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I got into nocturnal migration a few years ago, and have drifted in and out of it until recently. Largely, this has been due to issues with kit. My first set-up was my first ever recording kit, the Roland R-05 and the dinky little mic that went with it. When that packed in, I upgraded the mic to a Rode NTG2 but rather foolishly left it out in the rain too many times so that didn't last too long! I then moved to recording directly into Audacity with a horrible little desk mic. the pick-up was OK but it caused an awful lot of electrical disturbance which created lots of additional background noise, which of course made life difficult when trying to fathom out distant or quiet calls of birds going over at night! Now I have settled on using a Marantz MPM 1000U directly into Audacity on the laptop, which gives very nice results. The mic hangs out of the living room window. I'd love to have a parabola set up to point skyward but this really isn't the place to leave that sort of thing lying around outside!

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All of my more recent recording data (i.e. since starting to use eBird) can be found here: Torry Nighttime recording

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Most of my recordings are made at home, in Torry, Aberdeen. It's an interesting location. The lights of the harbour, and the all-but-coastal location must contribute positively. However, the harbour generates a lot of noise - as do the traffic and people on Victoria road, who pass right below the mic (which can be entertaining, from time to time!). I have tried 'nocmigging' while visiting the parents in Durham and the in-laws in France, and at both locations I've been impressed with the variety and volume of passage. So much so that I'm beginning to wonder if a coastal location is an advantage at all for nocturnal migration. That said, despite there being plenty of quiet nights, my 'Torry Nighttime recording' can be very rewarding indeed. There are 4 main 'categories' where it does well.

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Geese

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Obviously North East Scotland holds a lot of pink-footed geese, and good numbers of them pass over Torry, meaning that in September, October and early spring, they often feature on an evenings recordings. In late spring, barnacle geese heading from the Solway towards breeding grounds in Svalbard pass over too.

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Barnacle goose 

Pink-footed goose

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Waders

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Waders are a major target for the nocmigger, as they can sound very distinct, and frequently vocalise while flying at night. Oystercatchers are staples from about mid February onwards, with local birds frequently heard making display flights. Throughout spring and autumn they are often supplemented by migrating species. Curlew, dunlin and redshank seem to be most frequent (which is hardly surprising) but common sandpiper, golden plover, whimbrel, ringed plover are regular, and greenshank and lapwing have also been recorded. 

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Coot and Moorhen

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these may be an 'everynight' occurrence for some nocmiggers but the reasonably regular records of moorhen and especially coot over Torry are perplexing. Moorhen breed locally (i.e. at least one pair at Nigg Bay, which must account for some of the records of this species). However coot do not breed as close as this, with the nearest birds being about 4 km away. Do these birds account for all of my records? The nocturnal movements of coot and moorhen is one area where Nocmig could really expand our knowledge with some coordination and thought.

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Thrushes

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A highlight for any nocmigger must be a large movement of thrushes. Primarily this happens in Autumn with blackbird, redwing and fieldfare the main targets. Spring movements do happen but are generally lighter. Apart from major rarities, the big prise among a movement of thrushes is capturing a ring ouzel.

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Ring ouzel

Redwing

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NocMig

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