Sunday October 27 - The new normal

 I wasn't expecting to post anything more for quite a while, but birds have intervened. The good thing about the little blighters is that they fly, they migrate, they give you a chance even if you are confined to barracks.

So yesterday morning I couldn't help noticing that birds were moving. Flocks of Woodpigeons headed south every so often during the first couple of hours of daylight, and I eventually counted 275 of them, mostly from the bedroom window. 

As luck would have it that was exactly the right place to be when, at 08:40 I turned round from talking to Lyn and spotted three white birds approaching from the north. I grabbed my binoculars and confirmed they were swans. Within seconds I realised they were not Mute Swans, but were actually either Bewick's or Whooper Swans. I could see the yellow base at the base of their bills, and I tried hard to assess the shape of the yellow colour. They were soon lost behind the whitebeam growing to the left of our front garden. A dash downstairs to the back garden proved futile. Nevertheless a quick check of the Internet confirmed my suspicion that no Bewick's Swans have arrived at Slimbridge yet, so it seems very likely indeed that these birds were Whooper Swans which arrive a month or so earlier. In fact it may be relevant that three Whoopers were reported flying south over Seisdon near Wolverhampton just an hour and a half before my sighting.

For the rest of the morning I managed to watch from the driveway which was better for seeing birds which call as they fly over. This added 94 Redwings and a few Skylarks and Chaffinches to the morning's haul. 

Meanwhile Dave and the ringers, Tony and Leigh, have been visiting Morton Bagot over the weekend. They found the first two Jack Snipe of the autumn along with 15 Common Snipe, and two Stonechats. 

Greenfinch - Tony Kelly

The ringing totals included a Blackcap, four Redwings, five Greenfinches, eight Goldfinches, and three Reed Buntings.

The exciting day of movement was also noticed at Earlswood where John O and Matt G counted 4,310 Woodpigeons and a Hawfinch in the space of two hours. Two of the latter have returned to Tardebigge churchyard, and Birdguides is full of reports of them.

This morning by contrast, there appears to be no movement of birds going on over the house whatever. 

Things could be a lot worse.