Soil Hill birding; updates from the week 3rd - 7th October

  This was the first week of the year where the weather really impacted the birding on Soil Hill. The week started with clear conditions and a brisk southwesterly which brough some lively passage, but as the week drew on the wind speed increased and the rain came, til the birding was relegated to a simple chase round to find the resident species for my lists, rather than hope to find something new or exciting. That said, I still managed a patch tick in these conditions, which was certainly something of a surprise.

• The only mega of the week, the aforementioned patch tick, was three Barnacle Geese that were at the front of one of the only Pink-footed Goose Skein that flew over on the 6^th. Frustratingly I did not see the birds in the field, only noticing them when looking at the photos I had taken to get an accurate count of the flock. The birds were moving so fast in the wind, with truly awful light, there was no chance I could have picked them up otherwise. 

-Barnacle Goose

The weeks VizMig started strongly but poor weather conditions soon brought it almost to a standstill in what has been a tricky week for birding the Hill. Still those early days gave me enough totals to be excited about.  

• On the 3^rd I had one of my highest counts of Meadow Pipits this year with 322 flying south. Sadly though this was the only count of the week, with movement so limited on other dates that I resorted to simply estimating the number of grounded birds. 

• The 3^rd also saw the only notable count of Redwing for the week, with 21 heading south and 36 heading north. Otherwise there were just singles on the other dates, again as a consequence of the weather. The first Song Thrush of the autumn did appear this week however, with two on the 4^th and a single on the 6^th although these birds were resigned to sheltering at the bottom of the North Slope and were not moving anywhere.  

• Sensing a theme, the 3^rd was one of only two dates where I recorded hirundines this week, with five Swallows and four House Martin flying south. The other date was a single Swallow that flew south on the 6^th.

• Finches continued to pass in small numbers, with all of the best counts unsurprisingly on the 3^rd. During the morning session there were 17 Chaffinch, six Linnet, two Lesser Redpoll, six Goldfinch and 12 Siskin heading south. 

• And finally, there were still a few Pied Wagtails moving during the week with the best count being 13 on the 3^rd, but also a nice count of 10 on the 6^th.  

Wildfowl passage was also affected by the weather, with much lower counts of geese moving, if there were any moving at all.

• There were just two dates where I recorded Pink-footed Geese, with a flock of 45 on the 3^rd and the aforementioned flock of 61 on the 6^th.  A single flock of 10 Greylag Geese were observed passing distantly to the north on the 3^rd. 

• It was a surprisingly good week for Goosander records on the Hill, with a nice close flock of seven heading northeast on the 3^rd followed by a personal record count of 31 dispersing early morning on the 4^th after appearing to get off one of the reservoirs, maybe TMR but possibly another further down the valley. Teal were present on the 3^rd and the 5^th, with two birds involved on both occasions, frequenting the usual ponds on Soil Hill. 

-Goosander

-Pink-footed Goose

  Migrant totals were once again low, with Chiffchaff being present daily with a high count of three on the 3^rd , Goldcrests present on the 3^rd and the 6^th and Stonechat being present on most days with a high count of three on the 6^th.

  Snipe were present daily, but all were common with six flushed on the 3^rd being the highest count of the week. The wetter weather probably helped disperse them around the site as new feeding areas were established by the downpours. The only other wader species this week was Lapwing, with individuals seen flying by on two dates; the 3^rd and the 5^th.

  And finally to wrap up the week with the last few bits, a single Raven was seen on the 4^th and small groups of Bullfinch were seen on the 3^rd (three) and the 6^th (four). Hopefully the weather improves a little next week and there is more activity on the Hill.

Species List:
Soil Hill: Greylag Goose, Pink-footed Goose, Barnacle Goose, Canada Goose, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Goosander, Common Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Moorhen, Northern Lapwing, Common Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Northern Raven, Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Barn Swallow, Common House Martin, Common Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Redwing, Common Blackbird, European Robin, European Stonechat, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Common Linnet, Lesser Redpoll, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Siskin, Common Reed Bunting,