Willow Tit

With trips to France at the end of June and the Qinghai-Tibet plateau for most of July I have not spent a great deal of time at The Nab of late. However, with the autumn now clearly upon us my visits will step up a gear from now on and this somewhat neglected blog will be updated more frequently. 

My first visit on return from China was just a quick look at the ringing site on 2nd August, when I was delighted to find a Willow Tit; my first sighting of the species at Long Nab and possibly the first site record. Although they don't move around too much, it is rather surprising the species doesn't appear more often as they are quite regular and presumably breed in the nearby Newlands Dale area. This morning, the first ringing session of the autumn resulted in us trapping it, a welcome addition to the ringing list and allowing me to confirm my suspicion based on field views, that it is a bird of the year.

Willow Tit

Wader passage has been the main interest whilst I have been away with the area record count for Whimbrel smashed and good numbers of other waders also being recorded. Today a few Golden Plover, Oystercatchers and the odd Whimbrel were on the move, but I was gripped by the news that Dave Bowes saw a summer plumaged Grey Plover go past the seawatch hut. Inexplicably rare this year, it remains an obvious gap in my year list! A Bonxie, a few Manx Shearwaters and a few Common Scoter were the other items of interest at sea, whilst a Wheatear was the first of the autumn here.