This week saw the end of September with an impressive 82 species recorded on the Hill, helped greatly by the end of the summer migrants followed by the first arrivals of winter migrants. However, the season moves on and October is now upon us. The weather has caused some difficulties this week, with more rain and strong winds on a number of days but others have seen good passage of VizMig in very pleasant conditions.
- There was one mega for me on Soil Hill this week, although I am aware other birders have seen it here before when a Merlin was hunting over the North Slope. It circled for a few minutes then headed off south. This was a patch tick for me, and is my 119th species for Soil Hill.
Visible migration was absolutely the highlight of the week,
with days of nice steady passage being the best days birding. Often I have only
gone to do the VizMig and spent barely any time searching the bushes, largely
due to the strong winds and cold conditions.
- Once again the largest movements have been of Meadow Pipit, with the largest counts being 341 on the 2nd and 265 on the 27th. But numbers have been variable and on some days there has been no movement at all, although this is almost certainly a consequence of the poor weather conditions on those dates.
- The first Redwings of the autumn arrived this week, and they arrived with a bang with 75 all heading southwest on the 26th. The highest count of the week however was on the 29th when 104 passed through but in different directions. Otherwise most dates just had one or two individuals. It is lovely to hear their seeping calls again.
- The movement of Hirundines remain intermittent during the week with just a handful of birds throughout the week until a very sudden burst on the 2nd with 27 Barn Swallows, 7 House Martin and a single, but extremely late Sand Martin. Otherwise the weekly movement was limited to a handful of Swallows and a group of four House Martin that flew north on the 1st.
- Although there was not a significant movement of finches during the week, there was a scattered variety including a single Greenfinch on the 2nd, an impressive nine Lesser Redpoll on the same date as well as 10 Siskin, plus nine on the 29th and smaller counts on other dates. The most significant finch mover was Chaffinch, with 21 south on the 02nd and 15 on the 28th being the best counts of the week.
- In tandem with the Meadow Pipit flocks could often be found a few Pied Wagtails moving south, normally in small numbers but on the 2nd I counted no less than 36 birds flying south in three and a half hours! There were also a few Grey Wagtails during the week, with four also on the 2nd being the largest count.
Although there was no change in the composition, there was once again good movement of the expected wildfowl species during the week, plus the usual species frequenting their usual haunts.
- The start of the week saw very impressive movements of Pink-footed Geese, but towards the end of the week these tailed off with just single flocks on the 30th and 2nd. The best count was of 744 on the 27th, during which 15 skeins passed being visible from Soil Hill, the largest being 146, during a three-and-a-half-hour watch. The next highest count was a much reduced 380 on the 28th, which saw just five skeins pass. There were a few Greylag Geese during the week, with small flocks on three dates, the largest group being nine that flew south on the 27th.
I had a new record count of Goosander with eight that went south as a flock of seven and a single on the 27th. Singles were also seen on the 26th and on the 30th. The small group of Teal that has been around intermittently was again present on the NK Pond on the 28th and again on the 01st, when four were present.
Now that the autumn has fully arrived, and summer species are largely displaced by winter species, there seems little need to deep dive into passage migrants from the week. Needless to say Chiffchaff was the only warbler present during the week, with individuals recorded daily sometimes even singing. The highest count was of three on the 27th. The only other species I would classify here is Stonechat which continued on the Hill throughout the week with the highest count again being five, which were all together at the bottom of the North Slope on the 01st. Goldcrest continued to be present every day, with the highest count being four on the 30th.
There were just a few waders on show this week, besides the Common Snipe that winter in the various ditches around the site. During the first couple of days of the week there were a few Golden Plover, with three flying north on the 26th and a single also flying north on the 27th. A Curlew was feeding on the bottom Cattle Fields on the 26th and then again on the 28th.
Other bits were limited during the week but it was good to see
the Grey Partridges again, with all ten being seen as a flock of seven
and a three on the 30th, with the three also seen on the 28th.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew southwest on the 26th, a pair
of Raven was seen on the 26th and then again on the 2nd,
and finally Bullfinch made an appearance with two individuals seen on
the 01st.
Soil Hill: Greylag Goose, Pink-footed Goose, Canada Goose, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Goosander, Grey Partridge, Common Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Moorhen, European Golden Plover, Eurasian Curlew, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Common Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Northern Raven, Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Common House Martin, Common Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Common Blackbird, European Robin, European Stonechat, Dunnock, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, European Greenfinch, Common Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Siskin, Common Reed Bunting,
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