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.

 

Noc Mig 2022

Gear

I use a parabolic reflector with the supplied microphone (https://www.parabolicmicrophone.co.uk/) to collect sounds on to a Tascam DR-05 recorder. The parabolic reflector is just perched on my extension roof, with cling film wrapped around the microphone and linked to the Tascam by a wire through the window.  

Method

The sound recordings are stored on the Tascam as WAV files up to four hours (2Gb) in length. These are transferred to a computer and analysed using Audacity, set-up to show the sonogram from 500 – 10,000 Hz. The procedure is then to tap through manually using 30sec at a time looking for traces that look like bird calls. Recognising these 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 68 nights recording in 2022 which can be divided up into 19 between 27^th February and 8^th May as spring migration and 49 nights between 12^th July and 4^th November as autumn migration.

Highlights

Identifiable recordings were made of the following notable birds in 2022:

Green Sandpiper (13th Apr and 27^th August)

Oystercatcher (15th Apr)

Little Ringed Plover (1st May)

Dunlin (1st May)

Redshank (15th July)

Whimbrel (27^th July)

Northern Lapwing (27^th July)

Common Sandpiper (31^st July and 27^th August)

Tree Pipit (8^th August)

Ortolan Bunting (13th Sept)

Pink-footed Geese (16th Sept)

Barn Owl (30th Sept)

Golden Plover (8th Oct)

The flock of Pink-footed Geese was the first time this species has been identified in Wanstead, one lucky person heard them through an open window! There were many reports of Pink-footed Geese from the south of England at this time. The Barn Owl and Ortolan Bunting were only the second recent occurrences with both previous records being of birds seen. Redshank has not been seen on the patch by any local birder, although there a few reliable heard only records.

Regulars

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

Tawny Owl 32 night of records (NOR) mostly autumn

Redwing 29 NOR with 8 in spring last 28^th April

Coot 21 NOR

Song Thrush 17 NOR as autumn migrants

Moorhen 8 NOR

Little Owl 7 NOR all autumn

Mallard 6 NOR although duck sp very regular as just wingbeats

Siskin and Meadow Pipit are worth a mention, one NOR each

In the spring the dawn cacophony, starting with Robin, can be deafening and drown out the chance of picking up an interesting trace. In autumn after June the dawn chorus is more muted, often Blackbird led, and the chances for detecting an early morning wader increase.  

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 249 overnight 18^th to 19^th October.

Autumn migration 2022 - summary

Introduction

Autumn could be described as the period between the first returning passage migrant after the summer and the departure of the last. In which case the first and last autumn passage migrant this year was the same species: Yellow Wagtail, with the first on 27 July and the last on 22 October. Of course, different forms of migration and movement continue on into November with finches and the thrushes etc.

August is when autumn migration kicks off for birders, but August 2022 was a relatively disappointing month in Wanstead. We recorded a total of 86 species for the month of August which is dwarfed by the 98 we had in August in the previous year. September performed better and we breached the ton for the second year running (102 for September 2022 versus 104 for the month in the previous year). October was a bit down on average with 88 for the month (whilst each of the three previous years saw the month get over 90 species). In November we recorded 81 species, very slightly up on average, but four down on November 2021.

Highlights

September delivered two significant patch rarities: Tree Sparrow found by Mary on 2 September (our first since 1985!); and the first of two long staying Dartford Warbler (our second and then third ever and first since 2009) found by Marco on 30 September.

Other good birds included: Wryneck (9 Sep); Cuckoo (4 Sep); Short-eared Owl (14 Sep); Yellowhammer (17 Sep); a well twitched Woodlark on the deck (29 Sep); and Merlin (14 October). Merlin would probably have got more column inches devoted to it if it wasn’t the second (or third if you count that the first was seen over two days) record of this patch rarity for the year.

Bob’s NocMig recorder also delivered some incredible results: most notably our first ever Pink-footed Goose (16 Sep), but also Ortolan Bunting (13 Sep); Barn Owl (30 Sep); and Nick heard a Ringed Plover (1 November). All very high quality patch rarities for us.

Autumn Passage Migration

The table below captures the phenological dates and counts of most of our classic passage (non-breeding) migrants. I have been converted to the value of ‘bird days’ as a metric despite it always seeming nonsensical to me before. So, ten Wheatear on one day would be ten ’bird days’ as would one Wheatear every day for ten days.

Almost everything arrived earlier this Autumn than the year before, with some returning birds even appearing in July, including our first Autumn Wheatear on 27 July, compared with 16 August in 2021. The final departures, meanwhile, were not overly early or late, although we did have our latest ever record of Yellow Wagtail on 22 October.

In terms of volume of records Swallow and Whinchat numbers were very materially up on the previous year (223% up for Swallow and 118% increase for Whinchat). Let me try and bring that to life a little: this Autumn, we recorded 185 bird days or records of Whinchat, spread across 44 calendar days from 1 August until 2 October, with the majority of dates in August and September producing Whinchat. Obviously some of these records will be the same birds stopping over for a day or more to re-fuel, but the average count of four birds, across each of the dates when records were registered for this species, is impressive, as is our high count of 13 Whinchat on 9 September.

Spotted Flycatcher, Common Redstart, and Garden Warbler numbers were also up, whilst everything else saw lower numbers of records than the previous year. Sand Martin (68% down on the previous year) and Yellow Wagtail (62% decrease) were particularly notable drops on the year before.

I am well aware that trends cannot be read into a dataset covering two years, but we only have eBird records from October 2020 and I don’t have the patience to trawl through old bird reports or tweets to build a better data set.

Spring '22: Whimbrel, Turtle Dove, and a Merlin too

Introduction

Spring 2022 (for the purpose of this summary, March, April, and May) saw 109 bird species recorded locally with March (77), April (a month record of 95), and May (88).

Highlights

One of the best birds of the Spring was only seen by a single lucky birder, Tim Harris: our third Turtle Dove in 12 years perched briefly near Alex before disappearing south on 1 May. Tim was also alerted by a call while inspecting his moth trap in his garden and watched a Whimbrel (our sixth sighting) fly over on 5 May.

A slightly wider audience were enthralled by a Merlin (our fifth record) on 23 April which flew low up over the Brooms, around Long Wood and then picked up pace and took out a small passerine over Centre Copse. A few more saw it again the following day.

Some other notable records:

• Jono found a Pheasant on 2 April; a long staying bird in the Brooms, last reported on on 26 April (only seventh on record).
  
• Nick had a Goosander west over Long Wood on 9 April.
  
• We got our hopes up when a male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker appeared at a location which will remain undisclosed on 13 April and stayed for several days.
  
• Jono found a singing Nightingale in Long Wood on 15 April.
  
• A poor start of the year for gulls meant that our first Caspian Gull for the year was seen on 7 May and our first Caspian Gull on 31 May; both second calendar year birds and both found by Tony B.
  
• Bob’s NocMig recording device picked up Oystercatcher (15 April) and then Dunlin and Little Ringed Plover (both on 1 May).

Spring passage migrants

The Spring migrant passage was kicked off, as it is so often, by the arrival of the first Wheatear; this year on 13 March. This was our second earliest on record (after 2017; 11 March) and six days earlier than our mean average first arrival. It was also the second Wheatear of the year for the London recording area. Richard found the male in the Brooms and Louis & Gosia won this year’s prestigious Wheatear sweepstake trophy; with Louis wearing black tie to collect the trophy a few days later.

The table on passage migrants should hopefully speak for itself and with a comparison in grey of spring last year to give some context. In terms of calendar days when a species is recorded, the most notable call-outs are: Sand Martin (down six); Yellow Wagtail and Willow Warbler (up four); and Wheatear (down four).

A single record of Tree Pipit this Spring was a notable improvement on the blank last year, but this year we got through Spring without a single record of Common Redstart (compared with four last year). 

Breeding birds: some selected comments

This was the second year we had the benefit of the Skylark fencing. An organised Skylark count in March revealed 11 birds on Wanstead Flats with 4-5 males regularly singing. There was evidence of successful breeding with at least one pair feeding young, although there was also sadly evidence of possible predation of one nest.

Meadow Pipit was last recorded on 29 April and whilst we still have healthy numbers through the winter, this is the second year in a row that this species has not stayed around to breed locally - I didn’t hear a single Meadow Pipit song this Spring.

Reed Warbler have popped up all over the place during the Spring, but the most reliable singing territory has been by Shoulder of Mutton pond again - although only one male this year. There have also been at least one regular singing Cetti’s Warbler on the Roding in the Old Sewage Works.

We had one or two wintering Chiffchaff but then numbers started to increase from around 9 March up to a peak count of 22 singing males in mid April. This followed a very similar pattern to the previous year. A similar story can be told about Blackcap - with one or two being reported in gardens through the winter and then numbers starting to build in March up to a peak count of 27 singing males on 14 April.

Our first Common Whitethroat arrived on 12 April this year (last year 14 April). I am not sure we have conducted a thorough survey of singing males this year but it will be at least approaching 20 territories. The first Lesser Whitethroat arrived on 15 April (26 April in 2021) this year and we had a peak count of 6 singing males with closer to 2-3 holding territory across the Spring.

Our Spring high count for Song Thrush was 17 birds across the Patch but this may have been swelled by local or wider movement and the number of regular birds holding territory is closer to half that number.

Winter summary: a hard, but not very cold winter

Introduction

2021 ended with our record highest number of bird species we have ever recorded on the Patch:143. December saw 76 for the month. 2022 started much like 2021 with 78 species in January (the same as Jan 2021), but February was not aided by the cold snap we had in ‘21 and so we recorded a pretty paltry 71 species for the month compared with the outrageously high score of 85 for the same month last year. As February came to a close, the total number of birds recorded on the patch for 2022 is 79.

January 1st is always a special day on the patch as the local birders go out and year-tick Robin and Mallard. This year the team managed to compile 61 species on day one of the year (which compared with 69 on the first day of the previous year).

Highlights

I don’t think it would be unfair to say that this winter has been rather dull in terms of birds of interest. 

I flushed a male Yellowhammer from the Brooms on 3 Jan. It flew up, circled around me calling and flew off East not to be seen again. That was probably the best bird of the month, partly because January didn’t see many spectacular birds, and partly because we haven’t had a Yellowhammer in January for a very long time.

Rob Sheldon found our seventh Red-crested Pochard on Heronry on 16 December; a female. Sean T found a drake Mandarin on Shoulder of Mutton on 12 Jan. This is the fourth record in a 12 month period which matches the number seen over the previous decade.

The best of the rest included:

• Louis and Gosia had Short-eared Owl over the Flats on 10 Jan.
• Simon had the only Treecreeper we have had since November also on 10 Jan in Bush Wood.
• Also a good winter for Firecrest with 10 records across three locations and at least three birds on 13 Jan; a pair in Reservoir Wood and a single bird in the Dell.
• The only Red Kite of the period was on 2 December.
• The only year tick made in February was on the last day of the month - a flyover Shelduck from Nick, and our first since May of the previous year.

Duck numbers

I am pleased to report that some of our duck numbers seem to have recovered slightly from the atrociously low numbers the previous winter (we suspect this was due to local issues - likely to do with the water rather than any more sinister macro trends). Whilst nowhere near the peak of a few years ago, Gadwall numbers this winter reached high counts in November (133 peak) and December (126 peak). The numbers dropped in the new year with the peak so far being 31. Last winter, our peak Gadwall count was 42. Further:

• November last year also saw the peak count for Shoveler (60) which compared with 28 last winter.  This year so far our high count for Shoveler was 45 on 31 Jan. 
• Teal numbers are pretty consistent with last year, with high counts in the twenties. 
• Pochard high count for the three winter months was also the same for this year and last: 7.
• Tufted Duck high counts this winter and last both saw highs in the forties.
• Note that we have not had any confirmed reports of Wigeon locally so far this winter.

Other trends and records of note 

Rather than comprehensive review of the data across species, I have attempted below to take a small sample where observations or comparisons can be made. I will leave the fuller species review data until the bird report (I have just started work on 2021 and believe Nick may be doing something for 2020):

Skylark

It appears that our local Skylark population may have benefitted from the added protection of the fenced breeding areas last year. Across the three winter months, we had 54 recorded bird days and an average count of 3.5 birds compared with 2 during the same period last year. Our Skylark high-count of 7-8 birds this winter compares with a high of 5 last year. So, the data aren’t robust enough to draw too many conclusions, but at least the trend appears to be in the right direction. [Edit: a walk-over in March revealed 11 birds]

Meadow Pipit 

Meadow Pipit counts were also up a bit on last year with average counts of 7 (versus 4 last winter) and a high count of 25 (cf 18 last year), but counting Mipits is always a tricky business and so we have to be careful reading too much into these data. We will wait and see whether we get persistent singers and breeding success following the sad desertion of this species as a breeding bird last year for the first time.

Cetti’s Warbler

This winter we have nine records of the singing male on the Roding (none from in the Park). This seems to be very similar to the previous year. Let’s hope we get breeding success.

Siskin and Lesser Redpoll

Our winter flock around the tea hut and Perch Pond in the park was back again this winter with a high count possibly in the sixties. As previous years, we have regularly recorded a Lesser Redpoll flock in the SSSI, but the new addition this winter has been a regular flock of Lesser Redpoll (high count of 17) in the alders around Perch Pond with the Siskin.

Woodcock

Partly thanks to the evening diligence of Nick, we have had a likely record of 18 bird days for Woodcock in 2022 by the end of Feb. The regular haunt of the Roding to watch the crepuscular flyover has been reported early in Jan but somewhat overtaken by a regularly seen bird or birds in the SSSI.

Gadwall drake - Tim Harris

Meadow Pipit - Tim Harris

Shoveler - Tim Harris

Stonechat - Mary Holden