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Bird movements over the winter period came early this winter to the south-west with the onset of an early cold snap, and with it came the birds. The middle part of the month saw cold northerly winds bring snow to the whole region followed by prolonged freezing temperatures that eventually froze rivers and lakes. Wildfowl were forced to move to the coast giving some great local birding. Goldeneye, Smew, Tufted Duck and Goosander could be found in the bays whilst Gadwall and Coot could be found on the estuary. Brean Down recorded its best ever count of 2,000 Teal, a site that usually hosts up to 300. Inland stretches of water held increased numbers of Red-crested Pochard which presumably came from the Cotswold Water Park. This would help prove that many ducks moving into the area did indeed come from the north.
Overnight calls of Redwings became apparent and their presence became noticeable on every berry bush in town. Fieldfares were down on last winter but Waxwings came through with the Redwings. These birds quickly developed circuits around town to all their favourite berry trees. This was helped proved after the main influx had left when the same numbers were repeatedly turning up at different sites around the town. In addition to this, it was very hit and miss whether any birds were at a particular site.
Out of town, maize stubble fields were beginning to host more and more birds. Skylarks, Chaffinches and Bramblings all built up in numbers whilst a Lapland Bunting was discovered associating with the Skylarks. Short-eared Owls arrived with the other birds being found on many coastal marshes.
Once the thaw started, the birds moved on very quickly and after just a couple of days things were back to normal. The rivers and lakes took about a week to thaw so wildfowl numbers to a little more time to stabalise.

The next big push came on 24th. Starting on 22nd a low pressure system came south down the North Sea hugging the Scandinavian coastline reaching the Baltic on 24th. From past experiences, whenever a low pressure goes north or south over the North Sea it's always good for birds hopping across into the UK and I imagine vice-versa. Waxwings and Fieldfares hit the east coast on a broad front and penetrating deep into northern England throughout the day. Unfortunately central and southern England had none of the fun. Of note on 24th a large southerly movement of Woodpigeons in north-west England. Charts for 22nd 23rd 24th.

An educational last few days. It all started with messages from overseas about big radar movements in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all heading towards the UK on the night of thursday 7th October. The pressure chart data for 7th showed settled weather over the Baltic region. The next day there were no real signs of any genuine influxes and with no radar information in the UK it wasn't possible to prove that any such influx occured. What happend next was an atlantic low hitting western europe bring southerlies into Britain on 8th swinging to easterlies by the 10th. It was interesting to note most sites having a slight upturn in arrivals during the wind swing and then came the big arrival on the 10th. From here the winds stayed in the same direction getting lighter day by day here in the south-west. Brean Down recorded 9,317 birds on 10th, 7,540 on 11th and 3,454 on 12th. After a couple of days research it seems clear that the movements over Brean Down were British breeders. All birds were either heading north having come along the Bristol Channel or east having come from Wales. The lack of any Redwings plus the fact that direction of travel was in general easterly. All the big numbers were of birds that breed in Britain: Chaffinch, Starling, Greenfinch, Swallow, House Martin and Meadow Pipit. For me this is a major breakthrough in understanding local movements and explains why the annual large Chaffinch migration starts on cue every year dispite blocking weather abroad. Falls on the east coast hit on a very broad scale most notably from Norfolk to the Shetlands. Species involved a good variety including Redwing, Song Thrush, Ring Ouzel, Robin, Goldcrest, Brambling, Siskin and the list goes on. There were also sizeable influxes of Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-flanked Bluetail, Yellow-browed Warbler. Charts for 8th 9th 10th 11th

Another fall occured on 30th September. The whole of the east coast seemed to be productive right up to the Scottish Islands as high pressure over scandinavia extended out over the North Sea. The UK had settled weather also on 30th with light winds, patchy fog and some cloud from the warm front. Regrettably anything interesting on my patch went through unnoticed. 29th September, 30th September. The Birdguides map for 30th September shows the falls quite well.

It was forecast and it happened. Low pressure over the Baltic tracked towards the UK bringing falls on the Norfolk and Suffolk coast. I was tempted to pop over that side of the world to try my luck but couldn't predict where the falls would be. As it turned out you could have picked anywhere. My predictions included the south-east which didn't really capitalise on the fall conditions. Taking Holme NOA sightings into account (400 Robins), their fall occured on 27th which as you can see from the chart below is when the settled period of the low centre would have hit. 25th, 27th

26th September 2010 Crown Copyright published by the Met Office.

A wave of migrants came though the south-west on 8th and 9th august. Following a low pressure front that went through to the north a period of light variable wind occured. Passerines and waders made use of this. The showers that occured in this spell brought many down. Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs, Yellow Wagtails, Tree Pipits and Chiffchaffs were all recorded whereas Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Greenshank, Whimbrel, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and Common Sandpiper made up the wader species. On the 9th August a noticeable decline of birds was noted but the calm weather that had moved south had given Portland its first big fall of the autumn. Of note, the Swallows at Brean Down were heading north. It is difficult to say for sure but there appears to be movement of migrants both north and south. The Melodious Warbler on Portland is probably a migrant in from the south too. The sun is still in the northern hemisphere, so it is only natural for early breeders to head north where food and daylight hours are still in abundance.