A superb first for Lutley Wedge this morning. At 0815am I picked out the flight calls of (2) Knot as they flew in from the E/SE, flying directly overhead and over the Top Footpath heading off to the NW/W.
Knot has always been rare passage wader inland away from Staffordshire which gets the lions share of most Midland records, and is classed as an 'uncommon passage migrant' according to the 'New Birds of the West Midlands' Harrison 2005. In West Midland county terms however it is even scarcer with the West Midlands only accounting for a paltry 2% of all records and even Worcestershire only accounting for some 8%!
(I have included an example of Knot flight call from Flasterbo Sweden in September, from the excellent xeno-canto site below).
The first Wheatear this autumn was in horse paddocks along the Top Footpath late morning along with 1 Yellow Wagtail with another Yellow Wagtail flying through heading West, and a single Tree Pipit flew over.
Visible Migration/migrant totals:-
2 Knot➝ NW/W
1 Wheatear
2 Yellow Wagtail (1➝W) (1 in then➝E/NE)
1 Tree Pipit ➝SW
4 Sand Martin (2➝W) (1➝W/NW) (1➝S/SE)
45 House Martin (7➝SSE) (3➝E)
17 Swallow (10➝W/NW)
7 Swift (1➝S/SW)
1 Lesser Whitethroat
8+ Common Whitethroat
1 Blackcap
Knot heading W/NW Lutley Wedge 21/8/11
Lesser Whitethroat 21/8/11
2 comments:
Fantastic record of Knot Craig...good photos too. I really should do a bit more vismig ;-)
Chutney Ledge scores again! Nice one Craig!
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