Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Oxenhope.... 2012-10-16eve

ISS Pass tonight whilst out "thrushing".... Copyright 2012
Taken with standard camera... can and WILL do better than this!

Made up well for dearth of Redwings!! and boy did it shift.

AWESOME!!....

Dave

Oxenhope... 2012-10-15

Snaps to follow when time to upload!

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Monday 15 October 2012
Counting period: 7:00-9:30 Weather: wind SW4, cloud-cover 7/8, visibility 65000m, temperature 5 ℃, becoming SW F4, 8ok, 6degC, 800000m, QNH 1001 falling 999
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber, Lester Ward, (Rodney Procter briefly)

Moving Birds:
Cormorant - 1
Jackdaw - 10
Curlew - 1
Starling 2 -
Woodpigeon 34 -
Greenfinch - 5
Meadow Pipit 48 -
Lesser Redpoll 1 -
alba wagtail sp. 3 -
Crossbill 12+ 2
Redwing 13 -

Totals: 132 individuals, 11 species, 2:30 hours
Comments: Pre dawn rain killed everything today. Dry throughout with wonderful autumnal "Constable" skies but almost a blank with the vis. Black nimbostratus and rain from the NW overdrawing rapidy was the signal to "evacuate" quickly but with a view to re-conveneing later.

Counting period: 11:05-15:00
Weather: precipitation rain, improving after passage of rain, SW F4, 5ok, 45000m, QNH 999 falling 998
Observers: Dave Barker

Moving Birds:
Cormorant 1 -
Starling - 6
Meadow Pipit 12 -

Totals: 19 individuals, 3 species, 3:55 hours

Comments: From low watchpoint: Better conditions but still next to nothing.

Dave 

Oxenhope.... 2012-10-14

Snaps to follow when enough time to upload!

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Sunday 14 October 2012 Counting period: 7:10-14:30
Weather: wind West0, cloud-cover 1/8, visibility 100000m, temperature 0 ℃, Very Hard FROST, becoming WNW F1/2 0ok then NW F2 2ok then N F3 4ok, 40000 then 100000m, 9degC, QNH 1002/1003 steady
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber, (Chris King, Mark Doveston, briefly)

Moving Birds:
Cormorant - 3
Herring Gull 2 -
Carrion Crow 1 -
Whooper Swan * 4 -
Woodpigeon 731 -
Starling 2+ 26
Pink-footed Goose * 1030 -
Collared Dove 5 + 2
Chaffinch 16 -
Sparrowhawk 4 -
Meadow Pipit 98 -
finch sp. 3 -
Common Buzzard 3 -
alba wagtail sp. 1 -
Greenfinch 30 -
Merlin 2 -
Song Thrush - 1
Goldfinch 5 -
Peregrine 1 -
Redwing 454 -
Siskin 6 -
Lapwing - 85
Mistle Thrush - 3
Linnet 9 -
Black-headed Gull 233 -
Turdus sp. 33 -
Lesser Redpoll 3 -
Common Gull 19 -
Magpie 1 -
Crossbill - 4
Lesser Black-backed Gull 165 -
Jackdaw - 84
Reed Bunting - 3

Totals: 3072 individuals, 33 species, 7:20 hours

Comments: Initially a crisp mist free morning with open sky except for a huge and dramatic cunim capilatus out to the east. Inversion mist soon forming however over the tops and rolling over from Lancashire. Redwings poor with this arrival stopped, just small flocks and fews moving randomly in whatever direction. Interestingly Jays absent and Starings almost absentt today. Trans-Pennine Pinks, the birds of the day were penomenal with a total of twelve skeins east recorded (excluding a high one that we could just hear but not see), many with similtaneous passage. First advice from GH, (S of Skipton), somewhat W and N of us of a large skein coming E down Airedale. Almost immediately we picked up a large skein also E over the watershed, then a conversation with BS at Fly, just to our south, who as we warned him, had become badly fogged in one of the rolls... just then i noted another massive skein lumbering low over the moor to our SW going to come shortly right over BS beneath the fog, they came but all he could get was the tremendous din, just over his head, almost immediately another then another and another skein came, same track and level, to us a tremendous sight, to him devastating...... as they got over the eastern pennine upslope, as frequently, obvious lift came into play and they took off, lifting like "jumbo's" into the upper sky and away mega high east..... After being woken during the night by a noisy skein of Whoopers, via the listening station, and passing overhead, another small skein, this time low and below our line of vision over the black moor going SSE after lunch was not unexpected. Lost from view for a while, they eventually came out as they crossed towards the Ring-O-Bells and away in the same direction. We should really have counted the gulls yesterday morning as today, virtually nothing and an obvious influx yesterday. If no pinks or whoopers, it would have been a very dreary morning!

Dave 

Oxenhope... 2012-10-13

Snaps to upload when time to upload!

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Saturday 13 October 2012
Counting period: 6:30-13:15
Weather: wind SSW2, cloud-cover 2/8, visibility 40000m, temperature 1 ℃, FROST, becoming CALM then W F2, gthen NW F2, 7ok, 50000m, 8degC, QNH 1003/1004 steady
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber, Chris King, Rodney Procter

Moving Birds:
Cormorant - 5
Skylark - 22
Raven 1 -
Goosander 2 -
Swallow 6 -
Starling 1+ 577
Sparrowhawk 2 -
Meadow Pipit 248 -
Chaffinch 72 -
Merlin 2 -
alba wagtail sp. 5 -
Brambling - 1
Peregrine 2 -
Blackbird - 4
finch sp. 44 -
Snipe - 12
Song Thrush - 2
Greenfinch 56 -
Black-headed Gull 105 -
Redwing - 1241
Goldfinch 37 -
Common Gull 10 -
Mistle Thrush - 8
Siskin 5 -
Lesser Black-backed Gull 61 -
Jay - 78
Lesser Redpoll 2 -
Woodpigeon 86 -
Magpie - 2
Crossbill - 1
Collared Dove 1 -
Jackdaw 12+ 81
Reed Bunting 3 -

Totals: 2797 individuals, 33 species, 6:45 hours

Comments: Hard frost and almost calm with exceptionally clear sky. Vast areas of moor becoming bound and intertwined by mist and fog banks, but all below us so quite dramatic, brilliant and very helpful in allowing the birds to be picked up. No evidence of onward second day Redwing transmission at Oxenhope this am at all. Initially small scattered flocks low in all directions reorientating but soon, infrequent and large flocks v high in the sky all WNW started to come, looking very fresh and straight in to us. Otherwise a v good mip count for time of year, rapidly increasing starlings in moderate low squads on the continental track and for us a record jay count including a magnificent high train of 22 as well as loads of smaller groups all high and due north. One group of three was progressing thus when suddenly from below a merlin shot up and into the belly of the flock, they scattered and dropped like stones with merlin in persuit way below us and not to be seen again! Otherwise poor pigeons, and diversity down, conditions considered. Finches as expected strong for us. Masses of gulls now out of both near and distant roosts first thing, so that only a short period able to count them now but perhaps many more on the move than recorded today.

Dave 

Oxenhope.... 2012-10-12

Snaps to follow when time to upload!

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Friday 12 October 2012
Counting period: 7:00-10:00
Weather: wind West6, cloud-cover 6/8, precipitation drizzle, visibility 20000m, temperature 8 ℃, becoming W F5/6, 7ok, 65000m, 10degC, QNH 998 rising 1001
Observers: Howard Creber

Moving Birds:
Black-headed Gull 27 -
Mistle Thrush - 2
Lesser Black-backed Gull 42 -
Jay - 1
Woodpigeon 28 -
Jackdaw - 6
Meadow Pipit 23 -
Starling - 22
alba wagtail sp. 2 -
Chaffinch 6 -
Redwing - 1
Greenfinch 4 -

Totals: 164 individuals, 12 species, 3:00 hours
Comments: Virtually "now`t today. Winds F5/6 westerly and some very heavy showers put paid to any significant passage. Tried a lower, less windy watchpoint, but to no avail.

Howard

Oxenhope... 2012-10-11

Snaps to follow when time to upload!

Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks, England)
Thursday 11 October 2012
Counting period: 6:40-12:30
Weather: wind SE2, cloud-cover 2/8, precipitation rain, visibility 65000m, temperature 6 ℃, becoming SE F3, 9ok, 6000m, deep haze, then 10000m, 8degC, QNH1007 falling 1004
Observers: Dave Barker, Howard Creber

Moving Birds:
Cormorant - 7
Redwing - 1041
Pink-footed Goose - 80
Mistle Thrush - 1
Goosander 7 -
Jay - 2
Curlew - 2
Jackdaw - 161
Woodpigeon 1 -
Starling - 176
Skylark - 1
Greenfinch 3 -
Meadow Pipit 63 -
Goldfinch 3 -
alba wagtail sp. 3 -

Totals: 1551 individuals, 15 species, 5:50 hours

Comments: Detail report to follow. From 1100 at lower watchpoint..... Dire except for good high redwing arrival NW (32 flocks, max 170) slanted towards initial period from arrival to before sky and visibility closed in... and first good sized Starling flocks on the continental track. Pinks west and low..... deep haze layer far to east before sunrise but approaching to envelop after c90mins. Despite the haze, a deep red ball sunrise over the North Sea through it and a clear window of almost open sky above far out to the east above. Very high and tight thrush balls from the off, way up coming in over the haze layer, well before sunrise all NW, not easy to see scoping into the brilliance. some dropping into the trees vertically from on high, but the vast majority straight through. By c0800hr the haze had advanced from the east and the sky had overdrawn from the west leaving a barely workable milky morass.... the stench of pollution was again overpowering and upon checking the charts the air was found to be passing through and over central europe as well as the british midlands.... not nice and unexpected up here on the moors! Thrushes appeared to abruptly dry up for a while but then in front of the rain started coming again in quite big flocks, same direction but much lower now. Rain from the east, actually spreading from the south west by just after 1100, necessitated continuing from the lower watchpoint, where with better visibility thrushes still moving

Dave