Bird, birds and more birds!

It seems that birds from all points of the compass have been arriving in Britain during the last week. Unsurprisingly, given the westerly storms, several species of North America landbirds were found. A White-crowned Sparrow, one each of Swainson’s and Grey Cheeked Thrushes, singles of Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Blackpoll Warbler and two Red-eyed Vireos graced our shores.

Even though westerlies have dominated the weather, a small window of northeasterly at the beginning of the week and lighter winds during the last few days have meant that birds from the east were able to cross the North Sea, most notably thrushes. Many of us will have enjoyed the first significant arrival of Redwings, along with a few Fieldfares. Accompanying these have been arrivals of Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and a few Ring Ouzels. Finches have also been on the move, most notably Chaffinches, Siskins and Hawfinches.

Hawfinch by Edmund Fellowes

On the eastern scarcity/rarity front, there have been up to ten Red-breasted Flycatchers, half-a-dozen Barred Warblers, a handful of Red-backed Shrikes and Radde’s Warblers, three Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a couple of Olive-backed Pipits and Dusky Warblers, not forgetting the first two Pallas’s Warblers of the season.

Red-breasted Flycatcher by Graham Catley

Northerly winds mid-week saw the arrival of Whooper Swans, and Pink-footed, Greylag, Barnacle and Brent Geese. More notable though was the arrival of eight Blue Tits on Fair Isle! British Blue Tits don’t move very far at all but Scandinavian birders often experience spectacular southerly movements of Blue Tits evacuating the cooling north. Presumably the eight on Fair Isle were part of this phenomenon.

The south wasn’t left out this week either. The influx of Firecrests has continued and up to three Hoopoes and at least one Bee-eater were found.

Firecrest by Graham Clarke

Westerlies are set to dominate for at least the weekend but Monday will see south-easterlies out of southern Scandinavia. So, we can expect one or two more North American landbirds to be found in the west and south-west over the weekend, with birds crossing the North Sea during the early part of the week. Northern Britain and the northern isles look likely to receive the lion’s share but the east coast should see some action too. More thrushes should arrive, in particular Redwings but with increasing numbers of Fieldfare, and finches should move too, in particular Brambling. We could see one or two more Red-eyed Vireos and maybe something a little rarer, possibly Hermit Thrush from the west over the weekend, and more Dusky and Pallas’s Warblers from the east into next week.

Paul Stancliffe