The wider horizon more clearly seen

While obviously less than ideal from the perspective of not being able to drive or lead Knepp safaris, etc, I have to say I am weirdly enjoying this period of enforced reduced travel and hyper local nature study. I have always said I am someone who would struggle to ever become bored and have kept myself busy the past couple of weeks with regular 1km area walks as well as rekindling my love for vismigging and nocmigging, and occasionally moth trapping when time allows (although this is a little trickier to manage with only one fully functioning arm!)

From a migration point of view, it's clear we have very much turned a corner now from the dregs of summer to the days of peak autumn proper. It's still a little on the slow side but as I write this I have just enjoyed a spectacular day of Redwing passage as well as my first Fieldfares and Merlins of the season, while the straggling hirundines are still to be seen trickling south most days. It's not just migrant birds that have featured either. This morning there was another Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden (my third record of the autumn after a relatively poor summer for them) and southward Red Admiral migration on a scale I haven't seen for many years has been a daily feature of late. A few migrant moths have been turning up in the trap too... All in all, perhaps not the most spectacular or memorable autumn so far (albeit not for good reasons!) but it's always nice to see the seasons changing gear at this point in the year.

Again, sadly rather a lack of decent photos this time, due to not being able to use my proper camera. 

1st October

So, a whole week into my shoulder injury recovery, and with the weather looking good I decided to give one-armed moth trapping a bash. It proved a worthwhile decision as it produced various new for the garden species, including Red-green Carpet, Lunar Underwing and the migrant Clancy's Rustic.

Clancy's Rustic

Red-green Carpet

Before emptying the trap I tried a spot of vismigging from the high ground to the west of home, which proved quiet aside from 55 Meadow Pipits mostly west and a few Swallows south. Late morning, Kate dropped me off at Pulborough for a whizz round, where I had a catch up with Steve B and Josie N. Highlights here included the lingering Curlew Sandpiper (my first anywhere this year!) among the usual waders, increased numbers of ducks, a Marsh Harrier and two Hobbies.

2nd October

A walk from home to Waltham Brooks this morning was fairly quiet. Highlights on the reserve were two Little Grebes, 20 Swallows, singles of Kingfisher and Snipe and a rather late Willow Warbler among the Chiffchaffs by the main lake. Down at Thorndale Bridge were a Stonechat, a flock of 25 Siskins spooked from Alders by a Kestrel, and another 17 Swallows south. 

While having lunch in the garden I picked up an Osprey circling quite low just to the east. It was in view for a couple of minutes as it gained height before drifting south. My first record anywhere this year, and just in time as it was one that I thought was going to evade me altogether as I'd reached October without seeing one. Unfortunately I was only able to get a very ropey one-handed record shot with my little bridge camera - better than nothing though I suppose! 

Osprey

3rd October

A check of Waltham Brooks this morning produced my first Pintail of the autumn here among the Teal, Shoveler and Gadwall on the main lake, plus a single Little Grebe and heard-only Kingfisher. A few Swallows were moving south which bode well for a follow-up skywatch from the field near home. In an hour, around 160 hirundines moved south here, roughly half and half Swallow and House Martin. The only other movers during this session were a single Linnet and two Herring Gulls south, and a few Siskins south-west. Another hour vismigging later in the day proved very quiet in almost summer-like conditions, with just a few hirundines and Meadow Pipits south, although two Lesser Black-backed Gulls going the same way were my first locally for a while. The warm sunshine also encouraged a few raptors into the air including a trio of Buzzards, a Red Kite and one of the White-tailed Eagles over Amberley.

4th October

Following on from my first Merlin of the autumn north-west over the garden first thing, a lively skywatch from the high ground on the western side of Watersfield produced a pleasing selection of species including a single late Sand Martin among 114 Swallows and 62 House Martins heading south, three Skylarks west and the first Redpolls of the season here (two north-east and three south). I had planned to have a good go at vismigging locally this autumn and it's already proving rewarding, although by all accounts not a vintage vismig autumn yet.

My vismig watchpoint this morning

5th October

In sharp contrast to yesterday, this morning's skywatch from the high ground near home failed to produce much excitement, despite early promise in the form of a Snipe flying north-west. Swallows and House Martins were in notably smaller numbers. 

Late afternoon I headed over to Thorndale Bridge which produced a juvenile Marsh Harrier flushing at least three Snipe from the near side of Amberley Wildbrooks, a light southerly passage of Swallows and House Martins (16 and 7, respectively) and a weird calling Chiffchaff in the scrub by the railway, which seemingly was just a vocally aberrant collybita rather than anything more interesting. 

6th October

A skywatch from the local farmland produced a bit of movement in the form of 30 House Martins south, four Skylarks west, a couple of Siskins south and a Chiffchaff 'bush hopping' its way south through the landscape. 

Waltham Brooks, meanwhile, held singles of Marsh Harrier, Snipe and Little Grebe, a couple of Stonechat, 34 House Martin and three Swallows flying south and a single Redpoll flying south-west.

Swallow

7th October

An early morning stroll out to Thorndale Bridge to skywatch from the river bank here proved reasonably lively with a pleasing trickle of Swallows, House Martins, Meadow Pipits and Siskins overhead plus a couple of Redpolls. Two Stonechats were kicking about and a Kingfisher briefly perched up on a post near where I was stood. The alarm call of a Green Sandpiper alerted me to two birds flying up from just across the river on the near side of Amberley with a Sparrowhawk in hot pursuit, which narrowly missed catching one of them. As I was heading for home a Yellowhammer flew west, not a particularly common bird here.

Mid-morning, Kate kindly dropped me off at Pulborough Brooks where I met up with Steve Baines (and later Paul Davy) for a stroll round the trail. Highlights included the continuing Curlew Sandpiper on the North Brooks with two Ruff, around 80 Lapwing, 50+ Snipe and 550 Teal; the whole lot flushed by a passing Marsh Harrier a few times. A rather late Yellow Wagtail flew south over the Hanger, while the South Brooks held three Cattle Egrets among the cattle and a couple of Stonechats. Three Clouded Yellows were noted during the circuit.

Early after a cream cap Marsh Harrier made an appearance drifting south high over the garden, my first record of the species from here.

8th October

Despite huge numbers of Redwings arriving further north yesterday and this morning, the conditions just weren't in my favour in Watersfield and an hour up above the recreation ground in clear skies and virtually no wind produced little in the way of movement aside from 20 Linnets south-west, 18 Swallows, a few Meadow Pipits and a single Skylark south. Perhaps most interesting was a single flock of 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls high south, which tallied with similar movements over Capel in Surrey (per Wes Attridge). Clearly a few of these on the move today. 

Looking east from the hill above Watersfield

Fast forward a couple of hours and I arrived in Merrow in Surrey to visit my mother-in-law. A 15-20 minute watch from her garden proved lively, with a few Swallows, Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Siskins over, topped off by my first two Fieldfares of the autumn chuckling their way south. 

9th October

Well, it had to happen at some point. This morning was evidently the day that the vismig tap was turned fully on in the south-east. Heading out on foot from home at around 07:45 I immediately started seeing and hearing Redwings - my first of the autumn. Fast forward two and a half hours later and I had seen over 1,500 of them, streaming mostly west in waves, with around 200 being the biggest single flock. Watching from Thorndale Bridge, it was far and away my most enjoyable local vismig session to date, with 52 species recorded including a Merlin powering west, two Woodlarks south-west (and one grounded at Waltham Brooks), Cattle Egret and Peregrine south, plus Fieldfares, Skylarks and Swallows among many others. 

A rather frustrating moment came towards the end of the session, when I noticed a line of geese tracking south-west distantly over the Downs. I'm sure they had to be Brent Geese, but the distance, lack of scope or DSLR camera and only being able to hold bins with one hand, meant I just couldn't get enough on them to be 100% certain. Still, an amazing session and a timely reminder of just how enthralling vismigging can be when it's good! It also nicely took my Thorndale Bridge eBird hotspot list to 100 species with the addition of the various aforementioned goodies!

10th October

After yesterday's vismig fireworks I was hoping for more of the same but it sadly never quite delivered despite two bites of the cherry, first at Thorndale Bridge then later up on the hill to the west of Watersfield. After an initial flurry of 70 Redwings west between 07:50 and about 08:10, no more were recorded. Indeed, there were considerably fewer birds moving in general. A few late hirundines were drifting south/south-west late morning and Skylarks were trickling south-west throughout the morning. The main mover in the second session though was Red Admiral, with 31 flying strongly south in around 90 minutes. It really has been a remarkable year for this species and the spectacle of so many of them vismigging at this time of year never fails to impress.