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Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Lock-down Day 9 - 50 up and some interesting 'Nocmig' results

Made it to 50 species from the garden today since the start of the Coronavirus Lock-down. It was a Kestrel which flew straight over the garden. 
It's interesting to look at what I've seen and missed over the 9 day period. Only one Spring migrant, the Chiffchaff which I've recorded on all days bar one. I have also still to see House Sparrow which is scarce in my garden, despite having put out some sparrow nest boxes but it can be easily seen just 500m away! I have also still to see Jay which has been scarce around me this year and I've only had one Great Spotted Woodpecker which, in prior years I have heard drumming regularly at this time of year.
I've seen Mandarin everyday as they flew the 1km from the river to look for nesting sites in the woods. One pair landed in the trees close to the house and I managed a photo.
Mandarin - female and male

Simon (Roddis) who also lives in Darley Dale has taken to recording the sounds of nocturnal birds passing over his garden. Many species of bird are nocturnal migrants ( hence the term Nocmig to describe the recording process)  and wildfowl and waders tend to be quite vocal as well so the sound recording of night migrants is becoming an increasingly popular way of identifying these nocturnal visitors which would otherwise go unrecorded.
Last night Simon recorded calls from two parties of Common Scoter, a party of Teal, and an Oystercatcher as well local Mandarin and Barn Owl.
The Common Scoter movement was also recorded in Hayfield, North Derbyshire and several other sites across the Midlands as birds migrated from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. 
A fascinating insight in to an otherwise invisible migration and it will be interesting to see what else Simon turns up.

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