Whooper Swans

It was a clear and calm morning with a light northwest breeze with a late morning high tide so I headed over to East Side for just after dawn. There was quite a bit of vis-mig going on, with birds moving in a westerly direction over the harbour including 211 Siskin, 7 Redpoll, 8 Reed Bunting, 35 Pied Wagtail, 28 Skylark, 126 Linnet, 24 Chaffinch, 9 Barn Swallow and 185 Meadow Pipits. 

The highlight of the morning was Les finding 2 adult Whooper Swans out in the middle of the harbour which presumably must have flown in or hauled out of a gulley as I seemingly walked past them. Only the third or so record in the last decade for the Peninsula so a local rarity.  There was a regional movement of them today further north so these two presumably are overshoots. A Peninsula tick for me so now on 201 HERE and 183 for the year HERE. 

Waterfowl numbers continue to swell with over 150 Wigeon and 120 Teal with at least 15 Pintail and 7 Shelducks and wader numbers are also increasing with 65 Oystercatcher, 45 Grey Plover, 30 Curlew, 80 Ringed Plover, 90+ Dunlin, my first autumn flock of Golden Plover with 34 circling, 80 Lapwing, 40 Redshank, 23 Blackwit, one Barwit, 4 Knot, a Spot Red and 2 Greenshank with two Curlew Sandpipers remaining in with the pre-roost waders and a single Turnstone. In the afternoon I went over to west side and added 2 Avocet and a Whimbrel to the wader day list (15 species today). 

There were a couple of Wheatear on the spit, good numbers of Chiffchaff and 4 Rock Pipit along the shore (including a colour ringed bird). A juv Peregrine was out on the mud and there were 2-3 Marsh Harriers aorund too. In the afternoon I had a Coal Tit at Mill Lane Pond. 

Full list from this morning HERE with 81 species of over 2200 individuals and an additional 6 species in the afternoon on the west side HERE, so 87 species today. 

It was the first mild calm night in a while so I put both moth traps out- still getting new for years with Mallow and Brindled Green. Also had a nice Vestal and a few Turnips and White-points. Mostly Lunar Underwings and Large Yellow Underwings still. There were also a few butterflies around today including a Clouded Yellow and Small Whites and Red Admirals. 

Whooper Swans

Curlew Sands, Dunlin and Ringed Plover

Juv Bar-tailed Godwit- the only one in the harbour today

Curlew- cracking birds 

Colour-ringed Rock Pipit- will try and track this down. Presumably the same bird seen at North Wall last week that came back as ringed as an unfledged nestling on 18th May at Stavesto, Southern Norway, 620 miles to the NE. 

Juv/first-winter Peregrine

Mallow

Brindled Green

A nice Vestal

Acleris ferrugana/notana

Sallow- a more heavily marked variant. 

Weekend round up

It's been a stormy weekend with Storm Amy (Ex-Humberto) moving to the north and bringing a strong westerly airflow. I tried a bit of seawatching on Friday afternoon but not much, just a couple of Common Scoters and a few Auks continuing the theme of late autumn. The other guys had a couple of Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters yesterday morning and a couple of Arctic Skuas today but overall - just a lot of empty wind. 

It was basically too wet and windy for anything much yesterday but today the wind had calmed down a bit and there was a bit of vis-mig over the garden HERE including a garden record of 65 Siskin and a few other migrants. 

This afternoon I did a quick check of a few wader hotspots including Mill Lane Marsh, Ferry and Snowhill Marsh (trying to use up the credit on my annual pass). A couple of Green Sandpiper on Ferry and 5 Greenshank were the highlights HERE. There's more Shoveler around with birds now on Ferry in addition to Mill Lane Marsh and I also four Shelduck on Ferry on Friday afternoon (the first in months that I've seen there).  

The moth trap has been very quiet but still getting a few late autumn NFYs including Beaded Chestnut and Yellow-line Quaker. Now on 551 for the year and 621 all time. 

Greenshanks at Snowhill (above and below). Up to 9 recently. 

Green Sandpiper on Ferry- the new landscaping is nearly finished and plenty of water birds are being attracted

Increasingly wintery scenes out in Chichester Harbour near East Head with Brents and increasing numbers of Redshanks and Blackwits

Beaded Chestnut (above) and Yellow-line Quaker (below). Must be running out of possible new addtions for this year. Can't remember seeing any Flame Brocades this year so far which might still be on the cards. 

I took advantage of the windy conditions by getting some work done in the garden, picked the pumpkins and the last of the peas and got the centre bed weeded and also started collecting seeds from the sunflowers and peas for next year. 

Corvo Kick (in the teeth)

I knew it would be dangerous doing a family/work trip in late September but I couldn't get out of it and I still can't as my brother Steve is finishing off business in Malta and won't be back until mid-next week to take over running the tree and garden business so I'm still grounded in the matrix until then. Meanwhile Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda have been making their way along the east coast of the US causing a lot of migration displacement into the Atlantic. e.g. have a look at this checklist from a vessel off Massachusetts HERE and there has also been a decent arrival of American migrants onto Bermuda too. Birds are also reaching Corvo (despite the lack of direct hits with the storms) with the 3rd Prothonotary Warbler for the WP (all records on Corvo) found on 27th September and still present at least until yesterday and a Cape May Warbler has been found today too. Supporting cast include a nice selection of more expected American vagrants. There's a few Azores ticks I need out across the islands at the moment including the Great-tailed Grackle and Snowy Egret on Sao Miguel, Black-necked Grebe, Gull-billed Tern and Baird's Sandpiper (recently) on Terceira and Prothonotary and Cape May Warbler and Cackling Goose on Corvo.

From the looks of the weather forecast the best conditions will have passed by the time I can escape here so it's looks like I've blown this opportunity. The weather is actually beginning to look good in Bulgaria with a period of westerlies and southerlies starting mid-week so I will keep an eye on things for when my cage door opens and I can start 'chasing the hare'.  

For a flavour of what's occurring out on Corvo here's yesterday's log by Adrian Jordi from the Corvo Facebook page HERE below:

October 2, 2025
No major new discoveries were made today, except perhaps for a Common Yellowthroat seen in the tamarisks along the coastal path. While the meadows and small woods were mostly shrouded in fog, the weather was better in the lower areas. For many birders, the highlight of the day — besides the long-staying rarities — was the fish dinner at Izzy Burger.

Reservoir Slopes

Cackling Goose 2, also seen in flight over the village (Ole Krome and others)
Northern Harrier 1, still on the island (Pekka Kyllönen and others)
American Golden Plover 1 (Ruben Coelho)
Lapwing 1 (Ruben Coelho)
Lapland Bunting 1, heard in the thick fog (Markku Santamaa and others)

Cape Verdean Farm

Bobolink 1, the very elusive bird was briefly seen in the morning (PAC)

Fojo

Black-and-white Warbler 1, still around (Henk Schut)

Tamarisks along Coastal Path

Common Yellowthroat 1, possibly the bird found nearby last week (Ole Krome, Peter Meyrahn)

Lower Da Ponte

American Redstart 1, still there and very vocal (Pedro Nicolau and others)

Da Ponte Bridge

Red-eyed Vireo 1 (PAC)

Prothonotary Wood (Small Coniferous wood above da Ponte)

Prothonotary Warbler 1, perched for 15 minutes on the same branch! (Miguel Berkemeier and others)
Red-eyed Vireo 1 (Pedro Nicolau and others)

Doctor’s House – Black Beach

Great Blue Heron 1 (Ole Krome, Peter Meyrahn)

Pico

Red-eyed Vireo 1 (Christoph Haag)

Back in the game

After two days of catching up with work I was free to do a day in the field today. I teamed up with Marc and we headed to East Head HERE and this afternoon I did the local circuit HERE. Highlights at East Head and Snowhill Marsh included over 100 Brent Geese, 2 Spoonbill, 9 Greenshank, Firecrest, a late Lesser Whitethroat and good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrest with 32 and 17 respectively. Highlights of the afternoon session included 2 Curlew Sandpiper at Church Norton, 2 Green Sand on Ferry, 3 Marsh Harrier, 10 Stonechat and 1 Whinchat and the incredible sight of 90+ Cattle Egret coming into roost on the other side of the harbour at Owl Copse. 

I got in a garden watch yesterday morning HERE and on the continuing later autumn theme I had the first flock of Lapwings going over and there was a bit of vis-mig with Siskins, Pied Wagtails, Yellow Wagtails and Mipits.

I got the moth trap out yesterday night and there wasn't much- only 13 species of about 40 individuals during a rather cool night. 

Returning Brents over East Head

First-winter Spoonbills

Whinchat

Chiffchaff- pretty much everywhere today. We only had 5 Barn Swallows today and what with the large numbers around during September now behind us , it's all rather late autumnal out there.

The moth trap dominated by Lunar Underwings (so variable) is another sign of the times

Black Rustic- another classic later autumn  moth 

Malta wrap

Back from Malta and despite keeping my eyes and ears open it was more or less birdless- just a few Sardinian Warblers, Italian (Maltese) Sparrows, a couple of Swallows, a few Yellow-legged Gulls and what looked like a high Honey Buzzard going over.  Had a nice encounter with a Swallowtail butterfly and had a Rush Veneer in a restuarant. That was basically it! 

It was absolutely not a birding trip though and I didn't spend any time in decent habitat and spent most of the time doing admin, meetings, purchases and family meet ups- the family meet ups were great and the admin and other bits went well. 

The trip objectives were to meet up with family, sign off on a new build and get it rented out and get Maltese citizenship and an EU passport. Everything went to plan and all the balls are rolling so a good success.  

What's this got to do with birding? Well, this is part of the machine in the background that generates the time and money to go birding and do our projects. Next trip will be a full on birding trip. 

Marsaskala Bay- my mum's home village. 

We randomly bumped into an old hunter who showed me his collection- some good Med birds in there- three skuas sp by the looks of it. 

As part of the joint venture with another owner in this block we built two extra floors and painted the building pink. Looks alright to me. 

Family meet up- my mum and brothers and sisters. The main reason for this trip was to meet up with my brother Paul (on the right) who lives more or less anywhere in the world and refuses to visit the UK for various reasons so we have to meet up on 'neutral' ground.  I spent a lot of the week eating all my favourite Maltese dishes - hence the strained holiday shirt!

Interlude

Sadly I've got to take a break from autumn migration for a four day work trip to Malta. I got a last garden session in this morning before leaving for the airport. Ebird list HERE. Siskins, Chiffchaffs (image above) and Hirundines continue to dominate the migrant scene at the moment with up to 12 Chiffchaffs being a garden record. 

The purpose of the Malta trip is to get a Maltese (European) passport to circum-navigate any Brexit travel restrictions (particularly in the future for potential system upheavels-listening to Trump rambling on insanely at the UN yesterday is basically confirmation that nothing good is coming from that direction). Fortunately my mum is from Malta so I can become a Maltese citizen and get an EU passport which is handy becuase Malta also sells EU passports to any foreign nationals via the 'Golden Passport Scheme' which basically involves paying them a quarter of a million quid so for once, having a firey Mediterranean mother has weighed in! 

I also need to sign off on the new flat we have built out there and get the rental sorted out on that so it's basically going to be a grim trip. My other brothers and sisters are meeting up out there so that will be good to see everyone again. 

Hopefully the new property rental will work out well and generate some more income to spend on our projects: 

LITTLE OAK GROUP

Weekend Round-up

My niece Fran visited this weekend so yesterday I only managed to do some garden birding which worked out well HERE with the highlights being a first-winter male Redstart and Spotted Flycatcher, 6 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff and 3 Goldcrest in the lane with 18 Siskin, 35 Mips, 10 Pied Wag, 9 Yellow Wags and some hirundines over and a Kingfisher darted through, a Peregrine went over and 5 Golden Plover also flew over towards Medmerry. Kingfisher was a garden tick so now on 111 HERE. 

This morning I met up with Ed Stubbs before I had to be back for family breakfast. It was good to see Ed and we also had a decent bit of birding along the North Wall the highlight being a fly-over Woodlark which was a Peninsula tick and my 200th bird for the Peninsula (182 for the year). We also had Spoonbill, Cattle Egret, Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Wheatear and a group of 5 Raven flying north. 

After Fran went home this afternoon I popped into Mill Lane Marsh where a male and female Redstart were on the nearby fence posts and then I checked out Church Norton where 5 Curlew Sandpipers and a Little Stint were feeding out on the mud with the Dunlins and 3 Spoonbill flew over. 

The wind has shifted to the North-east today with cool night temperatures so I didn't put the trap out last night but on Friday night it was still pretty busy with quite a few migrants. 

First-winter male Redstart

First-winter Wheatear

First-winter Spoonbills (above and below)

Ravens going over 

Radford's Flame Shoulder- the first one in quite a long time . Certainly not as many around this autumn as last autumn. Also not so many Blair's Mocha's as last September. 

Large Wainscot- a NFY.  Latest on the score board is 548 for the year and 620 all time. 

Oak Nycteoline- not a common moth round here