Visible migration: why bother?

A quite interesting factoid; did you know that the phrase 'visible migration' isn't in Ian Newton's magnificent New Naturalists tome, 'Bird Migration'?

Newton says "..the observer equipped only with binoculars might conclude that these were the very conditions that favoured migration, a view once firmly held by some but counter to reality. Birds also tend to fly low along coasts in these conditions, reluctant to strike out over water. We therefore have to distinguish the influence of weather in promoting migration from its influence in making migration to the casual observer.."

Like me, he knows viz mig can be impressive "..in coastal areas, diurnal migration is often spectacular.."but "..diurnal observations seldom do justice to the scale of the movements. This is because most migration occurs at night, or at altitudes too high to be easily seen by ground-based observers.."

Scuttled off to my fav five migration texts, and, yup, viz mig missing from all five.

I still love it. I get swept up by it. A nice sorbet to all the wader counts. I could rush off to the coast, like many birders do, but when life gives you lemons, you suck on it and pull a bitter face. The question becomes is there much visible migration visible here on the south shore.

So, for the first four autumns back on the Medway, I dipped my toe in the waters, trying various sites. 2013 saw a concerted effort from a private site inland just west of Rainham, 2014 a mix there and south and west towards the Downs, 2015 and a lot of the ridges east of Lower Halstow, 2016, time up on Windmill Hill just east of Otterham. 2017 found my mobility impaired as I awaited an operation for a condition that also impaired my ability to put up/take down nets for ringing. So, time for an all-out viz-mig effort out on Horrid Hill.

This was to be the conclusion to the question 'can you pick up on visible migration here on the south Medway and, if so, can it really provide any objective value?'

Starting late July/early August. Most observations won't be 'viz mig' then as mainly nocturnal migrants, but can some value be added to counts by, say, sticking it out for catching overland migration by waders/terns? September, can you pick up on departing long-distance migrant passerines? Come October, can we start to appreciate the scale and timing of finch arrivals through the south-east from the continent?

Can I convince more birders watching such minor spots is worthwhile? The big push for patch birding has been in place for a few years now, and is likely to have plateau-ed. How to convince others? The old 'Patagonia Picnic Stop' effect. Birding mindset is mainly that the whole of Kent is a valid playing field, and well-watched sites pull the crowds. Somewhere like Grain, at the mouth of the Medway, picks up nothing but bad press in the twittersphere, even though it still has good numbers of birds. Just that it's a big spot and you need to know how to bird it. Time in equals birds out, and most can't apply themselves nowadays- the lure of the biggie down the road on a reserve often wins out. And the southern shore is no Grain. If Grain can't attract regular migrant hunters, what chance the southern shore?

Hopefully, these viz mig posts over the next few days will help answer these questions.

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