17th October 2014

Weather : S force 2/3, later SE, sunny
A very quiet start to the morning with surprisingly no thrushes at all, even the locally bred Blackbirds could not be found, there were however about 4 Goldcrests calling and the two Wheatears from yesterday were still there, to be joined later by a new Greenland bird.

Retrapped birds ringed last month (left), and in 2007 (right) in both photos

A Rock Pipit was trapped to be ringed, only the third this year (below,CJ), followed later in the morning by 2 more which were retraps, one of which was ringed a month ago as a bird born this year and the other amazingly ringed at Hilbre in October 2007 see right, AEH). This is almost a longevity record for Rock Pipit in Britain and even more surprising as it has never been retrapped here since. Rock Pipit sightings peak in October at Hilbre, with maybe 1 or 2 staying for the winter, but most seem to be passage birds at this time and moving on before too long. We have no way of knowing whether this bird has avoided the potter traps these last seven autumns, or is returning for the first time, either way it is very interesting evidence towards an understanding of Rock Pipit movements locally.

As the sun came out mid-morning a few things started to happen, a Reed Bunting came down near the obs (left,CJ), Skylarks again began passing over, about 30, also a dozen or so Starlings did likewise and then another highlight of the morning came with the arrival of  3 House Sparrows from the west, landing in the trees in front of the 'heli' trap and became the first of this scarce Hilbre species to be ringed this year (below, CJ). Finches only came through late in the morning with 30 Goldfinches, 8 Greenfinches and a single Chaffinch, while Meadow Pipits were just a very small trickle passing through today. A brief view of a Song Thrush in the obs garden at midday became the first and only thrush of any kind seen today.

House Sparrow (CJ)

 














  The Brent were hard to find, 3 on the east tide edge (right with a Bar-tailed Godwit, AEH) and another 4 elsewhere, 3 Little Egrets and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits were in the east gutter, 55 Sanderling flew west over the sea, and Redshank numbers were up with 115 counted today. To finish off a good day, later in the afternoon 2 twite flew over the area of the lookout whilst calling. Twite are definitely a less than an annual record at Hilbre.
Ringed : 3 House Sparrows, 1 Greenland Wheatear, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Wren.  [ 930-37 ]
(DB,AEH,CJ,CJW et al)