The weather was very bizarre this morning at the watch point at Caldene Fields, it had everything…dense fog, sunshine, mist and rain.
Early morning fog and breaking sunshine…
But out of the fog came a small influx of thrushes coming in from the N/E and moving straight though to the S/W. Some flew very low presumably because of the fog. A total of 834 Fieldfare, 88 Redwing and 3 Song Thrushes were noted.
Fieldfares moving S/W
Had a bit of a surprise this morning, one there was good visibility for watching visible migration and secondly a single party of 52 Stock Dove flew directly over the watch point to the S/W creating a record count for the species.
The dense fog and unseasonable high temperature for this time of the year are not conducive with watching visible migration. The last few days have been impossible with total blanket fog. However today I managed a 1 hour watch with visibility reducing due to fog from around 3 miles to half a mile and there was no need for gloves with a temperature of 9c ! . The only birds of interest were a single party of 14 Siskin that came from the N and moved S.
There was a good passage of Wood Pigeons observed from Caldene Fields watch point today.
Early morning Wood Pigeons moving S. ( with a distant flock bottom left) Birds moved mainly to the E of the watch point over Bierley, Tong and beyond as is normal here. Only a few moved directly over head and to the W. Some could be seen flying very low in the valleys. The movement started just after dawn and petered out around 08.45. Goldfinches also again moved to the S/W and N/W but were sadly uncounted due to the Wood Pigeon observations. Also noted were a flock of 91 Pink-footed Geese moving N/E
I recorded a steady movement of Wood pigeons from Caldene Fields watch point this morning. All the birds could be seen moving over the Bierley area from just after dawn till around 08.45 when passage slowed down to singles. I was luck in that there was thick heavy grey cloud but to the east there was an open window where the birds could easily be counted. A total of 2,389 moved S and 111 moved N.
Window of opportunity!
Also of interest was a Common buzzard that came in from the S/E pursed all the way my Carrion Crows…
Given the dry and fairly mild weather for October I have decided to run the moth trap for a few more days. As I never trapped before in October usually finishing in September so it has been interesting to find out what other species are about in our recording area in late autumn.
So following on from Mondays nice weather I found this morning a single a Blair’s Shouldered Knot, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, a single Common Marbled Carpet and a lovely Red-green Carpet. Evidence is now suggesting that the Blair’s Shouldered Knot and the Red-green Carpet are perhaps more abundant in our area than I first thought…
Red-green Carpet
Winter thrushes have been arriving in good number on the back of the ongoing N/E winds. Yesterday at the watch point at Caldene Fields 1,508 Redwings passed through mainly to the N/W and today 4,647 moved again to the N and N/W. A full account of today’s observations can be found on Trektellon
On the 13/10 a Peregrine Falcon flew through to the N.
At the moment I have recorded 199 marco moths in our recording areas with the vast majority been caught and identified at Caldene Fields. I have just started to get to grips with recording micro moths and the total so far is 38. My aim for 2015 was to achieve 200 marco moths but it is now approaching the middle of October and last night only 2 moths were caught a Large Yellow Underwing and a Feathered Thorn (below) so it is looking a little doubtful….but you never know…
The first Redwings and migrant Song thrushes of the year passed over Caldene Fields this morning which was a bit of a surprise given the S/E wind. However, it turns out that there was an arrival in Scotland which accounts for the birds seen this morning. Seven Song Thrushes and 4 Redwings were observed.
At 13.45 today at Caldene fields a number of Magpies and Jackaws were very agitated…The reason a Peregrine Falcon a probable juvenile suddenly appeared low over the fields followed by a number of Magpies. The bird then gained height as it saw a number of Black headed gulls overhead. It turned upside down and the poor BH Gulls flew for their lives…
The gulls were let off…and the falcon went into a cruising mood.
It stayed for about another 2 minutes always gaining height and suddenly it veered to the west and it was gone…leaving me with a rather big smile knowing that it was a new confirmed bird record for my list of 127 for sightings in our 3 recording areas.
