Autumn Vis Mig is GO!

Well since my last post the weather has been a right mixed bag.  Lots of wind and rain over the weekend, some more heavy showers during the first half of the week, with the odd clear spell, and then the last couple of days have been a bit calmer.  This morning felt like proper autumn morning, being the first morning I got cold hands! Time to find the gloves!

During the clearer mornings of the last seven days, amongst the Meadow Pipits and Linnets passing over there's been several Skylarks and Siskins for the first time this autumn, but on the other end of the spectrum there's still some Swallows and House Martins going over too.   This morning, Axe Cliff was calling me with the clear skies and light (but cold!) northerly wind.  I didn't have long so didn't do a proper vismig count, but it was enjoyable nevertheless...

Looking west towards Beer Head

 

It was great to see Wood Pigeons on the move, with several 100+ flocks totalling in excess of 1,800 birds flying west.  A few flocks of Jackdaws came through too, love how they often call to each other as they fly through.  Meadow Pipits, alba Wagtails and Linnets were the most common passerines as expected, but several Siskins, Skylarks and a few Chaffinches also went through - I expect number of these three species to increase as the month progresses.   

The soft mournful call of Golden Plover drew my attention to a flock of five that were flying high south.  Pleasingly they circled round and dropped like a stone onto one of the neighbouring fields...

Pity one of them wasn't a bit smaller and greyer!

 

A closer view of three of them

 

When I was leaving, a sixth lone Golden Plover flew over my head calling almost frantically, and a few moments late the five came up from where I'd left them, made a flock of six and flew off east.    Chiffchaffs were present in good numbers, well amazing numbers for Axe Cliff actually (which is never great for bush-based migrants).  There were a few dotted around in the hedges, but in the Undercliff a flock of Long-tailed Tits moved through and were trailed but at least twenty Chiffchaffs!  Quite how none of them had a pair of wing-bars I don't know, so my hunt for a wing-barred phyllosc continues.

Down on the Estuary, Wigeon and Lapwing numbers are slowly increasing, Snipe numbers have shot up and there were 270 Teal together on Black Hole Marsh last Saturday. The two Ruff are still with us as are a couple of Greenshank and Common Sandpipers and at least one Green Sandpiper.  Cattle Egrets have been present almost daily around Seaton Marshes, with at least five present on Monday.

During the stormy days I gave the sea as much attention as I could but returned with very little.  The best was a tern that flew west past the beach on Tuesday morning at about 08:30, and then out south west towards Beer Head.  My immediate feeling was Arctic due to its bouncy and erratic flight and its really dark grey underparts (yes it was an adult bird, which I thought was unusual for this late in the autumn), so I messaged the news out.  However twenty minutes I reevaluated what I'd seen and decided I hadn't actually seen enough of the plumage to claim Arctic, coupled with the fact the wind strength would have probably made even a Caspian Tern (which is huge in comparison) look bouncy and wobbly in flight! So I relegated it back down to a commic tern (just very likely an Arctic). 

Bird of the week for me was a cracking little Firecrest, feeding and calling in a tamarisk bush along the seafront just after 8am on Wednesday morning.  I watched it for a few minutes before it flew west along the cliff-edge, making it feel very much like a fresh-in migrant.   I can honestly say that however common Firecrest get, seeing one will always put a smile on my face.