Swallow - 30-40 S in small family?? groups S.

M Pipit - 10 in singles S.

Siskin - 6+ blogging in 1-2`s.

Goldfinch - 6+ blogging.

Present - Chaffinch (1 ringed.), Redpoll ( 3 ringed.), W Warb (4 ringed.), Sparrowhawk 1 entered net but got out, Kestrel 1, Raven 4, 

Sun 30th Aug `15.       Crown Point.      6.30 - 10am.

Overcast, then sunny. Calm - 5 E.  4 nets.  63 birds ringed.

A good morning for catch/ringing numbers considering not much was moving over the site. The most noticeable birds were Siskin and Redpoll with regular small parties blogging rather than heading in any particular direction. There did seem to be a lot of Siskin`s around the valley all summer so decent numbers of birds dispersing from their breeding areas would prob explain catching so many birds so early in the season as Siskin`s usually come in from the continent from mid October.

Tree Pipits were going over again but in smaller numbers than the last good mornings, 8 flew South, 6 dropping into net area and 3 going in the net. Another Redstart and yet another Whitethroat were nice bonuses today. Its been a good autumn for catching Willow Warblers too. Another 12 today taking the total to 61 so far this year!!

Noticeable absent birds so far this autumn - No L T Tits and just 1 R Bunting seen so far!

Birds moving -

T Pipit - 8 South. 1-2`s. (3 ringed.)

M Pipit - 15 S. Very few still. All singles.

Swallow - 20 S singles.

Siskin - 40+ blogging or moving ??  (16 ringed.)

Redpoll - 30+ blogging or South.  (22 ringed.)

Chaffinch 4 South singles. ( 2 ringed.)

Grey Wagtail - 2 South very high.

Jay - 3 together South very high.

Raven - 3 East high.

Present -   Redstart 1 Juv Male (1 ringed), Whitethroat 1 (1 ringed), Willow Warb (only 2-3 seen but 12 ringed), Blackcap 1 (1 ringed), Coal Tit 4 (2 ringed), Goldcrest 3 (2 ringed), 1st Robin seen (1 ringed), Jay 1, Sparrowhawk 1 Fem, Blue/Grt Tit 6+.

Pics from today. Juv Male Redstart, Robin, Goldcrest and Siskin..

Raven 

Thurs 3rd Sept `15.      Crown Point.     6.30 - 11am..

Calm and overcast all morning.   4 nets,  68 birds ringed.

Another nice morning for birds caught and ringed. Again lots of Siskin/Redpoll`s were flitting around so i paid more attention as to what they were doing..  They are defo on the move, to and where from who knows?, but several decent sized groups which never heard the lure carried on straight South in a purposeful flight. I also caught and ringed 36 new Siskin and 19 new Redpoll with no re-trapping of any of yesterdays birds proving they are not staying local..  Very unusual for so many Siskin to be present this early in the autumn.

Not a lot of other birds moving over today again.  Another Redstart, the first Linnet and another 9 W Warblers were also caught.

Caught a "ringed elsewhere" Tree Pipit today too, so that will also be interesting to find out where that has come from..

Birds passing-

T Pipit - 4 singles South. (1 caught was ringed elsewhere.)

M Pipit - 10+ 1-2`s South.

Swallow - 30+ 1-2`s S.

R Bunt - 5 singles. (1 ringed.)

Linnet - 2 singles. (1 ringed.)

Siskin - 70+ in small groups dropping in to lure then South. (36 ringed.)

Redpoll - 30+ in with Siskin. (19 ringed.)

Present-    Redstart Juv Male (1 ringed.), W Warb 10+ (9 ringed.), Chaffinch (1 ringed.), Sparrowhawk 1, Kestrel 1, L T Tit 10+.

Pics from today - Controlled Tree Pipit and the 1st Linnet of the autumn.

Thanks Tony, glad you enjoy them. They are all beautiful when seen close up.. I am very lucky to be able to get so close to the birds so like to share the pics with interested people who cant see them as close as i do.

Sat 5th Sept `15.  Crown Point.  6.45 - 9.15am.

Sunny. Strange wind flow over the 2 1/2 hrs.. Started West 10, dropped to nothing then turned NE picking up all the time, then swung North 15 and went gusty.. RUBBISH.

2 nets.  16 birds ringed.

I wasn`t going to bother this morning due to the forecasted Northerly wind, (not good for Southerly passage) and i wish i hadn`t bothered. The wind seemed to confuse everything and as a consequence there was little movement and what did move went in strange directions. Swallows going North, M Pipits going East etc. 

The only time that any passage really happened was in the calm wind for 15-20 mins, when c60 M Pipits (5-10`s) and 2 Tree Pipits went South high up. Very few Redpoll and Siskin this morning. I caught most of what came past. A bonus from today was yet another Whitethroat in the net, but overall really quiet so packed up early.

Birds passing -

M Pipit - 80+. Quite good for 20-30 mins with c60 S first hour in calm wind and rest East in NE/N wind!

T Pipit - 2 S. singles with M P.

Swallow - 20+. All North in NE/N wind.

Siskin - c10. 2-3 small parties SE. (7 ringed.)

Redpoll - c10 with Siskin. (7 ringed.)

Present -   Whitethroat (1 ringed.), W Warbler (1 ringed.), Goldfinch 5 (family party),  Jay 2.

Excellent news back from the Tree Pipit caught, ringed elsewhere, on the 3rd sept `15. 

Details-

Ringed at Fasnakyle, Cannich, Highland Scotland. ( c10 miles SW of Inverness) on the 7th June `15.  1 of 5 chicks in a nest.

88 days since it was ringed and has travelled 426Km SSE.  Hope it has a safe onward journey.

Also had a recovery of a bird ringed at Crown Point last year..

Lesser Redpoll, ringed 8th Oct `14 as a juv.     Caught by another ringer at Newton, Bowland on14th June `15. 249 days, 25km NNW.

Sat 19th Sept `15..    Crown Point.  6.45 - 10am  with Sophie Bell and Paul Foster..

Calm - 10 SE, Overcast and occ sun.    4 nets.    73 birds ringed.

Another decent morning in regards to caught birds but not the expected numbers of passage birds considering the conditions.  M Pipits were the most numerous species especially in the first 2 hrs with numbers dwindling after that, noticeably fewer Siskin and Redpoll moving today even though 11 Siskin and 19 Redpoll were caught. A few Swallows moved South again but it looks like many have now left. Also no Tree Pipits heard today suggesting most have gone also. The first Mistle Thrushes and 2 Blackbird were noted moving and a few more Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests around now.

Birds moving -

M Pipit - 250+ in decent regular groups early then 2-3`s ( 27 ringed.)

Siskin - 30 min in small groups South. ( 11 ringed.)

Redpoll - Only a few -10?? seen but good number caught. (19 ringed.)

Mistle Thrush - 12 South. ( 8,2,2.)

Swallow - 20+ in small groups South.

Reed Bunting - 10+ South with M Pipits. (6 ringed.)

Chaffinch - 5 South. Still very few moving. (2 ringed.)

Goldfinch - 15 blogging. (1 ringed.)

Skylark - 10+ South in 2-3`s. 1st of autumn.

Birds present- Blackcap (1 ringed), Blackbird 2 (1 ringed), Goldcrest 5+ (1 ringed), Willow Warb (1 ringed), Chiffchaff ?? birds heard several times. (3 ringed), Jay 2, Jackdaw 4 South early on, Barn Owl Juv hunting verge at dawn.

Sat 26th Sept `15..   Crown Point..    6.45 - 10.45am..

Clear and sunny, misty lower down over Burnley etc. Calm to 5 SE.    4 nets.     75 birds ringed..

Only Meadow Pipits moving in any numbers today. But considering the date and weather conditions there seems to be a distinct lack of birds coming over at present. The week around the 23rd Sept onwards is usually "the" main passage week for M Pipits here. Catch ratio of Ads v Juvs also suggests a very poor breeding season for the species. Usually catch rates are massively in favour of the Juvs over the ads as there are more of them.. Adults seem to be more aware of the lure, Juvs being more naive usually makes adults harder to catch. 20 out of the 46 caught this morning were Ads..

A few R Buntings, Skylarks and Swallows went South. Just 1 small group of Siskin passed, again they seem to have stopped coming now?? More Goldcrests around too.

Possible 1st Redwing heard high overhead at 1st light?? but not 100%.

Birds Passing - 

M Pipit - c 300 S. in decent groups, but numbers should be greater now.. ( 46 ringed ).

B R Bunting - 8+ S singles with Pipits. ( 3 ringed ).

Swallow - 25+, 3 parties S.

Skylark - 13 S, ( 4, 5, 4).

Siskin - 11 S. 1 group.

Redpoll - 20+ S. 2-3`s. ( 6 ringed ).

Grey Wagtail - 2 S, together.

Goldfinch - Only 5 singles seen ( but 8 ringed ).

Present -    Goldcrest 7 ( 5 ringed ), L T Tit 20+ ( 2 ringed ), Coal Tit ( 3 ringed ), Blue/Great Tits 15+, Chaffinch 3+ ( 2 ringed ), Sparrowhawk 1, Kestrel 2, Jay 1, Raven 3.

Pics from today -

Juv Male Reed Bunting, Long Tailed Tit, Meadow Pipit lovely back markings and huge hind claw...

Craig.

Sat 3rd Oct `15..    Crown Point site.   7 - 10.15am..

Thick fog lifting and returning, 1st proper frost on grass lasting all morning with cold temps..Sunny at times and clear blue sky above fog. Calm wind.

4 nets..   80 birds ringed..

A strange morning today with the thick fog clearing and returning all morning made counting difficult, but blue sky was clearly just above me. Hardly any M Pipits at all today but other birds were passing over in small numbers despite the fog. Several groups of Crossbills were only heard with 1 group of 7 seen heading high West. More Chaffinch today than seen before and lots of 3-4`s of Redpoll passing over and dropping to lure, including 1 Twite. 4 Redwing high to SW early on..  Yellow Browed Warbler lure was on for first 2 hrs to no avail !!

Birds passing -

Redwing - 4 SW first light.

Crossbill - 4-5 groups heard but 7 seen heading high to West.

M Pipit - 50 max !! Very poor. ( 13 ringed ).

Redpoll - 50+ seen but must have been more.. ( Amazingly 40 ringed ).

Twite - 1 in with Redpoll. (1 ringed ).

G S Woodpecker - 1 over to South.

Pied Wag - 10 S at 10.15 as fog lifted.

Chaffinch - 30+ South in 1-2`s. ( 6 ringed ).

R Bunting - 15+ in 1-2`s South. ( 9 ringed ).

M Thrush - 5 South (2,3 ).

Birds present -    Goldcrest 10+ min ( 8 ringed ), Chiffchaff ( 2 ringed ), Dunnock 3+ ( 1 ringed ), L T Tit 12, Song Thrush 3, Jay 2.

Pics from today... Male Goldcrest`s orange crest, one of the few Chaffinch moving, Rolling fog !!

Twite.

Fri 16th Oct `15..   Crown Point site..   6.30 - 11.30am..

Murky with light drizzle at first light but cloud lifted to a gloomy overcast morning. Wind was slight 10 NE breeze.

2 nets first hour then 1 due to amount of birds dropping in and wind blowing on 1 of the nets.      85 birds ringed..

A fantastic morning up here for Thrush movement with flocks off both Redwing and Fieldfare coming from the South very regular and moving off to the North and NW. There were also birds that were coming from the East at a far greater height, specks at the cloud base, and continuing straight West, most not ever deviating off line for the lure.. Lots of the lower birds (Thrushes) dropped in, and were accompanied by several other species in with the flocks.. Ring Ouzels, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, R Bunts, Brambling, M Pipits etc and 1 bird smaller than a Redwing with a long tail (Shrike???) also dropped into the area but i couldn`t find where it went to to ID it..

In with the 80 Redwing caught and ringed today was a Belgian ringed bird, the first Redwing i have ever caught from oversea`s..

Also 1 late Swallow came through with 3-4 Meadow Pipits!

Birds passing through -

Redwing - 2400+ min in groups from 10 - 80 from S heading N, NW and from E heading West a lot higher. (80 ringed).

Fieldfare - 300+ min most from S heading NW.

Ring Ouzel - at least 6 (singles) birds in with Thrush flocks. 

S Thrush - 10+ with Redwings.

Blackbird - 10+ dropped in with Thrushes.

Swallow - 1 late bird South with M Pipits.

Brambling - 22+ min in with Thrushes.

Chaffinch - 10+ with Thrushes.

R Bunt - 6+  (1 ringed).

M Pipit - 30+ in 3-4`s South.

Redpoll 25+ South in small parties.

Birds present -   WOODCOCK 1 flushed at 1st light in bushes, Goldcrest 5+ (3 ringed), Coal Tit 3 (1 ringed), Sparrowhawk Fem being a pain near net, Kestrel 1, Jay 3, Blackbird 2, L T Tit 10+.

Belgian ringed Redwing, one of many through today..

Yes Ste, i have been following him all autumn. Very interesting, and sad, when you think about it.

Sat 17th Oct `15..   Crown Point site.   7 -10am.

Overcast, 10 NE and picking up.  1 net.   38 birds ringed.

Another decent few hours today for Thrushes and Redpoll.  Redwings moving from before dawn and continued most of the morning. Today they were mostly moving to the West and high up again. A cock-up with running out of rings for Redwing after the first few decent flocks had dropped in, so it was pointless keeping the lure on and dragging the birds down for nothing so concentrated with the Redpoll lure as they were passing through until c9am.. Redwing could still be heard calling almost all the time but were difficult to see due to the height but occasionally i put a spare lure on near the van to test what sort of flock size was passing,, they were still 20- 60 bird flocks going over. Would have had another good catch today if i had some rings !!  Fieldfare were also moving in regular big flocks also to the West. Not much else moving though.

Caught (controlled) another Redpoll which was ringed elsewhere..

Birds Passing - 

Redwing - 1000+ min mostly west, a few South. ( 10 ringed).

Fieldfare - 300+ min West.

Redpoll - 50+ South. A few 5-10 parties passing. (28 ringed).

Blackbird - At least 2 dropped out of sky with Redwings during morning. 

Chaffinch - 10 max S.

R Bunt - 4+ singles S.

Birds Present - Goldcrest 2, Goldfinch 8 blogging, Sparrowhawk 1 fem again!

Controlled Redpoll and lovely Redwing head pattern..

Mon 19th Oct`15..  Crown Point Site.      7.45 - 10am.

Clear and sunny, wind 10 E.  2 nets.  24 birds ringed.

Late start. Considering the nice conditions this morning i was expecting lots of birds to be on the move today after yesterdays rain/drizzle and fog. Wrong! It was terrible with hardly any movement at all except 2 decent parties ( 50,30 ) of Redwings, 1 flock ( 60+ ) of Fieldfare and a few Finches.

The only good thing today was a few Bramblings (8+) moving South with the odd Chaffinch.

Birds ringed-  Redwing 5, Goldcrest 6, Redpoll 8, Brambling 2, Chaffinch 3.

Couple of Ringing recoveries back from BTO today.

Firstly the SISKIN controlled bearing a ring from elsewhere on the 2nd Sept didn`t really help in telling where the large numbers of Siskin which passed through Crown Point in Aug/early Sept were coming from..

Ringed -  As a this years Juv, 20th Aug `15 at Eshton Tarn, Nr Skipton.  Controlled as Juv, 2nd Sept `15 at Crown Point.  13 days, 30Km, SSW.

Secondly the REDPOLL controlled on 17th Oct `15 at C Point had moved a bit further afield..

Ringed - Adult Male, 20th May `13 at Mynydd Llandegai, Bethesda, SE of Bangor, North Wales. (Presumably in its breeding area at that date???)        Controlled as Adult Male,                  17th Oct `15 at Crown point, 880 days, 138Km, ENE.                  Another one being quite a good old age for a Redpoll.

Up at 1st light again today (4th Nov) but thick fog and the start of some rain made me pack up early again.

A few Redwing were heard as I was setting the nets, presumed birds which had roosted in the trees, but no others! 1 group of 5 Fieldfares went South whilst packing up. That was it for the hour... Only other birds seen were 2 M Pipits, 3 Chaffinchand a R Bunt South!!

A couple more recoveries of 2 Redpoll`s ringed at Clowbridge/Crown Point, including a very good one..

Lesser Redpoll ringed Crown Point on 30th August 2015 as Juv  re-trapped by ringer (Rye Bay RG) at Icklesham, East Sussex on 9th November 2015... 71 Days, 375Km, SSE. Re-Trapped at a South Coast site very well known for catching and ringing large numbers of migrant Reed and Sedge Warblers before their autumn migration.. Next stop for the Redpoll  -- France and beyond??

Lesser Redpoll ringed at Crown Point 8th October 2014 as a Juv re-trapped by ringer ( North Lancs RG) at New Laithe Farm, Newton, Bowland, Lancs on 27th Dec 2015.  445 days, 25Km, NNW. This is the 2nd Redpoll ringed at C Point and re caught at this farm in Bowland.

Ringing Totals for 16th Aug - 4th Nov at C Point in 2015 :-

1161 birds ringed of 28 Species

Redpoll - 297.

M Pipit - 218.

Redwing - 177.

Siskin - 146.

W Warbler - 85.

Goldcrest - 44.

Chaffinch - 33.

R Bunting - 32.

Tree Pipit - 23.

Coal Tit - 16.

Brambling - 15.

Chiffchaff - 14.

Goldfinch - 12.

L T Tit - 10.

Dunnock - 8.

Blackbird - 6.

5 each of Blackcap, Whitethroat.

Redstart - 4.

2 each of Robin, Greenfinch.

1 each of Linnet, Grasshopper Warbler, Twite, Song Thrush, Fieldfare, Great Tit and Long eared Owl.

All in all a very good Autumn considering Altitude, Habitat and lack/reduction of certain species presumably due to a poor breeding season further North..

Special thanks to Rob A, Ste and Mandy for their occasional help with nets, counts and brews etc.

Craig.