Horrid autumn- 17/10/17

Another clear night, a little cloud to the east at dawn to delay viewing problems- but the viewing problems mainly came down to a lack of movement after the first hour's shuffling. Of most interest, the two Yellowhammer came in from the north. Any Yellowhammers hanging on close to here are found along the higher land of the Downs a few miles south; where did these come from?

The other talking point? That Hawfinch. After Social Media hype the past few days (a number have been turning up along the south coast, with large movements just over the Channel), and several tweets saying 'here's the call', I was expecting an increase in claims and, sure enough, town centre flyovers were the norm this morning (no problems with that, they've turned up over Rainham already this year). I wasn't expecting one over Horrid, certainly not one *on* Horrid, but one was present at first light, soon after heading south down the causeway.

563 Avocet around Bartlett Creek, feeding in dense groups of up to 180. Still not present every day, so difficult to assess if settled. Dunlin numbers holding at a few hundred, with a handful of Knot among them.

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6:45-8:25
Point- Song Thrush 3,  Goldcrest 2, Linnet 31 (coming to seed), Greenfinch 5,  Hawfinch 1, Reed Bunting 3

Viz mig- Sparrowhawk, Skylark, Pied Wagtail 3, Grey Wagtail, Rock Pipit 3, Song Thrush 2, Chaffinch 7,  Goldfinch 3, Lesser Redpoll 7, Siskin 1, Reed Bunting 2, Yellowhammer 2
Mound 8:35-9:15 Blackbird 2, Song Thrush 4, Starling 25, Chaffinch 10, Goldfinch 4, Greenfinch 4

offshore- Avocet 563, Marsh Harrier over Oakham.