17th September

All these south westerlies and it continues to be slow going with 2 chaffinch, and singles of blackcap, dunnock, blue tit and great tit.

14th and 16th September

The southwesterly winds continue and only 6 birds ringed with 2 robins and singles of blackcap, whitethroat, chiffchaff and willow warbler.

Only a single wren was ringed on the 16th.

A very quiet week

John was ringing at the Obs for a few hours on a couple of days this week with only a handful of goldcrests and chiffchaffs ringed.  I headed down there myself today hoping to catch one or two birds given the winds were westerly overnight. Ringing all day was slow but we cracked double fingers with the highlight of the day being a juvenile male sparrowhawk being trapped.  Other birds ringed included a blackbird, magpie, chiffchaff, willow warbler, goldcrest, greenfinch, two great tits and two chaffinch, retraps included a robin, chiffchaff, blackcap, willow warbler and goldfinch.

(c) Adrian George

Not surprisingly with all the westerly winds we have been experiencing, an American golden plover was found on Whitburn Steel by Ian Mills.  I did wait until the afternoon to go and twitch the bird, something I  dont often do these days.  It was a good adult but hard to locate in a flock of several hundred Eurasian golden plover.  Thanks Dave F for the loan of your scope.

First day back at Whitburn - 31.08.11

My first day back at Whitburn was a rather slow afternoon with only two swallows and a single goldcrest and robin ringed.

The weather looks good going easterly for a day or so, fingers crossed for a some good birds this weekend.

Returning

After over a year working in northern Scotland I am returning to Newcastle and able to help John with the running of the bird ringing at Souter Bird Obs. I have missed the ringing there, although ringing in Scotland this summer was amazing with several broods of raptors being ringed. I cant wait for the autumn migration!!

Here are a few pics of the birds ringed in Scotland.

Male Merlin (c) Katie Lloyd

Me with a large Osprey chick (c) Adrian George

2 Male Peregrines (c) Adrian George

10th October

The day started as yesterday did with lots of thrushes being trapped. A woodcock was trapped at dawn and was the first one seen at the coastal park this autumn. The usual migrants were present as well as several blackcaps and a single garden warbler. The red-breasted flycatcher was retrapped in the afternoon. The total number of birds ringed today was 125.

An excellent few days ringing at Whitburn with approximately 320 birds trapped. Thanks to Walter for all your help over the weekend and Peter for cooking breakfast and making cups of tea. Thanks to John, Paul and Steve for clearing a number of new net rides in the big mound which were catching very well.

Awesome!!

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?