Sunday 20 June 2021

Nocturnal Migration "Nov-mig" - reviewing the last twelve months

Noc-mig recording has taken place for just over a year at a suburban garden site (the first night was 9th April 2020 when 2 Moorhen and a Common Sandpiper were recorded), so it seems right for a very brief summary of the last twelve and a bit months.


After listening to over 2,000 hours of recordings I have heard millions (probably) of water drips from the neighbour’s damn continuous, and very annoying water feature, thousands of emergency vehicle sirens, planes, trains and automobiles, I know every dog in the neighbourhood by its bark, I have aurally witnessed just about every aspect of fox life, as well as people coughing, sneezing, coming home drunk from a pub/party and noises that I still don’t know what they were.

But despite the above I have also logged nearly 5,000 birds of 55 species between dusk and soon after sunrise (excluding singing and regular garden birds). This total has comprised nine species of ducks, geese and swans, three crakes and rails, one heron, thirteen species of wader, four gulls, one tern, three owls, two pipits, three wagtails, five thrushes (and allied species), one warbler, two crows, seven finches and one bunting.


Redwing was by far the most common species with over 3,700 individuals recorded, with 246+ Song Thrush and 158+ Meadow Pipit. There have been 66 Moorhen and 31 Coot. Common Sandpiper has been the most frequent wader with 15 registrations. Some of the more unusual species have included Barnacle Goose, Common Scoter, Barn Owl, Grey Plover, Knot, Turnstone, Sandwich Tern, Hawfinch and Reed Bunting.


So, despite all the extraneous noises, I am extremely pleased with my first year of noc-migging. It has been a very steep learning curve though!

Guest writer: WH

A basic noc-mig set up


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