Migration Times (1 Viewer)

I found this extremley helpful that was posted by Stevie Evans but was lost in the crash luckliy i saved it.


Migrants & approx order of arrival here are:-
MARCH
Early March - LBBGull influx & singing Chiffchaffs, strong MPipit & PWag passage.
Mid March - Sand Martin, Wheatear & Ouzel
End of 3rd week - Sandwich Tern, many Ruddy Ducks return, Tree pipits on territory.
Last few days - White wag & Swallow (now annual in March) very often Garganey, Black necked Grebe, Blackcap & Willow Warbler.

APRiL
1st week April - Osprey, Marsh Harrier, LRPlover, Ruff,
2nd week - House Martin, Yellow Wag, Redstart,
Mid April - Swifts(17th/19th - 10 year ago it was Allways 7th/9th May) Cuckoo, Grasshopper Warbler, (Corncrake 16th last year) Whimbrel, Green Sand, Garden Warbler,
End of 3rd week , Wood Warbler, CommonSand, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, PiedFlycatcher (often against a backdrop of snow in an upland oak wood) Common Whitethroat.
Last week - Whinchat, Greenshank, Arctic Skua, Little Gull, Common & Arctic Terns, Manxies.

MAY
1st week May - Spotted Flycatcher (few April birds), Little Egret, Little & Temminck’s stint, Little tern,
Mid May - Nightjar (12th onward) Dotterel (scarce), Turtle Dove (scarce/ rare breeder)
End of 3rd week - Quail
Last week May - Honey Buzzard, Hobby,

:brains:

Interesting that there's a few differences even over the short distance between Durham and Northumberland, here's the dates I'd consider typical:

Ruff 1st January (they winter here!)

LBBGull early March
singing Chiffchaffs 12th March
Wheatear 18th March
Sand Martin 25th March
Ring Ouzel 25th March
Black necked Grebe 25th March
Osprey 28th March
White Wag 28th March
Sandwich Tern 29th March

Garganey 5th April
Blackcap (new arrivals) 5th April
LRPlover 10th April
Swallow 10th April
Yellow Wag 14th April
Willow Warbler 14th April
Whimbrel 17th April
House Martin 17th April
Common Sand 20th April
Tree Pipit 20th April
Redstart 20th April
Grasshopper Warbler 20th April
Sedge Warbler 20th April
Pied Flycatcher 20th April
Wood Warbler 25th April
Lesser Whitethroat 27th April
Common Whitethroat 27th April
Reed Warbler 28th April

Whinchat 2nd May
Garden Warbler 2nd May
Cuckoo 2nd May
Marsh Harrier 5th May
Swift 7th May
Spotted Flycatcher 10th May
Nightjar 18th May

You can probably expect things to be quite a bit earlier in southwest England, a bit later in northeast Scotland.

Yo Nutcracker, and usually several days later over here in the southwest of the county but ? west coast (English Solway) can be earlier than your dates by a couple of days.

Stewart

B

Stewart J. said:

Yo Nutcracker, and usually several days later over here in the southwest of the county but ? west coast (English Solway) can be earlier than your dates by a couple of days.

Stewart

B

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Hi Stewart,

There's some birds (maybe most?) usually arrive in the west of Northumbs well before they get to the coast - best example is Sand Martin, Kielder Reservoir usually gets the first, they don't get to the sea-fret-bound east coast until about 10th April, two weeks after they get in to Kielder.

What's even more conspicuous is that Sand Martins are usually into west and central Scotland (Perthshire, etc) a week before they get to Kielder. They very definitely travel up the west coast first.

Couple of years ago, I went on a w/e birding trip to Scotland in late April, east coast to west and back; the trees around Ullapool were a good 3 weeks ahead of the Northumbs and E Scot coasts, so its not too surprising the summer migrants should do the same

7th of May for Swifts? Are you sure, that is a bit late isn't it?

Jake Apps said:

7th of May for Swifts? Are you sure, that is a bit late isn't it?

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It's normal up here - spring comes late to the North Sea coast north of Flamborough (where the North Sea deepens from 15-30m deep, to 60m deep). There's a large pool of cold water (7°C at the moment) out there. It keeps us from freezing very much in the winter, but it also takes an awful long time to warm up in the spring, it is still only 8° in April and 9° in May.

Yo Nutcracker, your perfectly correct re-west Scotland, can remember many years ago when the NTBC trips (inc private ones) went to Loch Ken, Murrays Monument areas, always got our first migrants well before the east coast. Gulf stream influence?

Stewart