Beddington Farmlands

Did the farmlands yesterday in between work. The good vis mig continues with good numbers of migrants Ebird list here. The highlights included a Hawfinch (calling over Mile Road bridge that somehow managed to elude me seeing it), a good passage of Redwing (I had over 300 but Zach and Roger watching from the mound had nearly 1000), a Water Pipit, Redpoll and Siskin, 2 Brambling, Peregrine, 3 Green Sandpiper, 5 Snipe, 5 Skylark, 6 Reed Bunting, 12 Wigeon and 3 Pintail. I put the noc-mig on at my mum's (on the edge of the farmlands recording area) and the migration had been going on all night with over 500 Redwing calls and also Blackbirds, Song Thrush and Robin migrating all night long into dawn and beyond. Also one Lapwing flying over my mum's garden. Sounds and Ebird list Here. 

Male Pintail (above), first-winter males moult into an adult like plumage and are later than adult males to moult from eclipse so this bird could be a first-winter male as its still very much moulting. A female/juvenile Pintail (below)

Redwings on the move

Also a few Fieldfares

and double figures of Chiffs (above and below) 

View over the Wet Grassland hide- still showing the effects of the drought. Not sure how this has affected the site's Lapwing population which must be in a critical state following the extreme (but widely predicted) changes in wetland environmental factors

Blackbird and Song Thrush moving over

Redwings migrating- this was basically going on all night long. A really impressive bit of Redwing migration across the whole country over last three days all triggered by the sudden change in wind direction and speed. The bulk of the birds arrived in Yorkshire and crossed the country across to Lancashire. Seems like some groups headed south accounting for the counts in a few thousands at various vantage points in places like the Farmlands compared to the tens of thousands across the main flyway, with over 120,000 recorded over one site in Lancashire. Birds pushed through west that resulted in an arrival on the Isles of Scilly (although mainly Fieldfares there which were also on the move in smaller numbers) and also there was a single Redwing on Corvo yesterday (a bird I still need for my Azores list). 

A bit of variation on the usual Blackbird calls