Little beauty !

With so many wild bird cover strips now at Buckton, buntings and finches have been in adundance this autumn and so it was always a possibility that something a little rarer may turn up, particularly in good arrival conditions.

Having said that, this cracking first year Little Bunting was a nice surprise and a change from Robins !

Foreigners in the fall

With such a large number of migrants arriving it was pleasant to catch three birds previously ringed overseas, a Robin from Sweden (CK90145 Stockholm ring) and a Reed Warbler and Goldcrest from Norway (EC66302, AC8683 Stavanger rings). Collectively the recapture of these three individuals leaves no doubt as to the origin of the arrivals.

A Great Grey day !

A dream day ! With settled weather in Scandinavia caused by a large high pressure system the conditions were perfect for an overnight departure of migrants that would get drifted slightly off course in the NE winds and head directly over the North Sea towards the UK East Coast. If conditions here had been equally as fair then most of this avian traffic would have largely gone undetected. However, conditions were unfolding that we only dare dream about, a low pressure with a wet frontal system was moving east and would be sitting off the UK East Coast during the night. Inbound migrants flying in to this would find it tough going and would almost certainly land on the first bit of cover they encountered - a coastal fall of migrants ! Combine this with the peak time of the year for migration and an ornithological sweet shop was about to open !

At Buckton dawn was shrouded in mist rolling in off the sea, with visibility at times less than 40ft . The action was to be played out on the cliff top. It was immediately obvious migrants were all about us, the first net round produced 9 Robins and a flock of Bramblings. This turned out to be the theme for the day with Robins in super abundance, maybe up to 100+ individuals on site and the fence along the cliff top lined with them and parties of up to 30 Bramblings. Other migrants included 25 Redstarts, Spotted Flycatcher, 3 Tree Pipits, 35 Chiffchaff, 15 Willow Warbler, 25 Goldcrest, 10 Ring Ouzels, 50+ Song Thrushes, 30 Redwings, 35 Lapland Buntings, a Coal Tit (2nd ever record) and a super Grey Grey Shrike which I watched fly in off the sea, continue past me, chase an insect in mid flight before dropped towards the wood. I later relocated it at the wood and managed a distant image before it vanished in to thin air, as only shrikes can! Most East Coast sites had a brilliant period and at Buckton I ringed over 240 new birds. Read on ....

Army on the move

Have caught and ringed over 120 Meadow Pipits on my last two visits to Buckton, including 72 yesterday. The easterly winds have backlogged the start of the usual September surge so a swing to fresh westerlies and the tap has been turned on ! They are just mad for the tape lure and at times it is just like shelling peas ! Their incessant march south and west will hopefully turn up a recovery.

A moment

We all have moments, some are unusual, some are special, some are unpredictable. But just occasionally a moment can have all three together. Our hearts stopped when we suddenly came face to face with this beautiful creature (juvenile Dotterel), at no more than 5ft distance next to the car on September 9th. It was feeding in a very recently ploughed strip on the edge of a large field. Its the 3rd Buckton record after a flock of 15 in August 2006.

fall ! fall ! fall !

September 8th will be remembered as a vintage day, a deluge of overnight rain stopping just after dawn dumped a mass of migrants all along the East Coast in light E/NE winds. Arrving at the Buckton cliff top dell was just like Christmas morning! I virtually ran to unfurl the nets as Whinchats were on every post, Tree Pipits 'teezing' overhead, Pied Flycatchers on every dead branch and who knows what in the cover !

Wryneck and Winegums !

Its taken 8 years to catch one of these, on September 10th 2002 we had three on the site but failed to catch one. Since then no records until today (Sept 8th) when I discovered it in the bottom shelf of the cliff top dell 60ft net amongst a deluge of fallen migrants! Such a fabulous bird, watching Blyth transfixed by its neck twisting will last with us for a long time. Mr Wryneck we salute you ! (we celebrated with a large bag of Maynards !)

Good old days !

Between September 7th-9th I ringed 155 new birds at Buckton, including 7 Redstarts, 5 Pied Flycatcher, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Tree Pipit, 3 Whinchat, 7 Garden Warbler, 12 Whitethroat, 40 Meadow Pipit, Wheatear, Stonechat and Wryneck ! The bottom image just about shows a rather skulky Barred Warbler on September 7th.

During the fall I spent most of this time in the company of Flamborough stalwart Mike Pearson see http://pelagicus.blogspot.com/ who was more excited than I have ever seen him for years ! More than once I heard him mutter 'just like the good old days'! Even Blyth was recruited as a junior field operative, as the groppers were at his height !

The future is bright, the future is brown !

Britains 4th Brown Flycatcher - a brilliant find by Dave Wardby, shame I was obtaining my A permit at Icklesham at the time! Nothing but positive feelings though, glad Dave found it, its really added another quality bird to the Buckton list and most of all it justifies the faith and seemingly mad effort we put in. Who would bet against a Rubythroat next. The future is bright - the future is brown ! (Pic Mike Pearson)