Birding Forecast week beginning 10th September

Magic Seaweed forecast for Wednesday 13th September. The whole week is dominated by Atlantic systems and a westerly airflow across Britain and Ireland with the Azores High getting squeezed but overall holding its ground. Hurricane Irma has moved eastwards while Hurricane Jose (bottom left) persists north of the Caribbean. A mid-latitude depression forms in the wake of Irma but is deflected north of the Azores. The westerfly airflow off the Eastern Seaboard in conjunction with Irma will inevitably push birds out into the Atlantic but the predominate feature in the mid-Atlantic is a 'wall' of Southerlies effectively blocking a conduit for vagrants across the Atlantic. American migrants pushed out into the Atlantic could well make their way to European vagrant traps using ships or pushing against cross and light head winds. 

The Westerly airflow penetrates well into the European continent

The Jet stream moves north as the week progresses but is generally creating a conduit across the Atlantic for shorebirds and waterbirds. Shorebirds and waterbirds move at higher altitudes then passerines and make use of jet streams. 

Local/ Beddington/London:
Raptors: Don't expect much. If there are breaks in the strong winds there might be local movements.
Passerine/landbird migrants: Don't expect much. Maybe a few Meadow Pipits and Hirundines.
Waders: A few could push through in this and could get grounded in some of the predicted rain . Good time of year for Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper. Fingers crossed for an American wader!- the jet streams and Atlantic systems are good for this. 
Waterfowl: Waterfowl numbers could continue to increase.
Gulls: Not expecting too much here. 
Seabirds: Always a chance of a Kittiwake or a storm blown vagrant in conditions like this but wrong side of country really. Been a few shags about recently so keep an eye out. 

Britain and Ireland
Migrant falls: Wouldn't except much. Maybe birds coming in from Iceland with the favourable tail winds. 
Eastern vagrants: Very unlikely to see much action on this front.
American vagrants: With such a wild situation in the Atlantic always a chance this time of year for a yank passerine. Not an ideal weather situation but its the right time of year and its messy and westerly. Much better looking for american shorebirds/ waterbirds with a well positioned jet stream. 
Seabirds: Almost certainly some interesting sea watching off the West coasts of Britain and Ireland. Could produce more inland Shags (been a bit of a recent influx) or other inland seabirds. 
Raptors : Unlikely to be moving in these sorts of conditions. 

Western Palearctic
Eastern Vagrants: Not a lot 
American Vagrants: Could be interesting. Definitely keep an eye on the Azores. 
Migration: The regional westerly airflow probably going to slow things down in the North West of the region. The Mediterranean basin is relatively calm so good conditions for progress Southwards. Not much in the way of fall conditions though by looks of it. 

Rarity Finding Strategy:
Local: Check for waders and pray for an American wader. Keep an eye on Staines and the Thames Estuary. 
UK: Check for american waders particularly in North and West. Sea watching in west has got to be a really good bet. Also chance of passage from Iceland- Pink-foots, Lap bunts across the region (mainly north). 
WP: Corvo would certainly be worth a shot with such wild weather in the Atlantic and Irma affecting some of the main migration routes coinciding with a mid-latitude depression (albiet not a perfect storm). 

Staines Reservoir - inland estuary

11 species of wader at Staines this morning, Ebird list here. Met another birder called David Campbell (there's two of them out there!) and good to catch up with Franco.

Here's a few pics:

 90+ Ringed Plover and over 50 Dunlin today. Gives some kind of indication of the number of waders that fly over London and only come down if conditions are right. 

 Dunlin and Ringed Plover 

 Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a juvenile Little Stint 

 Knot  

 Black-necked Grebe (or Eared Grebe according to Ebird), Coot and Tufted Duck 

Mark Avery visit

It was a real pleasure to meet up with Mark Avery (former director of conservation at RSPB and now leading national conservation activist) yesterday and show him round Beddington Farmlands and Hackbridge. We popped into the eco village Bedzed, checked out the area for the potential future eco-park/visitor's centre, had a look round 100 acre, visited the proposed wet grassland site and then back to the cafe. As my keyholder agreement only allows us to visit the restricted area for birdwatching we weren't allowed to notice the 300,000 tonne incinerator which is three times the size of Buckingham Palace and has 95 meter high chimneys that dominates the entire site and can be seen for miles all around- so we didn't see that at all - so hopefully I won't receive another written warning from Viridor about taking visitors on site and them happening to notice and then raise some questions of why the death star is being built in the middle of the nature reserve. 

When I showed Mark the plans of the ecological restoration and the legally binding plans for a major urban nature reserve that would positively transform the area and how the restoration should have been phased with the landfill development, we both failed to notice that the development is at stage 6 while the restoration is lagging years behind at stage 2. Other things we that we failed to notice included how that delay in restoration has enabled the building of the incinerator and other expansion of waste management facilities on proposed restored areas, how the decay of the site enables further malignant development, that Viridor/Pennon bosses earn £2 million bonuses for hitting growth targets (that would be threatened if they spent money on legally binding ecological restoration agreements) that Sutton Council are powerless to enforce planning conditions on Viridor as local authorities are broke and can't afford legal bills, that Viridor get away with it by handing out sweeteners  to local charities and public figures to silence them and how they threaten and try and intimidate any local genuine support for the reserve development. We didn't notice any of that all- until we left the restricted area. 

A few birds too including 2 Ruff, 1 Greenshank, 8 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, Lapwing, 1 Wheatear, 12 Meadow Pipit going over and 1 Buzzard. 

A great afternoon and discussed some ideas (when not in the restricted area) about how to raise the profile and impact of the Beddington Farmlands Campaign to a national level case study of corporate ecological irresponsibility. 

Mark outside the local cafe

 Just a picture overlooking the Site of Importance for Nature Conservation 

Just a picture of 100 acre, showing the wetland habitat that is formed from sewage treatment. Unfortunately the last remaining sewage farm areas are being decommissioned- this area is used by passage waders and breeding Lapwing. The loss of these areas will be the final nail in the coffin for the farmlands.  Please note the rainbow in the background and the clouds and sky and nothing else. 

One of the Ruff on 100 acre

Had this September Thorn in the trap last night 

My work colleague Sharon found this Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar in her garden. I took it back to the bugry and put it in a tank in preparation for getting some food plants for it. However it burrowed into the soil in the tank so presumably wants to pupate. 

Carshalton Environmental Fair

 I forgot to post about the Carshalton Environmental Fair last Monday (bank holiday). Weather was perfect so it was very busy. The fair normally attracts over 10,000 people. We display most years at the fair and this year was promoting wildlife gardening. Here's some of the promotions we've done in the past Carshalton Environmental Fair

Note to self : this stall is a bit rubbish. Its too small and dark and the banner is too big. Hobbled it together at last minute. Seemed to work ok though- a steady flow of visitors- quite a merciful crowd the environmental brigade. 

 One of our better stalls! 

LITTLE OAK GARDENS

Oare Marshes

A much needed day at Oare Marshes today. Ebird list here: EBIRD

 Long-billed Dowitcher 

 Curlew Sandpiper 

 Dunlin and Ringed Plover

The Long-billed Dowitcher again 

Shag- Farmoor Reservoir

Had a quick look at Farmoor this morning with Jacob. The wind and rain was a bit much for him so we only lasted an hour before he started grizzling. Managed to see one of the 4 Shags that were around (a group of 11 arrived in late August and these are remnants of that group), two juvenile Knot were on the causeway, had 2 Black Tern flying around (17 were reported moving through today) and there were at least 1000 hirundines- a lot of them House Martins and also a few Swifts. 

 Juvenile Shag 

 Juvenile Knots 

 Bird 1: A darker individual overall and with heavier markings on the underparts and a stronger face pattern. Longer billed too.

 Bird 2: An overall paler bird, with fine streaking, shorter bill and weaker face pattern. A good example of intraspecific variation. Presumably these bird are siblings. 

 Black Tern- looks like a visible moult limit in the primaries indicating an adult bird 

House Martins sheltering from the storm 

Drained Staines

 Staines is drained for the rest of the autumn so without doubt it going to produce some more interesting birds. A bit frustrating when I visited yesterday with distant birds in strong light and heat haze. I managed to pick out/string 4 Blackwits, 4 Greenshank, 6 Redshank, 2 Ruff, 40+ Dunlin, 15+ Ringed Plover, 1 Turnstone and a fairly dodgy claim of the Pec. Also had Goldeneye.

Video of distant waders here 

About 20 Yellow Wagtails on the banks and also a Wheatear. 

Here's a couple of blast from the past pics of Pecs on sites where distant viewing is not an isse

Juvenile Pec at Beddington Farmlands - the 2011 bird on 100 acre found by Johnny 

Juvenile Pec at Cabo da Praia Quarry, Terceira, Azores 

After Staines went to Thame with the gang and got myself a new axe in prep for the March 2018 Bryans live performance THEE BRYANS