Mega Viz Mig

Lade - 0600hrs - mild, dull start, sunny later, S2 - From the moment I set foot outside to turn the moth trap off I just knew it was going to be, `one-of-those-days`, or at least mornings, as migrants were everywhere. Swallows were streaming over the cottage from the off and as we walked down Taylor Road to the storm beaches several hundred had already passed over us. Scanning across the desert the air was thick with Swallows and there were hundreds more over the pits and flying south along with pulses of House Martins. From the aerial mound 300 were perched on power lines and as we walked back along the beach hundreds more were skimming over the shingle passing only inches away. This viz mig went on until mid-morning after which it petered out and picked up again in late afternoon. I wouldn`t like to hazard a guess at numbers but it must`ve involved many thousands. Almost every dog-walker we met commented on this fantastic spectacle, and even after a lifetime of birding visible migration on this scale remains a thrilling sight.
There were plenty of Chiffchaffs still in the bushes and willow swamp, along with single figures of Common and Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Sedge and Reed Warblers, Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat, plus Wheatears and Mipits on the desert and Grey Wagtail and Hobby over. Greenshank and Kingfisher were also noted (OL). There was also a noticeable influx of Robins this morning with birds calling from cover all over the site.
The garden trap was full of common autumn moths of 25 species, while a Brown-spot Pinion was trapped 200 yards down the road.
ARC  - Called in at Hanson around midday where the usual range of waders  on show included Little Stint, 6 Snipe and a Common Sandpiper amongst the legions of Lapwings. At the south end the now regular flock of Blackwits and Ruff were still present.
Lade - A late afternoon walk along the beach in warm sunshine yielded more hirundines, 2 Wheatears, 20 Sandwich Terns, 25 Knot, 200 Dunlin, 100 Sanderling and 500 Oystercatchers and Curlews. Back home a Comma was on the Buddleia and a bush-cricket on the garden wall.

                                  bush-cricket, Lade

                                        Autumnal Rustic

Black Rustic