Cold weather movement

It has been a fairly quiet week on the bird movement front but that could change with the forecast change in the weather. Large parts of the country are forecast to experience hard overnight frosts from mid-week, particularly in the north and the Midlands, and whilst this spell of freezing conditions will only last for a few days it might just be enough to make it difficult for some birds to feed.

Lapwings by John Harding

We could see Lapwings, Golden Plovers and Skylarks moving to the relatively warmer southern parts of the country, and we could see a small surge of birds into our gardens as ground feeding finches and buntings find it a little harder to find food in the surrounding countryside, birds such as Chaffinches, Bramblings and Reed Buntings.

Whilst the overnight temperature is forecast to drop to -3°C in northern England and parts of Scotland, this is relatively balmy compared to the forecast daytime temperature of -9°C that western Russian and Eastern Europe will experience over the next few days. Combined with easterly winds into the Netherlands this could prompt a movement of wildfowl, Teal, Pintail, Goldeneye, Pochard and Smew are the ones to look out for. A short spell of northerlies down the North Sea could also push Little Auks and divers further south, in particular Red-throated Divers, as a result seawatching could prove fruitful from the east coast over the next few days.

Red-throated Diver by Andy Mason

There are still several Swallows and Wheatears in the country along with a couple of House Martins, it will be interesting to see how many linger into the weekend.

Later in the week the winds will be coming from the west and northwest and could result in an arrival of white-winged gulls in the north, Glaucous and Iceland, and divers could be on the move through the Irish Sea, more likely Great Northern and Black-throated Divers.

We might also see the arrival of the Norfolk flock of Taiga Bean Geese, prompted to move by the falling temperatures on the other side of the North Sea.