strato stars!!.... 2011-10-24

 The way in!!.... open sky over the North Sea... (c) 2011

Starlings... some of the lower ones!.... three images (c) 2011

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Monday 24 October 2011
Counting period: 7:00 - 11:05
Weather: wind ESE5, cloud-cover 8/8, visibility 15000m, SE F4 becoming ESE F5/6 then F4/5, 9ok, 8degC, 40km reducing 10km, QNH 997 steady
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber

Cormorant 3 -
alba wagtail sp. 2 -
Golden Plover 1 -
Magpie 1 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 22 -
Jackdaw 2 -
Herring Gull 1 -
Starling 3229 -
Stock Dove 5 -
Chaffinch 3 -
Woodpigeon 168 -
finch sp. 18 -
Skylark 1 -
Reed Bunting 1 -
Meadow Pipit 10 -

Totals: 3467 individuals, 15 species, 4:05 hours

Comments: Massive increase in roosting gull numbers since yesterday. Brief dark view of rising sun over the open North Sea before vanishing for good above the strato cloudbase. Thrush migrants but no migration and "pig" track firmly shut but Starlings phenomenal this morning from before sunrise upto c0930hr, 99% at height, cross wind, travelling WSW in balls and ovals, big and small jetting through above and taking no account of the topography and most at strato base. Suggest the west coast roosts may well, be well stocked tonight? First argentatus Herring Gull of the season W.

Dave