Pennine Skywatch: 10 Oct 2010

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Oxenhope... dark to dark and beyond! 10-10-2010

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Sunday 10 October 2010
Counting period: 6:50-13:00
Weather: ENE F4, 11degC, 800m mist improving 20km haze, 8/8 becoming 1/8, QNH 1016 rising
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber

Moving birds:
Red Kite 1 -
Meadow Pipit 118 -
Brambling 9 -
Sparrowhawk 1 -
alba wagtail sp. 3 -
Greenfinch 20 -
Golden Plover 42 -
Ring Ouzel 1 -
Goldfinch 77 -
Grey Plover 1 -
Fieldfare 2 -
Siskin 5 -
Curlew 2 -
Redwing 2224 -
Linnet 5 -
Woodpigeon 36 -
Mistle Thrush 17 -
Lesser Redpoll 6 -
Wood Lark 1 -
Starling - 358
bunting sp. 2 -
Skylark 27 -
Chaffinch 73 -

Totals: 3031 individuals, 23 species, 6:10 hours

Comments: Broken sky overnight, then overcast 06-10 then open til tea time when becoming overcast again. QNH rising and wind from ENE throughout. A bad start with a gun dog tangled in barbed wire at the watchpoint lost the first hour of counting which in total difference to yesterday was exceptionally active... and also in contrast to yesterday, almost the right kind of fog today with just enough visibility to keep us active! However the "big" picture together with probably most of the birds was lost til the sun started to show and visibility improve at 1055 when the action really became apparent. Sadly due to a missing, then found dead family cat HC had to leave early. All of the first Redwings were acting as second day birds and all of the early ones were going through SE out of the Worth basin, a crossover later on however with higher a north westerly flow kicking in after the sky had opened. Starlings on the move throughout but more obviously later on and all NW and the best count of the season so far. Golden Plovers all south. A Ring Ouzel in a very low close overhead Redwing flock calling excitedly was dramatic at 0935. Bunt sp E at 0910 and 1152 almost certainly snows were just lost in the action and not even looked for, Bramblings in contrast to the Chaffinch south were going west, a Red Kite overhead south at 1045, musical Wood Lark calls coming from a group of three birds which passed west at 1113 almost overhead (at least a single), and a vis first for me! and finally a Grey Plover NW at 1205.... all in all terriffic!!... home for a quick lunch at 1300, then back for more!!

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Counting period: 14:30-17:00
Weather: ENE F4, 16degC, 30km haze, 0/8, QNH 1017
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber

Moving birds:
Black-headed Gull 260 -
Meadow Pipit 2 -
Common Gull 26 -
alba wagtail sp. 2 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 131 -
Wheatear 1 -
Great Black-backed Gull 2 -
Redwing 341 -

Totals: 765 individuals, 8 species, 2:30 hours

Comments: After this morning a bit of an anticlimax... Cat now buried HC back in action! Gulls prominent with flows both north and south, just three flocks of Redwing this afternoon and mainly in a single very big one. A couple of single GBB's, NW the first of the year, I think? were exceptional.

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Counting period: 17:50-20:30
Weather: NNE F3 slackening quickly F1, 10degC, 30km haze, 6/8, QNH 1020 rising
Observers: Dave Barker

Moving birds:
Pink-footed Goose - 200
Song Thrush 2 -
Meadow Pipit 16 -
Redwing - 328
Ring Ouzel - 1

Totals: 547 individuals, 5 species, 2:40 hours

Comments: Due to the slackening wind and stuff overhead at home, just could not resist another sesh! this time from a different watchpoint. Redwings presumed different flow, now going north... Ring Ouzel almost overhed, again with RW, two substantial skeins of pinks NW in close sucession at edge of dark were dramatic... 46 RW seeps in the one hour period but with a good bit of bunching and between 1900 and 2000 with some very high, (counting several multiple seepings as one) were exceptional for a third day here.

Howard but mostly Dave

Stainburn Moor, Harrogate... 10-10-2010

Stainburn Moor, Harrogate (N Yorks, England)
Sunday 10 October 2010
Counting period: 7:10-12:33
Weather: Poor vis at first mist- vis minimum of half a mile increaing to about 4 miles by end of watch with sun at end. Wind NE 4-5. Mild
Observers:

Moving birds;
Canada Goose 19 -
Meadow Pipit 25 -
Starling - 753
Sparrowhawk 1 -
alba wagtail sp. 5 -
Tree Sparrow - 9
Dunlin 2 -
Song Thrush - 8
Chaffinch - 45
Black-headed Gull - 50
Redwing - 806
Brambling - 6
Common Gull - 249
Mistle Thrush - 1
finch sp. 18 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 7
Blackcap - 1
Greenfinch - 6
Herring Gull - 1
Long-tailed Tit 31 -
Siskin - 6
Collared Dove - 2
Coal Tit 2 -
Yellowhammer - 1
Skylark 89 -
Blue Tit 15 -
Reed Bunting 2 -
Swallow 7 -
Great Tit 6 -

Totals: 2173 individuals, 29 species, 5:23 hours

Present: Common Buzzard 3, Kestrel 3, Golden Plover 450, Lapwing 450, Stock Dove 4, Woodpigeon 10, Dunnock 2, Magpie 2

Comments: Generally more diverse but with less redwings than yesterday. Two Dunlin ESE late in the watch was a first for this site ( but we did have 1 0r 2 at the other Stainburn watchpoint in the past). Gulls particularly Common Gulls seemed to be making a NE move today and were picking up towards the end of this period of watching with one flock of 92 bolstering the count. Ci=ontrary to the West side of the Pennines pigeons if anything were very sparse. Skylarks were undercounted- several times we heard birds and didn't pick them up; given that the largest flock size seen was 25, that may amount to alot of missed birds for the unseen callers which went down as '1'. Seven swallows first thing headed off South after feeding around the farms for an hour or so. Redwing were well down on Yesterday with, I suspect a west shift, nevertheless they still amounted to 806 birds headed varieties of N to WNW ( contrary to yesterdays ESE vector). The Long Tailed tits were the most spectacular performers with a single flock of 31 WSW along the hedge- magnificent ( on the Dave Barker enthusiasm scale [similar to the Richter], I would rate it an 8 ). A single Male Blackcap flew ENE along the hedge. Starlings showed there first convincing movement for some while with 753 through WNW.

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Counting period: 14:10-15:10
Weather: Bright, hazy, F 3-4 NE wind; warm
Observers: A Hanby

Moving birds:
Black-headed Gull -
12 Coal Tit 4 -
Common Gull - 256
Blue Tit 1 -
Meadow Pipit 1 -

Totals: 274 individuals, 5 species, 1:00 hours

Present: Wheatear 1

Comments: Another look just in case a mega movement underway. Common Gulls still going through in good Numbers ENE and the Wheatear from yesterday revealed itself again.

Andy and John