Nocmig Update - Filey, January to June '23

Ring Ouzel - a feature of every nocmig migration season here at Filey

Year four of my nocmig studies here at Filey and our understanding of nocturnal movements locally is, well, many leagues beyond what we knew (or could've imagined) previously. One of the many educational aspects is the huge influence of prevailing weather conditions and wind during the key migration periods - as with diurnal migration, it's the key, and the seemingly endless cold north-easterly airflow throughout much of spring '23 can be politely described as, well, a very limiting factor....

 

Thus, this spring was especially quiet for nocmig, but I continued to run both recorders here, up on the North Cliff, and (opportunistically) one from my study window here in Filey town; there were some limited highlights and movements, and all data is good data, after all, as summarised below. As always, full counts and details of each night's recording can be found on Trektellen.org.

  

Filey North Cliff 

I recorded pretty much consistently from mid-March to the end of June (with occasional nights written off due to very poor weather / high winds), and the second half of March was, as it often is, productive: most nights registered multiple species, with many registering between five and ten. Of these, wildfowl included flocks of Wigeon on six nights, Teal on several, Gadwall on one (27th), Mallard on many, and, of course, Common Scoters: the first flock beeped over on the 23rd, followed by four flocks on 25th, and further flocks on 28th and 30th. 

 

Early season waders were represented by Golden Plovers (five nights, with a peak of three on 16th), Oystercatchers (nine nights), Snipe (three nights), Dunlin (one on 16th), Ringed Plover (17th), Lapwing (23rd) and Curlews (six nights, with a peak of four on 18th), while rallids were dominated by Moorhens (most nights) as well as three each of Water Rail and Coot.

  

Passerine activity included single Skylark, Robin, a handful of Song Thrushes, and decent numbers of Blackbirds and (especially) Redwings on their return flights to Scandinavia - peaks of the latter included 247 on 22nd and 156 on 24th.

 

April saw a diversifying of species (if not in any great numbers). Common Scoters featured on six nights, with a total of twenty flocks recorded, the best of which was eleven on 10th. Species recorded on multiple nights included Golden and Ringed Plovers (five nights each), Moorhens and Coots (in lower numbers than usual), Water Rails (six nights), Common and Great Black-backed Gulls, a few Grey Herons and Dunlins, Snipe and Gadwall, regular Oystercatchers, and Redshanks (on a total of five nights).

  

Thrushes were also down on the norm, with only two nights featuring Redwings into triple figures (138 on 6th and 104 on 7th) and small showings of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. A more positive end to the month included a 'noc-singing' Blackcap on 26th, the same night the spring's first Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper and Sandwich Terns went over the recorder; a Greenshank on 28th was almost drowned by the cacophony of migrating Curlews, which featured several large flocks and plenty of singing practice en route.

 

If early spring was quiet, then May was, well, inkeeping with the theme. A period missed due to tech issues notwithstanding (10th-15th), it was a month of low diversity and abundance, with a few waders and passerines breaking the monotony - Common Sandpipers on six nights (including two nights with twos), Whimbrel on 4th, Green Sandpiper on 18th, a flock of Turnstones the following night and a small flock of Black-tailed Godwits on 31st were the pick of the former, while a Tree Pipit on 8th and a Spotted Flycatcher on 27th the best of the latter.

 

Except, that is, for one of those wonderful nocmig curveballs - a beautiful, unfamiliar, distinctive phrase repeated with some regularity for about 15 minutes after dark on 27th only became familiar when a series of tssips gave away its identity - a Redwing, practicing its song immediately before exiting back to Scandinavia!

A surprise on my #Filey #nocmig on 27th May: the source of unfamiliar song phrases from 2215 finally gave itself away with a couple of tell tale tssips, presumably before heading straight out over the North Sea - a Redwing, practicing its singing before returning to Scandinavia! pic.twitter.com/gZPQaL8v9W

— Mark James Pearson (@Markthebirder) June 8, 2023

 

Mostly for the sake of completeness of coverage, I ran the audiomoth throughout June, and while it was predictably quiet, there were a few notable returns - Greenshanks on 9th and 10th, Little Ringed Plovers on 3rd and 12th, odd Water Rails and Little Grebes, and a (very) late Redwing on 11th being the best of the month.

 

Filey Town 

Regular readers will know the drill by now - a recorder trapped into the gap of my study window and out into the back alley here in downtown Filey, opportunistically and before the Herring Gull colony I live within (literally) calls time on my efforts. Always challenging, but always worth it....

 

Six nights were attempted mid-month during March, and a couple were productive. The 16th produced ten species, which included Golden, Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, 175 Redwings, nine Song Thrushes and 43 Blackbirds, as well as Dunlin, Robin, Common Gull and Moorhen, while the 18th was a classic early spring night of migration, with a healthy 14 species:

16 nights recorded in April from the 6th were increasingly and predictably affected by the gull colony, which wiped out up to 70% of the spectrogram by the end of the month, but there was plenty to keep efforts worthwhile in the meantime; indeed, often more than the North Cliff recorder, as is often the case in spring.

 

Of those nights, a good proportion were pleasingly varied (between the gulls screams...), with a wide suite of species involved. Common Scoters featured on four nights, with 16 flocks, involved including ten on 13th; other wildfowl included Teal and Gadwall on several nights; thrushes were regular, with a clear peak of 109 Redwings on 7th, a scattering of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes throughout, a single Fieldfare and a Ring Ouzel 25th; rallids were regular and reasonably abundant, especially Moorhens; 

Waders included Common Sandpipers on various nights after the first on 16th, multiple Redshanks, regular Oystercatchers, two Little Ringed Plovers (9th and 16th), multiple Golden Plovers, and a particularly good night for them on 28th, with a big Curlew movement, Turnstones, Knots, and two Common Sands; and passerines included no fewer than three Blackcaps 'noc-singing' over the rooftops, plus single Meadow Pipit, Dunnock, and a Tree Pipit on 19th. 

A handful of hopeful nights in May were predictably patience-trying, but rallids and Oystercatchers were evident between the banshee wails, as were Common Sandpipers, a few other waders (including Dunlins, and flock of Turnstones at 2317hrs on 19th - picked up just a minute later over the North Cliff recorder!).