Saturday 10 November 2012

Waxwings

Heysham Obs
Noisy flock of four flew south-west over the office and appeared to land at the southern end of the tank farm at 0745hrs

Vis mig until 0900hrs
Waxwing - 4 SW
Redwing - 11 SW
Meadow Pipit - 2 SE
Chaffinch - 42 SW
Goldfinch - 15 SW
Woodpigeon - flock of 32 south over golf course
Greenfinch - prob a few moving

North harbour wall
After several days of a small but steady increase in Twite, today saw a big step backwards, possibly due to the morning high tide and disturbance but a birder encountered by the heliport just as I was leaving came out with the statement that "there didnt seem to be any food and 5 Goldfinches were pecking around for a few seconds but didnt seem to be finding anything".  This immediately followed taking two people new to the area down there and similarly drawing a blank.  Something must have really hammered the food between late morning and early afternoon - rabbits?  Perseverance saw a brief visit by 15 Goldfinch and 3 Twite late afternoon (thanks Kevin)

Office area grounded
Very brief ringing session included a continental male Chaffinch with wing of 94mm

MothsNo moths in the trap but a Nettle Tap moth was in the mist net ride