Saturday, September 11, 2010

London Road and Lee Dam this morning

2 Ravens flew past Stoodley Pike along the ridge towards Warland res
A male Stonechat was a nice find, the first this year along here following two strong years when they were present almost every time I walked along London Road
1 male Kestrel
14 Mistle Thrushes landed on the power lines then flew off towards Mankinholes
2 female Goosander at Lee Dam
2 Goldcrests
c. 15 Long Tailed Tits with other tits at Lee Dam
1 Chiff Chaff singing half-heartedly at Lee Dam (I heard a Chiff Chaff just over the road in Lumbutts churchyard on Thursday morning)
1 Peregrine over Mankinholes Tops
Redpolls have returned to the garden feeders - haven't seen them in the garden for a month or so.

3 comments:

Steve Cummings said...

What is it with these singing Chiffchaffs? Is this a new phenomenon? Or have I been walking round with my ears shut. I can't say I have noticed them singing this late before. I had one last week at EGP singing normally, and somebody else had one about a week before at another site. Are they just using it as a contact call whilst moving through, or are these males advertising a territory that they would like to keep hold of?

Jeff Cox said...

Good question and I was wondering about this myself as I heard it singing. Is it that the days are about as long now as they are in Spring and does this trigger something that makes them sing? There weren't any Chiff Chaffs there in Spring so this bird has only just appeared over the last few days.

David Sutcliffe said...

I have heard them singing at od times at Ogden and along the canal in recent years in September and early October. It always seems to occur on lovely warm sunny days. I have also heard Blackcaps sing late August/early September but their song is a realy quiet sub-song as if they are almost 'whispering'.