Milestone reached

Congratulations to ticker who has just this morning reached his 200 for the year in Nord-trondelag with a Lappfiskand, thats Smew to us illiturate English. News also recieved from our manic Norwegian twitcher friend Dickie Nyburg who now stands on 393 for Norway after picking up a Bairds Sandpiper. I should add that the people in Norway who have 400 on their lists can be counted on one hand, so come on Dickie.

Gold Strike

With more conducive conditions for ringing Kes and me were joined by Aidan for a mornings ringing at BM. I think we were all hoping for a Yellow-browed, well two of us were the other was hoping someone would throw a stick. (I have tried to get Aidan to seek help with this problem) Alas the wished for bird made landfall a few miles to the north with Nosterfield Nature Reserve near Masham getting this little gem from the east. Even worse two Blue-tails made land within twitching distance but thankfully neither were in Yorkshire, as I had other commitments in the afternoon and very enjoyable they turned out to be, there will be others I hope (thats enjoyable other commitments and Blue-tails).

I digress, the ringing went well with 147 birds of 17 species been ringed and a couple of nice returning old friends for the winter. Top score went to Goldfinch with 104 with amazingly Goldcrest with seven coming in second. Summer was still represented by singles of  Chiffchaff and Blackcap and winter got its foot in the door with a Redwing. Aidan also scored a ringing tick with a nice juv male Sparrowhawk. 

Its an East Wind

With persistant drizzle and a sneaky wind, ringing was a non starter this morning, so after a bit of a lie in it was off to South Gare for Kes and me to see if the easterly had delivered, and wow it delivered the whole place was ticking, tweeting and chacking. The main species involved were Robin, Goldcrest and Redwing with a supporting cast of Siskins, Song Thrush, Brambling and Chiffchaff there was also a few Blackcaps and several Dunnocks, Reed Buntings and Wheatears. A little spice was added by a Great Grey Shrike that was doing the rounds and terrorising any small bird it clapped eyes on, there was also a juv Reb-breasted Flycatcher and a Black Redstart on show. Overhead there was an almost constant stream of Redwings as flocks of upto a hundered came in off the sea and alighted in the bushes..


Below is a selection of the birds that were on show............

Goldcrest

Red Breasted Flycatcher



Great Grey Shrike



Robin

Redwing

Ticker on the Brink

With  Scaup finding its way onto Tickers list this week he now stands on the brink of the magic 200. As an aside our birding buddy "Dickie" Nyburg arrived on Utsira a day late and dipped on the Chestnut Bunting.

Evening Stroll

The nice weather prompted a walk round the patch this evening. There was some evidence of a few grounded migrants with 11 Song Thrushes, five Chiffchaffs and eight Goldcrests seen. Around the feeders there was an impressive number of Goldfinch with at least 90 in the bushes near feeder 1. Overhead there were a couple of House Martins and a single Swallow. Noticing some damp in the lab I looked on the roof and found the offending hole in the felt. Fortunately I had a tin of sealant which I applied liberally to the said hole. Having seen the forcast for tomorrow I am pleased I did as another deluge is predicted.

Autumn Jewels

After the deluge of biblical proportions yesterday it was a very plesant surprise to wake this morning and find the Tri and her forcasting buddies finally got it right. A still morning with no rain. So it was action stations at our ringing site with three of us erected three nets to see what was about.

Fifty six new birds and five retraps were captured in a little over three hours mainly Goldfinch (33) but also included our first Goldcrest of the autumn and a brace of Blackcaps and a single Chiffchaff. Goldcrest always means the start of autumn for me as these "Woodcock pilots" start to filter onto our shores from the soon to be frozen north where they are affectionately called "Spruce Louse"


Chiffchaff



Autumn Jewels in cobweb



The always sad looking Spruce Louse

There was quite a few birds about with a trickle of Vis.Mig also with 19 Swallows, 27 Meadow Pipits (s) and about 30 Skylarks (w), nine Song Thrushes also dropped in from the east and after a short while, I guess to reorientate spiralled up and headed off west. A Buzzard also showed well and about 1000 Lapwings were in the fields near WHP. In the bushes there was seven Chiffchaffs, three Blackcaps and about a dozen Goldcrests.