Surrey Bramblings

I had a couple of tree management plans to do back in London today so got them finished in the morning and headed over to check out the Brambling flock near Reigate that has numbered over 1000 birds in recent days. I had about 400 but that was spectacular. Also great to bump into Steve Gale (Steve's North Downs Blog here)   who showed me round this part of the North Downs. Ebird list HERE. 

Winter Aconite 

Winter Heliotrope. There was also some Lesser Celandine and the odd Primrose out. Also had a Winter Shade moth on the way home from the cinema this evening. 

A couple of views over the diverse environment of the North Downs. This fascinating area has hosted some spectacular ornithological phenomena in recent years including being the epicentre of the 2018 national Hawfinch invasion More here and witnessing some of the largest numbers of migrating Redwings in the country last autumn (nearly 35,000 in nearby Leith Hill) and now probably one of the largest concentrations of Bramblings in the country. There must be something special about this area which Steve and I discussed. Presumably something to do with the diverse mosaic of habitats and relief (yew covered chalk escarpments with mixed woodland, farmland and cover crops on shooting estates) and a series of migration flightlines (along the North Downs and Greensand Ridge) , various bottlenecks through the ridges and the proximity to the narrow sea crossing between Belgium and Essex/Kent with birds migrating across there and then following the Chalk and Greensand Ridges which bring them to the good habitat in this area. The nocturnal crossings from the Continent often bring the birds in this area towards dawn which often accounts for some of the highest counts of Redwings  inland (as they presumably went over Kent and Essex under cover of darkness and unseen by vis-miggers). That timing of appearing in this area at dawn could also help concentrating birds in this area as they seek to re-fuel following nocturnal migration. The southerly (and more mild) location could also concentrate birds that have trickled down the country. All these factors combined may partly explain what's going on here.