Migration mysteries

The anticyclonic conditions with a persistent north east to east wind, up to F6 some days, appears to have become a permanent weather fixture and set to continue for the forseeable. Interestingly at first it appeared to put the breaks on migration but it seems now that birds are increasingly pushing into it which has a resulted in another pulse of overshoots and drift migrants, again in the West and Ireland. For example yesterday in a short distance on Bryher, Scillies there was a huge fall of migrants including 2 Hoopoes, 100 Wheatears, 85 Black Redstarts, 180+ Phylloscs, 3 Ring Ouzel, 17 Tree Pipit, 250 Song Thrush and more. Megas have included 2 Alpine Accentors, one yesterday in Cornwall and one today not far away on the Isle of Wight. Hoopoes continue to have a record breaking Spring with birds getting closer now with one at Bough Beech and another on the Isle of Wight today. The Alpine Swift at the Bill yesterday fits in with everything that's going on- presumably an overshoot that arrived in the West and was re-orientating back to the continent (it was heading east). 

Presumably this is all helps to explain why there have been so few common summer migrants round here. They have been pushed much further west? There have been large numbers of hirundines moving up the west coast and at sites in Lancashire too and Portland's flyway seems to be pretty busy too over the last few days and there were large movements up the Severn Estuary also. Little Gulls are all over inland reservoirs (mainly yesterday), only a few off the coast here so presumably moving up from further west so it all points towards a huge westerly displacement of the main flightlines with birds increasing desperate to move north despite the very significant drift and displacing wind.   

Presumably the volume of birds involved is increasing because today there were actually quite a few summer migrants around here. At the Selsey Bill Seawatch this morning we had 4 Yellow Wagtails going over,  an arrival of Chiffchaffs/Willow Warblers (I counted 10 along the frontage), 5 Common Tern east, a steady drip of Swallows and Sand Martin and a steady trickle of Meadow Pipits, Linnets and Goldfinches (my vis mig counts HERE, full log HERE). I popped into Chichester Gravel Pits looking for Little Gulls but nothing except a Swallow, some Chiffs and a Blackcap. In the evening I did East Side where additional summer migrants included a cracking male Redstart (found this morning) in the Horse Paddocks, another Swallow, four House Martins over Pagham Lagoon, Blackcap and more Chiffchaffs. Ebird list HERE, 58 species of about 800 individuals including 2 Pintail still, 12 Barwits, 1 Knot and 1 Cattle Egret.

Certainly feeling like summer migrants are finally breaking in round here,  Yellow Wagtail, Common Tern, Redstart and House Martin were all local patch year ticks - now on 143 for the year. 

Willow/Chiff- looks like a Willow Warbler with those pale legs and white underparts

Male Redstart at the Horse Paddocks

Meadow Pipit- a steady trickle overhead today but this one came down on the Oval Field 

Sandwich Tern battling into the wind- surprisingly it was more about passerines this morning fighting the wind than waterbirds

The Spotted Redshank in Ferry Channel is coming along nicely

Barwits, Grey Plovers and Dunlins- everything looks pretty drab in this group, not much moulting into breeding plumage- maybe a group of non-breeding birds left over from the winter population

Selsey Bill Seawatch this morning

The moth trap was less busy last night. Muslin moth was a NFY and Derek and Mike assisted in identifing these two micros- probably a Mompha divisella (above) but prefereably a gen dent job and a Common Slender, Gracillaria syringella (below)