Autumn Reflections

It was minus 2 C this morning so autumn is well and truely over therefore following on from a personal reflection of this year's Spring Migration locally HERE I thought I would do an Autumn one too, considering this is my first full autumn (we were in Oz for most of July last year).

It's difficult defining when autumn actually begins. In many ways 'Summer' dissappears into the late Spring and Early Autumn movements with breeding birds overlapping the migrations. In order to get things off to a flying start I decided to use the Lesser Yellowlegs on 18th June as the start date for this review as we know this bird was present in the winter in Hampshire and then presumably went southish before heading back to Hampshire via the Stilt Pool. It's not precise but it's a great bird to get going with. 

EARLY AUTUMN- Sand Martins, early adult waders, post-breeding dispersal and juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls

Adult summer Lesser Yellowlegs on Stilt Pool (Kevin Tarrant)

A couple of Teal on Mill Lane Marsh was another sign of early return migration and meanwhile locally Little Terns (above) started breeding and in late June hundreds of Med Gulls (below) appeared on the Peninsula and soon after (better late than never) 100 pairs of Sandwich Tern arrived and started breeding on Tern island (below). 

A Roseate Tern was around in July.

By mid/late July there were plenty of juvenile Sandwich Terns (above) around. In early July return waders were around with Green, Common Sandpipers and Greenshank on Mill Pond Marsh and a few Blackwits were around too. Typically for early autumn juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls also appeared on the Peninsula and the first mixed flocks of tits and young warblers were around by mid-July by which time the first autumn Whimbrels had appeared too. 

One of the most numerous migrants in mid-July were Sand Martins (above and below). I had over 200 resting up on the beach at Medmerry on 18th July and the same day there was a Yellow Wagtail and a few Common Sandpipers and Greenshank. 

Classic July birds are juvenile Little Ringed Plover which appeared on Ferry and North Wall

MID-AUTUMN- August passerine migrants, Swallows, adult and juvenile waders, seabirds and September rarities 

Balearic Shearwater- the first ones locally were on 20th July but I didn't see them until later in the autumn, in late August when I also caught up with Sooty Shearwater locally. This one was from the Car Ferry to France in early August so we weren't around locally in early August. 

By mid-August there were lots of migrants around including falls of Willow Warblers, Spotted Flycatchers (above), Pied Flycatcher, a few Tree Pipits, Wheatears and it was a good autumn for Redstarts. There were also more waders around including the first Spotted Redshanks for the autumn (below)

There were more Whimbrels (above) around in August and the first juvenile Cattle Egrets appeared too (below) . 

By late August the first Wigeon and Pintail had appeared and I had Black Tern on 29th August (above). Wader and waterfowl numbers were beginning to build in the harbour with about 1200 birds counted on East Side of 86 species- one of the most species rich time of year. 

The first autumn Spoonbills were around 20th August 

It wasn't a great autumn for Osprey but there were several sightings in late August/early September

I was away in Bulgaria for the first week of September but when I got back I managed to catch up with the Wryneck at Church Norton. There was a huge passage of Balearic Shearwaters in early September too which I managed to catch the tail end of.  

The good run of Redstarts continued into September with birds in the Lane - on 15th September I had Redstart and Spot Fly together in the Lane. 

This Grey Phalarope found by Andrew on Honer Reservoir was a nice birthday treat 

Arctic Skuas (above) were appearing by late August with a Long-tailed Skua around in late August/early September 

It was a great autumn for juvenile Curlew Sandpipers which peaked in mid-late September. I had up to eight birds but there were over 20 at one point. 

I came across the first Little Stints (above) of the year at Pagham Spit on 19th September. The same day there were over 7000 ! migrants around mainly made up with Barn Swallows, with 5000 gathering over the harbour. There were also Black Terns, Curlew Sands, Spotted Reds, a flock of Ruff, my first Golden Plovers of the autumn, Yellow-legged Gulls, Whinchat and Wheatear and also vis-mig had started with Siskins, Yellow Wagtails and Mipits going overhead. Meanwhile in the harbour large numbers of waders were building up with over 450 Dunlin and Ringed Plover (below).  More Little Stints were to follow and Ed and I had a Woodlark on 21st September on a day of more vis-mig picking up. Unfortunately I was away for the end of September. 

LATE AUTUMN- Vagrants, Woodpigeons, vis-mig and the return of the Brents 

Storm Amy in early October kind of held up migration but a calm day on 6th October got things going again with 2 Whooper Swans on East Side and an escalation in vis-mig with over 200 Siskins going over and elsewhere in the harbour the waterfowl and wader numbers continued to build, although the mid-autumn Dunlins and Ringed Plovers had mostly moved through. 

I spent mid-October in Bulgaria and other locals were on Scillies but we got back to work locally in late October- the peak time locally for vagrants. On 22nd October Marc and I did East Head and Marc found a cracking Yellow-browed Warbler (above). We also had Black Redstart (below) , 4 Woodlark, 2 Crossbill, 2 Dartford Warbler and 200 Redpoll, 60 Siskin, 4 Yellowhammer and 1200 Wigeon going over. Top local birding.  It was a great autumn for Redpolls, when I got home on 22nd there were 25 Redpolls in the garden too. 

Of course the Brent numbers were building by late October and needless to say huge numbers of Woodpigeons were on the move in late October/early November (below). 

Redpoll in the garden- a great autumn for them locally. It was also a good autumn for Crossbills.  A few garden vis-mig sessions produced Redwings and Fieldfares and also a few garden ticks including Grey Plover and Black-tailed Godwit. 

On the last day of October a southerly airflow began which more or less continued to mid-November. I rushed out to the Bill after the Hunters had two Swifts flying round. I didn't see the Swifts but a smart adult Pomarine Skua was a bonus. Fortunately one of the Swifts (or another one) reappeared the next morning and we were able to confirm it as a Pallid Swift (below)- only the second record for the Peninsula.

The same day as the Pallid Swift I found this Grey Phalarope on Ferry which sealed the day as the best of the autumn for me- what a great grande finale. 

What with the mild southerly airflow there was more left in the autumn all the way to mid-month. I came across this Ring Ouzel at St.Wilfred's Church yard, had a couple of Arctic Terns, two Curlew Sandpipers but sadly dipped the Pallas's Warbler found by Ian and Marc on 8th October. 

It's also been a good autumn for Firecrests with up to 5 birds in the garden/lane. 

So basically a fantastic autumn with highlights including Pallid Swift, Lesser Yellowlegs, Yellow-browed Warbler, Grey Phalaropes, Wryneck, Whooper Swan, Roseate Tern, Little Stints and Curlew Sands, Long-tailed and Pomarine Skua, Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters and stacks of commoner migrants. The biggest miss was the Pallas's Warbler and I also missed the big Balearic Shearwater day (over 500). A fantastic show over what is basically five months from mid-June to mid-November across a wonderful spectrum of different species and groups migrating in response to the coming (now arrived) Northern Winter.