If you are interested in scarce migrants, the east coast was the place to be this week as it was set alight with
Icterine Warblers, Barred Warblers, Wrynecks and
Red-backed Shrikes, courtesy of a few days of easterly airflow.
Wryneck led the numbers with around a hundred being reported from over sixty different sites and whilst the number of
Icterine Warblers was much lower there was still around fifty birds reported. Surprise of the week has to be the mini-influx of
Red-footed Falcons.
Wryneck by Jill Pakenham
Common migrants were equally as impressive, led by a huge fall of
Pied Flycatchers on the east coast, accompanied by good numbers of
Whinchats, Yellow Wagtails and
Willow Warblers.
BirdTrack graph for Pied Flycatcher
It was also an amazing week for
Wood Sandpiper, with the peak counts of 34 individuals at Seaton Marshes in Devon and 22 together at Pennington Marshes, Hampshire.
Swifts have all but gone from their breeding areas but a small number are still moving through coastal watchpoints.
The weather forecast for the next week is looking mixed but with a dominant westerly airflow. However, there is a small window of easterly airflow on Saturday into Sunday so we might see a few more migrants drifting across the North Sea.
Red-backed Shrike, Wryneck and
Greenish Warbler are all possible but we could see good numbers of
Pied and Spotted Flycatchers once again.
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