Spring migration kicks up a gear!

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. The main reason can be put down to the fact that there has just been so much going on, particularly in the Bird world!

The first couple weeks of April were just awful and the weather was too cold and windy for anything to migrate far enough into the country into it's normal summer breeding grounds, however after the last two weeks or so's mild and sunny weather, the migrants have started to flood in, fast and in big numbers. I've never seen such an obvious and evident migration of Birds taking place in such a short space of time.

For example take the Hirundine family (Swallows, Martins and Swifts). If we look at Sand martins, i normally see my first of the year each year around 15-20th March and just single birds. This year because of the hold back due to the weather conditions, i saw my first at the start of April and this was c35 birds at once.

In the last couple of weeks, as things have started to pour in from Africa and Europe, i have tried to get out as much as possible to try and witness the movement when i can. This has meant on my days off cycling out to the river, spending time in the garden before and after college (afterall even if you can't get out, your back yard can still be a great place to do a bit of visible migration spotting!), and spending time on the reserve before and after work. Sometimes even doing a bit of cheeky spotting during lunch breaks at work haha

So i have spent good amounts of time in various places, but mostly the River Ribble, Brockholes nature reserve and at Home.

Significant sightings i have made in the last two weeks include:

River Ribble: A good few White wagtails and many Northern Wheatears, probably numbering about 40-50 (the most i've ever seen at once), returning singing warblers such as Willow warblers, Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and Blackcaps.

Brockholes: Arctic terns (7 were at the reserve yesterday and gave awesome views, even better than views i've had at breeding grounds in the past!), Little ringed plovers, lovely male Yellow wagtail, c10 Northern Wheatears and many Hirundines and Warblers returning.

Garden: 6 Siskin still frequent the feeders, the pair of Bullfinch show themselves every morning, 2 Nuthatch are frequent to the fat feeders.

Also it looks as the insect world is also beginning to wake up (albeit much later than normal), with recent insect records including: Peacock butterfly in the garden, 5 Small-tortoiseshell and 2 Comma by the Ribble, and plenty of Bees, Hoverflies and Bee-flies beginning to show up in the garden.

Below are a few random pics from the last week or so. Sorry again for the lack of togetherness of posts recently, hopefully in the next few weeks as i'm off on a few trips i'll have a few more better constructed posts to put up, until then....

2 Wheatear and 3 Sand martins at Brockholes - 15-04-13

White wagtail (montage) - Ribble - 15-04-13

Male and Female Bullfinches - Garden - 21-04-13

Arctic tern - Brockholes - 21-04-13

Arctic tern - Brockholes - 21-04-13

2 Arctic tern - Brockholes - 21-04-13

Garden finches

Late March / Early April is always a good time of year for finches in the garden.

Finches are a small family of birds from the Passerine group.

At this time of year we always see good numbers of Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Chaffinches and the odd Bullfinch.

However what Late March / Early April is best known for in the garden is the eruption of Siskins into the garden. This year we have seen the most with around c6/7 seen/heard at once.

Lesser Redpoll - Garden - 10/04/13

Lesser Redpoll - Garden - 10/04/13

Even rarer in the garden, and this has only occurred once before about 3 years ago, another small finch called a Redpoll (Lesser), which travels round with Siskins on migration at this time of year, might venture into the garden also and this happened the last two days. Gorgeous birds and a real treat to see from your kitchen.

Spring is here!

Spring is finally upon us.

In the last week, i have heard my first Chiffchaffs, seen a pair of Little ringed plovers and even an Osprey after having all arrived back from Africa.

I have also seen 2 Comma butterflies and several Bees, my first of the year.

The Osprey was by far the highlight though as you might expect.

I have seen a few Ospreys before in previous years but as you can imagine, as they are such a great bird anytime seeing an Osprey is a real treat.

Where i work, the River Ribble there is infamously known for being a great place to see migrating Ospreys in Spring annually. They are a bit later passing this year because of the frosty spell a couple of weeks ago, but so far c5 have been seen already.

I was told about one that had been seen on the morning of my sighting, so before work (luckily i had a couple hours spare before starting my shift) i plonked myself by the river and started scanning the skies, within half an hour i spotted it. Had great views of the bird going up and down the river. I then also saw it again at Lunchtime over the main lake.

 

Osprey - River Ribble - 5th April '13

Things are warming up and the migrants are now flooding in, can't wait to see my first Hirundines and local spring scarcities, should be an exciting couple of weeks to come :-)