Fall of migrants

Yesterday's wind died down almost as quickly as it started. The morning was grey with drizzle and occasional downpours. It seemed perfect for a fall of migrants, and it was! The bad weather disorientates migrants that are flying at night and they tend to make a fall, usually in coastal headlands. Once down they start to feed as from first light. The wet vegetation often soaks their plumage but they just get on with the task of recovering lost energy. Today's fall was dominated by Black Redstarts (overwhelmingly males) and Chiffchaffs. I also saw Hoopoes, Serins, Stonechats, Dartford Warblers, Blackcaps, Willow and Subalpine Warblers. Some of these are migrants that have just crossed the Sahara while others are in from Morocco. House Martins and Swallows also fed incessantly on the morning's batch of aerial plankton. Here are some photographs from this morning...

The Black Redstarts that winter and migrate past Gibraltar breed in western and central Europe. They belong to the subspecies Phoenicurus ochruros gibraltariensis, curiously as they were described from here by Gmelin in the 18th Century even though they don't breed here! The breeding Black Redstarts of the nearbly sierras belong to the subspecies aterrimus, are much blacker on the head and mantle and the white wing panel is larger.

Black Redstarts: males (above) and female (below)

Subalpine Warbler: a tras-Saharan migrant

Wet female Stonechat

Serin

Male Blackcap

Chiffchaffs: hunting in small groups

Hunting insects often involves pouncing on them from above

The local Blue Rock Thrushes were also actively hunting, and looking wet!

St Joseph's Storm came early this year

What are these oranges doing on a beach? I took this photograph tonight in the middle of a gale that had reached force 9 in mid-Strait and which brought with it heavy rain. The oranges are most probably from the rich alluvial plain of the Guadiaro River where citrus orchards are plentiful. The heavy rains have flooded the river plains and many oranges have been washed downstream. The estuary of the Guadiaro is some 16.5 kilometres from Eastern Beach in Gibraltar where the oranges were dropped off by heavy seas from the east!

Strong gales with heavy seas are a feature of March in the Strait of Gibraltar (see my post of 25th February - St. Joseph's Storm) and has been amply captured in paintings, like in this 18th Century print (courtesy Gibraltar Museum). In that post I referred to one of the worst tragedies, the loss of over 500 lives when the SS Utopia sank on the 17th March, 1891.

This sketch by Mrs Georgina Sheriff (courtesy Gibraltar Museum) captures the horror of the moment. It is explained in detail by the Gibraltar Directory:

17th March, 1891

A most appalling disaster occurred early this evening during a strong South-Westerly gale; the Anchor Line steamship Utopia, from Naples to New York with 879 Italian emigrants on board, collided with H.M.S. Anson, anchored in the bay. At about 7 o’clock in the evening the steamer was seen to vacillate for a few moments abreast of the Anson. The strong wind and tide swept her down across the battleship’s bows, and the ram ripped her side open for a considerable distance before she swung clear. She then drifted down with the tide, and finally sank about 60 yards clear of H.M.S. Rodney. Boats were sent away from all the men-of-war with great promptitude, and the search lights were turned on to the wreck in order to assist the operations as much as possible. The shrieks and cries were heart-rendering and the awful sight of nearly 900 panic stricken people struggling for their lives was one which can never be forgotten by those who had the misfortune to witness it. The sea was so heavy that the boats could not approach the ship and all they could do was to lie to leeward of her and pick up the people as they were swept off the decks into the water. The ship settled down about five minutes after the collision, and a small number of people found refuge in the main rigging, from which they were eventually rescued, but the majority of those in the after part were swept away. As her bows began to sink, those that were left rushed forward, and, as many as could, struggled and fought their way to the fore-rigging. In about twenty minutes the forecastle disappeared and with it crowds of unfortunate beings. The sea and rain was so blinding that it was most difficult to see anything from the boats. It was a work of considerable danger to get off the people in the rigging on account of the heavy sea but by dint of perseverance and pluck it was eventually accomplished. The work was not finished until nearly 11 o’clock, and the last people taken off were so exhausted that it was a long time before they could be got onto the boats.

That was on a date close to today but the wind was from the south-west. Today's gale was from the south-east. Here are some photographs to illustrate its power:

The gulls weren't the only ones to get wet. Between heavy rain and some rather high waves hitting on the cliff where I was taking the photographs, I ended up pretty drenched! Towards the end the waves were getting perilously high so I decided to beat retreat! The winds brought a line of Cory's Shearwaters inshore though not close enough for photographs. Maybe 5000 birds entered the Mediterranean, returning to their breeding colonies.

Evening in the Lodge

Our field station is located in an old Victorian coastal battery called Parson's Lodge. It's a great place to see nature and history interacting. I popped in earlier to make the most of the warm evening sun (it was 21C) before the next batch of rain. With so much rain this winter the flowers are going to be wonderful this spring. Anyway, here are some images from the Lodge taken this evening. We'll pop in from time to time to see what's about.

There is a colony of breeding Yellow-legged Gulls on the site, supplemented by immature hangers-on

Crown Daisy

Marigolds

Giant Tangier Fennel

Bugloss

Sweet Alison

Black Redstart - a migrant busily catching insects before sunset

When migration comes to a halt

Monday was a warm and calm day and many soaring birds made the most of it to cross the Strait. Most did very well on the thermals that the mid-morning sun produced and flew high. The main species were Short-toed Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Black Kite and Black Stork. The warmth seems to have brought in some new arrivals from the south, most notably Yellow Wagtails back on territories in La Janda and an early Willow Warbler, flycatching from an olive it was sharing with a Cetti's Warbler. Storms returned from the Atlantic on Tuesday. They got some birds moving, especially Common Scoters that were migrating north along the coast.

Storm clouds over the Atlantic at sunset on Tuesday

The storm got much worse on Wednesday with high winds lifting up rollers along the Strait. A few Gannets struggled with the wind but most movement came to a halt. At Europa Point tonight around 20 Audouin's Gulls, joined a roost of Yellow-legged Gulls on a cricket pitch giving ample opportunities for photographs in spite of the grey cloud and the very strong winds. These lovely gulls are now moving into the Mediterranean in large numbers but the wind was too strong even for them.

waves in the Strait today

First winter Gannet struggling into the wind today. Below, Audouin's Gulls resting in strong winds.

This bird has a ring AP7F. If anyone has a contact please pass on this information.

Scavengers

This is the sort of image that we are use to here in the Strait of Gibraltar. Some Griffons breed in the area while others cross between Europe and Africa on migration. In spring, like other large raptors, they are mobbed by Yellow-legged Gulls defending their nests. Nowadays the Griffon and the Egyptian Vulture are the only species that breed in the area, and the latter is getting rarer each year. The Black Vulture is a winter visitor and occasionally crosses the Strait. The Bearded Vulture is the rarest of the four but does turn up from time to time. Poisoning and shooting has decimated vulture numbers. But go back to the mid-nineteenth century and a very different picture emerges. Then, all four western Palaearctic vultures bred in the area and were quite abundant. And that picture must have been a long-standing one. In Gorham's Cave we've excavated the remains of all four species going back to 50 thousand years ago. To see all four species together today we have to go to the Pyrenees. These photographs were taken in 2008 and 2009 in the Pyrenees and recall what it was once like in the south.

Griffon Vulture:

Egyptian Vulture:

Black Vulture:

Black Vulture over Gibraltar after crossing the Strait in spring,with gull entourage

Bearded Vulture: