Stopping short

With the very mild weather that has been a feature of this winter also being experienced in central Europe, it appears that quite a few of our winter visitors are here in smaller numbers so far.

After an initial rush of migrants in late October and November, reports of Fieldfare and Redwing have tapered off, with reports on BirdTrack below average so far this month.

Reporting rate of Fieldfare on BirdTrack

Waxwings have arrived in small numbers so far, with several highly mobile flocks reported along the east coast. Wildfowl also appears to be a little thinner on the ground with Bewick's Swan, Bean Goose, Pintail, Pochard and Tufted Duck under-represented this winter. Most appear to be staying further north and east as water bodies remain ice free.

Of course there are other factors than just the weather to consider. Food is the most important component in deciding whether to stay or go. The weather may be mild, but if there is a failure in the food source - Beech for Brambling or winter berries for Waxwings and thrushes for example - then the birds will have to move on. Migration is always a hazardous, especially if it involves a sea crossing, so stopping the migration short where conditions are suitable seems a good option.

Currently there are still a handful of Swallows being reported and these birds are effectively short-stopping. However, these may still move further south if the availability of flying insects is reduced. It does seem unlikely that they will fly as far as southern Africa though - a few spend the winter in southernmost Portugal and Spain. It is anybody's guess where the Swifts reported from Kent, Cambridgeshire and elsewhere in the last ten days have come from and where they might be going to.

Iceland Gull (Nick Moran)

Low pressure systems crossing the Atlantic look set to dominate the weather with even more wet and windy conditions prevalent at least into the new year. Some models show a particularly strong weather system towards the end of the month with strong winds reaching from north-western Greenland and north-eastern Canada all the way to western Britain and Ireland. Similar conditions have brought good numbers of Iceland and Glaucous Gulls to our shores, as well as rarities like Ross's and Ivory Gulls.

Paul Stancliffe & Stephen McAvoy

Goldfinches still on the move

Goldfinch migration has been one of the highlights of this autumn, and it is still ongoing. Usually, it should have drawn to a close by this stage, with birds arriving at their wintering sites in southern Europe and North Africa. But they are still on the move and being counted at some migration watchpoints - 280 were counted moving past Hengistbury Head, Dorset and 520 past Portland, Dorset in the last few days.

The recent wild weather seems to caused some diver movement along the coast, with many sites noting Red-throated and Great Northern Divers passing offshore. The BirdTrack graph shows a notable spike in Great Northern records in mid-November - possibly birds arriving from elsewhere? Some birds also moved close to shore in search of sheltered waters, giving excellent views.

BirdTrack reporting rate for Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver (Nick Moran)

A few Swallows are still hanging around, braving the recent poor weather. However, there have no further sightings of House Martins since the end of November. One or two Yellow-browed Warblers are still being noted in western Cornwall and may stay on if the weather remains mild in the next few months.

After a rush of sightings in October and early November, Brambling and Great Grey Shrikes appear to have moved on with reporting rates about average on BirdTrack. Waxwing numbers appear to be building slowly, with small flocks noted in East Anglia and along the north coast in recent days. More settled conditions with winds coming from the east would probably encourage more to arrive, but the weather models are currently predicting no let-up in the storms arriving in off the Atlantic.

Paul Stancliffe and Stephen McAvoy

Late Season Seabirds

It has been an interesting week, both weather-wise and in the birds that are on the move. The last few days have been dominated by front after front coming across the Atlantic, bringing unsettled conditions with them. Rough seas at this time of year will always stir up some seaduck movement and that appears to have been the case this week.

Goldeneye, Scaup, Eider, Long-tailed Duck and Common Scoter have all been well represented past coastal watchpoints. The BirdTrack reporting rates for all five of these of these species, as well as Velvet Scoter showed a noticeable increase.

BirdTrack reporting rate for Velvet Scoter

Velvet Scoter in flight showing distinctive white secondaries (Photographer: Sam Creighton)

The weather also stirred up a few skuas, particularly Great Skua and to a lesser extent, Pomarine too. The best count was of 105 Great Skuas past Titchwell, Norfolk on 21 November and very good count of 73 "Poms" past Spurn, East Yorkshire on the same day.

Having predicted an arrival of Little Auks into the North Sea in last week's blog, we were not to be disappointed. While it wasn't one of the largest movements of Little Auks ever recorded, there were still impressive counts at some sites. The 602 seen passing the Farne Islands, Northumberland last Saturday were particularly noteworthy. Virtually every site along the east coast of Britain recorded at least one or two, with a handful noted on the west coast and in Ireland.

Little Auk (Dawn Balmer)

Further seabirds of note included Grey Phalarope, Long-tailed Skua and Sabine's Gull. Several of the former were noted at inland sites, with one particularly obliging individual on Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire present in the last few days.

Moving away from seabirds, Swallows haven't quite disappeared just yet, with around 20 reports from all around the country in the last week. Keeping on the summer migrants theme, three Lesser Whitethroats were also found - only time will tell if these are birds that have settled into their chosen site for the winter.

Lesser Whitethroat (Stephen McAvoy)

The surface pressure charts for the next few days show that we will still be in the middle of westerly airflow. However, on Saturday, the winds will be pretty much uninterrupted from the east coast of North America to the west coasts of Britain and Ireland. Is the American Bittern found in County Cork a herald for other vagrants from the west? Killdeer and American Robin seem likely candidate species for this time of year.

Paul Stancliffe and Stephen McAvoy

It's getting late

Even though we have now passed the mid-November mark, there is still a feel of autumn in the air and many birds are still on the move.

Woodpigeons were the biggest surprise of the week, with large numbers recorded in the west and along the south coast. A total of 25,00 were logged at Portland, Dorset on the 16th and almost 50,000 in Gwent on the 20th. The latter figure pales in comparison to the 210,000 counted at the latter site on the 5th of November 2014.

Woodpigeon thinking about migrating (Nick Stacey)

Finches were also still on the move, mostly represented by Goldfinches. It feels a little late for hundreds still to be moving over coastal watchpoints, but that has been the case at several sites this week. 399 Goldfinches and 278 Siskin passed Spurn, East Yorkshire last Tuesday for example.

The latter site also had 154 Whooper Swans flying south two days latter and the species is being reported in above average numbers so far on BirdTrack this week.

Reporting rate of Whooper Swan on BirdTrack

Woodcock have finally made their presence felt too; 69 were counted in a small area on Fair Isle, Shetland on the 17th of November, which was the highest count of the autumn. The wardens estimated there could well have been a triple-figure count with better coverage.

It has gone a bit quiet again on the Waxwing front following the arrival of birds earlier this month. The only reports were of two two in Argyll on Saturday and another three on Shetland on Wednesday. Any excuse to post more Waxwing photos though!

Waxwing by Steven Mcgrath

Looking at the weather for the next few days, Saturday appears to be the most interesting day. Strong northerly winds are forecasted for the western North Sea bringing an arctic chill to the east coast of Britain. Similar conditions in the past have resulted in good counts of Little Auk and small flocks have been reported in the last few days. Ducks, swans and geese are likely to be on the move as well, as will the last remaining Swallows (two at Spurn on 20th) and House Martins.

Paul Stancliffe and Stephen McAvoy

"Plague Birds" bring joy

It might be the fact that we are in the middle of a prolonged spell of westerly weather, or that we are now approaching mid-November, but migration has been pretty slow during the last week.

Finches have had their moments with some respectable counts from coastal watchpoints. This included 1,078 Siskin, 771 Goldfinch, 113 Chaffinch, 202 Linnet, 79 Twite, 169 Lesser Redpolls, 15 Brambling and 18 Greenfinch counted moving through Spurn, East Yorkshire on 10 November. A couple of days previously around 2,500 finches (mainly Goldfinch) moved over Portland, Dorset. Thrushes have been less spectacular and it seems that there might still be a large movement of Starlings across the North Sea in the wings; we don't seem to have had any large arrivals so far this autumn.

Goldfinch by Stephen McAvoy

Woodpigeons are an often overlooked migrant, but autumn passage can be spectacular for the sheer number of birds involved. Several thousand were observed flying over Bristol on Thursday, as well as over Portland, Dorset on the same day.

Last week also saw the first reports of Waxwings* from Britain and Ireland this autumn. Given its proximity to Scandinavia, it was no surprise that the first birds appeared on Shetland, with at least two present on Mainland on 5 November. Over the next few days, Waxwings were found in Durham and Aberdeenshire and two birds even made it as far west as Northern Ireland on Wednesday. Hopefully this is only the start of a good winter for these amazing birds!

Waxwing by Adrian Dancy

The spell of very mild conditions associated with the southerly winds might have contributed to a late run of hirundines and swifts. This included several more reports of Pallid, Common and unidentified Common/Pallid Swifts from Kent, Northumberland and Warwickshire amongst others. Late Swallows and Sand Martins were reported as well, including one House Martin on the Outer Hebrides.

After a spectacular couple of weeks, the Yellow-browed Warbler invasion is slowly petering out, but the species was still being reported on a respectable 0.3% of all Complete Lists reported on BirdTrack.

Yellow-browed Warbler reporting rate on BirdTrack

Rarity of the week was undoubtedly the very unexpected Crag Martin in Chesterfield, Derbyshire present from last Sunday onwards. Giving great views flying around the centre of the town, this would only be the 8th or 9th confirmed record for Britain.

Looking ahead, migration is starting to slow down, but it is not quite over yet. Bewick's Swan, Bean Goose, Goldeneye, Pochard and Tufted Duck all peak in mid-November. The weather looks set to remain stormy with the remnants of Hurricane "Kate" likely to pass NW Ireland and Scotland on Sunday, with more low-pressure systems crossing the Atlantic close behind it. For Sunday, the charts look remarkably similar to the one on the 10 November 2012 when a Cedar Waxwing was found on Belmullet in western Ireland.

*The Dutch name for Waxwing is Pestvogel, which translates as "Plague Bird".

Paul Stancliffe & Stephen McAvoy

Birds still on the move

Wet westerly weather and the lateness of the date mean that migration has been a little slow this week. However, light finch movement has been observed on the east coast on most days and mostly involving Goldfinch and Chaffinch but with an increasing number of Siskin, Redpoll and Brambling, along with a smaller number of Twite. There was also a decent arrival of thrushes in the north, 4,983 Fieldfare, 1,009 Blackbird and 1,521 Redwing arrived on Fair Isle, Shetland on 4 November. Reed Buntings have also been a feature of the week.  Whooper Swans have also continued to arrive in small numbers and push south through the country, along with small numbers of Pink-footed Geese. A small arrival of Pochard was also noted along the east coast.

Pochard by Neil Calbrade

Migrants on the move at the moment include Black Redstart with groups of two or three reported from many coastal sites in Britain and Ireland. There were noteworthy counts of five at Spurn (East Yorkshire) last Friday and six at Rosslare (Wexford), with single birds also noted at a few inland sites. Most unusual record was of two roosting on the Pont Aven ferry (https://twitter.com/plymmer/status/661654262095695872) sailing between Spain and Plymouth - unfortunately for the birds, the boat was going in the wrong direction! Looking at the weather charts, a possible explanation for this influx were the light to moderate south-easterly winds last week pushing the birds across the North Sea and Channel to our coasts. 

Black Redstart BirdTrack reporting rate

Firecrest BirdTrack reporting rate

Similarly, it has been a good autumn for Firecrests, with current records well above the historical average on BirdTrack. Like Black Redstart, there were sightings along all coasts and even as far as north as Shetland, where the species is quite a scarce migrant. These birds are almost certainly birds moving away from their breeding grounds in central Europe and displaced by the southerly winds. 

Firecrest by Rachel Barber

Most interesting rarity of the week was the small number of Pallid Swifts along the north-east coast of England. Single birds were reported from Flamborough Head (East Yorkshire), Marsden (Durham) and Newbiggin (Northumberland), as well as from Boulby (Cleveland) on Sunday. Additionally, several late Common Swifts and unidentified Common/Pallid Swifts were observed in the same areas. It seems likely these birds were displaced by the same weather pattern as the Black Redstarts.

Grey Phalarope by Joe Pender

Looking ahead, the weather looks very unsettled for the weekend and through next week with strong south-westerlies expected. Seabirds, especially juveniles may find the  prolonged nature of the strong winds exhausting and may end up getting pushed inland. Likely species at inland reservoirs and lakes include Gannet, Kittiwake and Grey Phalarope. There is always the possibility of something much rarer like a skua, shearwater or Leach's Petrel turning up.

Migration slowing down

Short-eared Owl by Amy Lewis

Migration is slowly winding down, but there are still a few birds on the move. There were a few reports of House Martin, Swallow and Wheatear and a few of all three species may well linger into November or even later given adequate food supplies and favourable weather. Finches will still be on the move, especially during quieter spells in the weather - Linnets, Redpolls, Chaffinches and Bramblings are the ones to look out for in particular. Reports of Yellow-browed and Pallas's Warblers are starting to tail off after a great autumn for both species, reaching 4% and 2% of all submitted lists into BirdTrack this month. There were also good numbers of Short-eared Owl reported around Britain.

Short-eared Owl BirdTrack reporting rate

Yellow-browed Warbler BirdTrack reporting rate

The mystery bunting on Orkney was relocated earlier this week and the identification confirmed as Chestnut Bunting. Showing incredibly well at times, this could well be accepted as the first (wild) record for Britain after a series of records currently listed in Category E. One of the species predicted last week did turn up, with a Chimney Swift seen briefly in Cork on Monday.

Grey-cheeked Thrush by Bryan Thomas

The weather looks distinctly mixed for the week ahead, with south to south-easterly winds for southern Britain and continued south-westerlies for Ireland and Scotland. During spells of light winds and clear conditions we might see Woodpigeons move, possibly in large numbers. A series of fast moving low-pressure systems look set to cross the Atlantic later in the first week of November, which may well bring some Nearctic vagrants (Grey-cheeked Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler and Cedar Waxwing). From the east, Asian Desert Warbler or Desert Wheatear are typical late October - early November rarities.

Stephen McAvoy and Paul Stancliffe