Wanstead Birding

Noc Mig 2023

Gear and Methods - as 2022, see below

Recognising recordings takes practice, particularly with the noisy urban background of Wanstead. Interesting sound traces are saved as short MP3 or WAV files and I usually run them through BirdNet (https://birdnet.cornell.edu/api/) to check my suspicions. Recordings of notable species are run by the international Noc Mig WhatsApp group for expert advice and approval followed by a local panel for their approval, and then I put each night’s recordings on to eBird with sonograms of the better species in case anyone wants to listen or comment. I rarely record if it is forecast to rain or if it is going to be windy. I managed a total of 79 nights recording in 2023 which can be divided up into 34 between 3rd February and 29^th May as spring migration and 45 nights between 17^th July and 22^nd October as autumn migration.

Highlights

Identifiable recordings were made of the following notable birds in 2023:

Wigeon flock 27^th March

Little Ringed Plover 26^th April

Common Sandpiper 27^th April, 5th May and 5^th September

Dunlin 28^th April

Oystercatcher 5^th May, 4^th September and 18^th October

Shelduck 18^th May

Green Sandpiper 7^th September

Ortolan Bunting 8^th September

Common Ringed Plover 12^th September

The Ortolan Bunting record is the third for the patch, with a sighting in 2016 and a previous noc mig in recording in 2022. A noc mig record on 29^th August could not be safely ascribed to Ortolan Bunting as an odd Western Yellow Wagtail call could not be eliminated.

Rather worryingly Wigeon was the only record for the patch in 2023

A Skylark was recorded at 02-05 on the 4^th of August. There is a resident population, but migration had just about started by then.

Regulars

Once again about 50 species were recorded overnight, although this is contentious as many of this total were early morning singing or calling birds.

Tawny Owl 44 nights of recording (NOR), 10 in spring and 34 in autumn

Redwing 29 NOR with 8 in spring last 28^th April first autumn overnight 8^th/9th

Song Thrush 27 times, but as there is a resident population, only eight autumn nights with numbers

Coot 24 NOR

Moorhen 22 NOR

Mallard 16 NOR although duck sp very regular as just wingbeats

Little Owl 6 NOR

Late autumn is notable for the migration of thrushes, Redwing and Song Thrush are relatively easy to ID from their sonogram if they pass close by, but Blackbird can be tricky depending on the quality of the recording. The maximum number of Redwing reliably recorded was 254 overnight 14^th to 15^th October.