As usual, I ran two nocmig recorders in Filey during the season - an mp3 recorder from my study window here in the town, and an audiomoth up on North Cliff. The former's employment is always opportunistic (depending on conditions, availability, and waiting for the gull colony to wind down in early-mid September), and this autumn, the latter was too - a combination of uninspiring conditions and equipment issues led to a reduced recording presence this time round.
So how was nocmig over Filey in autumn '23? Those aforementioned uninspiring conditions were unfortunately dominant (and at times seemingly endless), but there were various highlights, plenty of good nights, and a couple of great nights (with one in particular standing out).
Filey Town
A total of 13 nights during September were quiet, with only a handful of species - Knot, Oystercatcher, Moorhen, Snipe, Dunlin, a few Golden Plovers, Bar-tailed Godwit - registering before a small wader movement on 26th included a flock of Sanderlings, several flocks of Dunlins and a Ringed Plover, followed by the first skein of Pink-footed Geese over on 29th.
Another 13 nights were covered in October, with - after weeks of relentlessly blocking conditions - an unprecedented flood of incoming migrants on the night of the 7th-8th. It was a nocmig night like nothing I've ever seen or heard before, which (after some time-consuming but fascinating analysis) smashed UK and European records on Trektellen for both Redwing and Song Thrush registrations. For a full summary, with context, audio and images, there's a dedicated post over here - The Big Thrush Night, 7th Oct '23.
The following night saw plenty of quality migration, too, with flocks of Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin and Snipe among others, while passage continued in fits and starts for the rest of the month. Species diversity was fairly modest and expected, with e.g. Snipe, Pink-feet, Black-headed Gulls, Dunlin and Golden Plovers, plus Bar-tailed Godwit on 11th and always joyous flocks of Whooper Swans on 11th and 13th; thrushes continued to dominate, however, with Redwings recorded throughout (and another big night of 715 on 18th) and a Ring Ouzel on 22nd. A one-off night in November (8th) registered a handful of expected species in the shape of thrushes and geese.
Filey North Cliff
Coverage in July was almost constant, and the first week of the month featured Curlews, Little Ringed Plover, Redshank, Oystercatchers and Golden Plovers, with the autumn's first Whimbrels on 10th, the first Common Sandpiper on 11th, and (unusually) a Swallow on 12th; a similar suite of species continued throughout the rest of the month.
Two flocks of Arctic Terns (with a further flock on 6th) and three Redshanks kicked off a muted August on 3rd, with Redshanks a regular feature of the ten night's total recording for the month. Sandwich Terns (8th) and Common Terns (10th) followed, with a further three flocks of the latter on 15th, when a Green Sandpiper also registered; the following night saw flocks of Whimbrel, Turnstone and Knot overfly the recorder, as well a single Greenshank.
Just six nights recorded in September featured Curlew, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, a flock of Turnstones (3rd), and Golden Plover, Redshank, and the autumn's only Spotted Flycatcher on 2nd. Just four recorded nights in October, consecutively from 7th, scored highly, principally thanks to the huge thrush arrival on the first of those nights; while not quite the tally as the aforementioned Filey town count, it was still huge, constituting the fourth highest-ever European count on Trektellen.org.
The 7th was a good night in general, with eleven species audible through the rain and wind - who knows what else (and how many other thrushes) were disguised behind the messy spectrogram.....
other species on subsequent nights included Pink-footed Goose, Common Scoters, Robin, Water Rail, Golden Plover and Skylark.
