As soon as I saw the wind was going easterlies during the week I booked time of work and travelled back down to Whitburn. John and Greame had been ringing at the Obs all week and got a barred wabler on Saturday. Ringing was generally slow with the usual common migrants trapped. Well friday morning came around and was a rather misty wet morning. Nets were opened before dark and all I could do was hope that the thrushes that were passing over in their hundreds would drop into the mound. Trapping soon started with Song thrushes and Redwings. The morning was slow going with only a dozen birds trapped in six hours, however the next six hours were great! The common migrants started to arrive with a few brambling, robins and redstarts trapped.
The star bird of the day was a great grey shrike that showed well after release. Later in the afternoon a Belgium ringed robin was trapped. I could not wait to see what tomorrow morning would bring.
Great grey shrike (c) Ian Mills
Unlike Friday, today started manic, lots of thrushes and robins, followed by chaffinch, siskin, bramblings and a whinchat. I got a call that a red breasted flycatcher had been found in the southern area of the coastal park which meant we might get a good bird soon. I didnt have to wait long before one turned up in one of the nets! By about 13:00 we had trapped about 130 birds which was the best catch at the Obs. In the afternoon I got a call that a pallas' grasshopper warbler had been found in Whitburn village. I therefore closed nets and headed over to the site. I put a few nets up and we had a few organised flushes which only produced 6 dunnock and 2 robins.
Red breasted flycatcher (c) Ian Mills
What will tomorrow bring?
