Friday 18th October 2013

Cloudy with early mist. Rain(pm) c/c 8/8, SE-S 2, 13c.

A Short eared Owl made a fine sight as it flew in from the sea and across Kerr's Field. It seemed to land somewhere to the south west of Lingham Lane out of sight. It was not seen again.

2 Redwing, 15 Goldcrest, 10 Skylark, 40 Meadow Pipits, 10 Chaffinch and around 100 Linnet made up the supporting cast. Yet again no summer visitors.

Two Greenshank roosted at high tide on Two Sisters Groyne. 

With south easterly winds due to continue tomorrow, hopes are prolonged for a local rarity.

EW KD

17th October 2013

Weather: NW-2. Very warm and sunny

Another lovely day and a hopeful search of the bushes began at 09.00. An overnight arrival of migrant Goldcrest was evident from the start with at least 15 actively feeding in the coastal Sycamores. Grey Wagtail and Great spotted Woodpecker were at Lingham Bridge as was a single Bullfinch. 

20+ Meadow Pipits were on the pitch and put Golf course at the south end of Lingham Lane and several migrant Robin flicked along the hedges. The Linnet flock remains and has now been joined by 3 Greenfinch and 1 Goldfinch. Several Reed Bunting were also on the move but all summer migrants seem now to have departed.

AMC, KD, KAD, AT. All photo's AMC

15th October 2013

Weather: NE-1/2 Sunny and warm. NW and clouding later

A beautiful day and light North easterlies meant migrants were taking advantage of the balmy conditions. 10 Rooks and 1 Raven moved east early morning as did up to 50 Skylarks. Other migrants included over 50 Meadow Pipits and several Reed Bunting perching up briefly before heading off. A Snipe flushed from a drainage ditch whilst other waders included 9 Lapwing moving east in the clear conditions. 

3 Sparrowhawk, 2 Buzzard and 1 Kestrel hunted the coastal fields, where the Linnet flock has increased to 110. 

Goldcrest numbers had increased to six whilst a couple of Chiffchaff remained in the 'LEO' copse. Finches were very much on the move and included Chaffinch (55), Goldfinch (13) and Redpoll (2).

Great spotted Woodpecker was in Lingham Lane whilst a late Sandwich Tern was heard calling offshore.

AMC, EW. All photos AMC

A Quiet Day!

Cloudy with occasional showers. c/c 8/8. Wind NE3-4. Temp.11C

Despite seemingly ideal conditions for visible migration, today was quiet at the lighthouse during my period of observation. 

35 Jackdaws flew east with around 20 Redwings and 80 Linnets fed in the horse paddocks with several Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits.

Goldcrests had increased to around 10 and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers called around Lingham Bridge where a Bullfinch also flew over, calling as it went. 

The wintering Greenshank marked the Three Sisters Groyne as usual.

With easterlies still forecast for tomorrow.....Here's hoping!

KD.

12th October 2013

Weather E/NE-3. Cool and overcast

A dull day and a cool easterly made birding difficult today. 12 Pink footed Geese moved over mid morning as did Jay (1) and Great spotted Woodpecker (1). A Golden Plover was heard but not seen and a small wintering Lapwing flock were on the beach at the Lighthouse.

Passerines on the move were limited, but Skylark (7), Grey Wagtail (1) and Meadow Pipit 23 were noted as were 4 Bullfinch  in Lingham Lane.

Migrants remaining from yesterday were Chiffichaff (2) and Blackcap (1) all being hard to 'dig out' on a cool dank day.

The Linnet flock remains in the horse paddocks albeit quite mobile. It is only a matter of time before something unusual joins this wintering flock.

A SNOW BUNTING was reported on the shore somewhere between the Gun Site and New Brighton.

Quiet and secretive amongst the Blackberries.

The mobile Linnet flock is always worth checking through.

11th October 2013

Weather: NE-3/4. Cool and overcast

North easterlies overnight and throughout the morning produced conditions conducive to migration. 6 Crossbill flew over a garden in Newton as did a flock of 250 Redwing  Redwing continued to be theme of the day at the Lighthouse with over 1000 being recorded along with 200 Fieldfare. Finches included a movement of Chaffinch and Greenfinch and the Linnet flock in the horse paddocks has increased to around 80. 5 Skylark moved south east along with Jackdaw ( 2) and Jay (1). A Mute Swan also flew east mid morning.

The last of the summer migrants included Blackcap (1) and Chiffchaff (3) were to be found in the coastal bushes and trees.

With the easterlies continuing over the weekend we look forward to more fascinating migration

(AMC, KD, AEH and EW)

09th October 2013

Weather: Northwest force 7 squally showers

The wind had blown through the night and with a high  tide at  14.30 seawatching was very much the order of the day. There was a reasonable movement of auks today with 35 Guillemots moving west as did Great Crested Grebe (12), Gannet (23) Teal (9) Wigeon (2) Common Scoter (14)  and 4 Sandwich Tern were the latest of the year so far.

Other Seabirds included Manx Shearwater (1) and a single close Leach's Petrel battled their way into the headwind.

Amazingly at least a dozen Meadow Pipit were noted coming in off the sea in conditions far from favourable for passerine migration.

Bar tailed Godwit (17) Sanderling (250) and a partial albino Oystercatcher were the wader highlights on Hoylake shore.