Mondays are a no go for me. In my enforced absence Andy made it up to Oakenclough where he caught the first Lesser Redpolls of the year.
The BTO Migration Atlas tells us that “return movements in spring from southern to northern England have begun by mid-April”, however in recent years we have noted that a few of our returning migrant Lesser Redpolls are around in late February and definitely more so by early March.
Lesser Redpoll
Lesser Redpoll from The BTO Migration Atlas
At 885 pages The Migration Atlas may seem a daunting read but is a must-have-book for any serious ornithologist. “This landmark publication presents the most up-to-date information on bird migration, using the vast wealth of data that the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has collected from ringing recoveries”. The Migration Atlas
With the weather set fair, we hope to return to Oakenclough on Wednesday for more Lesser Redpolls.
In the meantime, gluttons for punishment that we are, the decision was made to have another shot at the Linnet flock at Pilling/Cockerham as they too will be soon on their way north. A good number of the Linnets will head for Scotland, just like their cousins the Siskins and Redpolls.
In the meantime, gluttons for punishment that we are, the decision was made to have another shot at the Linnet flock at Pilling/Cockerham as they too will be soon on their way north. A good number of the Linnets will head for Scotland, just like their cousins the Siskins and Redpolls.
With lighter and longer days the Linnets have not been assembling until after 9am so I arranged to meet Andy at 0800. That left time for brief stop on Head Dyke Lane where I spotted a morning Barn Owl glowing in the early sunlight.
Barn Owl
There were about 45 Whooper Swans not far away. I picked out a part of four for a family photo.
Whooper Swans
From a mid-winter peak of 300 the Linnet flock is now down to a steady 120 birds at each visit. Weather permitting Farmer Richard told us he plans to spray off the residue crop in mid-March, and then plough and disc the land before re-seeding for another autumn and winter crop. His agreement with Natural England runs until 2020 which should give us 2 more winters to continue with Project Linnet.
We caught just three Linnets today, a single female and two males, the males now much easier to sex as they gain their summery breast colours. This brings our winter Linnet total to 123 captures, 120 new and 1 previously ringed elsewhere (Orkney).
Linnet
Linnet
More birds tomorrow - from Oakenclough this time.
And what a nice change to have settled weather that allows us to plan ahead!
Linking this post to Eileen's Saturday and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.
Linking this post to Eileen's Saturday and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.
18 comments:
Great post and as always the Barn Owl is my favourite.
Several thousand cranes were circling over the house today, obviously waiting for another group to catch up with them then they all took off in formation flight. I told that they had better go your way, but think the answer was you had better come here when they return in Autumn 🦅
Hope the rest of the week is a good one. Diane
Good afternoon Phil: I would dearly love to have a copy of the Migration Atlas, but given its huge size I can only imagine what the postage alone would cost, let alone the price of the book. However, it is my birthday tomorrow, so if you wish to a) impress me, b) cement transarlantic bonds of friendship, and c) enhance my knowledge of British avifauna, you will know what to do. I will not be holding my breath!
It seems that return movement of birds from Southern American to Northern American started at the end of February.
Beautiful image of barn owl.
Have a great day
The Lesser Redpoll also visits my garden in FIN in winter.
Thanks for sharing interesting info about birds' movements.
Hello,
Love the Redpolls and the beautiful Barn Owl. The swans are pretty. Great sightings. Enjoy your day and weekend!
Haven't seen any Redpolls here this winter. Actually passerines have been very very thin on the ground in all Hokkaido this season.
All such great birds ..,I know the Barn Owl wasn’t your main focus, but I love that you see it in passing. Thanks for sharing all the wonders. By the way, those gators on mine weren’t as close as they looked ... zoom lens works good on them! (We were across a small stream and up on the bank from them (and close to the open car door just in case ).
Could watch barn owls all day long.
Beautiful bird shots.
I love the barn owl and the Lesser Redpoll. You see such a great variety of birds.
Lovely photographs of the Lesser Redpoll and the beautiful Barn Owl.
All the best Jan
I love the texture of the feathers in your repoll and linnet images.
Wonderful shots.
Phil - love the barn owl. And since I am not about to read 885 (!) pages about migration, I am so glad I have you as one of my blogging buddies!
Hello Phil.
Interesting post. The photo of Barn Owl is wonderful. What a beautiful bird!
Hi Phil stopping back to say thank you for linking up your post. I would love to see the Barn owl in the wild. Great birds and photos. Enjoy your weekend.
Some great looking birds as usual Phil. Difficult to beat a Barn Owl, but I have soft spots for both the Linnet and Lesser Redpoll.
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