Unreal Cold Weather Movement - 1st February

Winter can be a bit of a long, slow and sometimes dull season for the patch birder, this winter especially so on the Axe. There's not been much other than the usual fare so far, and numbers in general have been pretty poor.  But like any patch birder, whispers of snow in the forecast early last week raised my excitement levels, and Thursday night delivered a fine but widespread covering of the white-stuff...

Looking west over the valley

Major snow events often deliver some impressive bird movements on/over the Axe, but I really wasn't expecting much when I woke up on Friday morning.  It was only a fine covering of snow, it wasn't country-wide and I knew it wasn't going to be in any way a prolonged spell of cold. 

I spent the first hour of the day looking out from the house and garden, and what I saw seemed to confirm my thoughts; a couple of small groups of Lapwing, one Golden Plover and a flock of 15 Redwing flew over.  I then had a look around the Estuary, and other than a group of about 40 Fieldfare on Bridge Marsh - nothing else was where it isn't usually...

But then I went to the seafront....  and saw the most mind-blowing bird movement I have ever witnessed in my entire life. Just take a look at these two short videos. Make them full screen and turn the sound up...

Thousands upon thousands of thrushes!

I wish I could have just stayed there all day, but the only way I could quantify this movement in any way was by counting 'Portland-style' (a selection of 'sample counts').  Between 10:00 and 15:00 I carried out one 15 minute count, one ten minute count, two five minute counts and three two minute counts.  The last one at 15:00 showed that the passage had slowed a bit, but all previous counts gave an absolutely astonishing figure of between 400-500 thrushes passing PER MINUTE! Huge flocks were passing over, almost constantly - gaps often of only 20-30 seconds between flocks.  This statistic is staggering on its own, but when it's multiplied up it becomes really mind destroying.... Even if we take the lowest figure, 400, this suggests that somewhere in the region of 120,000 thrushes flew over Seaton on 1st February! As staggering as this number is, I am certain it's  an under estimation, especially as they were clearly passing in these numbers prior to 10am, and I've included nothing that may have passed after 15:00.  

Looking at the species break down, Redwings were by far the most abundant species, with an estimation of 80% of the all thrushes seen/heard being this species. This would make the Redwing day total somewhere in the region of 96,000! Unreal.  I did hear the occasional Song Thrush call emitting from the chaos and Fieldfare made up the remaining 20%.

James Mc at Lyme was also seeing this passage, as was Dan over at Sidmouth and Kev in Beer.  What I can't believe though is that was it.  No reports of this massive movement west of Sidmouth, in fact Dawlish Warren reported virtually no thrush movement at all! And the only reports east of us were from Portland where up to 10.000 Redwing were seen to leave north west over Ferrybridge (http://www.portlandbirdobs.com/2019/02/1st-february.html).  What on earth is that about!? Where did they all come from and where did they all go!?

Skylark were also moving in good numbers (I noted a couple of hundred, so 1000+ probably passed during the day), with a calling Woodlark over Seafield Garden at 10:45 being a nice highlight. Kev had a second one over Beer an hour or so later.  I also logged a couple of small flocks of Lapwing and the odd Linnet, Chaffinch and Siskin, but in general variety was poor and it was all about thrushes and Skylarks. 

As I'm typing this my mind is still blown to be honest.  Feels almost a bit like space, involving numbers that only people like Brian Cox can truly comprehend.  Just so so so many birds. 

About mid afternoon I had another look around the valley, and by now ground was starting to thaw and birds were congregating in these spots.  The slope just to the east of the Estuary was like a rolling carpet of Redwing, 500+ birds here (at the same time as the passage was still  happening over the seafront by the way!).  Bridge Marsh also showed lots of thrushes along with a flock of 60+ Skylark.  Then just up the road, the field north of Colyford WTW was again full of thrushes, a flock of Skylark, 300+ Lapwing and c60 Golden Plover.  Here's a few pics...

Redwings

One of the above Redwing!

Fieldfare

Skylarks

A Skylark

Meadow Pipit

Golden Plover with a Lapwing background

Best of all about this amazing influx of birds was that none of them looked to be struggling in any obvious way.  Everything I saw on the ground appeared to be finding plenty of food, and all the birds passing overhead were flying strongly and with purpose - not something weak birds can do.  It was really nice to witness a cold weather movement without feeling that sadness usually associated with snowy spells. I am really surprised this relatively small amount of snow caused such a drastic response from the birds - we had far less snow than last Feb/March but way more overhead passage.  Do they know something that we don't? 

And now to today...

The weather this morning (2nd) was completely different.  Still pretty cold, but crystal clear blue skies and most of the snow had melted away.  There were still lots of birds about, with thrushes flying around everywhere, but they were flying in all directions.  It was nice to catch up with two waders on the Estuary that Phil saw the previous day, a Bar-tailed Godwit and this Avocet...

Avocet and Black-headed Gull

Got to love an Avocet in flight!

There were also 47 Dunlin here which isn't a bad mid-winter count for us.  And that's it for this somewhat mammoth blog post.  Truly unforgettable stuff though.

More Snow!

Like many other places in the south west today, it's been snowing here in Seaton from dawn until dusk. One snow event in a year is exceptional enough for us, two is unprecedented! 

The view from my bedroom window late this afternoon

The heavy snow didn't start until about mid morning, and it was amazing to see how quickly the birds reacted to this. Just proves they really do need to be able to feed constantly, and as soon as they realise they can't, sitting it out just isn't an option. They have to move.

I could do nothing more than have sporadic looks outside today, but these have shown incredible numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing flying west, thousands upon thousands, along with several hundred Starling and Golden Plover and smaller numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch plus a single Reed Bunting.  All seen from the centre of town. Incredible scenes.

The passage did seem to dry up mid afternoon, and unlike the last snow event, apart from a few Meadow Pipits there doesn't seem to be many birds struggling for food in gardens. Not a single Redwing in the road I live in late this afternoon, compared to about 500 two weeks ago! So although as things stand, this cold weather period doesn't look to be as severe on birds as the last, the timing is probably a bit worse.

Some local birds will have started nesting now, especially Blackbirds. Disaster for all these early breeders. And then there's the early arriving migrants, small numbers of Wheatears, Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs have already arrived in the UK after a long migration - and they now have to face this. There have been several reports of struggling Chiffchaffs today in particular, and late this afternoon I was deeply saddened to find this in the corner of a carpark in town...

Dead Chiffchaff

Sorry mate, you didn't quite make it

This beautiful Chiffchaff probably spent the last week or so traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles as it migrated back towards it's breeding grounds somewhere in the UK. All the obstacles it would have had to overcome, all the energy it would have used up. And all for this. Lying dead in the snow in Seaton. So so sad.

Cold Weather Movement or Spring Passage?

It's been great to see birds behaving as they should be again today, and where they should be. Wading birds and wildfowl on the river, and thrushes in the fields and not in the middle of housing estates. There are still plenty of birds about though...

I've had three tours of the Estuary today and a visit to Black Hole Marsh. Most birds seen were lingerers from the last few days, except for a couple more Avocet and a two fold increase in Gadwall. My highlights were; 

8 Pintail

290 Wigeon

12 Gadwall (two 6's in the morning, an 8 and 4 in the afternoon)

80 Teal

7 Shoveler 
10 Avocet (a double figure Avocet count for the Axe is exceptional!)

700+ Lapwing

9 Golden Plover

1 Grey Plover

72 Black-tailed Godwit

2 Bar-tailed Godwit

2 Dunlin

4 Mediterranean Gull (all adults)

70 Skylark (in the field opposite Colyford WTW)

I was really hoping for a Bittern today, with my thinking being the increased water levels may reveal one that's been lurking in the reeds since the cold snap... If it happened I wasn't in the right place at the right time. No sign of any Ruff or the recent Spotted Redshank for me today either.

What has been so incredible about the recent cold weather movement is the number of wading birds that's been involved. Since last Thursday there has been a staggering twenty species of wading birds recorded on the Axe Estuary. To put this in perspective we usually only have nine species of waders that regularly winter on our tiny Estuary, although it's been eleven this year with singles of Greenshank and Ringed Plover bucking the trend. Twenty is usually only possible in a short space of time like this in May or September - but even in those months it doesn't happen that often. A lot of these waders are lingering too, with the Avocet flock ever building, and the Spotted Redshank, Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwits still here from last Wednesday/Thursday. Knot and Sanderling (four of the former, three of the latter) and a whole lot of Dunlin (193!) were the only brief visitors, being seen by new patch birder Billy on Thursday afternoon but not since (he also found the Spot Red and Barwits).  

Watching the Avocets today, and having read something on the Portland Bird Obs website the other day, suddenly it clicked. Let's just think about this, why would an Avocet sat on a snowy Estuary somewhere decide that upping sticks and flying tens/hundreds of miles was the best thing to do, instead of just sitting there and waiting for the tide to drop?

Avocets are a March species for us, no we don't usually get ten, one to four would be a more typical count. But March is clearly the month they begin to migrate back to their breeding grounds. So maybe, although for the Lapwing, Golden Plovers, thrushes and other passerines what we witnessed was undoubtedly a cold weather movement, for other species of wading birds, are we actually seeing spring passage?  We know that heavy rain showers cause migrating wading birds to drop in, so a gigantic snow front that has tracked north across the English Channel, well that's going to ground everything that's trying to fly through it right!?  

Rewind to March 2013 (blog post HERE). Many early spring migrants arrived, like Sand Martins, Chiffchaffs, Little Ringed Plovers, Stone Curlew, Ospreys and Ring Ouzels, but a brisk northeast wind and freezing temperatures meant they all stalled on the south coast and went nowhere for several days.  It was so tragic to watch so many Chiffchaffs struggling to find food on pavements and in gutters, do you remember it? Well I'm wondering whether this is something similar, but as it's happened earlier in the month its not affected the species that we think of as the early spring migrants, but the true early spring migrants like waders, gulls and wildfowl?

And discuss...

Please Help!

Today I have witnessed one of the most dramatic cold weather movement of birds that I've ever seen. The spectacle has been truly amazing, but the reality is really very very sad.

It was such an epic day that I just don't have the time or energy to blog about it tonight, check back tomorrow or Sunday for this post. It will be worth checking back for I promise. But I simply couldn't go to bed without writing this...

Within Seaton alone, this evening I've been informed of numerous Meadow Pipits, Lapwing, Redwings and even a Reed Bunting being found dead. A lethargic Golden Plover was also picked up in the middle of Seaton town this evening, fingers crossed the efforts of the family who rescued it pays off.

So I'm basically pleaing that if you can help birds during this cold spell, then please PLEASE do. Oats, apples, other soft fruits, bird seed, anything that's suitable just put it out in your garden, and remember to defrost your bird baths with warm water as well. I even took a pocket full of bird seed out on my morning walk today, which came in useful...

Robin feeding from my hand at Black Hole Marsh

But it's also important to give these struggling birds space. Space to feed undisturbed, and not making them use precious energy to unnecessarily fly.  We all know most people won't think about this, let's be honest why would they? But we can at least...

Seaton Snow and Epic Cold Weather Movement

What a day. Truly a day to remember. Here in East Devon we have seen the most significant snow fall that I've ever witnessed (have lived here since 1991) and the reaction from the birds was completely mesmerising.

With only light snow at dawn, I jumped in my car and had a scoot around the Estuary. The tide was in and there wasn't much new obvious, although a pair of Gadwall north of Coronation Corner were new arrivals and new for the year...

A distant pair of Gadwall with Wigeon

Whilst I was out I noticed a few flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover flying over, but it wasn't until I returned home that I realised there was actually a sustained passage of these two species taking place.  A watch from my back garden 08:20 - 11:10 (whilst I wasn't needed indoors!) gave the following incredible totals (all west); 

6250 Lapwing
1720 Golden Plover
5 Snipe
12 Fieldfare
28 Redwing
2 Blackbird
12 Starling
2 Meadow Pipit

So not many passerines, presumably because they were still able to find enough food as we hadn't had any significant snow fall by this time, but the Goldies and Lapwings were just incredible. Flock after flock after flock, many very low, some pausing briefly in nearby fields, but all clearly on the hunt for non-frozen ground. An unforgettable passage.  What's even more amazing is I would have missed so many flocks, I know there were flocks passing out over the sea which I can't see from my house two miles inland. Not to mention the fact that flocks were still passing over right up to late this afternoon, so the true numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover that have flown west over here today is probably completely mind boggling, If I had a stab in the dark guess I'd say tens of thousands of Lapwing and maybe ten thousand Golden Plover have flown west over here today.

Lapwing

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

And to give a bit of a flavour of this incredible passage, here's a short video clip of some Golden Plover passing over. Love their mournful call...

The time was now about 11:40, and the heavy snow still wasn't in. So I jumped in my car and gave the Estuary another look, and I'm glad I did because greeting me at the lower end of the Estuary was this...

A Spoonbill!

A rather grumpy looking Spoonbill at that - I don't blame it mind!

Spoonbill head on to the cold east wind

What a beaut!

Our first Spoonbill of the year, and not a species I was expecting to see today. Two Avocet were another bonus that briefly dropped in (Ian Mc found these), but despite excellent numbers of gulls, still no white-winger for Steve this year...

So many gulls!

Then the snow really came in. And it didn't stop until about 8pm. Incredible scenes... 

The Co-op car park in Seaton

The Jurassic Play Park in Seaton

From the moment it started snowing heavily, wherever I went Golden Plover, Lapwing, Snipe, Fieldfare, Redwing were flying around.  I even had a Grey Plover fly low west over the middle of Seaton!  But the day ended with a sad note for me, and a reminder that just how difficult this weather is for our birds. All this Goldcrest wanted was to find somewhere warm and dry to rest up after I watched it battle against the wind and snow flying through the middle of town...

This little guy was clearly in real trouble

I felt so sorry for this bird

A timely reminder that however much enjoyment and excitement us birders get from these incredible cold weather movements, at the same time countless numbers of birds will undoubtedly be losing their lives...

Snow But No Snow!

First of all - let's get it out the way. Yesterday afternoon I dipped the Goosander. For the umpteenth time.

Today we were promised a white-out.  Well we did have snow showers, some very heavy...

From the farm gate early this morning

...but Seaton and the river valley remained green.  There was snow all around us though.  This was the view from Colyford Marsh hide mid morning...

Musbury Castle in the back ground

More impressive than the above snowy view was the number of Golden Plovers.  From the hide I could see c300, and a little later on Ian M counted 600 from Bridge Marsh gate way.  Amazing!  Weirdly though there seemed to be fewer Lapwings about today, and I'm surprised we haven't had any Ruff yet. A flock of 40+ Skylark were flying around the marsh today, which is unusual.

Best of all though were the two year ticks I clocked up from this visit.  Four Stock Dove were rather unexciting year ticks, but a stunning pair of Pintail were VERY exciting!  This species is pretty much annual on patch, but you could easily go a year without seeing one.  I did try and take a photo of them, they showed best during a heavy snow shower...

Another great addition to my photography year list!

I did get much better views of them later, when they were showing on the Estuary.  Much much closer...

What a stunner!!!

I'll be on patch all of tomorrow, but will not be birding. I will though be able to twitch, so local birders please bear me in mind :-)

Now - and last of all.  I want to point you all to a new page I've created on this Blog...

The 2013 Patch Year List Competition

At the top of this page (the bottom of the red bit) click on '2013 Patch Year List'. Or you can just click HERE. This a page dedicated to my patch year list (and will include a regulary updated patch year list as from 1st February), but for now, please join in for a bit of fun and place your bets at what you think my final tally will be. I'll repeat the rule though that a number can only be chosen once.

A Few More Year Ticks

Didn't have much time out and about yesterday, but this morning I spent three hours in the field.

Yesterday started with me looking for a Goosander which was found on Monday just after I went to work.  There was sadly no sign, so I headed off to the sea front...

 

Another sunrinse photo

Gav was already in place just to the east of me at the yacht club, but neither of us could pull anything good out the bag. Three Red-throated Divers on sea, with a fourth west, was the best I could manage.

I drove back home via the Estuary, and was pleased to locate a single Golden Plover from the Bridge Marsh gateway with Lapwings. Always a bit of a worry for the year lister these cold weather-related species, but thankfully this cold weather does seem to be doing something.  Even thought it isn't all that cold here. Arctic weather my a***!

Today started how yesterday did. Annoyingly the Goosander returned yesterday afternoon, again just after I got to work!  There was no sign of it this morning, but from the farm gate it was nice to see six Shoveler floating up river - our first for 2013. Another cold weather-related year tick!?

A quick look at the sea showed it was too lumpy, and quiet, to stay for long. Although the Shoveler were now flying around offshore. This enabled me to add them to my photography year list...

Just about identifiable

I then devoted the next hour or so scouring the fields behind Axmouth for Red-legged Partridge.  A species that can be tricky to catch up with (if not enough have been released!).  I found some really bird-filled fields, one in particular with 140+ Skylark, 80+ Chaffinch, 10 Yellowhammer and two Golden Plover. These two Golden Plovers were a bit of a surprise, so when I stumbled upon a flock of at least 100 I was stunned!  Proper evidence of cold weather movement.

I know by writing 'at least 100' it makes it look like I didn't bother counting them, but the 100th bird was at the pinnacle of a rise in a field, and I am sure there were at least a few more on the other side of the rise.  I also managed to add this species to my photography year list...

Dead pleased with these ;-)

I had all but given up with Red-legged Partridge, but driving back into Axmouth, one last stop in a gateway revealed four feeding on the edge of cover a couple of fields away from me.  If any other local birders are interested, I saw them from the first gateway as you turn into Stepps Lane from Leggetts Lane, just west of Dowlands.

It looks as though the forecasted Snow on Friday is going to be rain for us.  Oh goodie - more rain. Just what we need...