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The Enthusiasm for Migration Watches/Bird Movement

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The Enthusiasm for Migration Watches/Bird Movement Migration Watch/Bird Movement report 2004 A subjective but hopefully informative (if not wholly Scientific) view of Migration. The enthusiasm for Migration Watches/Bird Movement observations led us this year to carry out four separate ‘vigils’ atop Butchersfield tip we even managed to encourage two other wardens to participate in our activities (encouraged no doubt by the pleasure Dave Bowman and I gained from last years observations). I will try to give a flavour of each of our visits without weighing you down with too much ornithological data letting the graphs and spreadsheet satisfy those areas although I cannot guarantee keeping out the odd fact on the movements of the birds when I feel the spectacle deserves mention. 28/08/04 Session 1 “ A grand day out on August Bank Holiday Weekend” Dave Bowman and I were joined by Les Jones and Trish Thompson on what promised to be a fair weather day using this visit as an early migration watch in order to see any differences in bird numbers at such an early time of the year compared to our usual autumnal watches. There was also the element that if we pulled in the other wardens in late summer they may be lulled into believing the conditions were always as nice atop our viewpoint and be encouraged to visit when the wind can even cut through our thick skins. Oddly enough for a Bank Holiday weekend the wind still cut through us from time to time encouraging us to move a little lower down the North Slope for a while --- in deference to our guests --- you understand! The relatively ‘low’ number of birds observed compared to our usual later date observations properly reflected the fact that the migration movements were not yet at full strength but it was nice to see our largest number of birds seen were Swallow (294 birds) and our bonus birds being 2 Yellow Wagtails both species truly representing the glory of summer! The half hourly recording was carried exclusively by Dave Bowman I found this a nice change ‘knowing’ that I would no longer suffer the cold to my exposed hands believing naively that he had set a precedent for our future trips—I mean surely he hadn’t chosen to record simply because of the summertime temperatures? As far as the other two wardens I felt they may need a bit of supervision with Les often wandering off all the while Muttering something about the cold whilst Trish seemed to devour a large amount of her own ‘non vegetarian’ food all the while hankering to go count dragonflies on No1 bed! 16/10/04 Session 2 “I may be gone sometime” Then there were three as on this trip Trish had rather cleverly found something else to do rather than be buffeted by the strong North East wind that graced our observation point all morning. There was even the odd shower to freshen us up but at least we also saw some sunshine and our own migration watch rainbow! The adage “what’s bad weather for the birdwatcher is good for Birdwatching” came to mind when we noted a significant rise in the number of birds seen compared to the almost balmy summer weather during Session 1 in August. The other significant change for me was that I had managed to wrestle the pen out of Dave Bowman’s hands and returned to my role as ‘frozen fingers’ the recorder! I am unable to say how I won the right to write lets just say that the Brie and grape sandwiches and vegetable samosas (Provided by Mrs Bowman) were no longer withheld once I had agreed to record! We were soon able to see that clear division between summer and Autumn Birdwatching when we were treated to a skein of 300 Pink Footed Geese as they flew southeast at 08:22. The joy at seeing our first geese of winter instantly banished our yearnings for our summertime Swallows (then again as I write this on a cold winters day I do comfort myself with the fact that its only a couple of months away before I’m treated to that first Swallow of spring!). Les managed to keep our spirits up when the driving wind pushed in the odd shower by reflecting on his current studies into Scott of the Antarctic and all the hardships suffered by the crew of Discovery. I was humbled into remaining by my post recording gamely all birds that entered our vista---whilst he took shelter in the trees nearby—my hero! The other bird activity of note during this session was the large number of Wood Pigeons observed (1177) and the encouraging number of Lapwings noted (359). 13/11/04 Session 3 “Bliss was in that dawn to be alive” I can honestly say that there was nowhere else I wanted to be on such a crisp frosty and bright morning. The dawn cried out to be on a Turner painting with a stunning mix of white and yellow light. Needless to say Mr Bowman’s digital camera was in his Land Rover but at least I got a couple of shots on my lesser ‘point and shoot’ camera before the recording began. An early skein of 100 Pink Footed Geese soon concentrated our minds on the birds whilst the first half hour session also gave us 1098 Wood Pigeons an early indication of hard weather bird movement experienced on this our third watch of the year. I’m sure that any birdwatchers out on such a day as this would have experienced the large amount of bird activity particularly as the exceptionally clear skies as predicted by the weathermen gave such easy viewing. Not to be outdone by the show put on by the weather our ‘local’ Peregrine Falcon pirouetted straight out in front of Dave and I as it played with a Feral Pigeon. The latter remained prosaically calm and eluded the Falcon but what a demonstration put on by surely our most spectacular raptor. The local Mosslands seemed to give good feeding for the Starlings (743) and Jackdaws (583) whilst we noted the Skylarks were on the move giving a total of 162 birds. The skeins of Pinkfeet we witnessed quite early on left a lasting impression, as we looked north/west/east all we seemed to see was southeasterly movements of these wonderful birds. Another birdwatchers adage came into play during our 1030 slot of recording when we chose not to simply ignore that ‘distant gull’ as on closer inspection it proved to be a Hen Harrier moving north south a welcome addition to the mornings observations. A biting north north west wind kept us company by 11am but by this time we were buoyed up with the passage of birds and the clarity of the day and to be honest the half hourly slots simply flew by and they soon led us to noon and the anticipation of the last ‘watch’ in December. Sorry to report that Les was unable to attend this session something to do with shopping for thermals for his next trip—Antarctic/Woolston you choose! 18/12/04 Session 4 “And splendour, splendour everywhere” The desire to do our last watch of the year overcame the dubious looking weather and as a consequence we were rewarded with fresh bright sunshine whilst all the heavy cloud and rain passed to our north and south. The food was a bit of a disappointment this time but this was no reflection on our usual caterer rather than on the fact that it was still sat in Mr Bowman’s vehicle!! I dragged out the ‘K rations’ and we managed to survive the morning---but what a bean feast was had on our return to our parking spot at noon. The species of note for the day was the Wood Pigeon with a total of 3860 birds seen during the morning. It was also gratifying to see 1349 Starlings some of which were pursued by both Sparrowhawk and Merlin during the morning. Fieldfares came in with a healthy 481 birds a welcome count whilst Redwing numbers amounted to 157. It was interesting to note that when all seemed ‘quiet’ in the Birdwatching world we actually observed the most species (47) and our largest number of birds seen (6882) on this our last count of the year. The experiments with other viewing points atop the hill which took place during this session were largely driven by our old bones finally succumbing to the charms of a wind which didn’t seem to know where it wished to blow from-its only consistency being that of coldness! Then came noon and it was all over for another year equally it is over for you the long- suffering reader of our team effort in migration watching. At least last years threat/promise to carry out monthly watches didn’t materialise but watch out next year as Dave Bowman takes early retirement and that can only involve more ‘free’ time to carry out more surveys—don’t you just love his organisational skills. (At least there should be more sublime moments of being at one with nature in all its restless movements). Dave Steel WOOLSTON EYES MIGRATION WATCH BIRD COUNTS 2004 Page 1 of 3 Date 28/08/2004 16/10/2004 13/11/2004 18/12/2004 Totals Time 08:00-12:00 08:00-12:00 07:30-12:00 08:00-12:00 1 Mute Swan 4 7 7 18 2 Whooper Swan 0 3 Pink-footed Goose 350 1564 1914 4 Greylag Goose 0 5 Greater Canada Goose 250 75 148 83 556 6 Common Shelduck 0 7 Eurasian Wigeon 0 8 Gadwall 7 7 9 Eurasian Teal 12 3 15 10 Mallard 2 12 62 7 83 11 Northern Pintail 0 12 Northern Shoveler 1 1 13 Common Pochard 0 14 Tufted Duck 13 46 18 63 140 15 Common Goldeneye 0 16 Goosander 0 17 Ruddy Duck 0 18 Grey Partridge 0 19 Pheasant 2 1 3 20 Great Crested Grebe 0 21 Little Grebe 0 22 Great Cormorant 3 5 13 16 37 23 Little Egret 0 24 Grey Heron 1 1 2 4 8 WOOLSTON EYES MIGRATION WATCH BIRD COUNTS 2004 Page 2 of 3 Date 28/08/2004 16/10/2004 13/11/2004 18/12/2004 Totals Time 08:00-12:00 08:00-12:00 07:30-12:00 08:00-12:00 25 Hen Harrier 1 1 26 Eurasian Marsh Harrier 0 27 Northern Goshawk 0 28 Eurasian Sparrowhawk 3 8 2 4 17 29 Common Buzzard 4 4 6 3 17 30 Common Kestrel 3 4 1 8 31 Merlin 1 1 32 Eurasian Hobby 1 1 33 Peregrine Falcon
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