Horrid autumn- 12/11/17

A last love heart from Horrid

Point: Rock Pipit 3, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch 4, Greenfinch 2, Reed Bunting 2

Visible Migration was bitty, mainly because I was doing a mini-TTTC on the rising tide.
 - 07:30- 08:30 Skylark 1, Meadow Pipit 2, Brambling 1
then, past recording time,
 - 08:30- 09:30 Marsh Harrier 1, Merlin 1, Skylark 4, Brambling 2
 - 09:30- 10:30 Skylark 3

Migrants per hour. Four. Seven. Three. Getting slow. The end for this autumn, for me, is no longer nigh, but now. Chances are I'll miss some late autumn movements, finches, larks, and a few more waders and wildfowl, but I'm always missing some,I never stay all day. The totals don't really matter, can safely say 'mission accomplished' You can not only experience migration at Horrid Hill, you can experience a lot of it.

Time to call an end and play with all the figures..

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Time to kill waiting for the op as well, keep watching the waders.

Interesting to watch a small roost of Dunlin on Friars which shifted up off the muddy salting edge onto the clear-grazed top, as the tide dropped. Once on high, heads alert all the time, watching for fellow Dunlin on the wing, waiting for a signal feeding areas worth going to. Often wondered why more don't just follow the tide out at roost sites, clearly the food gained is insufficient to support numbers, better to get to a productive area and establish yourself there. Possibly why why see the hundreds and thousands leave for the core areas, then have dribs and drabs flight back to alongside the roost areas after an hour; pressure, competition, dominance of adults over juveniles? Whatever. Fun to muse on.