Local Early Autumn Birding

As we get into Autumn my local patch, Marcle Ridge, Herefordshire, really starts coming into its own being well situated and with good habitat for both observing visible diurnal migration (vismig) as well as migrant birds which have dropped in during their migration. 

South-bound passage on the ridge starts in late July, often featuring typical early migrants such as Swift, Sand Martin and Tree Pipit, though usually in fairly low numbers.  

The conditions on the morning of the 13th of August were looking good for vismig with southerly winds and a little cloud - by 07:00 around 15 Tree Pipits had flown through. Then, around 07:15, Tree Pipits started streaming through in flocks of 5-8 birds, crossing the end of the ridge and by 08:30 I had counted a total of 110 Tree Pipits, the highest number ever recorded moving through an inland site anywhere in Britain! 

For context, usual numbers moving through Marcle Ridge at this time of year is around 5!

In addition to Tree Pipits another vismig highlight from the ridge recently was when a group of 5 Spotted Flycatcher 'dropped' out of the sky, briefly landed on a branch of dead tree and then carried on again - in just a few days time, these birds could be catching flies in a sub-Saharan African rainforest! 

Hirundines have started to move now as well, the totals from the past few weeks are 165 Swallow, 195 House Martin and 45 Sand Martin. It was also great to see 3 Yellow Wagtail (the first I've seen migrating this year) and a Little Ringed Plover, an odd sight as it flew over the pasture fields and woodlands of the Much Marcle area!

At this time of year, it's always having a quick look at any mixed flock of tits you might encounter, as quite often warblers will be with them. This time of year is peak passage period for Willow Warbler as birds begin to move south to their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past few weeks I've seen a total of 9 Willow Warblers on Marcle Ridge, all of which have been juvenile birds, whose plumage is a distinctive lemon-yellow colour, more obvious in real life than in a photo! 

Other interesting migrants which have dropped in overnight at Marcle Ridge in the past few weeks include 14 Stonechat, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 3 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Whinchat and 1 Redstart.

 

Its interesting to see how quickly migrants move on; one morning the ridge had quite a few migrants including many Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and a few Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat. The next morning, there was just 1 Willow Warbler! A lot of these passerine migrate much quicker than we might think, it's certainly possible that some of those birds will have reached sub-Saharan Africa in three or four nights.

Something I've really been enjoying recently is recording nocturnal migration (nocmig) over my garden using an audio recorder. Many bird species migrate at night... it would be quicker to list the ones that don't! 

The aim is to record and identify any vocalisations that a migrating bird might make as it passes over, thus giving you a picture of what is migrating without needing to stay up all night! 

To look for calls I load the audio into a computer program and scan the sonogram, looking for any squiggles in the grey that might be a call. 

The sonogram above is of a Green Sandpiper call (the photo is of a one at Slimbridge) recorded in the early hours of the morning as the bird flew over. One of the joys of nocmig is recording a species that just wouldn't be seen in that area normally - waders are a real scarcity in my local area, so to know that a Green Sandpiper flew over my garden was rather special. 

On a morning visit to the Hill Court Farm Reserve, my nearest wetland site, I rounded a bend to see 2 Tawny Owls flying up the track towards me! After a little bit of searching, I found this one, perched up in the lower branches of an Oak - it stayed there for quite a while, before gliding off silently further into the wood. Well that would be the poetic way of saying it, it didn't really do that, rather it flew off, attempted to perch again, promptly fell off and then was chased away by two very angry Blackbirds! 

Straying off the topic of birds somewhat...

Whilst vismiging on Marcle Ridge one morning, I saw a small butterfly flitting low over the pea field, before dropping down. To my surprise, it turned out to be a Purple Hairstreak! Purple Hairstreaks are notoriously difficult to see, as they spend a lot of their time high up in the canopy of Oaks and rarely come down lower. What this individual was doing on Marcle Ridge with no suitable breeding habitat nearby and at 660ft elevation beats me! 

I find this early stage of Autumn rather exciting; the overcast, misty mornings, Hawthorn berries ripening, leaves starting to turn - the season is changing into one of the most exciting time in the birding calendar. Not long now before it really kicks off!