Scillies from the west

Hello

Three weeks on the Isles of Scilly comes to an end, and it has been another tremendous period of birding, walking, boating, mixed weather and yet another quite different season to any other. Last autumn saw a huge eastern influence on the isles with large numbers of Robins, Jack Snipes, Yellow-browed Warblers and plenty of vagrants from eastern Asia. Quite different this year with very much a western influence which included American land birds such as Cliff Swallow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Cedar Waxwing and Red-eyed Vireo and also a sustained influx of Goldcrests and a small invasion of Hawfinches!

Regards

Neil M

Mediterranean Gull.

Oystercatchers.

Firecrest.

Blackbird.

Common birds of The Scillies

Hello

The common birds on the Isles of Scilly are still common! There are good numbers of Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, House Sparrows, Wrens, Dunnocks and Robins and often they are tamer than birds on the mainland and often provide easier photographic opportunities...

Regards

Neil M

Robin, still singing
and territorial even at
this time of year.

Once a common garden bird
throughout the UK, the Song Thrush
is now scarce across much of it's
range, but is still in good numbers
on the Isles of Scilly.

Rock Pipit, a common bird
on the rocky coastline of the Isles.

White Wagtail. The continental White
Wagtail probably outnumbers the 'British'
Pied Wagtail four to one on the Scillies at
this time of the year.

Common Snipe. A large influx of these
birds to the Isles today with birds flying
overhead and being flushed up from a variety
of vegetation.

Small Copper butterfly.
Even in October there are plenty
of common butterflies on the wing
down here...

Spotted Crake and not a common bird
anywhere in the UK! This confiding
bird comes quite close but is in deep
vegetation and awful light so my
apologies for the image quality.

Ringing at Bradden

Hello

Chris Payne and John Woollett spent some time today ringing in South Northants at Bradden. They caught 75 birds made up of 39 Blue Tits, 24 Great Tits, 2 Coal Tits, 5 Goldcrests, 3 Chaffinches, a Dunnock and a Blackbird. The vast majority were new birds indicating that a good number of common birds are already making use of this woodland feeding station.

Down on the Scillies, bird migration has been much quieter this week so I thought I would post some images of typical sea mammals regularly found around the shores...

Regards

Neil M

The Scillonians generally respond
 favourably to the changing of the season
 as the birders arrive! A 'Stonecrow'
 birder on St Agnes...

Harbour Porpoise - as usual
incredibly shy!

A female Grey Seal...

...and her pup!

Common Dolphins - definitely not
shy and often the wildlife highlight of
a day on the Scilly Isles!

Scilly sea-birds

Hello

Pelagic trips on small boats are frequently possible around the Isles of Scilly, Joe Pender and his boat the Sapphire perhaps providing the best opportunities. I managed a trip during the last week of September and a shorter trip yesterday around the islands looking for birds and other wildlife...

Regards

Neil M

Yellow-legged Gull.

Gannet.

Great Black-backed Gulls.

Grey Phalarope.

Sooty Shearwater.

Local ringing

Goldfinch.
Courtesy of Robin Gossage.

Hello

Yesterday (Sunday) saw Kenny, Sarah, Laura and Rory commit to some more ringing at Linford Pits on the outskirts of Milton Keynes following last week's excellent result.

It was another very good day with 54 birds processed of 14 species, only three of them being re-traps.

Goldcrests seem to be everywhere at the moment and the team ringed 14 new birds plus a Meadow Pipit, a Blackbird, 9 Chiffchaffs, 6 Blackcaps, 2 Dunnocks, 3 Great Tits, 10 Blue Tits, a Long-tailed Tit, a Goldfinch, 3 Robins, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Kingfisher. In addition a Stonechat was a surprise, not a species regularly caught in mist nets.

Twenty or so Redwings were seen flying over and non avian creatures included 3 Great Crested Newts, a Toad and a Common Shrew!

Early this morning (Monday) saw Jacob and Helen setting up some mist nets at the Old Scaldwell Road, Pitsford Reservoir and among the usual suspects they also caught and ringed a Stonechat! Other birds of a total of 39 birds included a Chiffchaff, a Treecreeper, 5 Tree Sparrows, 2 Goldfinches, a Reed Bunting, a Marsh Tit and a Blackbird showing characteristics of continental origin.

Chris Payne completed some garden ringing at Greens Norton today where his whopping Goldfinch flock ensured he caught 62 of them -  amazing! Greenfinches, House Sparrows, Robins, tits and even a Collared Dove caused his day ringing total to swell to 93 birds. Whatever Chris feeds his garden birds I want some!

Regards

Neil M

Stonechats (female upper image,
and male lower image caught at Pitsford
Reservoir today).

Courtesy of Jacob and Helen.

More Scillies Birding

Hello

Plenty of memorable birding experiences (of both common and rare birds) continue on the magical isles, as depicted below...

Regards

Neil M

American Cliff Swallow.

Wren.

Male House Sparrow.

Yellow-legged Gull.

Kittiwake.

The wonderful Gannet!

Ringing and migration studies

Hello

On Wednesday Chris Payne completed some small bird ringing at Bradden in South Northants, catching and processing over eighty birds. Great Tits (32) and Blue Tits (40) dominated but Chris also processed Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Treecreeper and Blackbird.

Back on 18th September, Jacob was completing another Patchwork Challenge session at Pitsford Reservoir and saw a Great Black-backed Gull sporting a colour ring - a black ring with white letters JJ080. It transpires this bird was ringed as a nestling at Hordaland, Norway on 2nd July 2013. 

Pitford attracts plenty of big gulls which are attracted to dead and dying fish at the reservoir, so this is an indication of where at least some of them come from!

On Friday (6th) several members of the Northants Ringing Group worked at Stortons Gravel Pits, capturing and processing 76 birds including 5 Chiffchaffs, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 4 Goldcrests, 28 Blue Tits, 17 Great Tits, a Dunnock, a Robin, 6 Long-tailed Tits, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Blackbird, a Goldfinch, 4 Chaffinches and 3 Reed Buntings.

Regards

Neil M

Great Black-backed Gull.

Reed Bunting.
Courtesy of John Tilly.

Blue Tit.
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Scillies Birding

Hello

The Scillies birding scene during the last week or so has been somewhat reminiscent of the 'good old days' back in the eighties... a series of weather systems from across the Atlantic have been the dominant force providing visitors from across 'the Pond'. In addition the warm conditions have been good for butterflies and other insects, that is between the many soggy periods!

The below images reflect our experiences of the last ten days...!

Regards

Neil M

Grey Wagtail.

Bee-eater!

Firecrest.

American Golden Plover.

Painted Lady butterfly.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Bird Club Meeting tomorrow evening!

Hello

The next indoor meeting of the Northants Bird Club is tomorrow evening, 4th October at the usual venue of the Fishing Lodge at Pitsford Reservoir, Brixworth Road, Holcot.

The presenter is Nicholas Watts MBE, a successful Lincolnshire farmer and ardent conservationist who will show us the way to farm our land AND provide appropriate wildlife habitat.

Nicholas also runs Vine House Farm Birdfood, and his farm is utilised to cultivate wild bird food in addition to standard cereal produce.

The meeting commences at 7.30pm and there will be hot drinks and biscuits available during the evening.

All welcome!

Neil M

Corn Bunting.

Barn Owl.

Two of the species benefiting
from pro-wildlife farming methods.

Linford ringing report

Hi all,

Not quite knowing what to expect today, it quickly became evident that we were in for a bumper session. 118 birds of 16 species found the nets, of which an unprecedented (for Linford) 106 were newly ringed.

Thankfully we had John on hand to help deal with the rush, otherwise we would most likely have had to close the nets.

As tentatively predicted, the catch was made up predominantly of blackcap (25) and chiffchaff (27). A Swiss control blackcap was quite a surprise (after we finally managed to read and translate the ring inscription!)

Other notable captures included 3 cettis warblers, a treecreeper, 6 goldcrests, 4 reed buntings, and 2 kingfishers.

Flocking blue tits boosted the numbers by a further 21.

The only real frustration was dipping on the meadow pipits which were present, but seemingly content to perch on the net poles.

Huge thanks to Sarah and John for working extra hard today!

Cheers

Kenny

Blackbird 2

Robin 3

Blackcap 24 (1)

Chiffchaff 27

Blue tit 17 (4)

Wren 5 (2)

Cettis warbler 2 (1)

Treecreeper 1

Goldcrest 5 (1)

Reed bunting 4

Dunnock 4 (2)

Long tailed tit 5

Great tit 5

Kingfisher 1 (1)

Chaffinch 1

Song thrush (1)