Stainburn Moor, Harrogate... 18-10-2009

Stainburn Moor, Harrogate (N Yorks, England)
Sunday 18 October 2009
Counting period: 7:19-11:18
Weather: SW 1-2 4 degrees at first. Haze
Observers: A Hanby


Moving Birds:
Cormorant 7 -
Skylark 35 + 6
Starling 1125 -
Whooper Swan 2 -
Meadow Pipit 12 -
House Sparrow 1 -
Greylag Goose 102 + 20
alba wagtail sp. 6 -
Tree Sparrow 1 -
Anser spec. 72 -
Dunnock 2 -
Chaffinch 56 -
Mallard 1 2
Blackbird 2 -
finch sp. 13 -
Sparrowhawk 2 -
Fieldfare 63 -
Greenfinch 1 -
Common Gull 37 -
Redwing 317 -
Linnet 35 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 -
Coal Tit 4 -
Lesser Redpoll 8 -
Woodpigeon 312 -
Great Tit 1 -
Red Admiral 1 -

Totals: 2247 individuals, 27 species, 3:59 hours

Present: Red Kite 5, Common Buzzard 1, Kestrel 1, Golden Plover 500, Lapwing 90, Skylark 6, Dunnock 1, Redwing 4, Mistle Thrush 1, Jay 1, Magpie 2, Starling 1500

Comments: A much slower day than yesterday whose highlights were low altitude to say the least (metaphorically I mean). The Whooper Swans and Cormorants went South West. The Greylags all were moving to the North of me so not from the Eccup roost. A noticeable reduction in Lapwing on the deck was seen.

Andy Hanby

Ogden, Queensbury... 18-10-2009

18/10/2009 0715-1015hrs Very still, poor distance visibility. Some blue skies to east.

A mixed morning with a good start followed by a lull until 0915hrs when a hectic 45 mins occured with large numbers of thrushes. By 1000hrs the skies were empty.

Vis Mig :-
14 Lapwing.................................>W
4 Snipe........................................>W
271 BH Gull...............................>SW
362 Woodpigeon.......................>S and >SW
695 Starling..............................>NW
8 Brambling..............................>W
29 Chaffinch..............................>W
6 Greenfinch............................>W
1062 Fieldfare..........................>W and >NW
640 Redwing.............................>W and >NW
2 Mistle Thrush...........................>W
128 Jackdaw...............................>SW
15 Meadow Pipit.........................>SW
8 Skylark.....................................>W
8 Cormorant...............................>W 4 and 4
6 Jay............................................>W
18 LBB Gull.................................>W
2 Wigeon......................................>E
8 Blackbird..................................>W

Present :-
Sev tit flocks
L.T. Tits everywhere
3 Brambling on lodge house feeders

Brian Sumner

Oxenhope... poor visibility on THE day 18-10-2009

Problems uploading pre and post sunrise skies... to be added later


Open sky to the north west briefly (c) 2009


Deep haze with abysmal visibility (c) 2009


Rain coming over from Lancashire and lenticularis forming (c) 2009

High Greylags SW and E (c) 2009

High Canadas east (c) 2009


Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Sunday 18 October 2009
Counting period: 7:15-13:00
Weather (first period): SSW F1, 5degC, 30km haze increasing, 9/8, QNH 1023 falling
Observers (first period): Dave Barker, Howard Creber


Moving birds:

Cormorant 1 -
Stock Dove 2 -
Jackdaw 106 -
Pink-footed Goose - 94
Woodpigeon 151 -
Carrion Crow 2 + 3
Greylag Goose 23 -
Skylark - 32
Starling - 1084
Canada Goose 26 -
Swallow 1 -
Chaffinch 49 -
Mallard 3 -
Meadow Pipit 25 -
Brambling - 3
Golden Plover 24 -
alba wagtail sp. 10 -
finch sp. 19 -
Lapwing - 2
Stonechat 3 -
Greenfinch 208 -
Dunlin 1 -
Fieldfare - 1576
Goldfinch 15 -
Common Snipe 14 -
Song Thrush - 7
Siskin 17 -
Black-headed Gull 327 -
Redwing - 789
Linnet 6 -
Common Gull 68 -
Mistle Thrush - 3
Reed Bunting 2 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 7 -
Jay 2 -
Herring Gull 1 -
Magpie 6 -

Totals: 4712 individuals, 37 species, 5:45 hours

Comments: 0715-0737hr No Count.; ....0737 - 0837hr a slow start with deep haze producing abysmal visibility in the hills, crashing hopes of a good day.; ....0837 - 0937hr. Things getting worse with haze closing in reducing effective vision.; ...0937 - 1037hr an unremarkable period except for the high numbers of Greenfinch and a single string of Magpies going high south.; ....1037 - 1137hr visibility improving and thus the birds but still quite unremarkable. A trickle of high geese passing with Canadas east, Greylags south west and pinks north west.; ....1137 - 1300hr birds still moving so stayed on to count. A skein of pinks went high NW and Skylark picked up dramatically. As yesterday Starling continued to increase. Definately an improving morning following a poor start but by 1237hr the increasing wind was beginning to dampen things down.

Dave