Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Fieldfare at Spurn yesterday. Late spring migrant or returning autumn bird? Please cast your vote!
CB
CB
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Autumn already? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Cheshire Birder
- Start date
Stephen Dunstan
Registered User
Well who knows. But when I did Out Skerries last June I saw Song Thrush, Ring Ouzel and Fieldfare they were all migrants and I assumed they were still heading north.
Stephen
Stephen
jpoyner
Well-known member
Late spring migrant, lets be positive! Don't forget they're a rare breeder in Scotland anyway so some of them hang about.....(or at least they used to be)!
Farnboro John
Well-known member
Early returner/failed breeder, like these Nearctic waders all over the place.
John
John
Simon Wates
Well-known member
Its mid-June - I'm expecting the first returning Green Sandpipers all the way down here, just as the weather is getting hot!
I thought Fieldfares would have multi-broods and try at least twice.
What if the bird is/was sick and has stayed on somewhere not too far undetected?
What if the bird is/was sick and has stayed on somewhere not too far undetected?
Simon Wates
Well-known member
Today, first day of the summer - 2 Green Sandpipers on inland rivers in the Baixo Alentejo, near Castro Verde
Swannery Steve
Well-known member
Whats all this about the summer solstice being the first day of summer! Surely it's mid-summer, just as the winter solstice is mid-winter, the autumn equinox is mid-autumn and the vernal equinox is mid-spring.
Discuss...
Steve.
Simon Wates
Well-known member
I always see that the natural world doesn't agree with our take on the seasons - especially down here.
It wasn't long ago that children in Portugal were taught that snow comes at Christmas and Swallows return in the spring - couldn't be further from the truth down here where we have a Mediterranean climate.
I wasn't being serious about the "first day of summer" - just highlighting the typical early return of wintering Green Sandpipers - it was only days ago that some Sanderling were still passing north round here. Nothings set in stone
There are so many definitions of the seasons! The best I have heard (maybe it was even on here?) was the seasons as applied to birds:
April-May Spring migration (2 months)
June-July Summer for breeding (2 months)
August-October Autumn migration (3 months)
November-March Winter (5 months!)
However, these dates are only really applicable in the UK and even here you could argue that early June is still spring migration and that early November is still autumn migration.
Andy M.
April-May Spring migration (2 months)
June-July Summer for breeding (2 months)
August-October Autumn migration (3 months)
November-March Winter (5 months!)
However, these dates are only really applicable in the UK and even here you could argue that early June is still spring migration and that early November is still autumn migration.
Andy M.
Swannery Steve
Well-known member
I always see that the natural world doesn't agree with our take on the seasons - especially down here.
It wasn't long ago that children in Portugal were taught that snow comes at Christmas and Swallows return in the spring - couldn't be further from the truth down here where we have a Mediterranean climate.
I wasn't being serious about the "first day of summer" - just highlighting the typical early return of wintering Green Sandpipers - it was only days ago that some Sanderling were still passing north round here. Nothings set in stone
Totally agree that 'bird seasons' are different from ours. It can often be tricky to tell which way waders in particular are headed come mid-June. When it comes to official seasons though I prefer to stick with the old pagan/celtic views
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
I must admit, as a UK birder, there only seems to be three seasons. Spring, when stuff is moving north, which overlaps with Autumn, when stuff starts to move south again, and Winter. Thinking about it, that sums up the UK's year, even if you're not a birder. The only places that have 4 birding season's are the tropics. Hot - with non-breeding species arriving. Hot - with non-breeding species hanging around. Hot - with non-breeding species departing, and Hot - with whatever's left.
Chris
Chris
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
2 Waxwings near Edinburgh today - surely another sign of the crazy seasons!!
CB
CB
DaveN
Derwent Valley Birder
Maybe they escaped from Edinburgh Zoo together with the Steller's Sea Eagle.
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Green Sandpipers and Whimbrel passing through Cheshire in the last few days.
CB
CB
Riverside CP, Medway, Kent this evening.
There has certainly been a change in the birds present as I'd seen nothing on the wader front but Oystercatchers for the last couple of weeks!:
3 x Greenshank (one colour-ringed which I've submitted).
10 x Redshank
2 x Avocet (although they had 2 young - so not migrants)
1 x Blackwit
1 x Garden Warbler (my first for the patch)
1 x Chiff
2 x Swift
1 x Cuckoo
1 x Turtle Dove
5 x Swallow
Andy M.
There has certainly been a change in the birds present as I'd seen nothing on the wader front but Oystercatchers for the last couple of weeks!:
3 x Greenshank (one colour-ringed which I've submitted).
10 x Redshank
2 x Avocet (although they had 2 young - so not migrants)
1 x Blackwit
1 x Garden Warbler (my first for the patch)
1 x Chiff
2 x Swift
1 x Cuckoo
1 x Turtle Dove
5 x Swallow
Andy M.
Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Good numbers of Green Sands on the move in Cheshire
CB
CB
