Horrid autumn- 28/10/17

Point: Blackbird 16, Redwing 2, Song Thrush 3.

Viz mig: Little Egret 17 (southwest), Marsh Harrier 3, Redwing 12, Song Thrush 2 (south-southwest). And a cheat, Crow 88, south-west from Damhead Creek. There have been counts of over a hundred on the flats around Copperhouse of late, but these birds tend to stick to the southern shore. Sometimes they reach Hoo Island, sometimes if they do that, they might venture to the Hoo Peninsula, but it does not appear a routine crossing. The tide was in, so would have not expected to see many birds on a scan- local movement or something more? Think the former, but you can always dream..

Mound, viz mig -9:30: Sparrowhawk 4, Lapwing 5 (south), Snipe 9, Stock Dove 32, Jackdaw 17,  Meadow Pipit 6, Skylark 8, Starling 515, Chaffinch 643, Brambling 7, Goldfinch 119, Siskin 10, Reed Bunting.

And a Fieldfare east. That was the exciting one for me. The idea that our interpretations of visible migration can just be movements was being tested. Birders further east were picking up several hundred moving south-west from Motney and cutting in by the fields at Bloors. The arrival angle put them back over the orchards of Ham Green, where numbers had arrived in the past couple of days. The departure appeared to be low, out of sight of me, over the orchards up by the railway line. Not broadfront, specific. How far were they going? And my one working back. What was that about? Peeled off and given up? Can I consider him as wimping out? More to muse on..