Spurn Bird Observatory Migration Festival (MigFest25)

For the last few years I've been helping Chris man the Bird Obs Council stand at Migfest. We've had some great times with lots of laughs and some good birds. It's a real family event and it's heart warming to see so many youngsters enjoying themselves with bemused parents and grandparents in tow. It's also a great opportunity to catch up with friends we don't see often enough! 

This year the event was held over the weekend of the 12-14th September and we set off early from Cheshire to get to Spurn in plenty of time to set up the stand in the marquee and do a bit of birding - after we'd set up camp in Kew where Chris sleeps in his well equipped van and I pitch my ARB swag alongside.

Once we'd done that we set off for the Crown & Anchor for lunch and a couple of beers before spending the afternoon wandering around the Spurn recording area. Highlight was a Garden Warbler along Green Lane and a male Siberian Rubythroat.......unfortunately a metal one fastened to someone's gate! 

With registration for the event opening at 5 pm we wandered back and spent time talking to Chris Galvin (Opticron) who along with Neil (Swarovski) was joining us for dinner at the pub later that evening. The weather by now had turned pretty grim with heavy rain and strong winds so a lot of people were sheltering in the marquee.

Fortunately it soon blew through and the rain was replaced double rainbow as we returned to our temporary home to drop binoculars and camera's off before joining the others at the pub for a meal. As the evening progressed the pub filled up with friends from years past and the atmosphere was alive with the sound of voices and anecdotes from past birding triumphs and previous years MigFest's.

Eventually, when we got kicked out at closing time, it was time to get some sleep before the 1st full day of  MigFest25. 

Waking early to the sound of two Magpies chattering above my swag and Woodpigeons coo-ing around us I waited for Chris to surface and put the kettle on for that all important first brew. Once that had been accomplished we had our porridge before walking the short way down to the marquee where we were met with the smell of bacon wafting up from the kitchen area manned by the incomparable and indefatigable 'Spurn Ladies' who could no doubt teach an army field kitchen a thing or two about cooking in tents! 

Bacon butties it was then... followed by breakfast pastries. Oh, go on then, I'll have one.

Although there weren't as many species of bird around this year some of the numbers were impressive with Meadow Pipits streaming down the Spurn peninsula in their thousands. 

Lots of events and walks had been arranged and inbetween visitors wandered around the various stalls in the marquee with Chris and I talking to people about the work of the bird observatories and how people could get to visit them. 

The Saturday evening BBQ is always a highlight and as usual was well attended. With the Great Newsome brewery having a bar in the main marquee, with both draft and bottled beers, the evening proved to be very enjoyable with many exhibitors staying behind to have a natter and a few beers before the marquee closed down around 9 pm. After the late night in the pub the previous evening and a long day an early night was in order! 

Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturdays  - right down to the bacon and egg rolls and breakfast pastries. A few migrants were being reported as grounded with Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Spotted Flycather all being reported. Enjoying a break with yet another brew in the sunshine with Mark Pearson we had a flyover Tree Pipit along with a Yellow Wagtail among the Meadow Pipits still streaming past. 

The feeling of summers end was definitely prevailing and we settled into a slightly lethargic torpor. All that changed when one of the Spurn radios burst into life with news of a very confiding juvenile Red-necked Phalarope being seen close in on the river Humber off the sea defences at Kilnsea. A thirty minute brisk walk was averted when we were offered a lift in one the vehicles Spurn Obs were using to ferry people around over the weekend. As we were walking towards our lift one of the mums, whose young 11 year old had spent time chatting to us both,  approached us and asked if we could take him with us and she'd get her car and catch us up! We duly obliged and a very excited youngster squashed into the back of the pickup in anticipation of a 'lifer'

What a stunning little bird. Showing well was an understatement. Our young charge was literally quaking with excitement and forgot the camera settings he was supposed to be using. Luckily Birdguides Sam Viles helped him out. Emphasising once again what the events all about. Max's mum appeared and took over responsibility for her son as Chris and I walked back to the marquee glad to stretch our legs after a morning of relative inactivity (walking from our end of the marquee to the kitchen area didn't really count as exercise and certainly didn't counteract the number of calories we were consuming after every trip....)

Our young friend appeared just as we'd settled down for lunch to thank us for helping him get his lifer. A lovely moment.

Jack Taylor, unbeknown to him at the time, had photographed the bird with his iPhone and had captured me and Chris photographing the bird on the seawall below him as it worked its way along picking up small invertebrates off the surface of the water in front of an appreciative crowd of around 100 people.

With the event winding up at 3 pm we were soon packed up and on our way along a very wet and windy M62 to home. MigFest was done for another year.

Franklins Gull, Lowestoft 1977 - another blast from the past.

Franklins Gull was first recorded in the UK as late as 1970 so when one turned up in my (then) home county of Suffolk in the Autumn of 1977 it was a major occurrence and constituted only the 4th UK record. Since then there have been a total of 87 records.

In the autumn of  1977 I was a 16 year old just starting out in the 6th from to study 'A' levels. Birds were my passion  - whether it was ringing at Wicken Fen, working my local patch or twitching with the late Tony Butcher and my old mentor Nick Reed who was senior lab technician at our school in Sudbury Suffolk.  Of course I couldn't drive so had to rely on Nick and his wife, Gwen,  to pick me up from my parents place just outside Long Melford and take me wherever the rarities were.

My parents lived in a bungalow in a hamlet called Bridge Street. It was ideal for me as my bedrooom well away from my brothers and sisters. To avoid waking the family and our labrador, Bonzo, I used to climb out the bedroom window when I heard Nick tapping on it. 

I remember this day well as we arrived at Lowestoft on a freezing cold November day to find the Franklins Gull missing. Luckily it was found roosting on the roof of a nearby industrial building and we all had good views through Tony's 'scope. 

Amazingly I got three more ticks that day for my modest UK list. I actually ticked Franklins Gull before Glaucous Gull but luckily a juvenile did the decent thing and passed close by the seawall where we stood watching Purple Sandpiper - another tick. The final tick of the day was a real surprise. A shout went up of Little Auk and everyone started scanning the sea until the guy who'd found it pointed it out tagging along with a group of Starlings flying past! 

Since then I've seen a few Franklins Gulls, including birds in Cornwall, Keynsham and Yorks,  but I'm still waiting to see one in Cheshire.

Franklins Gull, near Hayle 2005

Franklins Gull, Keynsham 2008

Franklons Gull, St Aidans RSPB 2021

Least Sandpiper, Cornwall - a blast from the past

Going back to 22nd September 2006 for this blast from  past.  A Least Sandpiper had turned up at Carsnew Pool, Hayle, Cornwall and both Malc & I needed it, at the time, for our British lists. Malc was year listing that year so the added attraction of another rare N American wader, a Wilsons Phalarope, at nearby Stithians Reservoir meant we found ourselves driving through the night to Hayle. My grandparents lived in Hayle so I knew the area well. The appearance of the  Least Sandpiper appeared to be tidal and it was appearing on Carsnew Pool as the tide dropped and the mud became exposed.

We arrived in plenty of time and the tide was still fully in as we settled ourselves down for what could be a long wait on the sea wall at the south west corner of the pool. 

We awaited and waited. Another birder joined us but soon got into an argument with an irate owner of a local firm where he'd stupidly ignored the 'no parking' signs and was being told to move his car. Eventually he conceded and went to move his car.........just as the least Sandpiper flew in with a Dunlin! 

Malc and I had good scope views and took in all the relevant features and were in relaxed mode watching this diminutive peep - at the time only the 32nd record for the UK ( I don't count Ireland). The 1st record was of a bird shot at nearby Marazion in 1853! Suddenly, for no apparent reason the bird spooked and flew off towards the estuary just as the birder who'd gone to move his car turned up. We left him looking rather forlorn and headed back Malcs car and onto Stithians. Hopefully he connected with at as it stayed another 3 days.

Head on shot showing supercilium meeting bill - diagnostic of Least Sandpiper

Least Sand also has greenish legs compared to Little Stints dark legs and a dark loral patch between bill and eye.

We arrived at Stithians to find the Wilson's Phalarope showing reasonably well although distant and not really photographable so we contents with our day we headed for home.

My claim to fame is that I 'found' a Long-billed Dowithcer on Carsnew Pool during an Easter holiday with my grandparents in 1978! I spent awhile puzzling over the a bird I'd never seen before and after referring to the copy of The Filed Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe (Roger Peterson, Guy Mountfort and P.A.D Hollom) that I carried in my rucksack I realised I was watching my 1st ever Long-billed Dowitcher.

My Grandparents lived in St Earth so my walks always took me down to Carsnew Pool 1st and then along the seaward side of the pool to view the estuary and finally along the seafront road in Hayle to Copperhouse Pool. Exactly my route o nthis day but as I got past the famous Phipps Pasty shop I saw a lot of birders staring intently through scopes at the exposed mud. It turned out they were all looking for the Long-billed Dowitcher (at the time only the 39th record in the UK) which had been reported on Copper House Pool the previous day. When I said I'd just seen it feeding on Carsnew Poll there was a sudden mass exodus.

SCAN Curlew catch

The first two wader canon netting sessions of the ‘autumn’ are a highlight of the SCAN season. Primarily because they target Curlew & Ringed Plover both of which are beautiful, if not contrasting, species close up. Secondly because the weather in August is generally better than later autumn & winter catches. Even so I wasn’t expecting be wearing shorts & tee-shirt on what was forecast to be one of the hottest days of the current mini heatwave we’re experiencing in the UK.

Steve informed everyone attending that it was likely to be a dry catch so I opted for wellies and a pair of waterproof over trousers just in case we caught at a slightly later time than planned where we might get a bit wet. Far better than neoprene waders in this heat!

Unfortunately things didn’t go quite to plan and after meeting up with the rest of the team & parking up I went to change my footwear only to find I’d inadvertently thrown one of my wife’s diminutive size 5’s in with my size 9’s. Worse than that they were both for the right foot! Trainers and wet feet it was then! 

Crossing a small ford as we carried the gear to the designated net set point my trainers soon filled with a mixture of sand, black estuarine mud and salt water. Not unpleasant but after a while the heat being generated made if feel like my feet were being gently poached.

Setting the nets and digging the canons into a pebbly beach is sweaty work. The outline of the furled nets has to be broken up with tideline debris to make it look more natural. In this case sand infested rotting seaweed. 

Nets set we settled down out of site in the dunes, waiting for the tide to push the birds into the catching area, for the next couple of hours during which it got hotter and hotter and my feet slowly began to resemble boiled hams. The water proof trousers came in handy as I unzipped them to spread across my rapidly reddening legs. 

We could hear birds moving and radio messages from Steve & Lizzie, watching from a hide with the firing box, kept us informed of what was going on. Dozing in the sunshine I wasn’t expecting the sudden ‘boom’ as the canons fired. We normally get a 3,2,1 countdown but the approach of a plane that had previously caused the birds to lift resulted in a split second decision to take the catch.

Once the canons fired it’s a sudden change from inactivity to sprinting to the net to make sure the birds are  covered and kept safe & secure before extracting them and placing them gently in specially designed Curlew holding cages where they can stand up to avoid cramp. Curlews are easily stressed so all this takes place with the minimum amount of noise and ensuring the birds welfare.

A good catch of 67 Curlew was made along with a single Oystercatcher. A  number of retraps from previous years provided valuable data on adult survival rates. Birds were quickly ringed and then processed - aged, moult score recorded, wing length measured, bill length measured and finally weighed before releasing.

Holly and Anya demonstrating the correct way to hold waders with the legs allowed to dangle free so they don't end up getting cramp and /or damaged legs. Holding waders by the legs is a definite no, no.

Bill measurement

Wing measurement

Will weighing Curlew

Recording moult score. Three outermost primaries are old. One about 2/3 grown and inner ones new.

Moult is recorded from the inside out meaning the moult score of the inner primaries are recorded first. 

Biometrics help identify male and female Curlew with the females being larger with longer bills. They can also help us identify Scandinavian birds as they are bigger again - especially the females. 

Processing complete we packed the gear up and hand balled it to a point where it could be loaded into Steve’s truck. A sweaty squelch across the marsh. By this time my sodden, sweaty socks had been joined by equally sweaty shorts & teeshirt mingled with the aroma of rotting seaweed and Curlew poop. 

Arriving home, desperate for a cold drink and a shower, I was greeted by our two youngest granddaughters who’d come to play in our garden along with Indy the Labrador. The dog, having a more acute sense of smell, came towards me wagging her tail before wrinkling her nose and abruptly veering off to sniff something slightly more pleasant. The two girls came towards give me a hug, as I knelt down to greet, them before the youngest said, ‘Pooh, grandad you stink’ and ran off to say goodbye to their sweeter smelling nanny. Four year olds are nothing if not brutally honest. A great day and good to see some familiar faces and some new ones. 

Just to cap off a good day I was absently mindedly collecting the bins from the front verge when  I heard a familiar call overhead. It took a few seconds to register as, along with my iphone, my brain wasn't quite functioning as it should due to overheating - a migrating Curlew flying over heading towards the Dee Estuary. A good local record. 

Puffin Island seabird ringing

I've already written a blog post about our last trip of the season where we had a successful day ringing both adult and young Kittiwakes - see here

The first trip of the season was to ring Shag and Razorbill chicks as well as catching and ringing as many adult Razorbills as a we can - always an interesting experience for those unused to their fearless aggression. Handled correctly they can't really hurt you but be wary of relaxing your hold as they're just biding their time! The next trip concentrated on Cormorants and Guillemots whilst the third trip was primarily Guillemots.

Puffin Island from Penmon Point on a dull July morning

The chicks are more docile and many of them were almost ready to fledge. As with other alcid species young Razorbills fledge before they're fully grown and are known as 'jumplings' as they make there way down to the water jumping  (often from great height) to the parent waiting on the water.

Razorbill 'jumpling'

Although most of the Razorbill chicks were well grown there were still some smaller chicks around and some were to small to take a conventional ring. Steve & Rachel are licensed to use 'waxed' rings. These have a layer of wax on the inside of the ring that wears away as the birds leg grows. This needs special care to ensure the ring isn't too tight once the wax wears away.

Razorbill chick with waxed ring

The Cormorant colony is always fun to work in a masochistic way - as long you don't mind the smell and getting covered in guano and cormorant vomit. This consists of large identifiable pieces of fish and smells, understandably, rather fishy. Along with the stink of guano and the noise its a unique experience. It's difficult terrain to work in as the Cormorants nest on rocky outcrops along the cliff edge. As usual we colour ringed a sample of 200 young birds and ringed a total of 250. We only  go through the colony once to avoid to much disturbance and approach birds from below so they're not driven down hill and potentially over the cliff.

We ring only the chicks with well grown primaries, as in the photo above, as these have a better survival rate. There have been some interesting resightings of colour ringed birds over the years including birds in Spain and we've even seen a few off Hilbre.

In contrast to the solitary nesting Razorbills, Guillemots nest on tightly packed ledges. This usually involves crawling along fetid ledges but this year we were lucky as the dry weather had made the ledges much more hospitable. Groups of Guillemot chicks are held in folding mesh 'creches' before ringing and returning back to the exact spot they were retrieved from. As usual we tried to catch as many adults in an area first before ringing the chicks and this year we were lucky enough to catch an adult 'bridled' Guillemot. This form gets commoner the further north you get but are relatively rare on Puffin Island. Its a  genetic polymorphism rather than a separate species and thought to be influenced by a single gene. The reason why its commoner further north (up to 60% of Icelandic Guillemots are of this bridled form) is unclear. There has been some historic surveys done to determine the proportion of bridled Guillemots n UK colonies  - see here

The team ringing Guillemot chicks. Due to my recently dislocated shoulder I didn't feel confident I could climb back up so watched from above!

Rock Pipits are common around Puffin Island but, even though we run a colour ringing project for them on Hilbre, I've never seen a nest. Tom found a nest on Puffin Island but we didn't have any A2 rings. We took some with us on the next trip and the chicks were the perfect age to ring. A first for me! 

Eiders also nest on Puffin Island and we occasionally find the nests when ringing other species.

This was my 13th year ringing seabirds on Puffin Island and for me its a real highlight of the year. My first trip was in 2012 and I'm hoping to do a few more before I feel its getting physically to much for me! 

Hilbre Rock Pipit colour ringing project

Two years ago we decided to register a Rock Pipit colour ringing scheme for Rock Pipits on Hilbre. The main objectives of the project was to try and determine where our breeding Rock Pipits disappeared to in the winter, where the juveniles dispersed to and map the breeding territories of birds nesting on Hilbre & Middle Eye. In a good year Rock Pipits can have three broods of young and the islands can only support 4-6 breeding pairs. As with all passerines lots of young birds don't survive their first winter and older birds obviously die and we knew that there must be some new recruitment into the breeding population and colour ringing provides an ideal opportunity for us to study the small Hilbre population. 

Colour ringing means we can identify individual birds without having to recapture them. It also allows non-ringers to assist in identifying individuals. We also knew we get passage Scandinavian  'littoralis'  race birds as we'd 'controlled a Norwegian colour ringed bird on the 10th October 2016 so we were also hoping to catch and ring some of these birds. See here for information on that bird.

Once we'd got agreement from the BTO for  a colour marking scheme with the defined colour combination of blue darvic with three whiter letters on the right leg and a red colour ring above the metal on the left leg it was a case of waiting until we could get the colour rings made.  We consulted with the lead on a similar project in Scotland so we could ensure our rings were of the same size to ensure we could get approval and ordered the rings from AvianID in Cornwall. We eventually got the rings a few months later and started the project in June 2023.

We'd previously caught Rock Pipits using Potter traps baited with mealworms and, occasionally, caught them in our heligoland traps. It soon became apparent that spring traps would be more succesfull and a concerted effort was made to catch Rock Pipits. Between 2004 and 2023 Hilbre ringed 50 new Rock Pipits. Since the colour ringing project started in June 2023 we've caught and colour ringed 32 birds and have generated nearly 200 sightings both from Hilbre Observatory members and members of the public.

What has become apparent is that many of our Rock Pipits winter on the mainland with a whole host of sightings between Hoylake & Meols. One bird was even photographed on Hilbre and then photographed the next day at Meols before returning to Hilbre the following day before spending most of the winter on the mainland. Most of these movements have been between 5-7 km in a straight line.

We've also shown number of young birds returning to breed on Hilbre in subsequent years after fledging. of the 32 birds colour ringed only 6 were subsequently not seen again and these were all juvenile birds. The fate of these birds is open to speculation but a tantalising clue came in March this year. A juvenile was colour ringed with darvic CBF on the 9th of August 2024 and subsequently recaptured on 19th August on Hilbre. It wasn't seen again to I was tagged in a photograph on "X" taken at Bispham Prom near Blackpool  where Dave had photographed it! A movement of 85 km in a straight line.

Intriguingly we'd also had a report and a photo of a colour ringed bird at Egremont on the Mersey. This is 14.5 km in a straight line but unfortunately the code couldn't be read on the darvic

Hopefully the project will continue to give good results and, who knows, we may even get one of our birds seen even further afield than Blackpool.

Hilbre 11th July 2025

A leisurely start to my latest visit to Hilbre as the intention was to stay over the tide and try snd catch some more Rock Pipits to add to our colour ringing project. At low tide they tend to feed further out on the exposed rocks and mud foraging among the seaweed whilst at high tide they get forced to feed on the island itself making them easier to catch.

On arrival the first thing I noticed was the huge number of Six-spot Burnet moths nectaring on thistles and  Birds-foot trefoil. 

The warm weather was certainly bringing the butterflies out with a total of 8 species recorded during the day including a good number of stunning Common Blues.

Other flowering plants included the delicate Harebell - commonly known as 'Witches Thimbles of 'Fairy Bells' and Common Centaury.

Harebell

Common Centaury

With the tide advancing and the island cut off by water it was time to try to catch some Rock Pipits.  I caught three birds but one was a retrap from two weeks ago. The second was one of this this years young but it was the third that was the  most interesting. Ringed as a juvenile in July 2020 it was subsequently recaptured in August 2020 but not seen since. We'd been seeing a metal ringed bird without  colour ring sporadically over the breeding season and this appears to be that bird.

CBV one of this years young Rock Pipits

CBX an adult previously ringed with a metal BTO ring in 2020

Coupled with field sightings of three more colour ringed birds this all adds to the data we are collecting on this species. A good number of juveniles were also seen and some of the adults are collecting food so I suspect they may be on their 2nd or 3rd broods.

A real surprise was catching a very juvenile Wheatear. I can't recall seeing one in such juvenile plumage on Hilbre and it must have fledged fairly recently and close to the island.

Another successful but blisteringly hot day on the island!