Atlas listing (1 Viewer)

[joannec]

Well, I had a merlin zip past me on my home patch today! Entered it as a roving record.

 

[Capercaillie71]

Anyone else have experience of finch flocks and trying to count numbers?

I finally got round to doing my first tetrad of the winter today (NJ40M) and the finch flock issue was a significant factor.

I had spoken to the landowner of a large part of this tetrad beforehand. As he was very enthusiastic about birds it made things a lot easier as I felt happier wandering across fields and into odd corners than I would have done otherwise.

I started off across a stubble field and soon put up seven skylarks and a couple of meadow pipits. A bit further on a flock of Linnets flew up from the ground. I photographed this flock and counted it later (94 birds). A pond at the bottom of the hill held 41 Mallards, 1 Moorhen and a single female goosander.

Things got more complicated as small numbers of yellowhammers started to fly up from the ground and into shrubs at the edge of the field. Closer inspection showed a mixture of yellowhammers, reed buntings, greenfinches and linnets in among the shrubs. The Linnets flew up into a tree in one group which made things easier, but only some of the other birds were visible at any one time and they were constantly on the move. I could only very roughly estimate about 15 Yellowhammers, 5 reed buntings and 3 greenfinches.

Shortly after I ran into a flock of chaffinches. Again they were constantly on the move in small groups between a row of trees and feeding on the adjacent field. I estimated 50 but it could have been more. There were bramblings amongst them - I saw 8 for sure but estimated 10.

I came across a suspiciously similar sized flock of chaffinches not far away 5-10 minutes later, feeding in a grass field. However, there were only one or two bramblings with them and about 10 goldfinches, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt as a different flock.

My route took me up onto the top of a low heathery hill which was devoid of birds apart from a couple of buzzards. Coming down the other side I passed through a small forestry plantation, with the obligatory small mixed flocks of coal tits and goldcrests high in the canopy (more guesswork on numbers!). At the bottom of the hill there were two bullfinches in a young plantation and two birds flew over calling loudly, landing in the trees behind - I'm fairly sure they were crossbills of some sort but the call wasn't a typical one.

Returning to farmland I encountered yet another flock of about fifty chaffinches - again moving through the trees around me and there could easily have been more. A few Yellowhammers and greenfinches were with them and then a small group of about 8 redpolls appeared. They were very flighty and I didn't get a good look at them. Their wingbars appeared fairly pale, but they had to go down as common/lesser.

The final challenge was a distant flock of 380 mixed rooks and jackdaws. Counted from photos but the split between the species was an educated guess.

The final count was 31 species in two hours.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

I have done a couple of fairly rural Fylde tetrads over the weekend, although one does have a junction of the M55 slap bang in the middle of it. That tetrad was headlined by a Green Sandpiper and half a dozen Tree Sparrows. The other included 51 Linnet in a stubble field. Both had two or three Buzzards in them, which would have been unthinkable not that long ago.

Stephen.

 

[The Commodore]

Hi all. Did tetrad SP63E this afternoon. It's an ordinary bit of Buckinghamshire but did see a Helmeted Guineafowl in a field a good half mile from any dwelling. It was late afternoon and it eventually went into a wood presumably to roost. Are these birds feral nowadays?

 

[markgrubb]

I helped again today with a Borders Blitz weekend. 5 of us completed 15 tetrads off the beaten track. It was hard going on hilly grassland/heather moor-it took me half an hour to walk in to my first tetrad. All 5 of us walked in to a pair of tetrads heading from north to south with a road a mile or so at either end from where we entered/exited the tetrads. I only managed 9 and 4 species. Highlight was 4 ravens playing together and quarking noisily in the updraft on a hillside. A woodcock was nice. Sometime surprises turn up. I reached a ruin surrouded by a tiny shelter belt of trees high on the moors- I heard a pee-eu and 7 bullfinches came in to view, the only passerines seen other than the ubiquitous hardy wren. Some good birds were found despite the unpromising terrain. 3 woodcock, dipper, barn owl and a surprise green woodpecker and perhaps even more surprisingly a blackcap-the last 2 at lower level and totally unexpected

A good hard walk on a crisp December day

 

[Surreybirder]

Hi all. Did tetrad SP63E this afternoon. It's an ordinary bit of Buckinghamshire but did see a Helmeted Guineafowl in a field a good half mile from any dwelling. It was late afternoon and it eventually went into a wood presumably to roost. Are these birds feral nowadays?

I think that they may be introduced by game keepers to act as 'sentries'. We have a private wood near us where I've seen up to a dozen of the birds and they do wander. They can also be very noisy!
Ken

 

[Surreybirder]

I was lucky that my day off coincided (for once) with clear skies and no wind. I took the chance to do TQ34V, which is a very up-market housing estate surrounded by woodland. There were quite a few 'singing' nuthatches and a singing goldcrest. Highlight was a marsh tit. No real surprises but enjoyable.
Ken

 

[Apodemus]

Only had a handful of birds on one of my tetrads on Sunday. Two of these were Golden eagles though, so I'm glad I went. Quite a few woodcock around too.

Mike

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Done a couple of tetrads in the good weather this weekend. Yesterday at Lea a Peregrine was the highlight. Today at Great Eccleston 3 Green Sands, c500 Pinks, 10 Tree Sparrows and 4 Goosander.

Stephen.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Bitterly cold atlasing at St Michaels yesterday. Quite rewarding though with Goosander, Buzzard, Jay and a couple of Sparrowhawks. I have noticed more Meadow Pipits wintering in the Fylde this year, perhaps because of the amounts of floods.

Stephen.

 

[Surreybirder]

Full marks for persistence, Stephen. We've had quite a bit of snow here and I don't think it reached 0 deg C today.
It did mean that some birds were more approachable than usual.
(see below)
Ken

 

[teamsaint]

Is there any way of downloading a list of birds you have seen in the Atlas from the website?

Just noticed on the BirdTrack website that there is a box saying I have seen 78 species in the Atlas. Not sure how to see a list of them but not a bad total for 4 inland tetrads, with a couple more visits still to do for my latest tetrad and one for one of my original ones which I need to do tommorow!

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Presumably due to hard weather a tetrad by the Lancaster Canal today was enlivened by a Little Egret.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

I did an urban Blackpool tetrad with quite a bit of green space and was delighted to get a Black Redstart and a Stonechat in one area of rough ground.

I am avoiding rural tetrads at present to avoid unnecessary disturbance. Is there likely to be a moratorium on survey work if the freeze continues?

Stephen

 

[joannec]

Survey day yesterday was not disappointing despite the early fog, 36 species in my farmland and woodland tetrad in East Sussex. I was very pleased to see good numbers of common birds after being snowed in for over a week in mid Sussex. Over 100 fieldfare were counted and there are still holly berries for them and the redwing. Having obtained permission to divert from the footpaths and knowing there was a lake I headed for that, only to be disappointed as the only birds there were two cormorants on the still partly frozen water. Three buzzards was an expected number for the tetrad. More nuthatches, green woodpeckers and linnets then expected but the biggest surprise was a singing blackcap. Now this poses a dilemma..... ..do I record this breeding code knowing that this particular blackcap will almost certainly NOT be breeding in Sussex but somewhere further north?

 

[Dawn Balmer]

Hi

There is no need to add breeding evidence codes to your winter records unless you come across genuine breeding attempts such as early Crossbills, Collared Doves, Woodpigeons etc.

Breeding codes are used in the breeding season for birds in suitable breeding habitat. We need a big push on recording breeding evidence come the spring as there are a lot of records submitted with breeding evidence.

Glad you had a good visit. I'm going to visit my tetrads in the Norfolk Fens next week.

Dawn

 

[joannec]

Hi

Breeding codes are used in the breeding season for birds in suitable breeding habitat.
Dawn

As I thought, Dawn, but he was in a suitable wood.

BTW Dawn: We met a few years ago when you led a training session for the BBS at Plumpton College in Sussex. :t: You had all those wings with you that we had to ID.

 

[Dawn Balmer]

Hi

But this would be a very unusual time of year for a Blackcap to be breeding. Some other species are known to breed early eg Crossbill so a breeding code may be applicable. I think for Blackcap in winter there should be no breeding code.

Dawn

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Lovely weather today so got out and did a couple of tetrads. The first included a large stretch along the side of the Wyre at Great Eccleston - Little Grebes, Goosanders and Reed Buntings. Lots of Pinkfeet moving between feeding grounds but nothing among them. Later a tetrad near Kirkham where six Stock Doves were the highlight.

Tomorrow looks set equally fair so hope to get a further tetrad in after 'dad's taxi' duties...

Stephen.

 

[Stewart J.]

Managed one tetrad in the Wark forest this afternoon, deep frozen rutted snow on forestry roads wouldn't allow vehicular access to another TTV.

Lovely sunny afternoon, highlights being Crossbills including males songflighting and suprising numbers of singing and squabbling Siskins, little else of note.

Stewart