Friday 4 September 2009

A pied pintailed mipit sort of a day


Got a real feeling of things moving today.


Stepped out my front door at 7am, to eat my breakfast crunch-corner, and a Meadow Pipit flew over. My first obvious migrant mipit this autumn. I've been doing exactly the same thing (eating breakfast outside) for the last week and not getting anything fly over, so this was quite pleasing.


Them my short pre-work walk around the pits at Broom produced another surprise - a female Pintail flying around the main lake then off west! Pintail are pretty regular in September in the county so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but they're not usually this early in the month. Another couple of Mipits flew over compounding the feel of their south-bound migration taking effect. The rest of the complex was pretty quiet otherwise. All the recent Greenshank have now finally gone, and there were only two Green Sands on show. Other bits included 12 Shoveler, 13 Great Crested Grebes, and just five Sand Martins (down from over 120 three days ago).


After hearing of a few seabirds inland today, including a fly-over Fulmar a few miles north of Sandy, I went on a punt and tried the Pinnacle at lunchtime. It was pants. Four Buzzards up and milling around, and just two Swallows. Still if you don't try these things once in a while you'll never know if they're any good.


As I toddled back to the Lodge and came down the drive I was greeted to a mass of people with bins staring in to a bush outside my office. Oh bum, what have I missed this time?! "Pied Fly!" came the reply. So I parked and got my bins on the boy. Lovely bird - probably a juvenile if the tail feathers are anything to go by. Flicked its tail a few times, got chased by a Robin, then I realised I should try and get it on my office window list! Two mins later and there was no sign of it from the office. Had I left it too late? Nah. Dr Gurney had pulled it out the bag and found it in the original elder from the window. Nice. Pied Fly makes number 61 with the last two being Marsh Harrier on 25th Feb, and Cormorant on 30th March.


Wonder if I'll see anything else surprising this evening...

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