16 Sep 15 - Was Last Week The Warm Up Act?

A recent Post covered a big movement of 888 Siskins moving North across South Haven on NE winds on 9 Sep 15. The winds then swung more Easterly (or South Westerly) which are poor winds for Vis Mig at South Haven. But the Siskin Vis Mig continued further East at Christchurch Harbour (CHOG) with 920 East on the 11 Sep & 820 East on 13 Sep. The forecast for this morning was light NE winds. I hadn't really picked up on the weather for a Vis Mig watch as I was more concerned about a wet front arriving from the sea. I had expected that front to have arrived by breakfast time. But I headed out, half expecting to be quickly retreating to the Brands Bay to shelter from the rain, whilst checking the rising tide. But it was dry, with threatening clouds. I started with a seawatch hoping that something might be moving/relocating after the SW gales from the previous day. But it was a long shot. However, I noticed a few parties of Siskins started to appear from 08:30 with good numbers of Swallows also moving. So given the light NE winds, I switched plans to a Vis Mig watch. By the time I had got to the Vis Mig viewpoint at 09:20, I had seen 135 Siskins going North. Time to watch & count properly. It started off steadily. Parties of Siskins coming over every few minutes & heading North. The Swallows were moving on a much broader front, with the bulk moving over the water on a 1/4 mile either side of the Vis Mig viewpoint. I clearly under counted the Swallows as my scans of the water, broke off every time I heard Birds overhead calling. Even so, in the two hours I was counting I saw 1232 Swallows moving North.

Siskin: A typical part of one of the many flocks moving this morning

But the clear highlight of the day was the Siskins. In the two hours from 09:20, I had a stunning 2071 Siskins heading North. At this point, I retreated to the car as it started to drizzle. With the threatening clouds, I was expecting worse to come. But it cleared after twenty minutes, so I headed out again, but got side tracked with a mixed Tit & Warbler flock, which also contained a Spotted Flycatcher. As I was generally Birding, I had another 217 Siskins heading North. The final total for the morning was 2423 which appears to be a new UK day record for Siskins.

Siskins: Unfortunately, they are mainly moving about 50 metres from the best viewpoint. So to try & get closer for photos, means I'm not going to be able to see all the movement. Hopefully, I will get a chance for better photos, when I get some Vis Mig company from Graham Armstrong

It's well known to Vis Miggers that Birds will coast into the wind providing it's not too strong, i.e. the follow the coastline & fly into the wind. They get lift in the same way that aeroplanes do. So that explains why I need a Northerly based wind for South Haven to work. Birds happily head into the wind along the North-facing Studland Peninsula.

Siskin: I need to get a NE wind when Graham is also at South Haven to do the counting, while I try & improve on the photos. Also a day with blue skies, rather than 7/8 grey cloud cover will be a big improvement

After my good Siskin movements last week, I have been thinking about where these Siskins had originated. First I had a play with the interactive analysis maps function on the excellent Vis Mig site. A quick play gave this excellent analysis map of the movements of Siskins since the start of August to 16 Sep. Think this link should work, even if you aren't logged onto the Vis Mig site. This shows the biggest movements have been in Dorset, followed by Sandwich Bay, Kent. But why should Dorset & Kent be so good. Clearly, these counties are both great & related: I now live in Dorset, but was born in Kent. But that seems to be purely coincidence & had to be ruled out. I needed some better theories. There seemed to be three options: 

• Siskins moving out of the SW & coasting
• Siskins moving South & hitting the coast, followed by coasting into the wind
• Siskins arriving into Dorset via Normandy.

The latter isn't as daft as option as it sounds, as that is the route many Chaffinches take each year. A significant percentage of the Chaffinches moving South along the European coast, then seem to track up through Normandy, across to the Dorset coast, with many ultimately ending up in Ireland. But not having any feeling for which option was most likely (but quietly liking the French Connection), I asked around. Looks like that isn't the answer. 

This was the response from the ever helpful Clive McKay who is the UK Trektellen coordinator. I hope Clive won't mind me repeating his comments here:-

I’ve been posting on the vismig group since July about the large number of Siskins moving over the summer this year – starting in Scotland. The story is pretty straight forward – last autumn/winter was the best coning year for spruce in N Britain in so called “living memory” of various folk that I’ve spoken to (i.e. since at least since the last big cone crop up here in 2010/11). The forests appeared gold last winter rather than green - cones rather than leaves. So an “irruption” of northern birds south was on the cards, as last happened in 2011. Numbers this summer were higher than in 2011, so a big movement seemed likely. But with lots of winds in the easterly quarter recently, it seems the moving birds have been slipping through inland on a  broad front in small numbers, rather than being concentrated on the east coast. East coast sites require westerly winds to “work”, and I’ve been frustrated that there have been very few potentially good days at Carnoustie – as I was hoping to break my UK Trek British record of 2,200 from 7 Sep 2011. No record breaking counts at the east coast sites so far, but numbers have started to appear at the south coast (including CHOG and Sandwich) and your birds fit in well with this pattern.

This has been nicely confirmed by Paul Morton, the main man behind the Birds of Poole Harbour website. Paul is one of the Sound Approach team that has been doing night time recording over his garden & elsewhere. Every now & then he has put interesting recordings on the Birds of Poole Harbour website. Nick Hopper, the other member of the local Sound Approach night time team, has been recording at Portland Bird Observatory & his recordings appear on the Obs website. Paul has said this evening that he has been leaving the kit to carry on recording for a couple of hours after dawn, which seems to backup Clive's comments:-

The other thing I've noticed this year is the number of Siskin moving over my house so early in the autumn which I assume are birds making their way to the coast, and are then counted by the 'vis-miggers'. After a nights sound recording in the garden I often leave it running into the first couple of hours of daylight and when I listen to an hours worth after dawn Siskin calls almost become white noise with birds passing over (often distantly) every few minutes.

I must admit I didn't think I would get an answer to the question as to where the Siskins are coming from, so it is great to get this feedback from Clive & Paul which seem to support it.

Goldfinch: This cheeky Goldfinch tried sneaking through in one of the Siskin flocks

Unlike the first Vis Mig watch, there was a good selection of species on the move today. During the two hour Vis Mig watch, I saw the following species (all of which moved North): Sand Martin 10, Swallow 1232, House Martin 2, Tree Pipit 9, Meadow Pipit 291, Grey Wagtail 15, Pied Wagtail 1, Chiffchaff 6, Carrion Crow 6 (local movement? but the local Crows don't often cross the Harbour mouth), Goldfinch 3, Linnet 4, Redpoll 17 & of course, Siskin 2071.

Tree Pipit: Great to finally get to see a few Tree Pipits, they have been noticeable on the patch by their absence until late August. But when I checked back, most of my Autumn Studland/Ballard records are in September

One of the great local specialities of the South Haven site is seeing Vis Mig of species that normally seem to move in small hops between bushes. At South Haven, they run out of bushes & then have to cross the 200 metres to the nearest cover on the Sandbanks side. So we see Vis Mig of species that generally perfer to move in small hops like Warblers, Tits and Crests. I suspect this movement often gets missed at many Vis Mig sites. But it creates its own problem for us. The stronger species like the Finches, are mainly in flight when they past over the last bushes. Thus, they already have a good forward speed to cope with the more exposed winds at the Harbour mouth. Even if they stopped for a brief rest in the last bushes, they they are strong enough to be able to quickly get back up to speed to make it across. But the weaker fliers like the Warblers, Tits and Crests are always starting from the last bushes & trees. Thus, they are battling from a stationary position & also trying to climb to get over the Harbour mouth. Frequently, we see these species start & twenty or thirty seconds later, see the turn & rapidly head back into the bushes. So I end up having to keep a longer watch on them to see if they really make it or just turn back. Today was a typical day. There were at least ten Chiffchaffs trying to cross the Harbour mouth, with six ultimately making it across. But maybe twenty or more failed attempts.

Chiffchaff: They often make several attempts before the make it across

9 Sep 15 - Massive Siskin Movement

Over the last couple of weeks, a number of the Dorset Birders have been lucky to see movements of Siskins over their patches. In comparison, I've been disappointed that I have only seen a handful of Siskins passing through the Studland patch. Well it all changed at South Haven on 9 Sep 15, when I saw a massive 888 Siskins moving North by 09:50. The morning all started fairly normally. I checked the beach before the first dog walkers, runners & early beach bums descended on South Haven as the first Studland ferry of the day arrived from Sandbanks. Twelve Sanderling on the beach: nice, but not out of the ordinary. As I walked back towards the boardwalk, I was checking the area for migrants, but a single Willow Warbler was the only land-based migrant. I did see small parties of Swallows heading North for the harbour mouth & decided to try a Vis Mig watch as the wind was Force 2-3 NE: a light wind with North in it can be good to encourage Vig Mig species to pass North through the Studland peninsula. Ultimately, the Birds are heading East, but more Easterly-based winds & many Birds depart via Old Harry or Swanage & cut across Studland Bay towards Bournemouth (& therefore bypass South Haven completely).

Siskin: Male. Clearly, I need to work on improving my flight shots of small Passerines

Siskin: Female or young bird 

As I walked back to the Vis Mig viewpoint, I saw two parties of 25 & 63 Siskins heading North. Perhaps I might finally get some Siskins. I started the watch at 08:20 & almost immediately I had parties of Siskins coming overhead. Many were parties of dozen to twenty individuals, with a few bigger parties of up to fifty or sixty. I find Finches are hard to count when they are close, as individuals move around a lot relative to the others. Also the shape of the flock often changes as I am counting. But the good thing about the South Haven Vis Mig viewpoint, is I can carry on watching flocks as they get 100-200 metres away. At this point, the flock is easier to count, albeit they are more difficult to identify down to a species at that range. But if I have already confirmed it is a single species flock, then counting is easier.

Siskin: Part of one of the many flocks that passed over

Initially, I saw 88 Siskins heading North up to 08:20 while I was walking around the bushes. I had 606 Siskins passing North in the first hour of the Vis Mig watch. The following thirty minutes produced another 194 as the movement started to quieten down. This was a total of 888 Siskins over. My only higher passage at South Haven was of 1092 Siskins North on 4 Oct 10. But that movement was spread over 3.5 hours. I can remember it quietened down in the last 1.5 hours, but we didn't have around 600 Siskins moving in a single hour. So this was a remarkable movement. Perhaps more so, considering it is the largest movement of Siskins so far on Trektellen in the UK this Autumn. What is also surprising is during the 1.5 hrs of proper Vis Mig watching there were only 44 other Birds on the move: 18 Swallows (with a further 74 before 08:20), 18 Sand Martins, 2 House Martins, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail & 4 Goldfinches. Roll on the start of the main Oct/Nov Vis Mig season. Will there be any Siskins left in the South West by this point?

Peregrine: This Peregrine also flew over the harbour mouth but this will be a local movement, rather than Visible Migration (perhaps a circular route to bomb the Brownsea lagoon). Being a local movement, it does not count as far as Trektellen Vis Mig is concerned

HMS Tyne P281: As I was heading home, I saw the River Class Offshore Patrol Vessel, HMS Tyne, heading North towards the harbour mouth. Presumably a coincidence, rather than a reaction to the wind direction

10 Sep 14 - Unexpected North American Migrant Kickstarts the 2014 Studland Vis Mig Season

There are several Visible Migration (Vis Mig) sites on my Studland patch and it will soon be the season for the peak Finch & Thrush movements again. My favourite Vis Mig site is South Haven, which is the Southern side of the Poole Harbour mouth.

Fellow Vis Mig Watcher Graham Armstrong: Looking South East at the South Haven Vis Mig watch point

Generally, Vis Mig migrants fly at low level & in the morning. They also fly into the wind & ideal conditions are light winds (Force 2 - 3) & dry conditions. For South Haven, we need to have a Northerly element with N or NE being the best, but NW is still fairly good. If the winds switch to the SW, then the Vig Mig migrants tend to cruise SW, but they end up passing on a much broader front & South Haven is pretty much a waste of time as the numbers are very low. 

Looking South West at the South Haven Vis Mig watch point: It's a narrow peninsula at this point

Looking North: This is the Sandbanks peninsula which is where they are heading on a Northerly wind, before turning East to follow the coast to Kent

You need a clear view of birds as they are coming as it's not long before they are overhead and going away is often harder to identify them. Often we heard them before seeing them, but with some only a few metres about the ground & others 20 or 30 metres high & taking different routes (along the beach, over the trees or over the sea on either side of us), it's not easy to know which way to look. It's made harder as often there are waves of several flocks moving close together: guess it makes it harder for a Raptor to take one of them. To make even harder, hearing a Goldfinch call in a flock of Finches, doesn't make them all Goldfinches, it could be a silent flock of another species like Siskins with one calling Goldfinch. So we try to eyeball as many of the individuals as possible to look for other species tagging along. Certainly, not an easy day's Birding, but can be great fun when you get big movements occurring. With the chance of an occasional goodie, or patch goodie, it is even more additive. Although I do wonder what we have missed each day, by not getting to walk around Old Harry or some of the other parts of the Studland patch.

Anyway, I've often wondered about trying the alternative viewpoint of the Littlesea High hide. This is about the highest point of Studland and has good views over Littlesea & the peninsula. The drawback it is is an exposed site & likely to be windy which will make Birds harder to heard calling. Also, I am not sure if they would be funneled overhead or will follow the coast or fly over the lake. But it is a migrant hot spot with the most recent record of Wryneck (surprisingly scarce at Studland probably due too too much potential habitat to disappear into). But whilst looking for the Great White Egret in recent days, I've heard Yellow Wagtails & in the past I've bumped into a few other common migrants which suggests I should pay the site more attention. Whilst looking for the Great White Egret with local Birder, Neil Gartshore, Neil said what's that coming? What ever it was it was out of view & behind the hide for me, so I moved right to get a view. Was expecting a Raptor, Wildfowl or Wader species and was shocked with what I saw: the only 2 Lancaster Bombers still flying. I've seen the UK based Lancaster on a number of occasions, from when I was a kid on the Kent - London borders. But at the moment, it has been joined in the UK, by the only other flying Lancaster, from Canada: which has been over for a number of big celebrations since mid August this year. I had thought of trying to get over to the recent Bournemouth airshow to see them both, but then the Canadian Lancaster had mechanical problems & had to pull out at the last minute. In the end, I settled for distance views of the Red Arrows from the Godlingston viewpoint. So it was a real thrill to get a private display, as both flew over the Littlesea hide, before turning over Ballard Down. Turns out they were heading out to the Channel Islands.

The UK Lancaster Bomber: This is part of the UK Battle of Britain Memorial flight, although the Lancasters didn't enter active service until Oct 1941

The UK Lancaster Bomber: The aircraft is marked up in the colours of Thumper of the famous 617 Dambuster squadron for the 2014 flying season. A full history of Thumper can be found on the RAF website

The Canadian Lancaster Bomber: It's a real treat to see this plane, as it is only over in the UK from Mid Aug to Mid Sept. More information about this Lancaster can be found on the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum website

The Canadian Lancaster Bomber: The Canadian Lancaster is marked up in the colours of Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski VC and is referred to as the “Mynarski Memorial Lancaster”, which flew with RCAF No. 419 (Moose) Squadron. Andrew Mynarski won the Victoria Cross, the Commonwealth’s highest award for gallantry, on June 13, 1944, when his Lancaster was shot down in flames, by a German night fighter. As the bomber fell, he attempted to free the tail gunner trapped in the rear turret of the blazing and out of control aircraft. The tail gunner miraculously survived the crash and lived to tell the story, but sadly Andrew Mynarski died from his severe burns. The markings on the side are of his Victoria Cross

Giving tantalising views in the mist further South was a shadowing Fighter. Unfortunately, the photo was really suffering from the hazy conditions.

Spitfire TE311: I initially thought this was a Hurricane, but it has been re-identified as the 'clipped' wingtip Spitfire TE311 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Thanks to local Birding mate Jol Mitchell for the update on my fighter identification

Will we get anything better this Autumn at South Haven: sadly, I suspect not. But you never know with Birding, so I guess I will be out every time I can when the wind goes Northerly this Autumn.