Skylark and Starling on the move

The north Norfolk coast at dawn is a magical place, particularly so in October. A favourite haunt at this time of the year is the narrow lane that runs from Kelling down to the sea. The thick hedgerows here have the potential to hold newly-arrived migrants and the occasional gaps in this berry-laden screen afford views over the surrounding fields. At the bottom of the lane things open up, a small expanse of water attracts waders and duck, while short cattle-grazed turf is great for wheatears, finches and buntings.

This morning looked promising, even though the wind had moved round and there had been clear skies overnight. The numbers of less common migrants reported along the coast over recent days, including dozens of Short-eared Owls, several Bluethroat and a Radde's Warbler, not to mention that Rufous-tailed Robin, were more than enough to give the local patch some added allure.

A tit flock feeding in the upper part of the lane held at least one Blackcap but there was no sign of of Chiffchaff or Goldcrest, both of which can be encountered here in numbers on some autumn days. What was particularly evident, however, was the large number of Starlings and Skylarks passing overhead. Small groups of Skylark peppered the soundscape with their calls, while the Starlings whooshed by on hundreds of noisy wings. Trailing off the back of one of the smaller Starling flocks were two Redwing.

The numbers of Chaffinches either passing overhead or dropping into the hedgerows also suggested a movement of some size, my highest count for the patch at any time of the year according to my BirdTrack records. There were also good numbers of Goldfinches, with fewer Greenfinch and no sign of the Linnet flock that had been engaging a fortnight ago.

While the pool held 28 Teal and 4 Snipe, it was the short-turf behind the sea wall that was busy with birds. Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails were here in reasonable numbers, feeding alongside Egyptian Geese and a solitary Little Egret that stalked the wetter ground. Also present were three Wheatears, still moving through from northern breeding grounds.

It did feel like things were on the moving, the crossover between summer (Wheatear and Blackcap) and winter (the arriving Starlings and Redwing), and this is one of the reasons why patch birding in autumn is so rewarding. The combination of your familiarity with the site, the sense of arrivals and departures, and the chance that something rare might be about to pop out of the bramble, make for exciting birdwatching.

39 species in total, not bad for a couple of hours on this particular patch.

Mike Toms

Fair Isle mini-blog: Migration waxes and wanes

Even though it is mid-October and migration is at its peak, there are still days when nothing much seems to be moving at all. That was definitely the case on Fair Isle today, with generally fewer birds around, or so it seemed. The Redwings and Fieldfare were confined to the south-west of the island and had dropped in number. Despite the lack of anything moving overhead, there were lots of Blackcaps on the island and a few more Chiffchaffs. Brambling numbers have definitely increased, with Andy Clements and Rick Goater finding a flock of twenty-six birds in a oat crop in the south of the island.

New birds found today, included a tailless Barred Warbler (perhaps the result of a close escape with a local cat), a Shoveler (a rare bird here) and two Iceland Gulls. Nick Moran also added a Sooty Shearwater during a dawn seawatch.

Searching the dykes was very much the order of the day, with all of us getting very wet feet. We have been told to be careful not to get trench foot. Perhaps dyke foot might be more appropriate.

The forecast for tomorrow is for strong south-westerly winds and heavy showers, maybe the change in the weather will mean a change in the birds.

Paul Stancliffe

Fair Isle mini blog: an awesome reputation

We all arrived on Fair Isle this morning after a 6.30am start and a fruitless search for the Buff-bellied Pipit. On stepping from the plane we were immediately greeted by a ringtail Hen Harrier and a large number of Redwings and Fieldfares, apparently fresh in today. There had only been a small number of these winter thrushes here during the previous week, which shows that things are now happening.

For  most of the day today it has been difficult to contain our excitement; it is Fair Isle in mid-October after all! We are here to experience migration and we have not been disappointed. Both summer and winter migrants are present. A Whinchat shared a fence with three Brambling at the island shop and just up the road from here was our first Yellow-browed Warbler of the day. The nearest this sprite breeds to the UK is eastern Russia. Although it is mid-October there are still a few warblers about and we caught up with several Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs and a Reed Warbler, but none of these could beat the Blyth's Reed Warbler that was trapped and ringed early afternoon.

While there is still a taste of summer, the winter visitors outnumber the summer migrants and we found a flock of fifty Snow Buntings, several small groups of Bramblings, one Short-eared Owl and experienced a small arrival of Woodcock.

So even though we are here to enjoy autumn migration, Fair Isle has an awesome reputation for rare birds and it upheld this today. Alongside the Blyth's Reed Warbler, Common Rosefinch, Bluethroat, Little Bunting and Olive-backed Pipit were all found, unsurprisingly given the wind has quite a bit of east in it, all these birds have an origin from that direction.

As darkness falls the wind is still in the east - what will tomorrow bring - no doubt even more excitement.

Andy Clements

Fair Isle mini-blog: The long road north

Several BTO staff are spending a few days on Fair Isle, hoping that the weather sends some interesting migrants their way.

Most of our first day was spent in the car, leaving Norfolk and 4.15am and arriving on Shetland at 3.00pm. That doesn't mean we didn't see any birds though. Soon after first light it became apparent that there was a major migration event unravelling. Flocks of Redwings were a constant feature from South Yorkshire to the Scottish border, along with smaller numbers of Fieldfares.

Once on Shetland we went in search of a Buff-bellied Pipit, a stray from North America. This was partly successful, in as much as a third of the party saw the bird (John Marchant and Paul Stancliffe).


The field that the bird was in, eventually, was also a magnet  for migrants. 12 Swallows hawked over it, four Bramblings fed with the local Twite, a Whinchat sat on the fencewire, 25 Redwings joined the 10 or so migrant Blackbirds, and 2 Goldcrests fed in the adjacent ditch, sharing it with 3 Jack Snipe. And then it got dark

Tomorrow we leave for Fair Isle, weather willing. There is a strong southerly wind at the moment and it is around 9 degrees.

Paul Stancliffe