Sunday 30 March 2014

Spring migration

Hello

Warm and almost sultry conditions today were perfect for bird ringing, but nobody told the birds!  Sessions at two sites at Pitsford Res only caught relatively small numbers of birds, the highlights perhaps being a Chiffchaff, 10 Tree Sparrows, 4 Goldfinches, 4 Yellowhammers, a Marsh Tit, a Willow Tit and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Chris Payne in the meantime was ringing down at Greens Norton, his garden being particularly good for finches and Reed Buntings. Amongst his usual fare was a splendid male Lesser Redpoll (please see the images below).

The first couple of hours of daylight this morning saw a heavy diurnal passage of birds at Pitsford Res, gulls and finches being the most obvious.  Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails joined Siskins, Linnets, Goldfinches redpoll sp and Brambling all moving north over the reservoir, some very high up (and mostly unidentifiable). Crossbills were on the move with two over south west at 7.15am, a flock of eight arrived at Christies Copse and fed in a Scot's Pine before moving south-west at 7.45am, and at 10am a flock of seven did much the same thing.

This evening the Red-necked Grebe and Great Northern Diver were in the Pintail Bay and a fine adult Mediterranean Gull was in the now small gull roost.

Brixworth Sewer Works attracted a Grey Wagtail and a Snipe and Harrington Airfield hosted 8-10 Bramblings, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Wheatears and 3 Sand Martins over.

Regards

Eleanor and Neil



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