Saturday 25 October 2014

25th October 2014

Weather : SSW 3, later WSW 4/5
A Blackcap on the island this morning was unexpected in the fresh south westerlies but welcome nonetheless. Two Reed Buntings also visited, one of which came down on the ground for a short while, and then later in the morning a Chiffchaff was found by the 'heli' trap, but disappeared and was not seen again. There seemed to be quite a few Wrens about today, hinting at a small movement through of these little creatures which are sometimes regarded as purely sedentary. Several Starling flocks moved about including one large group over towards the West Kirby shore, and the odd Skylark was heard as they passed over. Not much action today on the sea although 4 Red-throated Divers and a couple of Guillemots were seen. The Brent were counted in flight  at 75 birds, just short of the peak total so far this autumn/winter. Two hundred and eighty Curlew rested south of Little on the flood tide, while at high tide 110 Turnstones, 53 Redshanks, 26 Bar-tailed Godwits and 3 Little Egrets were noted  with 6,000 Oystercatchers roosting on Middle.
Ringed : 1 Blackcap (right), 1 Wren                  [ 932-37 ]
(DB,CJ,KMc) + Dave Steel, Dave Bowman and a small group from Woolston (thanks for the cake!)

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