Merlin, Firecrest, Black Redstarts and a Bunting

It's feels like we've had a relentless north west wind for most of October, so it was nice to wake up to a still morning yesterday.

I checked as many sites as I could during the time I had, revealing a good spread of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests along with a single Firecrest (although this was a bird I first saw a couple of weeks ago) and a Redwing, but nothing better.

Love Firecrest but they are a bloody nightmare to photograph!

 

At Black Hole Marsh four Dunlin and a Greenshank were the best on the marsh, with a group of five Crossbill over west.

Back home, thanks to a heads-up from Tim C, I was pleased to add Black Redstart to the house list, with two a little further up the road from my place - both viewable from my driveway.

Only my second and third of the autumn - often get more than this in late October

 

Today the wind returned, although from the south, but a much clearer dawn than I was expecting meant I had to do an impromptu vismig session from Mum and Dad's front garden on the west side of Seaton.

It was worth it with a really nice highlight of an imm Merlin (probably a male) at 07:40 that came in from high to the east and flew west right over my head.  Not seen many on active vismig, just a few over the sea, so it was a novel experience.

Less enjoyable was the bunting that flew over about five minutes later.  I half-heard what I thought was a Yellowhammer, heard it once more and much clearer and it wasn't a Yellowhammer. More clipped, lacking the harsh tone of this species, higher pitched and more metallic.  It was only after I saw the back end of the bird that had made this noise disappearing around the house that the penny dropped - Corn Bunting!  I just didn't hear or see it well enough to confirm, and annoyingly this was the first vismig session I've done for ages without my sound recorder on next to me. Very frustrating to miss out on what would have been my first vismig record of this species on patch - one that got away.

Other birds overhead during this relatively short watch included: 2,200 Wood Pigeon, 150 Starling, 72 Chaffinch, 10 Skylark, 4 alba Wagtail and 3 Siskin. 

Cannot believe it is nearly November!  But before that, let's have one last go at squeezing something else out of October...