THURSDAY 10 OCTOBER
The view from the car park..
....with REDWING after REDWING flock
........and eventually one perched
Overnight, the wind swung from Northwest to
Northeast, freshening up to a force 6-7. Although largely clear skies, the swing
was enough to divert the first major fall of thrushes of the autumn and hearing
of many thousands at the Pinnacle (Sandy, Bedfordshire) (SB, MT, et al), I drove
up to IVINGHOE BEACON to check from there. It became immediately apparent that
huge numbers were passing over to the west, a flock of REDWING within the first
10 minutes of viewing being of 650 birds! I watched from 0830-1145 hours, being
joined for about an hour by my good friend Francis Buckle. The tally was a big
one - 3,123 REDWING by the time I packed up - although
only one-tenth of the total at Sandy! All of the flocks were migrating along the
same line, taking them either over the car park or the summit.
Relatively few FIELDFARE were involved with
the movement - just 55 logged - and very little of anything else - 1 Eurasian
Skylark, 3 Meadow Pipits and a single BRAMBLING. Very surprisingly not a single
Chaffinch on the move.
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