Been up this morning clearing/trimming back net rides in readiness to start ringing this Autumn.
Too windy to put any nets up and I was too busy anyway trimming but had at least 5 singles Tree Pipit going south through the 2+ hrs I was there. Also had a Juv Redstart on the fence line, a few Siskin and Redpoll going south too. Surprisingly, quite a few M Pipits moving aswell, being early movers.
Also a darkish, smallish raptor hassling swallow could have been Hobby or a female Merlin. Only saw it very briefly.
If anybody is passing and wants to pop up when I'm there, feel free to do so. It's an enjoyable morning watching the migrant birds coming over and dropping in. Also you can see the birds close up allowing you to see differences in plumage etc.
Crown Point. Sat 27th Aug `16. 6 - 10.45am. with R Archer ( for 5 mins!).
Sunny and clear with 5-10 SE wind.
42 Birds ringed. 4 nets.
The first netting session this autumn was a little slow but with a nice mix of species. Apart from several Tree Pipits going over, the vis mig was also very quiet. The bushe seemed to have fewer birds around than yesterday morning whilst cutting the net rides. A decent Tit flock moving about everywhere had the usual autumn taggers on with them inc 5-6 W Warbs, 1 Blackcap, 5-6 Goldcrest, a few Chaffinch etc.
Highlights of the morning were singles of Grasshopper Warb and Whitethroat ringed, and more than 20 Tree Pipits being pulled down from great heights to the lure in 1`s, 2`s biggest group was 4 together. They are always a bit tricky to catch so 5 being ringed was a decent result.
Tree Pipit - 20+ South. (5 ringed)
Meadow Pipit - 20+ singles South.
Redpoll - 10 max, caught most of them.. (8 ringed)
Reed Bunting - 5+ singles South. (2 ringed)
Stock Dove - 1 South.
Present - L T Tit c20, B Tit 10, G Tit 10, Coal Tit ? (6 ringed), W Warb 8+ (5 ringed), W/throat 1(ringed), Grasshopper Warb 1 (ringed), Goldcrest10+ (7 ringed), Robin 2 (2 ringed), Dunnock 3 (1 ringed), Blackcap 1, Wren 5+, Chaffinch 4+. (4 ringed), Jay 1, Kestrel 1.
Pics from today - Ad Gropper with worn tail feathers etc.
Tree Pipit, Whitethroat, Goldcrest, W Warb, Redpoll, juv Robin and Coal Tit..
Crown Point. Mon 29th Aug `16. 6 - 9.45am. with R Archer.
Misty then Overcast with sunny spells later. 10+ W.
23 Birds ringed. 3 Nets.
Early mist may have killed any passage today as it was unusually quiet in the bushes and almost dead overhead! The only birds moving over South today were another good number of Tree Pipits, a few Meadow Pipits, 4 Grey Wags and 2-3 Redpoll. Only birds in the bushes were a few L T Tits with a few other bits in with them. Best birds today were a juv Redstart, a juv Bullfinch and 2 Tree Pipits caught and ringed.
Birds moving South -
Tree Pipit - at least 12 birds, prob more, South in 1`s, 2`s and a couple of 3`s. (2 ringed).
Sunny and calm to start, cloud building to rain by 10am, wind 10 S.
46 Birds ringed. 3 nets up.
A strange morning. Totally dead for 1st 2 hrs with only a Robin caught and ringed by 8am. No birds in trees or going over, absolutely nothing. Never seen it likes this, so quiet, in 3 yrs up here! Then at c8am a trickle of birds started moving, the first Redpoll, a few M Pipits and a Tree Pipit came over to the South and i started to catch a few birds. At c9am more birds appeared to be coming through and a few were coming through the bushes but the cloud was building and it rained heavy just before 10am so had to pack up.
Moving South-
Tree Pipit - at least 8 but must be missing a lot as they all come through high up. The 2 birds caught today were found in the net and i hadnt even heard them. (2 ringed).
M Pipit - 30+ in 2-3`s. all after 8am. (9 ringed).
Linnet - 3 singles.
Redpoll - Very few so far this autumn. 10+ in singles. (13 ringed).
R Bunt - 3 singles. (1 ringed).
Stock Dove - 3. (2,1 South).
Sparrowhawk - 1 Fem flying direct South very high up, prob migrating..
Present-
1st Blackcap (2 ringed), Willow Warb (2 ringed), Goldcrest 5+ (7 ringed), Dunnock (1 ringed), Coal Tit 2 (1 ringed), LT Tit 10+ (7 ringed), Robin 2 (1 ringed), Jay 2, Sparrowhawk 1 male hunting in woodland, seen 3 times..
Pics from this morning... M Pipit, Blackcap and Male Reed Bunting..
Busy last week so couldnt get up even though there was some nice mornings and only a short session today prior to a trip to the Wirral and Ainsdale Beach with Sarfraz and Russ. Decent number of birds moving today mainly M Pipits, R Buntings and Redpoll. Too busy ringing to count properly so figures are guestimates...
A couple of strange things. Firstly a Collared Dove flew in from the North ,landed in the tree near the gate for 2 mins then left South and then when packing up i had a strange bird moving and calling like a bubbling call in the thick rushy undergrown near a very wet and boggy net ride out in the marsh area! dont know what that was yet but will have to look into that when i have time. It moved about 15ft through the rushes in a minute...
Moving South -
M Pipit - 200+ in regular small groups. (27 ringed).
Tree Pipit - just 1.
R Bunting - 10+ singles with M Pipits. (5 ringed).
Crown Point.. Sun 11th Sept `16. 6 - 10am with Russ (Craggy), Archie, Andy Y.
Sunny and clear, 10 S wind.
29 birds ringed, 3 nets up.
Nice conditions just didnt produce anything today. Quite quiet really apart from a trickle of M Pipits, R Bunts, Chaffinch and Hirundines later. Craggy was on counting duties but there wasnt much to count! No Warblers seen last 2 mornings.
Crown Point Site. Tues 13th Sept `16.. 6- 10.30am with R Archer.
Sunny, hot with 5 SE. (Hottest Sept day for 40+ years which went BANG big style in the eve..).
88 birds ringed, 4 nets up.
A bit hectic with ringing today so lots of movers not seen/counted. Thanks for the help and brew Rob...
A good start at first light with regular M Pipit parties coming through, most of them containing a few Chaffinch and Reed Buntings too. Passage continued in decent numbers right up to packing up. Just a single Tree Pipit seen going over but another turned up in a net but it seems most of this species has probably now gone. The same can prob be said of Willow Warblers. The usual Tit flock came past and had the usual assortment of goodies in with them, 2-3 Chiffchaff and at least 1 Whitethroat ended up in the nets. A noticeable increase in Goldcrest today also. A few more Skylarks flew South, (forgot to mention them on last 2 posts! 5-6 Saturday, 8+ Sunday). 4 Ravens went NW.
Moving South -
M Pipit - c150+ but prob far more missed counting if we had not been very busy ringing. (43 ringed).
Tree Pipit - 1 over plus 1 in net. (1 ringed).
Skylark - 4+ (2,2).
Chaffinch - only noticed about 10 flying over but lots missed. (17 ringed).
Redpoll - 5+, just a few singles seen today and just 2 caught. 1 new bird and a control (already ringed) from elsewhere. (1 ringed).
Reed Bunting - 10+ singles with Pipits. (9 ringed).
Siskin - ? 2 calls heard but not seen.
Greenfinch - 2 singles South.
Swallow - 20-30 in 2-3`s. Steady trickle of migrating birds.
House Martin - 10-20 birds blogging towards Burnley prob not migrants.
Raven - 4 NW.
Present- Whitethroat 1 (1 ringed), Goldcrest 10+ seen (10 ringed), Chiffchaff 2 (2 ringed), Robin 3+ (1 ringed), Coal Tit 2-3 (1 ringed), Dunnock 2 (2 ringed), L T Tit 15+,
G Tit 10+, B Tit 10+,
-- Edited by C Bel on Tuesday 13th of September 2016 08:45:11 PM
Lovely sunny morning with good visability. Wind 10 NW.
103 birds ringed, 3 nets up..
A very good morning for 4 species in particular. The first morning of the bigger movement days for M Pipits with R Buntings, Chaffinch and Redpoll also passing in better numbers. Was busy ringing lots of birds again today so numbers are only a rough estimate. Another Redstart was found in a net and the first Greenfinch was caught. It seems W Warbs have left now and Chiffchaff have started to turn up in with the Tit flocks. Quiet for other stuff and NO Swallows/H Martins seen all morning?
Moving south-
Tree Pipit - 1.
M Pipit - 500+ in regular small parties. (51 ringed).
Chaffinch - 50+ in 1-2`s with Pipits. (2 ringed).
Redpoll - min 60 in small groups. (37 ringed).
Siskin - 2 singles..!
Greenfinch - 2 singles. (1 ringed).
Reed Bunt - 20+ prob lots more in with Pipits. Could hear them flying over but could not see them.. (8 ringed).
Grey Wag - 1.
Present- Redstart 1(juv male ringed), Chiffchaff 3 (2 ringed and a male singing distantly), Coal Tit 2 (1 ringed), Tit Flock 20+, Raven 2, Robin 2, Goldcrest 1.
Pics from today- View to the North towards Pendle and beyond. Redstart, Greenfinch, Redpoll, R Bunting..
Sun 18th Sept `16. Crown Point site. 6.15 - 11am... with Ste Rush, Bernard Lee and Archie.
Very foggy, cold and damp. Bad visibility. Calm - 5SW.
52 birds ringed. 3 nets up.
A very different morning to yesterday with thick damp fog which did not clear till c10am. The moist air is bad for mist netting as the water collects on the netting making it visible to the birds and heavy so any birds hitting the net bounce off rather than falling into the net. M Pipits, Chaffinch and R Buntings were moving, most likely above the fog but were dropping in through it to the nets but most were not getting caught! A big shame really for Ste and Bernard as it would have been a decent morning had the fog gone earlier.. Ste and Bernard were watching/counting what birds they could see in, at times, near nil visibility but at the nets lots of birds flushed out and away every time i went in to check the nets so the counting numbers was well under especially with the M Pipits. Chaffinch were obviously more numerous today. Best bird caught today was a nasty but very beautiful Jay!
Ste and Bernards birds moving count figures...
Time 06:30 - 12:00
Temp 7C -17C
Wren x1
Mipit x 136 Prob nearer 300+ down near to net!!!
Blue Tit x 1
Dunnock x 2
Reed Bunting x 6
Redpoll x 11
Chaffinch x 22
Robin x 2
Goldfinch x 28
Siskin x 3
Jay x 1
Sparrowhawk x 1
Goldcrest x 4
Pied Wagtail x 1
Jackdaw x 1
Carrion Crow x 3
Greenfinch x 1
Swallow x 28
Birds ringed-
Meadow Pipit - 20 ringed.
Chaffinch - 15 ringed.
Redpoll - 7 ringed.
R Bunting - 3 ringed.
Goldfinch - first 3 of autumn ringed.
Goldcrest - 3 ringed.
Jay - 1 ringed..
Pics from today - Jay, Fog rainbow and view.. (thanks Ste).
Chaffinch and M Pipits were going South over C/booth on the school run so went up after dropping kids off... A few M Pipits, Chaffinch and Redpoll were going over for the next hr before fizzling out at c10.30.
Birds moving -
M Pipit - 100+ in decent groups. (13 ringed).
Chaffinch - 30+ in 2-5`s. (4 ringed).
Redpoll - 30+ in 3 groups. (17 ringed).
Siskin - 6. 4+2. (1 ringed).
R Bunt - 3 singles.
Birds present- Small tit flockk with Goldcrest 3+ (1 ringed) and Chiffchaff (1 ringed). Robin 3, Dunnock 1.
Pic - 1st Siskin caught this autumn. By the same date last year i had ringed 150 here!!
-- Edited by C Bel on Tuesday 27th of September 2016 10:08:54 PM
-- Edited by C Bel on Tuesday 27th of September 2016 10:10:07 PM
Crown Point site.. Sat 1st Oct `16. 7 - 12 noon. with Bernard.
Sunny and calm to start, becoming o/cast and 5E - 10NE.
161 Birds ringed. 4 nets up.
A fantastic morning for Redpoll and M Pipit passage today and the best mornings catch results since i started this project. Steady passage with regular parties of both species also accompanied by Linnet, Chaffinch, R Bunting and a few Goldfinch. First noticeable Siskin passage today with 5 new birds caught and a control (already ringed) from elsewhere. Lots of Pipits from first light then Redpolls started after an hour and were still coming at 12 but it was getting expensive in rings !!! so had to stop after ringing the 84th Redpoll of the day...... Far too busy today to get any sort of accurate count but birds were coming none stop and you know when there`s lots moving when every net round yields 20-30 bird bags full of migrants.. Definite birds of the day were a 1st ever seen/heard migrant Nuthatch moving over the moors South through the trees all on its own..and a Whinchat in the small trees on the opposite side of road.(Bernard).
Birds moving South-
Nuthatch - 1 South.
M Pipit - 500+?? decent parties most before 10am. (56 ringed).
Redpoll - 150+?? Lots of parties to 20 all morning. (84 ringed).
Chaffinch - 30+ 1-2`s with Pipits. (4 ringed).
Linnet - 10 singles (1 ringed).
Siskin - 30+ 2-3`s. First real noticeable passage. (5 ringed).
R Bunt - 15+?? singles with Pipits. Heard more than seen. (5 ringed).
Goldfinch - 20?? singles with Pipits and Redpoll. ( 1 ringed).
Swallow - 5+.(4,1) very few now.
Present- Goldcrest 5+ (2 ringed), Chiffchaff (2 ringed), Dunnock 2 (1 ringed), Robin 3, Jay 1, Sparrowhawk 1 fem being a nuisance !!, Kestrel 1, Raven 4, WHINCHAT 1...
A different morning to yesterday being quite cold with the first proper grass frost. On the bird front not as many Pipits and Redpoll coming through but with the first of the Thrushes arriving in the first hour. After putting the first net up in nearly dark conditions and without hearing any Redwing calls i put the lure on and within 1 minute the first 2 Redwings were down from high up and into the net. For the next hour occasional flocks dropped into the area of the nets but only a few ended up in there. The first continental Blackbird and Song Thrush also arrive with the Redwings. 1 of each being caught. It felt a lot more Autumn like with noticeably more Goldcrest in the trees and a few Chiffchaff.
Birds moving -
Redwing - 50+ in 6-7 small groups. (9 ringed).
Song Thrush - 3 in with Redwing. (1 ringed.
Blackbird - 2 singles with Redwing. (1 ringed).
M Pipit - 200+ in small parties, most before 9am. ( 16 ringed).
Don't know about you Craig but the arrival of the thrushes is my favourite mass migration event. Although if I was to see flocks of Waxwing heading toward your nets I may have to reevaluate that!
__________________
www.wildrossendale.blogspot.co.uk/ Go On...Go Wild!!
Crown Point. Sun 30th Oct `16. 7am - 1.30pm. with Ste Rush and Bernard Lee.
After spending lots of October watching the "best" autumn migration on the East Coast of Britain for decades (post soon in "Out of Rossendale" soon) i appear to have missed any sort of larger numbers of Thrushes moving through our area this autumn and considering the huge amount of Redwing that have poored onto the east coast throughout October it still remains extremely quiet around here. Ste spent all morning counting proper and we still didnt get any good numbers of Redwing but had a reasonable number of Fieldfare but still no-where near the normal amount of passage. Everything else, except Wood Pigeon, was low aswell. It appears autumn migration is coming to a slow end.
A few decent ringing recoveries have come through from the BTO in the last month regarding birds i have ringed or caught already ringed at C Point ringing site.
Firstly, and amazingly, a Siskin i ringed at C Point on 2nd Sept `15 was controlled by ringer at Cnoc, Argyll and Bute, Scotland on 7th July `16, probably at its breeding site and is a reverse of the controlled Siskin 2 posts above this one which was ringed at that site and caught here.. Interesting to get birds moving between 2 sites 300+Km apart..
Another Siskin ringed as Juv Male at C Point on 2nd Sept `15 was controlled by ringer at Chilworth, Surrey on 28th Feb `17. 305Km, 545 Days, SSE.
Only 3 Fieldfare were caught this autumn, 1 wearing a ring i hoped would be a Scandanavian ringed bird. On removing it from the net i was disappointed to see a british ring.. But it turns out the bird was ringed as an adult on 6th Jan`16 at Pitsford Reservoir, Northamptonshire and i re caught it on its next winter visit to the UK 22nd Oct `16 at C Point. 185Km, 290Days, NNW.
6 Lesser Redpoll Recoveries...
Juv Male ringed C Point 8th Nov `14 was controlled by ringer at Manor Cottages, Crawley, Hampshire 25th Feb `16. 301Km, 474 Days, S.
Juv ringed C Point 1st Oct `16 was controlled by ringer at Lostock, Nr Woodford, Cheshire on 27th Nov `16. 46Km, 57 Days, S.
Juv ringed C Point 20th Sept `16 was controlled by ringer at The Haven, Thorpeness, Suffolk 23rd Oct `16. A quick movement of 313Km, in 33 Days, SE.
Adult Male ringed C Point 3rd Oct `15 was controlled by ringers at Icklesham, Sussex, East Sussex 26th Oct `16 375Km, 389 Days, SSE. Next stop France???
Juv ringed C Point 1st Oct `16 was controlled at Crabtree Hill, Gloucestershire on 15th Oct `16. Very quick movement of 216Km in just 14 Days, S.
Juv ringed C Point 19th Sept `15 was controlled by ringer at Hollesley Heath, Suffolk on 2 occasions - 23rd Jan `16 and 5th March `16.. 126 and 168 Days respectively. 312 Km, SE. Looks to have spent the winter there.
1 Lesser Redpoll ringed elsewhere..
2 CY Female ringed at Cross Lane Head, Bridgenorth, Shropshire on 22nd March `16 controlled at C Point on 13th Sept `16. 134Km, 175 Days, N.
Best of all ...
Adult Male Brambling ringed at C Point on 31st Oct `15 has been controlled by ringers at DIVIDALEN FS, MALSELV, TROMS, NORWAY on the 14th and 15th Sept `16.. 2026Km, 319 Days, NE..
Probably back on its breeding grounds in the extreme north of Norway before its southerly winter migration.. maybe back to Rossendale. Amazingly we (Ste Rush) photographed the bird on the day we caught it at C Point..
