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BirdTrack Archived News Items
Here you will find all the old news items from
the BirdTrack Homepage in 2007.
This page is updated every week.
For archived news from previous years, select the
year below:
| Date |
News |
| 02/05/08 |
Most of our
migrants seem to be here now, but not all in big numbers.
Though we do seem to have plenty of Reed and Sedghe Warblers
in reedbeds, there still don't seem to be many Swallows over
reedbeds (nor elsewhere). The timing of arrival (seen on the
results
page here) seemed normal enough, but the actual numbers
do seem to be very low indeed.
The arrival of Swifts
continues apace, and they are now quite well spread through
England, Wales and Ireland, but most have yet to reach Scotland.Turtle
Doves are also only just arriving, with virtually all
records so far coming from south and east England. Arriving
very late this year are Cuckoos
and it'll be interesting to see if how numbers change in the
coming weeks. Interestingly, all of these late arrivals announce
themselves with very distinctive calls, whether that be screaming,
purring or Cuckoo-ing.
|
| 29/04/08 |
It seems that
with a slight easterly hint to the wind migration really happened
over the weekend. Many of the commoner migrants arrived in
better numbers, and the first of the later arrivals were recorded.
The easterly winds stretched right across Europe
and as predicted, a few interesting eastern species were recorded.
Reports of a possible Black-eared Kite (the eastern race of
Black Kite) in Norfolk were followed by a Calandra Lark on
Fair Isle and a Black Lark in Norfolk (the latter being only
the third British record).
More run of the mill, but no less interesting,
were good arrivals of species such as Turtle
Dove and Swift,
with the latter as ever accompanied by Hobbies.
Looking back at other arrivals over the spring, we can see
that arriving slightly late were Grasshopper
Warbler and Garden
Warbler, whereas dead on time were Lesser
Whitethroats.
Osprey migration
For anyone that has been following the return migration
of Logie the Osprey, she finally made it back to her eyrie
on 23 April. Her reception hasn't exactly a warm one, finding
an intruding female on her nest. Logie has been carrying a
solar-powered satellite transmitter since she left Scotland
last summer, and full details of her migration north, and
photos of her return, can be found on the website of the Highland
Foundation for Wildlife. |
| 18/04/08 |
Whilst the
unseasonably cool spring weather is making it feel more like
early March than mid April, spring migrants are still arriving.
Most of the expected species have trickled in, in small numbers,
but we are still awaiting some of the big movements to happen.
If the wind turns south or southeast and lightens, the south
coast headlands should see large numbers of hirundines and
warblers passing through.
The first Black
Terns have already been reported and the next week should
see more of these turning up around the country. A few Swifts
have already been reported, but the latter part of the month
should see these arrive in numbers, along with the first Spotted
Flycatchers.
House
Martin numbers should start to build up during the next
week and some of those lucky enough to have them nesting on
their houses may well see their welcome return. Now is also
a good time to listen out for the first Cuckoo
in your area, as one bird has already been seen as far north
as Argyll.
For those lucky enough to be able to watch the sea, waders,
terns and skuas should begin to feature strongly as Common
and Arctic
Terns make their way north over the next few weeks, along
with Whimbrels
and godwits, which begin to peak by the end of the month.
(See Bar-tailed
Godwit)
Osprey migration
As spring progresses, why not follow the travels
of Logie the Osprey online. Logie has been carrying a solar-powered
satellite transmitter since she left Scotland last summer,
and as of today Logie is in the Lake District, having made
her way here over the last few days via the West Midlands.
She arrived back in England on 12 April at 5.45pm, almost
directly above the Brighton west pier. To follow her trip,
check out the Highland
Foundation for Wildlife pages. |
| 12/04/08 |
As migrants
continue to trickle in, this is a good time to watch out for
scarce visitors as well. Species such as Purple Heron, Black
Kite and Bluethroat have all been seen recently, so you never
know what you might find!
Other fresh arrivals include the first Little
Terns (Dawlish
Warren, Devon, and Dorset) and and it will only be a matter
of time before the first Arctic Terns and Black Terns are
seen. Also worth keeping an eye (or more likely ear) out for
in your local reedbeds are Sedge
Warblers and Reed
Warblers which should be arriving in numbers now
At the other end of the scale many winter migrants
are now thinning. There are still plenty of Brambling
around, though these are generally quite late leaving. The
BTO Ringing
Unit recently received a report of an early departure
though, with a Blackbird ringed in November 2007 in East Yorkshire
being recaught by ringers back in Sweden on 23 February this
year. This is very early for a bird to return, and is rather
surprising!
Osprey migration
As spring progresses, why not follow the travels
of Logie the Osprey online. Logie has been carrying a solar-powered
satellite transmitter since she left Scotland last summer,
and as of today is STILL waiting for good weather on an estuary
on the north coast of Spain. She should then cross the Bay
of Biscay, head through Brittany and then make the crossing
to the south coast. To follow her trip, check out the Highland
Foundation for Wildlife pages. |
| 04/04/08 |
The slight
break in the weather has allowed a good number of migrants
to cross into the country. The first Whitethroats
of the year were seen yesterday in Dorset and East Sussex,
and the first Reed Warbler was in Gwent on
1 April (honestly). There were also another couple of Sedge
Warblers along the south coast and quite a few reports
of Yellow Wagtails.
Of note on the rarity front were Britain's earliet
ever record of Great Reed Warbler on the Scilly Isles last
week, a few Bluethroats (including some of the white-spotted
race) and plenty of spring Firecrest.
Species to look out for in the coming week are
the main arrival of Blackcaps
(already singing on territories but still in quite low numbers)
and Willow
Warblers filtering through from the south coast. Meadow
Pipit passage will also be picking up, with peak numbers
(up to several thousand in a morning is possible) anytime
around now. There should also be a few early records of species
such as Hobby, Cuckoo, Tree Pipit and Garden Warbler. |
| 27/03/08 |
There has hardly
been a rush of migrant arrivals in the last week; more of
a steady trickle. There are still good numbers of Wheatear
and Chiffchaff
arriving, the former dead on time and the latter slightly
later than last spring. One very early report that did come
in was of a Lesser Whitethroat on a bird table in Worcestershire
yesterday. The bird did look very scruffy (as can be seen
above), and may have wintered locally. Lesser Whitethroats
arrived quite early in 2007,
so it'll be interesting to see if this bird has set a trend
for 2008.
Another early species was Sedge
Warbler in Gwent, with a single bird seen on the 20th.
Slightly more unusual was the report of a Hoopoe on the Beds/Bucks
border, so you never know where things might turn up!
Species to look out for in the coming week are the main arrival
of Blackcaps,
and we should also see a few Willow
Warblers filtering into the south coast. Meadow
Pipit passage will also be picking up, with peak numbers
(up to several thousand in a morning is possible) anytime
around now. There should also be a few early records of species
such as Hobby, Cuckoo, Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail. |
| 20/03/08 |
In many parts
of southern England, spring is definitely not in the air,
with sleet a few days ago in Norfolk and snow forecast! This
stromy weather that arrived over the last week will have held
up many migrants filtering through the country, though weather
in Scotland over the last week has been perfect for arrivals.
The weather has also been more clement along the south coast
and migrants have been drifting in. Arrivals have been dominated
by the usual suspects, with Sand
Martins well spread now (including 120 at Drift Reservoir
in Cornwall and 100 near Glastonbury in Somerset), but still
very few Swallows
(the furthest north recently was in Cheshire).
At Portland
Bird Observatory, though, they were pouring in, and on
the 16th they recorded 150 grounded Wheatears,
following a more modest 30 the previous day. Surprisingly
the arrival only included a few other species, including 70
Chiffchaffs. Elsewhere along the south coast, Dungeness
Bird Observatory recorded 25 Chiffchaffs, along with two
Little Ringed Plovers, eight Sandwich Terns, six Black redstarts
and 15 Firecrest. |
| 13/03/08 |
It is perhaps
not surprising that the incredibly strong westerlies have
halted any signs of early migration. What is more surprising
is that we haven't seen any real arrival of seabirds with
these winds. We might expect to see early Puffins ar Balearic
Shearwaters being pushed to inshore waters, so anyone braving
the west coast should keep an eye out.
One species to look out for in the coming weeks
is Siskin
as March is really the peak month to see big numbers. Siskin
are increasingly attracted to gardens in recent years, so
do keep an eye out for them, and if you do want to attract
them, try feeding Nyjer seed or hanging up red nut bags, which
they really are attracted to.
We have received a few anecdotal reports recently
of birds starting to move. Some of these are birds leaving
(flocks of over 5,000 thrushes in Staffordshire) and some
are of birds presumably arriving. The latter include an increase
in numbers of Skylark
generally and in some northern parts, reports of Song Thrush
returning earlier than normal. Interestingly though, this
isn't necessarily borne out in the BirdTrack results, as Song
Thrushes in southern Scotland seem to be late arriving
and occurring less than in previous years. |
| 28/02/08 |
It is safe to say now that
the few summer visitors reported last week were indeed early
spring migrants. It's hardly been a flood of records of fresh
arrivals, but there have now been several Sand Martins (mostly
in the southwest and south Wales), a single House Martin (Wadebridge
in Cornwall), three Swallows together (at West Malling in Kent),
and several records of Puffin. Slightly rarer was a Rose-coloured
Starling on the Isle of Wight. |
| 22/02/08 |
It may not have seemed very
spring-like over the last couple of weeks, but we've already
been receiving reports of what might be the first spring migrants.
It is often hard to decide if these birds are freshly arrived
migrants or birds that have spent the winter here. Good examples
of summer visitors now wintering include reasonable number of
Stone Curlew, Garganey (in Wiltshire, Dumfries & Galloway
and Aberdeenshire) and Sandwich
Tern (Sussex, Hampshire and two on Anglesey). More likely
to be very early migrants were Wheatear (North York Moors),
Ring Ouzel (Devon) and Swallows
in East Lothian and Co Kerry. |
| 15/02/08 |
We have also
recently been receiving quite a few reports of Pink-footed
Geese in inland areas. Most of these, though, will simply
be birds commuting between the three main wintering areas
in east Scotland, northwest England and East Anglia. Late
winter sees a general redistribution of birds between areas,
so do keep an eye out for birds passing overhead. If you happen
to be in one of the wintering areas, also keep an eye out
for birds with neck-collars. These provide a wealth of information
on movements of birds around the country. |
| 01/02/08 |
With a change
in the weather, it will be interesting to see if we see an
upsurge in records of some wintry species. In some parts Brambling
numbers are well up, with flocks of up to 600 in Buckinghamshire.
Notice how the pattern in occurrence isn't the same for Chaffinch
though and its interesting to think why this may be. Specialist
versus generalist diets?
For ardent gull-watchers, the news of the week
was the final 'splitting' of some of the gulls by the BOURC
(British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee). The BOU
maintains the official
list of birds seen in Britain, and recommends what we
treat as species and what they should be called. Their most
recent decisions include the splitting of both Caspian Gull
and American Herring Gull, and BirdTrack will follow suit
shortly. The former is a scarce visitor to Britain, breeding,
as its name suggests, around the Caspian and Black Seas (in
Europe found as close as Germany). American Herring Gull is
a very rare visitor from, as its name suggests, America, and
the best place to see one is in one of the harbours on the
west coast of Ireland. Full details of the BOURC's latest
decisions can be found here. |
| 18/01/08 |
On the bird front, we have
received some good counts of Avocet recently along the south
coast, including 500 (Dorset), 125 (Cornwall) and 80 (Poole).
Another species in good numbers in winter is Goosander, and
we have counts of 47 at Abberton Reservoir (Essex), 38 At Copmere
(Staffordshire) and 35 at Newburn (Tyne & Wear). Other interesting
records also came in of 600 Brambling (Hampshire), several records
of Little Stint (including six in Gloucestershire), 78 Snipe
(Gloucestershire) and a wintering Sandwich tern (Co Down). |
| 11/01/08 |
The continuing
mild weather has seen numbers of many species still remaining
remarkably low, particularly wildfowl. Compare the trend in
reporting rate for species such as Teal,
Pochard
and Shoveler.
Interestingly, the same pattern is also shown Greater
Canada Goose, and it would be interesting to hear of any
explanations for this (note how this doesn't apply to Greylag
Goose).
Winter visitors are still being reported in
good numbers in pockets though, such as 550 Brambling in Surrey
and 38 Goosander in Staffordshire. Other interesting counts
came in of 12 Greenshank in Devon, 5 Jack Snipe in Gloucestershire,
6 Hen Harrier in Norfolk and 47 Little Egret in Devon. Scarcer
species reported include Smew (Essex, Kent, Norfolk and Warwickshire),
several 'white-winged' gulls (Glaucous and Iceland), and Dartford
Warbler in Lincolnshire (the second record at the site in
as many years).
Winter thrush counts are still low though, and
we have very few Fieldfare counts over 200, nor Redwing over
300.Are there really no big flocks out there? |
| 28/12/07 |
As this is
the last update before 2008, we'd like to wish all of our
BirdTrack recorders a very Happy New Year, and hope to see
your records continuing to pour in during 2008.
It is continually suprising how many "summer
migrants" are reported in December, and there have beens
everal reports of Swallow in the last week. Slightly more
appropriate are the large numbers of finches now building
up. As the winter cools down, we are just starting to see
much large numbers of species such as Siskin
and Brambling,
though interestingly, compare these two species to the far
fewer Chaffinches.and
Greenfinches
being reported at the moment. |
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