Plenty of birds moving south west over Crosby Marine Park mainly up to 9am this morning, with 2,500-3,000 Fieldfares chuntering away high above being the most spectacular sight.
Smaller numbers of Redwings in with them, plus Skylark, Chaffinch, Mipits, Pied Wags and Linnets.
The thrushes were coming through in flocks of 20-100 in wave after wave, but the movement seemed slow as the morning got on.
The "resident" Skylarks were fairly obliging too, feeding on the cropped turf of the northern end of the area, and two Corn Buntings were in the dunes, before being spooked.
Bemused dogwalkers and the Stonechats watched me as I digiscoped the critters.
Rimrose Valley was oddly quiet this afternoon though, with just Greater 'Pecker, Kestrels and hordes of Magpies foraging on the newly cut meadow areas.
Early doors tomorrow could be interesting if we get some of the mist forecast.
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies...
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Big movement of Fieldfare all morning, later joined with Redwing over Ainsdale dunes.
Woodcock on Hesketh Golf Course today.
On 1 November we start fieldwork for the third winter of the Bird Atlas 2007-11 project, the latest bid to establish distributions for every species to be found in these islands. Birdwatchers are being encouraged to take winter breaks in areas where help is still very much needed.
Bird Atlas 2007-11 is an attempt to do a complete stock-take of the birds of Britain & Ireland. Since the start in November 2007, 16,376 birdwatchers have amassed over 100,500 timed counts, over 1.6 million Roving Records and over 1.8 million records from BirdTrack (note 5). The distance walked by volunteers during the timed counts alone is equivalent to walking from London to Sydney and back eight times!
Dawn Balmer, Atlas Coordinator commented:
âÂÂThe support from volunteers across Britain and Ireland has been fantastic and we are on target in most areas as we embark on year three. Extra help is still needed in Ireland, many parts of Wales and Scotland, Isles of Scilly, Channel Islands and parts of Cornwall, Dorset, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire. ThereâÂÂs never been a better reason for birdwatchers to visit new areas for winter breaks. We need help to fill in some of the gaps.âÂÂ
Volunteers have been carrying out timed counts in tetrads (2km x 2km squares) and collecting records from all 10km squares across Britain and Ireland, to build up information on the distribution of species in winter and the breeding season. We are discovering that the Pink-footed Goose is now more widespread than it used to be (in line with increasing populations), Stonechats are more widely distributed (helped by recent mild winters), Barn Owls have been expanding northwards but Little Owls may be contracting in range.
Two more years of fieldwork will allow us to reach our targets for coverage and will provide additional information to answer some of the questions that the Atlas is beginning to raise. More information can be found online at www.birdatlas.net where regional maps of coverage and species are available.
juv. gc grebe and two juv. scaup on crosby marina this afternoon also several big flocks of starlings flying towards seaforth docks at dusk
Been up in sunny Scotland for the past week.
Huge Fieldfare/Redwing passage with estimated 10,000 plus birds in multiple flocks overhead in Stratherrick and Loch Ness side - basically 'faring over the fjells' towards the southwest and dropping in to feed on bumper Rowan berry crop, when needs must. Only fed on Rowans, leaving Hawthorn berries for local thrushes and perhaps later Waxwings.
Small villages like Errogie, Foyers and Inverfarigaig resembling scenes from Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. Started in earnest on Wednesday, October 28th and continued for the rest of the week - local people worried about their children being carried off by the flocks and dropped onto the Sassenachs further south - anywhere south of Pitlochry apparently.
Woken at 04:45 on Thursday morning in our lonely Loch Ness-side cottage by strange thumpings and scratchings - which turned out to be a Pine Marten in the attic. So left him jam butties and Brazil nuts as good neighbours should. He arrived this morning at 05:00 and devoured all our offerings.
Found two dead Redwings at the roadside, but unringed. Also carried along in the flood were small numbers of Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes (including a flock of 25) and Chaffinches, plus Goldcrests became very obvious and noisy everywhere after Weds - but strangely no Mipits.
Found two local rarities on Friday - two Great Crested Grebes in the Moray Firth, but dipped again on the supposedly resident Bottlenose Dolphins - which I haven't seen on at least ten visits !!
Mega VizMig watching followed by VizMag reading.
Hi all, just had a really obliging Red Kite heading towards Southport from Longton near Midge Hall Pub, kept pace with my car for a few hundred yds,really strong winds so it was keeping low, only 20 ft above me,awesome ,rare moments, I slowed down forcing other cars to overtake me, all totally oblivious to this beautiful creature just above them!