There was no time for ringing on Saturday, the visit to Cockerham was to drop a little extra seed in the ringing area only. It was a pity then that views of both a juvenile Marsh Harrier and a male Hen Harrier had been brief but decisive. The Marsh Harrier circled over fields and a maize crop before drifting south while the Hen Harrier followed a line of ditches from which flew a dozen Mallards and 20 or more Teal at the arrival of the predator.
Hen Harrier
Sunday dawned at 7° degrees with a fine mist and a definite autumnal nip to the air. This morning I swopped the baseball cap for a woolly bobble hat when winter felt too close for comfort.
Misty Sunday
As I drove into the ringing site a Buzzard flew out of the trees where it had probably spent the night out of harm’s way. That Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk that unsuccessfully broke up a flock of Linnets were the only raptors seen today during three hours of watching in between tending nets and ringing a few birds. The migrant harriers of Saturday had clearly been the customary “one day wonders” but hopefully a sign of successful breeding from whence they came.
I keep picking up new Reed Warblers here, with another two today, both birds of the year, lately fledged but already showing signs of moulting body feathers; the one below replacing head feathers. That makes 18 Reed Warblers captured here since July.
Juvenile Reed Warbler
A Whitethroat came as a nice surprise while the main target of Linnets produced 9 more new ones to make 38 Linnets ringed here in August. Thirty two of the Linnets have been juveniles and just 6 adults.
Whitethroat - first year/juvenile
A number of the juvenile Linnets show signs of their partial post-juvenile moult in replacing their median coverts while other individuals showed no signs of yet doing so.
Linnet - juvenile wing moult
Linnet - juvenile no wing moult
Linnet - juvenile/first summer
Eyes peeled for harriers meant that not much was missed on the birding side - I hope.
So other birds seen equalled 125 Linnet, 30+ Goldfinch, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Robin 2 House Sparrow, 14 Curlew, 40 Greylag, 15 Swallow.
Back soon. Don't go away.
That was a lot of birds seen Phil and gret shots. Thanks for sharing and had a great week ahead.
ReplyDeleteThe nights are drawing in aren't they, Autumn is definitely knocking on the door!
ReplyDeleteAlways nice to see the birds but I liked the misty Sunday picture too.
Enjoy the week ahead, can you believe it's September on Wednesday!
All the best Jan
Nice to see you keeping busy Phil. Good pictures. Take care.
ReplyDeleteMike.
Great photos, Phil. I'm always fascinated by your posts - you share birds we never see here, which is fascinating to me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing at https://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2021/08/smells-good-in-kitchen.html
I agree with NCSue - I love seeing birds on your blog that I never see over here in my corner of the world.
ReplyDeleteFabulous photos as always, Phil.
Well done, a lovely set of photos. We have hardly seen summer this year and the leaves are already dropping!! Sorry I am not keeping up with blogs and comments just so much going on. Lots to do in the garden and I have not had time to process photos that I have taken, I am getting backlogged!!
ReplyDeleteHope all is well, take care, Diane
Hi Phil! :) The closeups of the wings are beautiful. I love sky photo...7 sounds about right here too, I had to pull out my winter toque some mornings when I walked the pups!!
ReplyDeletePhil - we had a light frost overnight ... love it! Glad you are getting some action during your ringing sessions. And I am not going anywhere - always enjoy your posts!
ReplyDelete