20th October

With clear skies and warm sunshine the order of the day after a brief overcast start it was a surprise that common migrants trickled through in some numbers: Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests dominated, with totals of 100 and 40 respectively at the Bill and lots more of both elsewhere; a good spread of thrushes - including single Ring Ouzels at the Bill and Southwell, and a Mistle Thrush at the Bill - and Blackcaps made up the bulk of the rest of the numbers on the ground, with 2 Short-eared Owls, 2 Black Redstarts, 2 Dartford Warblers, a Firecrest and a Serin at the Bill, another Dartford Warbler at Barleycrates Lane and a Yellow-browed Warbler at Easton the best of the scarcer migrants. Overhead, the usual finches were prominent without being especially numerous, whilst for the second day running there were signs of some Wood Pigeon passage developing with more than 250 through at the Bill.





Ring Ouzel and Short-eared Owl, Fieldfare and Dartford Warbler - Southwell and Barleycrates Lane, 20th October 2015 © Nick Stantiford (Ouzel & SEOwl), Debby Saunders (Fieldfare) and Pete Saunders (Dartford W)