Beddington- Dip city

Wryneck by Johnny Allan, 070908- Despite this seemingly unmissable opportunity (it is being held- why did you let it go????)- this first for Beddington escaped me.
Shag and Cormorant by Grant Prater (last week- too gutted to remember)- identified from this photo

Weather chart (below) for 070809- showing that not all northwest winds are barren

Missed a Wryneck at the farm today- a first for Beddington. This bird is part of a major influx of continental migrants into the country- there are falls on the east coast with birds penetrating well inland and onto the west of the country. I also managed to miss Osprey, Arctic Tern and Black-tailed Godwit today. This adds insult to my injury of missing a Shag last week. I remain without a new bird for this year at Beddington, having clocked up three misses- Hen Harrier, Shag and now Wryneck. Will be my first year ever without a new bird unless my luck changes.

Typically north east winds generated over the North Sea are associated with this sort of influx of migrants. A process called drift. What is note-worthy about this event is that wind direction was northwest over Beddington, a wind direction not often associated with visible migration. However the bigger picture (above) shows that these northwest winds are simply a local change in direction of a larger system which is generating drift from the continent.

1 juvenile Ruff, 1 juvenile Knot, 3 juvenile Dunlin, 2 juvenile Ringed Plover, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Hobby, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Willow Warbler, 40+ House Martin, 5 Sand Martin, 45+ Shoveler, 8 Gadwall, 10 Little Grebe, 10 Teal