Friday 23 October 2015

A late hirundine

I only had 45 minutes prior to an onsite meeting, so watched the landfill, quite a few small jobs pinging about, those I could ID were c10 Linnet SSW, 3+ Lesser Redpoll, 1 Siskin, 1 Meadow Pipit, 7+ Skylark on the landfill, 12 Fieldfare SW, 30 Redwing SW, about 25 Chaffinch in groups of 5-8 West, then whilst scoping Skylarks, I picked up a late Swallow way off and moving SE over the far landfill, crossing out of landfill airspace North of Lea Farm itself, so I consider myself luck to have seen it at all.

I thought this is quite late, but here are all the late records:

1/5th Nov 2011  =1st latest (FJC)
3/5th Nov 2012 = 1st latest (SPD)
1/3rd Nov 1985 3rd latest (P Ball)
2/2nd Nov 2005 = 4th (PBT)
2/2nd Nov 2010 = 4th (FJC)
2/30th Oct 2013 6th latest (FJC)
1/23rd Oct 2003 =7th latest (RRe)
1/23rd Oct 2015 =7th latest (FJC)
1/20th Oct 2009 9th latest (FJC)

So didn't it take a long time for Phil Ball's 1985 record to fall to the recent years 5th Nov birds and even today's, is still a week earlier than my 2013. Searching for late hirundines is not actually a focal activity, it just so happens I am scoping anything, in hope of a Merlin, another stab at Hawfinch, or anything exciting at all in the sky.

Yesterday 33 Fieldfare SW was all worth mentioning, not that the odd Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and groups of Redwing aren't interesting.

Tim Alexander told me he ringed 35 Lesser Redpoll today, not really surprising given I am hearing them all over the place.

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