With the onset of yesterdays cloud came a spate of Black Tern reports mainly in eastern and central england reaching as far north as Cumbria. In additioin to this I was looking out for Kites moving north which had come in on the strong north-easterly headwinds making initial landfall in the south-west. I took the afternoon of 13th off and sat on sand point for a couple of hours witnessing northward movements of 137 swift, 134 swallow, 199 house martin, 1 sand martin, 3 sanderling, 16 small wader (mixed ringed plover and dunlin). Conditions were light northerlies with presumed low nimbostratus giving poor visibility and light rain. 14th May started off with near 200 hirundines on wires at brean down and a wheatear flew across the road before I even reached the car park. Winds were very light ENE and cloud was heavy with poor visibility but no rain. A sea watch produced no black terns just 18 kittiwake in a single flock heading north. I tape lured a Redpoll out of the sky whilst sea watching which looked as a good a candidate for rostrata as cabaret. Also, 2 spotted flycatcher, 1 whinchat, 2 turnstone, 3 tree pipit and 3 garden warbler made for a promising day. What I found out later was that the approaching rain was pushing 10 red kites, 1 black kite and a marsh harrier. This band of rain hit just after mid-day with the kites going through just prior. I was aware of birds being pushed around by fronts of rain but had forgotten the significance. 15th seemed to be ok with more nimbostratus like cloud. 250 hirundines, 2 wheatear, 1 tree pipit and a yellow wagtail all at the end of brean down early morning. All the hirundines moved off out to sea and then shortly after the heavens opened. Consequently the visibility improved and the winds picked up to moderate southerly leaving the place birdless.
To summarise the last few days, 2 days of strong NE winds bring kites. Cloud rolls in on 12th. 13th sees good falls on portland and many new sightings throughout england. 14th shows less activity in the southern counties but still new arrivals throughout the rest of england. 15th sees the occluded front fade out and with it a marked decrease in bird activity.

With the westerly winds dieing down today it was back up to sand point for a vis mig watch in moderate WSW winds. Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Tree Pipit and Wheatear were all on the move. Nationally there have been some wader movements too during the strong winds of recent days. Certainly some of the waders will have been blown in from the west as they made their way north to Iceland. A few trans-atlantic migrants turned up as expected. The bulk of the strong winds hit north with Scotland recording Pectoral Sandpiper, Green-winged Teal, Laughing Gull and Solitary Sandpiper (first UK spring record). Further south a Bonaparte's Gull on Isles of Scilly, American Wigeon C.Antrim. Although Swift passage was prevalent during the strong winds, many were hanging around at Weston sewage works bombing around at low level giving great photo opportunities. Today the winds were lighter and as soon as the cloud lifted late morning so did the Swifts before drifting off north-east. The advancing cold front from the north-west bringing a drop in atmospheric pressure and increasing cloud again during my second visit mid afternoon and although there were no Swifts when I arrived, 50 were hawking over the pools when I left. There's something about cloud that drops birds out of the sky, even mid-level cloud.

Not surprisingly another slow couple of days. This trend does look to be coming to an end when anticyclonic conditions over the atlantic move north. The fronts from the cyclone above it are still forecast to move through the UK but on a different axis. This could be what is needed to kickstart the migration going again and perhaps a chance of a fall. Tomorrow should give a more accurate forecast...

Friday 24th seems to have been a great day for migrants across the country. The most notable was the flock of 11 whiskered terns at willington gravel pits. The pressure chart for friday shows a swing of winds to a south-easterly direction reaching right down to the med. A low centred over the irish sea blocked a repeat on saturday leaving weekend birders cheated of any more new arrivals. Sunday 26th saw a mixed bag of winds across europe and the days new arrival tally reflected this. Monday 27th proved a quiet day with more blocking winds and fronts coming in from the atlantic. Now is a time for monitoring the charts as birds will now start backing up ready for the next opportunity. I've uploaded a page of april surface pressure chart data to make a direct comparison between each day.

My thoughts from yesterday were re-inforced this morning when migration resumed at sand point. Finches and hirundines again dominated the skies with several high flying flocks moving south-west out to sea towards the end of Brean Down. I only picked some of them up by calling Redpolls and Tree Pipits. It was interesting to see high altitude migration in strong winds as they usually travel at ground level in this wind strength. It was probably something to do with making the sea crossing. Recorded today as new arrivals: 14+ whimbrel, 1 hobby, 1 Whinchat, 2 lesser whitethroat, 1 grasshopper warbler, 15 lesser redpoll, 150 goldfinch, 150 swallow, 20 sand martin, 2 tree pipit, 2 mute swan, 2 siskin , 5 wheatear, 1 great black-back gull. Some of the Wheatears and the whinchat were all found together mid morning after I left presumably new in.

Partially cloudy overnight with 100% cloud cover by morning on a light southerly wind. There was hardly any movement this morning and blocked so I thought by the cloud. However, Severnside saw plenty of new arrivals so my feelings changed to one of a victim of wind direction. It does seem more productive on a southerly wind if there is an easterly component in it. Recorded today at sand point: 2 Tree pipit and 2 Redpoll.

Watching the weather forecast last night I could see that another occluded front was going through. It looked as if we weren't going to experience it but by dawn it was evident overhead. The front dissintegrated throughout the morning as it continued south-eastwards through the country. A dawn visit to sand point proved rather productive with 1 Hobby, 1 crossbill, 7 tree pipit, 1 wheatear, 230 goldfinch, 15 linnet, 80 house martin, 20 sand martin, 5 grasshopper warbler, 200 swallow, 8 redpoll. I did take the morning off to try Brean Down but didn't see any evidence of a fall. Only 3 grasshopper warblers and 200 hirundines, some of which were hanging around on wires. In these conditions seems that although some are grounded, others are happy to keep going.

With clear skies and a light westerly forecast I decided to get up early and catch some lingering nocturnal migrants. Looking at the winds on xcweather in the morning, I decided to try sand point instead of Brean. I wasn't too dissappointed with the choice as there were signs of movement. Swallows came from the south and the east with counts later in the day in the region of 160 per hour following the coast. The ones coming from the east were heading along sand point and out to sea towards Cardiff. Other migrants involved 80 goldfinc, 10 linnet, 3 whimbrel, 1 grasshopper warbler, 1 common sandpiper, 2 house martin and a siskin. A sea watch off Anchor Head, Weston-super-mare produced 6 fulmar, 3 terns too distant to id and a Greylag.

During the evening of 17th April I heard news that Berrow Dunes, a site 4 miles south of Brean had heavy passage of Swallows and a fall of 60+ Wheatears. It was a concern that I left site early and missed a heavy fall. I did manage to get out to Weston sewage works in the evening briefly and saw around 200 hirundines hawking over the UV pools which did get me thinking that something had gone on. By comparison on 17th, Hengistbury Head and Portland hadn't received the occluded front yet as it was slow moving and still heading south. Hengistbury had the best numbers with diurnal passage starting to hit the coast at 8:15am with 56 wheatear, 85 willow warbler and 7 redstart as the highlights. The occluded front eventually went through overnight over the south coast giving Portland its first decent fall of birds: 400 willow warblers, 200 blackcap, 60 wheatear, 20 whinchat 10 pied flycatcher and 12 grasshopper warblers totaling a very nice collection of birds. With the front gone there was still lingering cloud blocking nocturnal movements. This was evident on brean on 18th and 19th. With the pulse largely gone through, numbers of Swallows started to reduce. 20 swallow, 4 house martin, 2 wheatear and 1 siskin on 18th and 105 goldfinch, 15 swallow, 1 tree pipit, 1 white wagtail on 19th. 1 garden warbler was a new nocturnal migrant in. Both days had strong north-easterly winds around 12-14mph. On 20th, the wind finally dropped and the cloud cleared giving nocturnal migrants a good chance of going through. I didn't get up in time to visit Brean Down so tried Sand Point: 1 wood warbler, 1 grasshopper warbler, 3 tree pipit, 15 lesser redpoll, 1 lesser whitethroat, 1 brambling, 1 wheatear, 2 siskin, 1 yellow wagtail made for quite a satisfying morning. A cuckoo and sedge warbler were also recorded here by others. There's no doubt that the low that came in to the south of cornwall on 16th caused the recent pulse of migrants from the continent. Starting on 15th a sharp rise in bird activity lasting all day and all night until the warm front developed into an occluded front bringing cloud that blocked nocturnal movements. Diurnal activity continued bringing falls during the occluded front. After the front went through, summer migrant numbers dropped off sharply as the pulse went through. All was not lost though, when the cloud cleared and wind dropped, some nocturnal movements took place. High pressure is set to settle over the southern half of the UK for the next few days.

There was no repeat of yesterdays excitement. A warm front moved south over Weston-super-mare at 6pm last night and conditions became increasingly dull and damp as it turned into an occluded front. By the morning a light 6mph NNE wind and drizzle had set in. As I left Brean Down this morning a group of Swallows sitting in a line on telegraph wires summed up the state of migration for this morning. Only 2 Grasshopper Warblers remained from yesterday. 2 Wheatears, 4 House Martins, 5 Goldfinch and a Siskin were the only new arrivals. I've done an excel spreadsheet to highlight the varying numbers of migrants against the different wind directions. You can see that north-east winds seem to be the most productive. Note however that todays low count by comparison could well have been a good count had it not been for the front moving through. I'll try and keep up the chart and see how it develops throughout the season. The spreadsheet can be down loaded from this link - bird migration counts

Todays forecast of easterlies may have been correct but the winds were definately 6-7 mph south-easterly on Brean Down. It should have been one of the biggest falls of the year but didn't quite live up to expectations and the reason for this was the lack of anything to down the migrants. Usually what happens at this time of year is that a low comes across the atlantic and hits the bay of biscay. As it moves inland an easterly airflow across southern britain is created. As this happens, moisture from the english channel is pulled across and blankets the southern half of england in the form of low vis nimbostratus cloud which is what happened yesterday. Despite the lack of grounding conditions, a reasonable haul of birds were recorded: 12+ Grasshopper Warbler, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 15 Common Whitethroat, 5 Tree Pipit, 3 Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 100 Swallow, 3 Sand Martin, 1 Wheatear. The Grasshopper Warbler count is my highest ever for the down. The Swallows, Tree Pipits and Sand Martins were heading north-west out to sea off the end of Brean Down to Wales using a tailwind today.

14mph north-east winds this morning with 100% nimbostratus cloud cover. Vis mig was pretty much constant from 7am to 9am with all birds heading north up the beach and over the east end of Brean Down into a headwind. Vis mig counts included: 240 swallow, 50 goldfinch, 29 sand martin, 10 house martin, 15 meadow pipit, 3 white wagtail, 4 wheatear,1 redpoll, 1 whimbrel, 2 tree pipit. 2 grasshopper warblers were new in.

Clear skies last night developed into an overcast morning. Consequently a few migrants were present at dawn with 4 Grasshopper Warblers, 20 willow warbler, 20 swallow, 10 house martin, 8 Siskin, 3 whitethroat and a wheatear. By 9am vis mig had not started up so I decided to call it a day and head for work. Interestingly, I noted on the Severnside website a much better collection of migrants on 13th than I had witnessed which may have highlighted an interesting point. With southerly winds the migrants would hit the Severn coast square on and then filter along the coast towards Severnside. Yesterdays suggested movements are illustrated in the image on the left. I am now thinking that in a south-easterly I should be at Sand Point rather than Brean Down as this is more of a filtering point. This point is further highlighted by 3 of the 4 Grasshopper Warblers being found at the tip of Brean Down.

It was nice to have the southerlies return today after yesterdays dearth of migrants. The winds were around 7-8mph and increasing but no cloud. Things started off well with 2 grasshopper warblers new in from the night. It took however until around 8:30 for a wave of birds to go through which lasted around half an hour. Without cloud and rain nothing seemed to hang around. Total counts for Brean Down included: 3 Grasshopper Warblers, 3 Common Whitethroats, 4 Tree Pipits, 7 Sand Martin, 15 Swallow, 1 Siskin and a Redpoll. There was an increase in Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler numbers but with many already holding territories it was difficult to quantify these species. Winds are forecast to swing south-easterly tomorrow with light rain so I am hopefull a good mornings birding will ensue...

Today was a day for enjoying the walk. The weather was fine but not a single migrant turned up. The wind seemed to be mainly very light northerly. Usually a light sprinkling of migrants would be normal. With 200 Willow Warblers, 100 Chiffchaffs, 20 Redstarts, 15 Blackcaps, 10 Wheatears at Portland it was clear that cross channel activity was present but this was the only UK site that recorded falls. Nationally in Lincolnshire an Alpine Swift at Gibraltar Point, in Ireland a Subalpine Warbler at Carnsore Point, County Wexford, a Lesser Scaup at Bracklagh Lough, County Cavan, Great White Egret in Dorset and Black Kites at Kent and West Sussex, Golden Oriole at Dungeness.

A clear day with light northerlies didn't yield much. On Brean Down 1 Saker, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Common Whitethroat, 30 swallow didn't really get the juices going. I only mention the Saker as it may or may not have been wild. If wild then this migrant species should be noted.

Good conditions today with seeminly all areas recording new migrants. With the right winds birds will appear and with cloud and/or rain they will linger longer. A fellow patch watcher at Weston sewage works reported the place coming to life after a shower with Reed, Sedge and Grasshopper Warbler all starting to sing just before mid-day showing once again that persistence on the right day can be very productive. On Brean Down: Grasshopper warbler, 1 tree Pipit, 1 redpoll, 1 whitethroat, 1 yellow wagtail, 20 willow warbler, 60 swallow, 20 house martin, 2 sand martin, 1 wheatear equated to a reasonable haul.

Yesterdays (8th) westerlies brought 7 kittiwake, 5 gannet and a Great Skua up the channel past my sea watching patch of Anchor Head at Weston-super-Mare. However, judging by other websites, Pale-bellied Brent Geese and Sandwich Terns were the most recorded casualties of the strong winds both on the south coast (Dawlish Warren, Portland and Hengistbury) and along the severn estuary (Clevedon and Severnside). Pale-bellied Brent Geese breed in Greenland and Canada in northern Europe as well as the atlantic American coast. These birds looked to have been on passage to the summering grounds before being blown off course. The Dawlish count of 140+ was the highest since 1932 and the Severnside single was only the third ever record for the site. Today, the winds were southerly so I was back on Brean Down looking for migrants. Conditions were 10mph southerly, 100% mid-level cloud and some very light rain. Migrants involved the first Whitethroat and Yellow Wagtail of the year plus Wheatear, 10 swallow and 2 house martin. Most migrants were short stayers and I'm sure if I had the morning off, the list would have been much better. The charts show the southerlies stretching across the Bay of Biscay to Spain giving a good opportunity for many to get an easy ride.

I was a little uncertain about today. I thought there would be some migrants but with only 10% cloud cover anything present would soon move on. The biggest surprise was the movement of herring/lesser black-back gulls. 3,000+ moved west. These movements are usually prevalent in westerly winds. Migrant counts included 45 swallow, 5 sand martin, 1 house martin, 1 wheatear and 4 siskin. Successive lows moving to the north will be providing westerly winds for the next few days over southern england. Because of this, I don't see any falls occuring for the foreseeable future. For many in the county here it'll be a time for sea watching, me included.

South-easterly winds I know are good for Brean Down. Maybe not quite as good as easterlies but still a close second. Patches of fog intesified the hope for a good morning. A 2 hour watch produced 1 Redstart, 3 Tree Pipit, 3 House Martin, 20 Willow Warbler, 1 Redpoll and 2 Swallow. Work commitments prevent me getting out again until 3:30pm when 40 Sand Martin and 5 Swallow hawked over weston sewage works. The birds did their usual habit of repeated ascents high into the air in an attempt to move on only to descend again to feed.

In complete contrast to friday 3rd, the winds had swung round to the non-productive westerlies. I went to Brean Down with low expectations and wasn't dissappointed. As you can imagine, turning up on a quiet day expecting little and finding good numbers of migrants would have been a major prediction failure. All was quiet except for accidentally bumping into a fine male Ring Ouzel which was picked up making an alarm call from inside a hawthorn bush.

Winds were more easterly this morning and sure enough a mini fall of migrants present on the east end of Brean Down. It took two visits, the first was early morning in thick fog. Just 2 willow warblers recorded so I decided to try again later when the fog had lifted a bit. This is often a good idea on foggy days to wait until mid to late morning. 40+ willow warblers had turned up along with 10 chiffchaff and 5 blackcap. Not big numbers by Portland standards but for Avon/Somerset this is classified as a fall. Checking around various websites it was clear that the south of england and the south-west had the best migrants today. Hengistbury Head and Portland had falls of Willow Warblers in a northerly wind. Severnside although short on Willow Warbler numbers had more variety with Redstart and Yellow Wagtail along with hirundines going through. Landguard saw no movements.

No fall this morning. It turned out to be a non-starter. The north-east wind was clearly not favoured either because of the direction or because the Severn Estuary lies on a north-east/south-west axis. There was some movement but only 1 fieldfare, 3 swallows, 200 meadow pipit and 150 goldfinch (all heading north). Despite the disappointment, today was a valuable source of information. Negative days give as much information as the positive about migration. A low spreading north from the med is adding a slightly more easterly component to the winds which may make a difference so another trip out tomorrow....

Went to Brean Down this morning in the hope of intercepting a fall but the signs weren't good. Wind direction was northerly and birds although present didn't equate to fall quantities. 10 chiffchaff, 3 wheatear, 1 swallow, 1 willow warbler and 2 blackcap were the total counts. Later on at Weston sewage works 70 sand martin, 1 house martin and a wheatear were present. The sand martin numbers rose from 30 to 70 during the 20 minutes plus that I was there. By mid-morning xcweather is showing the conditions are in place and should remain until the middle of tomorrow. This evening or tomorrow morning may produce some good birds.