Friday 15 October 2010

...........and now we look to the north-west

Heysham Obs
.....from whence come Whooper Swans, more Pinkfeet, belated Meadow Pipits and 'our' Scottish Twite.......& hopefully another Snow & Lap Bunt or two.  Tomorrow, however, will theoretically see the last 'corridor to Scandinavia', albeit a pretty weak one, for a bit and the radar & vis mig reports suggest a thrush passage tomorrow.  Work in north Cumbria today gave c1000 SW-bound thrushes (via the Tyne gap) in two hours over midday - about 5:4 Fieldfare:Redwing.  We'll see what happens here - it certainly wasnt at Thrushgill this evening

Office vis mig 0730-0800
Chaffinch - 6 SW
Song Thrush - 3 grounded, then inland
Blackbird - 5 grounded then inland
Redwing - 1 SW
Greenfinch - 2 SW

NHW mound area early morning
Meadow Pipit (5), alba Wagtail (7), Linnet (21), Twite (2), Wheatear (1), (continental) Blackbird (2), Rock Pipit (1), plus the two resident Robin.

Ringing
3 Twite and 8 (out of a flock of 14) Linnet caught by Alan Draper mid/late afternoon

Moths
A really good catch for here at this time of year comprising 17 Red-line Quaker, 9 Pink-barred Sallow, Large Wainscot, 4 Silver Y, Dark Chestnut, Parsnip Moth, 3 Epirrata spp, Common Marbled Carpet, 2 Mottled Umber, Feathered Thorn. The forecast suggests this might be twice as many moths as for the rest of the year put together!