After Monday's abortive Bempton jaunt, it's been back to local birds each morning. Considering the humongous passage over Spurn yesterday, very little turned up over here.
Though numbers of common birds around Rishton have been similar, I reckon there is a turnover of birds around the reservoir. The eight Pied Wagtails this morning were nearly all juveniles, none of he adults of the previous days. The Black-headed Gull flock numbered 255 this-morning and was nearly all adults whereas a couple of days ago, around 50 juveniles were present. Mallard numbers have reached peaks of 72 on Wednesday and 113 today - the highest number I've seen there since 2002.
A largish flock (35+) of Swallows moved over the reservoir heading south but House Martins are still feeding nestlings in the village.
There were still Willow Warblers about on Wednesday and I had two Chiffchafffs, one in the Norden Valley and one giving a rather strident 'swee' call in my garden. On Thursday I was up on t'moors and had over 150 Mipits overhead as well as a couple of Wheatears along one of the dry stone walls.
We'll just have to keep an eye to the skies as the days progress - the promised westerlies have not materialised and so we'll have to wait a little longer for a chance of seeing Leach's Petrels on the coast. However I think it'll be a long time till we get another seabird on the reservoir like this Leach's Petrel from four years ago. (http://davesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/time-for-quick-leachs.html)
Though numbers of common birds around Rishton have been similar, I reckon there is a turnover of birds around the reservoir. The eight Pied Wagtails this morning were nearly all juveniles, none of he adults of the previous days. The Black-headed Gull flock numbered 255 this-morning and was nearly all adults whereas a couple of days ago, around 50 juveniles were present. Mallard numbers have reached peaks of 72 on Wednesday and 113 today - the highest number I've seen there since 2002.
A largish flock (35+) of Swallows moved over the reservoir heading south but House Martins are still feeding nestlings in the village.
There were still Willow Warblers about on Wednesday and I had two Chiffchafffs, one in the Norden Valley and one giving a rather strident 'swee' call in my garden. On Thursday I was up on t'moors and had over 150 Mipits overhead as well as a couple of Wheatears along one of the dry stone walls.
We'll just have to keep an eye to the skies as the days progress - the promised westerlies have not materialised and so we'll have to wait a little longer for a chance of seeing Leach's Petrels on the coast. However I think it'll be a long time till we get another seabird on the reservoir like this Leach's Petrel from four years ago. (http://davesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/time-for-quick-leachs.html)
Update, Saturday 11th, 7am
This morning, Mallard numbers had increased again to 136. There was a flock of around 50 Linnets on the far bank with a few Meadow Pipits and around ten Pied Wagtails. Most surprising was a Dunlin feeding with them! Several Meadow Pipits were moving south overhead, some below the cloud, others invisible.
Just before the next band of rain arrived, a male Blackcap chacked and showed itself in the brambles next to the promenade but apart from several Robins, other passerines were quiet.
Just before the next band of rain arrived, a male Blackcap chacked and showed itself in the brambles next to the promenade but apart from several Robins, other passerines were quiet.
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