This autumn I’ve changed my routine from my usual morning vizmig walk and am trying a new location nearby at top of Mellor Moor. It’s just over 10 minutes walk from home and is accessible by public footpath so is easy to get to and from and has the benefit of 360 degree views, which on a clear day reach the Bowland fells to the north, Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales to the east, The West Pennine Moors to the south around Belmont and the coast to the west. It has previously been used by the Romans as a signalling station and in the last century by the Royal Observer Corp as a nuclear blast and fallout monitoring station. You can still see the surface remains of the now sealed nuclear bunker. It seems appropriate to turn it to a new use as a visible migration watch-point.
Apart from being able to spend more time vizmigging without looking like a wierdo hanging about by the road looking at the sky, the location is away from the road so traffic noise is minimal – critical for picking up those feint incoming flight calls!
Weather: warm/sunny SE moderate breeze, 0/8 cloud
- Lapwing 40
- Snipe 3
- Black-headed Gull 5
- Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
- Magpie Present
- Carrion Crow Present
- Skylark 1
- Swallow 12 (5N,7S)
- Starling Present
- Pied Wagtail (yarrellii) 1
- Meadow Pipit 43 (40 grounded migrants, 3W)