Spring migration 2012

[goosey]

Birds are on the move!
I was at the beach this morning and before I even had chance to park my bike I had seen two flocks of something or other flying in from the sea, this was about 8.45am. Over the next hour hundreds of bird flew over, or carried along following the coastline North.

Hundreds of brent geese, in 5 skeins (image 1+2)

A group of 10 Teal fly over, turn and land in the sea where about 100 others were already there. (image 5)

12 eider ducks (image 3)

2 small groups of Pochard with 12 and 4 birds (image 4)

6 shelducks, flying with a large group of Brent geese. (image 2)

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

I have just checked waarneming.nl to see what else had been spotted flying over and I missed, Pintails (very annoyed about that after seeing drosera's lovely images), Toppers, Wigeons, Northern shovelers and Curlews, as well as more of what I had seen earlier.

[chris butterworth]

I've just looked at the deeestuary website for my home area and the first Wheatear are in. Shouldn't be too long now before the main rush of spring migrants start flooding in.

Chris

p.s. I tried to post a direct link to the site but..............

C

[Drosera]

I have booked a hostel on Easter weekend to watch the migrating cranes and anything else that flies

[basquesteve]

Nice one I have seen Cranes in Spain And France all heading North it must be special up there OK I know it is but for me too cold

[goosey]

Not so much bird activity on the beach today or flying over even where geese were concerned, just a few small groups of Brent geese heading NE.

100+ Wigeon - Anas penelope flying North



200ish Teal - Anas crecca these were in the sea, I saw them fly en mass a few times but not more than 50m or so, and hour later they took off heading North.

[chris butterworth]

Just got a text message. The first Willow Warbler has been picked up on my local patch today and we've had the first Barn Swallow through a couple of days ago.

Chris

[goosey]

Yesterday I noticed several small groups of Avocet flying North along the coast a group of 12 and another of 8 just kept going, but later in the morning these 4 decided to rest and feed on the beach for a while.



Today we were over in Flevoland at the Lepelaarplassen a breeding ground
for the spoonbills I was hoping to see. Spoonbills have been reported back in the country this week but not here yet .

[chris butterworth]

I found my first Common Sandpiper for the year yesterday, in a small pond at the back of some houses near mine. Willow Warbler numbers are rising and the local Avocet are already back in their local breeding areas.

Chris

[Drosera]

Lapwings and black-headed gulls and arriving in numbers around Stockholm and starting to nest. Cranes of course arriving at their usual places!

[goosey]

On Friday when I was at the beach there was a man sat intently on the last bit of the pier before it is shut off (work still not completed ) with binoculars to eyes just looking out to sea towards the South-West, he was there the whole time I was there and when I left. Well yesterday he was there again doing the same. Any way he said to me "so, you must be Shirley" I was rather taken back to say the least. It turned out he had seen me on Friday plus the image I had put on waarneming.nl of Avocets. You think being on the internet makes you incognito .
We did have a converstion but his eyes never left the sea. He was waiting for the Terns to arrive and been there the weekend too - that dedication!
Everynow and then he spoke into a small recorder and added more sightings, and had a small camcorder aswell for birds on their return.
He was rather pleased because the day before he had seen a Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) and was hoping to see it again.
One bit of intersting info he departed was that April is the best time of year for birding from the pier when all the waders are back - I have never been birding in April before so he has perked my interest and not long to wait either .

Originally Posted by goosey

Today we were over in Flevoland at the Lepelaarplassen a breeding ground
for the spoonbills I was hoping to see. Spoonbills have been reported back in the country this week but not here yet .

I was talking to my daughter yesterday and she said she saw 4 Spoonbills on Saturday in flight, that was in our Provence of Noord Holland, somewhere between Amstelveen and Hilversum. Typical we went that way there and back to Flevoland .

[chris butterworth]

Picked up my first Ring Ouzel yesterday, White Wagtail and Wheatear numbers are starting to rise and a Scandinavian Rock Pipit, this morning, looked as though it was on the way north.

Chris

[goosey]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

Picked up my first Ring Ouzel yesterday, White Wagtail and Wheatear numbers are starting to rise and a Scandinavian Rock Pipit, this morning, looked as though it was on the way north.

Chris

I hadn't realised that white wagtails (why aren't they called pied wagtails anymore ) were migrating birds. I saw my first of the year on the 17th March at the Oostvaardseplassen, and have seen a few more since.

[Drosera]

Originally Posted by goosey

I hadn't realised that white wagtails (why aren't they called pied wagtails anymore ) were migrating birds. I saw my first of the year on the 17th March at the Oostvaardseplassen, and have seen a few more since.

Pied wagtails (there I said it) leave Sweden, and their return is seem as a sign of spring. Interesting distribution map on the link. Does it mean those in UK have a different pattern?
White Wagtail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Drosera]

Originally Posted by Drosera

Pied wagtails (there I said it) leave Sweden, and their return is seem as a sign of spring. Interesting distribution map on the link. Does it mean those in UK have a different pattern?
White Wagtail - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

*sound of me eating my words* - according to one of my bird ID books, it seems that the UK has the Pied, while the rest of Europe has the White!

[Drosera]

Originally Posted by Drosera

the UK has the Pied, while the rest of Europe has the White!

that was the interesting fact I learned today!

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by goosey

I hadn't realised that white wagtails (why aren't they called pied wagtails anymore ) were migrating birds. I saw my first of the year on the 17th March at the Oostvaardseplassen, and have seen a few more since.

It's one of those "Split to two different species / Not split to two different species" things. 'White Wagtail' = Motacilla alba alba, 'Pied Wagtail' = M. ( a.) yarrelli ( I'm in the splitting camp BTW ). The 'White Wags' we get passing through here ( sometimes in large numbers ) are probably Icelandic birds while the 'Pieds' are resident.

Chris

[basquesteve]

Down here the whites are common but in Winter a few Pieds are seen amongst the migrationary birds

[goosey]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

I've just looked at the deeestuary website for my home area and the first Wheatear are in. Shouldn't be too long now before the main rush of spring migrants start flooding in.

Chris

p.s. I tried to post a direct link to the site but..............

C

Here we are Chris, sorry it has taken so long but I have only just seen your message.


Dee Estuary Birds - birdwatching, birding and twitching

[chris butterworth]

Originally Posted by goosey

Here we are Chris, sorry it has taken so long but I have only just seen your message.


Dee Estuary Birds - birdwatching, birding and twitching

Thanks. I'm glad someone knows what they are doing. BTW we seem to be having a 'Ring Ouzel' spring here on the Wirral ( 2 more today ). Is anyone else noticing higher than normal numbers?

Chris

[Drosera]

Originally Posted by Drosera

Lapwings and black-headed gulls and arriving in numbers around Stockholm and starting to nest. Cranes of course arriving at their usual places!

A few examples ......

[goosey]

Originally Posted by chris butterworth

BTW we seem to be having a 'Ring Ouzel' spring here on the Wirral ( 2 more today ). Is anyone else noticing higher than normal numbers?

Chris

I have just had a look for today and so far today there have been 54 reports of ring ouzels consisting of 244 birds all over the country, including one seen in The Nationaal Park Zuid Kennemerland (my local stomping ground). I can't tell you if this is normal or not sorry.

[chris butterworth]

Willow Warbler singing all over the place this morning, quite a few Sand Martin and Barn Swallow about and my second House Martin for the year. Little else around, but the weather looks good for the weekend.

Chris

[chris butterworth]

Not migrants but a Spring-type sighting. Two broods of Mallard ( 7 + 15 duckings ) on the ponds near the back of the house. First for the year.

Chris

[goosey]

Originally Posted by goosey

On Friday when I was at the beach there was a man sat intently on the last bit of the pier before it is shut off (work still not completed ) with binoculars to eyes just looking out to sea towards the South-West, he was there the whole time I was there and when I left. Well yesterday he was there again doing the same. Any way he said to me "so, you must be Shirley" I was rather taken back to say the least. It turned out he had seen me on Friday plus the image I had put on waarneming.nl of Avocets. You think being on the internet makes you incognito .
We did have a converstion but his eyes never left the sea. He was waiting for the Terns to arrive and been there the weekend too - that dedication!

One bit of intersting info he departed was that April is the best time of year for birding from the pier when all the waders are back - I have never been birding in April before so he has perked my interest and not long to wait either .

I saw yesterday that Sandwich Terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) had arrived back at the beach, I had a look this morning but I didn't see any, they were probably too far out for me to see. There were a huge numbers of Gulls and oyster catchers though.
I didn't see any waders either, just a couple of puple sandpipers.
The wrong part of April? Or did the man I saw mean that the waders flew over this way but didn't feed , he did seem very content just to watch the sky for birds.

[chris butterworth]

I picked up my first Garden Warbler of the year on Saturday at Woolston Eyes, Warrington ( along with 10 - 12 Black-necked Grebe and 'lots' of Barn Swallow). Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Yellow Wagtail and Common Tern back on The Wirral. See the link for more gen on whats going on on The Dee Estuary.
Dee Estuary Birds - birdwatching, birding and twitching

Chris