Hi all
Looking at the weather conditions this weekend looks pretty promising to me, with a low heading north east through southern Britain Fri-Sat giving a couple of days of easterlies, a high over Scandinavia and a large amount of rain Fri night. Cetainly looks the part.
Last time we had a big fall early Sept there were migrants everywhere, with 5 Greenish Warblers and Crossbills hopping around on the floor. With lots of Two-barred Crossbills irrupting perhaps some might get caught up in this weather. Here's hoping!
However if I could predict the future I would be currently birding in Australia in an Aston Martin 8) so don't be booking any days off on my say so!!
Cheers
Richard
Well Richard, sitting here now on Sunday evening having seen Icterine Warbler x 4, Wryneck x 6, Wood Warbler x 4, Red-breasted Flycatcher (superb), Greenish Warbler, Red-backed Shrike and the County's first GREAT SNIPE since 1976 this weekend along with a huge range of common migrants i think i can safely say you hit the nail on the head. Nice one! ;D
Cheers Ian.
I have to agree, a fantastic weekend, up there with the best of them, great to see so many common migrants and with a top supporting cast of scarcities PLUS the Great Snipe it exceeded even my expectations.
Cheers
Richard
ps I'm off to get my Aston Martin ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: RCT on September 08, 2008, 10:33:32 PM
I have to agree, a fantastic weekend, up there with the best of them, great to see so many common migrants and with a top supporting cast of scarcities PLUS the Great Snipe it exceeded even my expectations.
Cheers
Richard
ps I'm off to get my Aston Martin ;D ;D ;D
You're dead right about the Common Migrants. Although it's alway's good to get a few scarcities and the odd Rare bird thrown in, with recent Autumn's being a bit dry on the migrant front it was an absolute pleasure to see so many Redstart, Garden warblers etc. This sentiment was being expressed by Birders all weekend and just goes to show that we all arn't just obsessed with Rarities and Listing that some people think we are!
I can remember a few good "falls" or "Big weekends" over the years like in Oct 91', May 94', Sept 02'. There must have been more, i missed the sept 93' fall and i know a lot of birders still cling on to the memory of May 85'. The "rush" of 3rd to 4th sept 1965 with what is believed to be maybe a million migrants on the east coast must have been incredible :o . Can anyone remember anymore?
Cheers Ian.
Ive got a good memory Ian I missed the fall on Teesmouth in 1965 I happened to be at Cley with Tom it was rather good there. However I saw a lot more common migrants at South Gare on 17/09/69 when the place was alive. It was impossible to count the birds present so we estimated the numbers in the lagoon and Gare area as 440 Redstart,210 Wheatear, 100+ Robin, 70 Garden Warbler, 58 Pied Flycatcher, 46 Willow Warbler, 30 + of both Dunnock and Goldcrest and varying numbers of Whinchat, Brambling, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Spotted Flycather, Blackcap, Tree Pipit etc. the highlights were Wood Lark, Rough Legged Buzzard, Barred Warbler, Black Redstart and Bluethroat. the dunes from the Gare to Redcar also held huge numbers of birds. On checking my notes from the 60's and early 70's we used to get regular falls similar to last month's most springs and autumns. Apparently there was also a big fall in 1961 and even I wasn't around then. We have been told that the depressions were taking a lower route during the 60's and this is why there was more falls in that period. Personally I don't believe there is enough birds in Scandinavia to reproduce some of the falls we had in the past. Anyway we can see what October brings.