Mid-winter movement

The weather has been all over the place this week, overnight frosts, strong winds, heavy rain, snow and even overnight temperatures that would rival autumn daytime temperatures but the most dominant factor in terms of bird movement has been the westerly airflow.

The predicted Ivory Gull turned up on the 13 December on the Outer Hebrides and there seems to have been an increase in the number of Ring-billed Gulls. However, the predicted Nearctic passerines failed to show, although I still think there could be a Dark-eyed Junco lurking in a garden somewhere in the UK.

Ring-billed Gull by Peter M Wilson

So, with westerly airflow dominating the scene for the next week or so what might we expect?

True migration is largely over now, although another big blow from almost any direction and a temperature plummet on the continent could result in new arrivals, involving windblown seabirds and gulls from the north and west (white-winged gulls are favourite but Ross’s Gull is still on the cards), Little Auks form the north and east and wildfowl from the continent.

Birds are still on the move within the UK; undergoing a ‘mid-winter’ redistribution. Some of the Pink-footed Geese that have been present in North Norfolk for the last month or so have moved into the Norfolk Broads area, as evidenced by the white-morph Snow Goose that has moved with them.   There have also been Pink-footed Geese heading south past Spurn Point, possibly moving from northern England or Scotland and heading for North Norfolk. Whooper Swans have also been seen moving in small flocks, presumably doing a similar thing.

GBW reporting rate for Chaffinch

Birds are also beginning to move into gardens with BTOGarden Birdwatch reporting rate for Chaffinch heading towards its winter peak and the numbers of Blackcaps using gardens going up.

The generally mild conditions forecast for much of the UK for the next few days will definitely help the small number of Swallows and Wheatears that are still present – if these conditions continue perhaps we could see one or two of these successfully overwintering.