o/c, sometimes bright with occ. light drizzle early; dull and increasingly wet from 0830. light W.
(click on images to enlarge)
Tree Sparrow - 2
Yellow-legged Gull - 1 ad.
Rock Pipit - 2
visible migration:
Woodpigeon - 1695
Redwing - 143
Meadow Pipit - 39
Chaffinch - 52
Linnet - 13
Jackdaw - 31
Brambling - 3
Skylark - 2
Goldfinch - 12
Reed Bunting - 4
Song Thrush - 17
Mistle Thrush - 6
also:
Common Gull - 1
Teal - 1 east (with Mallards)
Shoveler - 18
Black-headed Gull - 170
Herring Gull - 3
LBB Gull - 9
an excellent morning for both quantity and quality, with a new site species, several other scarcities and record counts of common migrants. Two Tree Sparrows, which flew in low from the north calling, making to land but perhaps continuing south, were one of the surprises of the year so far. An adult Yellow-legged Gull dropped onto the gull rings for about a minute before leaving with two Herring Gulls to the south-east. Two more Rock Pipits - the third and fourth local records - involved a flyover and a drop-in (the latter for 30 seconds or so).
Visible migration was, relatively speaking, dramatic; Woodpigeons streamed over, especially between 0730 and 0830, and included flocks of 460 and 320. Counts of Jackdaws, Redwings and Linnets eclipsed previous highest totals; almost all movements were westerly or south-westerly, into a light wind, and continued despite periods of drizzle.