Sunday September 29

A cloudy but mild morning with a moderate south-westerly wind sandwiched between an overnight deluge and heavy showers through the afternoon.

I would be lying if I said that on every visit I wasn't hoping to see a special bird, but this morning proved that Morton Bagot can be fantastic without rarities on show. The key is passage migration, and boy did we get it today.

An early omen was a single Yellowhammer which flew over Netherstead shortly after I arrived. Dave joined me and we noticed wagtails and pipits in the part flooded horse paddocks. We headed down there and soon counted around 60 Meadow Pipits, 12 Pied Wagtails, and two Stonechats.

One of the Meadow Pipits

Soon after we resumed our normal circuit we realised that hirundines were moving. A sudden rush of House Martins heading purposefully south-west started us logging them. With them were more Meadow Pipits, and a few Swallows.

Its hard to express how thrilling it was to see these birds whizzing past us in waves, we surely missed far more than we counted but our record breaking final totals were 650 House Martins, 150 Meadow Pipits, and 40 Swallows.

One of the House Martins

My bridge camera is not up to the task of documenting the movement, but I couldn't resist trying.

Slightly less captivating were the numbers of downed migrants in the hedgerows. Although we felt there were a lot of birds about; Reed Buntings, Goldfinches, Linnets etc, there were few definite migrants. The best we could muster was 11 Chiffchaffs and six Stonechats.

The main pool is a pool once more, but will no doubt drain away. The flash field is now a mixture of grass and water. 46 Lapwings flew off as we appeared, but there were no other waders. Teal numbers were barely more than a dozen, but Shovelers did try to impress. The count of 14 was a new site record for a species that usually shuns us.

Some of the Shovelers

Eventually the hirundine passage reduced, and the only other fly-over to mention was a Siskin (heard not seen as usual).

A memorable day.