October 04, 2004
September Muse
September Muse
The weather here in September started off unsettled, with some intermitant thunder storms in the first week.
The remaining three weeks were settled with maximum temperatures in the low 80s.
Winds were generally light and variable and only strong on the 24th and 25th.
Local Farming Scene. Field grown Tomatoes were harvested by hand, leaving plenty of spillage for the birds.
Ploughing in of weeds between the Almond and Orange groves provided plenty of food for some passing migrants. The most productive fields were the newly planted Artichokes – most of the Chats and Blue Headed Wagtails were seen feeding there, and the only Quail of the month was flushed.
The Pied and Spotted Flycatchers were mainly found in the Almond Groves, although a few preferred my garden!
Birds. 52 species were seen this month.
Apart from the first unsettled week which brought in some migrants – Nightingale and Subalpine Warbler.
Most of the migration was normal passage.
Sea watching/Sea birds Single Gannets and Shag were seen.
Cormorants returned to winter along the coast from the 19th – Max. 7 birds.
Herons and Egrets. Grey Herons passed through in flocks up to 43 birds.
Cattle Egrets returned to winter in the area – 40 birds maximum.
Little Egrets passed through in flocks up to 26 birds.
Birds of Prey. It was a disappointing month for this group.
Single wintering Kestrels returned and one Booted Eagle was seen on the 30th.
The first Quail of the autunm was seen on the 25th.
A Greenshank flying over my house on the 18th was the only wader seen.
Gulls and Terns. Three species of Gulls were seen through out the month. Black Headed Gulls – max. 46. Audouin´s Gulls – max 18. And Yellow Legged Gulls – max. 30.
Sandwich Terns passed offshore through out – max. 32 on the 24th.
Resident Collared Doves peaked at 41 birds on the 22nd.
Little Owls found their voices again and 3 could be heard calling at once.
A solitary Pallid Swift passed on the 18th.
Kingfisher – 1 to 2 birds were seen through out.
A maximum of 5 Hoopoes were seen in the ploughed fields.
The resident Crested Larks were the only Larks seen this month – max 9 birds.
Swallows and Martins. Swallows passed through in drips and drabs – max. 56 per hour on the 21st.
House Martins were much scarcer, noted only on 4 days – max. 15 on the 29th.
Blue Headed Wagtails took advantage of the ploughed fields through out – max. 32 birds on the 22nd.
Chats. Single Common Redstarts were seen on 20th and 25th.
Up to 3 Whinchats were seen on the 23rd,27th and 30th.
1 to 5 Northern Wheatears were seen through out the month.
The first Stonechat of the autumn appeared on the 27th.
Thrushes. A solitary Blackbird was seen on the 22nd.
Warblers. Cetti´s Warblers returned to winter – 1 to 2 birds from the 18th.
Resident Fan Tail and Sardinian Warblers peaked at 8 and 10 birds.
A single Common Whitethroat was seen on the 25th.
A single Subalpine Warbler with a Nightingale popped up in my garden on the 3rd.
The first Blackcap appeared on the 22nd.
A small passage of Willow Warblers were noted from 23rd to 27th – max. 6 birds.
Surprizingly, there were no Chiffchaffs yet? They usually out number the Willow Warblers here by 10 to 1!
Flycatchers. A solitary Spotted Flycatcher spent a day in my garden on the 26th.
In contrast there were up to 8 Pied Flycatchers seen in passage.
Shrikes. Single Great Grey Shrikes returned to winter from the 18th.
1 to 2 Woodchat Shrikes passed through out the month.
The resident Common Magpies peaked at 14 birds on the 20th.
Hundreds of Common Starlings returned to winter from the 19th, out numbering the resident Spotless Starlings.
Finches. Resident Greenfinch and Goldfinch numbers peaked at 12 and 49.
3 passage Linnets were seen on the 18th.
Resident Serin flocks peaked at 26.
Buntings. No buntings were seen this month, hopefully October will make up for that.
Snakes. A couple of “ road kill” snakes were seen this month. A young and an adult Ladder Snake.
Finally, a story about a Marsh Harrier that was radio tagged as a nestling in the Tay Marshes in Scotland.
The radio tag was fitted to the young female on 7th July.
It stayed around it´s nest area until the 8th August and then headed off in a south west direction.
It turned up at Loch Fada, Isle of Bute. Where it stayed in that general area until the 21st August.
It then headed south east to the Newcastle area. It stayed here until the 14th September. Then it headed due south averaging 42.5 kms/hour.
It was tracked in Abbeville, France the next day. A distance of 623 kilometres!
It made it´s way down through France and by the 19th September it was crossing into Spain.
Next day it was only some 60 kilometres north of me in N/E Spain!
It continued southwards and reached Morocco by the 23rd September.
On the 27th it had reached Algeria and crossed into Mauritania by the 28th September.
It took just 7 days to cross the Sahara desert.
The latest satilite track puts her close to the Senegal River.
Quite a journey for a bird just hatched out this summer.
If you want to follow it further.
The web site address is : www.roydennis.org/marsh%20harrier.htm