9th October: thrushed with success.

I had high hopes for this morning as large numbers of thrushes (especially Redwings) arrived along parts of the east coast yesterday and decent movements were also recorded at some of the Pennine vis mig sites. Good numbers are often recorded at Billinge the day after such arrivals and movements so the prospects for this morning looked good. I was so eager to find out I got up when the first alarm went off, was out of the house at 05:30 and had set 4 nets at Billinge by 06:30.

A few Redwings and Song Thrushes were heard calling as dawn approached but not as many as expected and a Song Thrush was the only bird caught prior to sunrise. However, a few small flocks of Redwings and one or two Song Thrushes started to arrive shortly after sunrise and the flocks of Redwings generally got larger as the morning went on. Birds were coming and going in various directions but the majority seemed to appear from the east or south east and while some flocks continued west or northwest others turned and headed south. Around 650 Redwings must have moved through over the course of the morning but it's always hard to keep track of numbers when you are busy ringing. The number of Song Thrush on the move was even harder to gauge and the 12 that were recorded is likely to be well short of the true figure, especially as that number includes 7 that were ringed. As for other thrushes there were a few more Blackbirds around and 4 Fieldfare seen heading northwest late in the morning was a bit of a surprise as it is relatively early date for that species.

Song Thrush

Redwing

When there are plenty of thrushes around they usually attract a few predators and today was no exception. A juv male Sparrowhawk was seen several times before it eventually found its way into one of the nets. A little while later a juv female Sparrowhawk was caught which is a bit more unusual as females often manage to climb out of nets due to their much larger size.

1cy male Sparrowhawk

1cy female Sparrowhawk. If looks could kill this one's would.

There weren't many finches moving and only 1 Lesser Redpoll was caught. Surprisingly, it was another that didn't have a red coloured poll, the amber poll on this individual being a bit brighter than the one shown in my last post.

Lesser Redpoll

The morning may have started slowly but Redwings eventually came through in good numbers and accounted for 38 of the 65 birds ringed. Ringing totals for 09/10/17 were: Sparrowhawk 2; Goldcrest 9; Great Tit 2; Coal Tit 1; Chiffchaff 1; Blackbird 3; Song Thrush 7; Redwing 38; Chaffinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 1.

Other sightings of note included: 320 Pink-footed Geese heading east; 4 Ravens (2 pairs) heading south; 2 Swallows (1 south and the other hanging around feeding); 3 Crossbills heading NNE.