Migration sometimes seems invisible at Morton Bagot, and this is particularly the case with warblers. This is where the bird ringers are a valuable asset to any patch. Consider last weekend's figures. They caught 31 Blackcaps, 16 Chiffchaffs and four Whitethroats all bar one (a Chiffchaff) new birds. On Friday they were back, and caught another 13 Blackcaps, 10 Chiffchaffs, and one Whitethroat with not a single retrap. They also caught the first Lesser Redpoll of the autumn.
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| Lesser Redpoll - Tony and Leigh Kelly |
My own efforts were restricted to Wednesday when I saw eight Chiffchaffs, five Whitethroats, and eight Blackcaps, and again today with a further 15 Chiffchaffs, and three Blackcaps (including one unringed bird sadly found dead). In addition on Wednesday there were two Whinchats and a Wheatear.
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| Whitethroat |
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| Blackcap |
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| Whinchat |
So that's a minimum of 55 Blackcaps, 48 Chiffchaffs, and 10 Whitethroats moving through one tiny part of Warwickshire in the course of a week. And those are just the ones that get captured or seen. The scale of invisible migration across Britain at this time of year is mind-boggling. Who needs rarities?
Well me actually. Bird migration fires my imagination, but its always nice to find something unexpected, that little blob of jam on top of the cream scone. Today was cloudy, the wind light but distinctly northerly. A trickle of Meadow Pipits headed south overhead (visible migration), and at least 11 House Martins continued to hunt insects high above.
The flash field was going to have to be the provider. For once, I took my scope and that allowed me to discover five Shoveler with the usual species on the furthest flash. Meanwhile the nearest flash remains in good shape. The Ringed Plover was still here, as were at least four Green Sandpipers. There seemed to be more Teal present so I started counting them. I'd got to seven, eight, nine?....number nine looked interesting. The count stopped and I switched to my scope to confirm my suspicions. Yep, my first Garganey of the year was hiding in plain sight.
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| Garganey |
Definitely not annual here, I can think of maybe six previous records in the last fifteen years. So definitely jammy.
I went on to count 43 Teal, and accumulated a modest 14 Meadow Pipits heading south. The lack of any Whitethroats today was also a clear sign that the first phase of autumn is drawing to a close. Summer is over and winter beckons. A whole new set of birds will be darkening the skies and filling the bushes by the end of next month.
I can hardly wait.
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