An initial early morning scout around showed a significant presence of Redwings. Later on in the morning it became clear that although my sightings showed some 200 Redwings at Brean Down, it was just off their migration line as big numbers were coming in/off the sea from the north-west 3 miles further south at Berrow Dunes and heading south-east. Along with the Redwings were good numbers of Starlings. My thoughts are that these are the icelandic redwings. Redwings move in large groups and in Iceland their spring return invasion is known as "the bomb". Pallas's Warblers have cropped up as suspected with 6: 1 at scarborough, north yorkshire, 1 at gibraltar point, lincolnshire, 2 at holme, norfolk, 1 flamborough head, north yorkshire and 1 at spurn, north yorkshire. Several sites in the east saw good numbers of Brent Geese including 10,700 south past Landguard.

The winds are set to swing this afternoon so this morning was time to do the final duck and wader counts. Interestingly Redshank were up to 320 on the the Axe estuary but everything else looked unchanged. Bewick's Swans are late arriving and are likely to take advantage of the swinging winds. Other birds to look out for would be ducks, geese, thrushes and waders. With the weather turning cold it may have cleared out many insect feeders so maybe the late visitors such as Pallas's Warblers and Hume's Warblers may be thin on the ground. Vis mig was down at sand point with combined numbers barely reaching 500.
A Whooper Swan at Chew Valley Lake drew much attention because it was the first record since 1974. Consequently its movements were documented. The bird attempted to leave at 08:10hrs to the north-east only to return after seemingly unfavourable conditions. Throughout the morning the winds remained light until mid-day when the winds picked up, air pressure dropped and the winds changed the bird eventually flew off at 1pm heading high north.

Keeping an eye on the forecast, we are still on for the two lows so far. Perhaps slightly late but I'm still hopefull that we will see some interesting birds. Today on brean down a lone juvenile swallow performed a couple of circuits over the down before heading off south. There can't be many of this species in the country at the moment. Nationally still rather quiet with a few Grey Phalaropes and the odd passerine cropping up on the scillies, this time a Red-flanked Bluetail. A Bluethroat in Cornwall has been present for the last 5 days. I've watched birds in the past to see what conditions they are waiting for to leave. The long staying Red-flanked Bluetail at Thorpeness, suffolk in 2006 finally left on a clear night with light southerly winds. What conditions will tempt Bluethroat....?

Clear skies and a light westerly wind this morning (27th). 490 chaffinch, 405 starling, 8 skylark and 190 greenfinch all heading west out to sea towards south wales at sand point this morning. A merlin and a sparrowhawk were paying lots of interest to the passerines but nothing was caught. Duck numbers have been decreasing at weston sewage works with just 20 pochard left. 15 had dropped in at mid-day on saturday showing that these birds move in the day as well as the night. Impressive to watch, they came out of the sky at an impressive speed with wings and tail spread out killing their speed before landing. Recently, westerly winds have been dominating the last few days and as a result many grey phalaropes have been recorded on sea watches mainly in north west scotland. Saturday 25th October at sand point produced 960 chaffinch, 825 starling, 8 brambling, 86 greenfinch and 11 skylark. I would imagine that west wales, cornwall and the isles of scilly should also be seeing plenty of vis mig currently as birds filter through the country. Two lows are forecast to move south, one on either side of the UK during the week. If this happens then there are likely to be some influxes of birds on both sides of the UK. A strange prediction by the met office but one I hope does come off as it could be interesting. Worth watching the weather reports and possibly provisionally booking some time off at the end of the week.

A wind change this morning to NNW produced a change in direction of the vis mig movements. All birds were heading north and west over brean down. No big numbers but 292 chaffinch, 295 starling, 19 siskin and 19 skylarks being the highlights. Chatting to the Berrow birders revealed no passage at all today, however, with a wind change to southerly tomorrow, there should be a repeat to some degree of thursdays movements. Interestingly with yesterdays passerine movements came an increase of waders; knot, grey plover and dunlin all turned up on the axe estuary alongside the long staying waders.

A surprise movement this morning involving 3,500 chaffinch, 4,000 black-headed gulls and smaller numbers of greenfinch, grey wagtail, reed bunting, skylark, siskin, woodpigeon, jackdaw and starling all heading south over the axe estuary into somerset. The weather conditions were right being a southerly wind with high cloud cover. The surprise was the lack of any influx in the north-east. I am increasingly starting to think that there is heavy passage going through the southern half of britain most of which has not been tapped into. It would be tempting to think that the movements I am seeing are concentrations of a widespread movement through the south of england intensified by the meeting of the severn estuary. Just found out that 5,600 chaffinches flew south over berrow this morning showing just how different counts can be three miles apart. Further afield 6,700 starlings over Holme today whilst 1,250 flew over landguard. Below is a diagram of the migration path through my area.

The last four days has shed some light on how birds are going through the country. In the case of Redwing movements, birds hitting the east coast can certainly be travelling through the west country a day later. Also it can be concluded that although the east coast is well watched at certain key landmarks, there are thousands of birds going through that are not passing these key landmarks and this would certainly be the case with the current wind direction, when many migrants are hitting the coast square on and going inland. This was seen to happen at Spurn. The Somerset Redwings did not take the Ouse - Severn line but were part of a westerly movement that filtered off the Mendips. The chaffinches also did not take the Ouse - Severn line judging by the lack of any numbers further up the coast instead taking a westerly line to the north of the mendips.
Today with wind picking up and rain from mid morning it was no surprise to see little in the way of much movement. Gulls are one family that will move in windy conditions and today 400 Black-headed Gulls flew south along weston beach. It was interesting to see that when faced with a choice of direction there was a 25-75 split as some flew up river whilst the smaller 25% continued across the fields towards brean beach.

Redwings on the move today with 2,000 past holme, norfolk, large numbers north-west over wilsic, south yorkshire, 1,319 south west over belvide with 162 fieldfares and 2,000 south over berrow, somerset. For me, I saw only 5 and I'm just 4 miles from berrow. I did however see some significant migration today with 3,390 chaffinches west along with 770 starling and 25 fieldfare. The above google map does show birds moving through the country as well as along the coast. The google map is an experiment.

Clear sky and full moon all night leading into a fine morning with light winds. Vis mig was pretty much over by 8:00am, much earlier than cloudy nights/days. There was evidence of night migration as 20+ blackbirds and 20+ song thrushes at sand point were ever present in the hawthorns along the length of sand point. An interesting record today concerned another influx of Redwings. This time Reighton, north yorkshire recorded 9.100 between 10am and mid day heading north west.

The moon is currently in a waning gibbous state meaning there is more than a quater illuminated and decreasing in luminosity towards a new moon. Ducks are one particular family that are associated with nocturnal movements in relation to a full moon. At Weston sewage works, Pochard numbers have been building up and yesterday came a surprise discovery of a drake Ferruginous Duck. Locally 2 Black-necked Grebes were discovered nearby at Cheddar Reservoir, so it is certainly worth checking local duck haunts for increased numbers and the odd scarce migrant. Other migration yesterday of note concerned big numbers of Redwings south past Spurn, some 6,000 birds. From yesterdays chart you can see that the occluded front had gone through the baltic triggering the thrush movement. With winds WNW it would have been a headwind they were travelling into.

Changeable weather today making predictions more difficult. Early this morning an occluded front went through. The conditions were typical with light wind, low cloud with some light rain. Later, the winds picked up behind the front pushing the low cloud and rain away. Birds do seem to like warm and occluded fronts. I guess its the warm wind making them think they are heading for warmer climes. Over Sand Point chaffinch numbers perked up slightly with 405 heading west. Curlew were still on the move with 94 moving down channel.

Surprisingly quiet day today so this entry covers yesterdays wader movements. Cloud cover and a south westerly wind turning westerly produced an increase in waders and gulls. Just how the birds reach the severn estuary is unclear but the visual sightings of flyovers all related to westerly movements. Wader numbers can be reliably predicted to increase during a moderate westerly wind and even in strong winds which initially led me to think they were being blown up the channel. This of course may also be the case. 40 curlews and 100 lapwing were seen heading down channel suggesting these birds have been following the river severn to the open sea perhaps originally entering the wash as many thousands of passerines do. Recording 7 Avocets at the Axe Estuary on my local patch was a particular highlight yesterday. Avocet is a rare bird in the county only just occuring annually.
The westerly theme looks set to continue for the next few days which could keep things a little quiet.

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been busy at work. The last few days have been blanketed with high pressure in the south of england bringing clear skies ideal for nocturnal activity as well as the diurnal movements. Consequently interesting birds have been cropping up throughout the country. With the lack of any falls around the coasts it would seem clear that this is a gradual movement through the country of birds from last months influx. This seems to make sense as birds such as waxwings and winter thrushes rove through the country taking a month or two or even more to get from the north east to the south west of the country. If I had kept my yellow-browed warbler chart up it would have highlighted this brilliantly. American migrants continue to be found in Ireland with the latest today being a Philadelphia Vireo.

It was an easy prediction and sure enough more yanks were discovered. Alda/Willow Flycatcher at Nanjizal Valley, Cornall, Blackpoll Warbler and Red-eyed Vireo at St Agnes, Isles of Scilly and Red-eyed Vireo on St Marys, Isles of Scilly. A Grey-cheeked Thrush was trapped at Portland Bill proving the yank passerines can make it past Ireland and Cornwall! All was not lost on the east coast with 2 white's thrushes; 1 on fair isle and one in/off the sea at 11:38 hartlepool headland, cleveland. At my local patch brean down, an early morning movement of common migrants off the mendips heading west into the headwind and out to sea included the first sizeable movement of starlings of the autumn with a flock of 260 through.

It couldn't be ignored that Common Nighthawk at lizard point, Cornwall (following the discovery of a corpse on the isles of scilly) and a 1st summer male summer tanager at garinish point in county cork, ireland both arrived late this afternoon. More discoveries are likely tomorrow and if I was a twitcher I would hang around for a few days as Ireland looks set to score again on the yank front with another direct hit from another front later on in the week. The southern half of england and wales on the other hand is forecast for a complete contrast enjoying a more settled few days. This time the high is below the baltic rather than above creating headwind conditions so I am keen to see how this affects any movements abroad. Portland always scores well with light headwinds so I don't see why the east coast can't.

Westerly winds persisting at the moment but despite this, the annual vis mig is starting to happen right on que. The calm periods between the successive lows are producing passerine movements. Today at Brean Down 1,000+ birds from 16 species were seen coming off the welsh coast heading south-east into a light head wind. Counts included: 5 skylark, 200 goldfinch, 300 meadow pipit, 20 swallow, 60 house martin, 15 pied wagtail, 10 song thrush, 10 siskin, 200 linnet, 10 reed bunting, 60 chaffinch, 1 redpoll, 100 greenfinch and a yellowhammer. Also 20 chiffchaff worked their way along the down. Later in the week a high pressure is set to move into the southern half of england which could potentially bring some new birds in, but its early days yet. Pressure chart data for 2nd, 3rd, 4th,5th  © Crown copyright 2008, Met Office.

Strong westerly winds coming across the atlantic are opportunities for us birders to see what sea birds are traveling around our waters. On this occasion it was Leach's Petrels that were blown off course. The biggest counts were at Co. Sligo (200+) and and Merseyside (100+). A site in Co Clare also recorded 100 grey phalaropes. Of note by comparison, very few sightings of leach's petrel were recorded in southern ireland, south wales and south-west england suggesting these birds may well be a breeding population that have moved from the breeding grounds and are now spending early autumn in and around the irish sea. From my experience the biggest movements take place a little later in the year when strong winds can produce this species at other less predicatble sites so maybe this lingering population may well build in numbers throughout autumn before filtering south? Remember the december 2006 gales were very productive for leach's both in numbers and a broader distribution including the southern UK sites.