With a day off work and after the school run Willow and I where out on the patch by 8.15am just as the soon broke the horizon .The low cloud meant it was warmer than I expected given the weather forecast although it was colder than it has been of late.
It soon became obvious that there were large numbers of Woodpigeons moving over in a westerly direction and in the two and a quarter hours I was on the patch I counted 1972 plus birds over with flocks of up to 300 plus ,there must of been more and I will have missed others that were out of my field of view, all the birds were coming from the north or east and moving west. As the morning moved on the flocks started coming in at a lower level as in the beginning of the morning they were at a high altitude.
Also coming in from the east were 80 plus Jackdaws and they just kept going west as did species 86 for the year on the patch in the form of 2 Snipe ! , great birds to see on the patch and it means we have surpassed last years total and its still only October .
Skylarks passed over with 31 plus but again I heard more passing over but could not pick them up out of the big blue , these birds headed due south as did 37 plus Goldfinch and 22 plus Linnet. A flock of 4 Cormorants came high from the east and kept going west, this was turning into a mega day .As it happens that was about it as far as visible migration was concerned but there were plenty of other birds around in the hedgerows and other areas of cover.
I managed to find 50 plus Redwing and mixed in with them were 15 plus Blackbirds and 2/3 Song Thrush, but again no Fieldfares where are they ? .It was nice however to see 5 Mistle Thrush dotted about as they pass through southwards.
There were 15 plus Robins dotted about but I think I will have missed some whilst trying to keep my eye skywards.
Not many Meadow Pipits today with just 12 plus on the pastures and there were 8 Stock Doves which passed over, as did 4 Pied Wagtails.
Birds of prey this morning were in good force with 2 Sparrow Hawk and 2 Kestrel and of course a couple of Buzzards in for good measure.
A male Bullfinch tried to look like a migrant by flying in from the north ,but who knows if that is true ? but a Yellowhammer heard calling as it flew over must have qualified as such .
The best of the rest were a flock of 9 Greylag Geese over, a Green Woodpecker and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker .
So a cracking morning with the patch delivering the goods, with massive Wood pigeon migration and species number 86 thrown in for good measure. No work tomorrow so watch this space.
