Quiet few days

Although there has been a very light SE wind blowing over the past few days, it has been pretty hard going at the Nab. A few grounded migrants have included a couple of Wheatears, a Redstart (pictured below), a trickle of finches involving good numbers of Siskins in the ringing area plus a few Lesser Redpolls and Goldfinches.

Female Redstart

A couple of ringing sessions have been fairly productive by our standards with a nice haul of Siskins this morning allowing us to share in the amazing numbers on the move this autumn. As the ringing figures demonstrate this year is our best season for this species since 2011. So, it has been a good opportunity to have a look at the variations in moult with this species. Here is a nice male from this morning. Notice the pointed tail feathers indicative of a young bird.

Male Siskin

Finally with Yellow-browed Warblers breaking yet more records with large numbers being reported up and down the East Coast, it wasn't really a great surprise to find three in the ringing area on Tuesday. to our delight we were able to catch and ring one of these, and one was still present on Wednesday morning.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Obliging Kestrel

A Kestrel has been regularly hunting close to the Long Nab hut - or perhaps I should be calling it 'The Obs' these days - for much of the late summer. During a fairly quiet seawatch this morning, I took a few photos a couple of which are posted here.

A Grey Heron also headed north close to 'The Obs' this morning.

Grey Heron

The bushes and fields were fairly quiet although with a single Wheatear, a few Whitethroats, a handful of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs the best I could come up with in a wander lasting the best part of three hours. Perhaps I should have persisted with the seawatch...

Whitethroat