swampout!!... 2011-10-01

 First light.... (c) 2011

 A Weak Sunrise this morning.... (c) 2011

 Cloud-Clear interface overhead at sunrise....moving east... (c) 2011

Sunrise... the big picture.... (c) 2011

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Saturday 1 October 2011
Counting period: 0615-1332hr DCB, HC, LW
Weather S F3, 4ok becoming 1ok, 17degC rising, 50km, QNH 1023-1024
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber, Lester Ward

Pink-footed Goose 11 -
Skylark 4 -
finch sp. 700 -
Sparrowhawk 1 -
Swallow 31 -
Greenfinch 751 -
Common Buzzard 2 -
Meadow Pipit 1335 -
Goldfinch 107 -
Lapwing 4 -
alba wagtail sp. 68 -
Siskin   145 - + many unseen flocks
Black-headed Gull 8 -
Blackbird 1 -
Linnet 240 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 193 -
Magpie 3 -
Lesser Redpoll * 3 -
Herring Gull 1 -
Starling 4 -
Crossbill 37 - + two unseen flocks
Woodpigeon 3 -
Chaffinch 326 -

Totals: 3978 individuals, 23 species, 7.17 hours

Comments: Exceptionally warm before first light up here and wonderfully different for early October. A tremendous morning for passerines with incessant flow and multiple large flocks of finches streaming south south east out of the valley below and over the col... never ever seen it quite like this with finches here before.... absolute swampout initially and today, to start off with, at least all strongly routed by the topography... due to concentrating on the finch stream we learned later from different sources that several large skeins of pinks had been missed and possibly much more.... but the finches were just too good to miss.

Dave, Howard and Lester