Twenty-one Thousand Thrushes!

A fresh east wind all day, mainly overcast.

Heysham Nature Reserve 

Conditions were right for movement and Pete was in position early outside the reserve office, Jean was supporting with the vis, while also attending to the ringing. 

What happened next was a bit special. 

Report from Jean:

What a morning! It was the day of the Redwings and the sky was full of flocks of them pouring over constantly. Pete did a grand job of counting the bulk of them with contributions by Paul Murphy and me:
Vis 07:15-12:00
Redwing 20191 almost all south
Fieldfare 981
Mistle Thrush 1
Song Thrush 8
Blackbird 20
Chaffinch 74
Brambling 1
Bullfinch 2
Reed Bunting 1
Skylark 2
Meadow Pipit 1
Redpoll sp 1
Sparrowhawk 2 (1 with prey - probably Redwing)
Merlin 1 (female)
Pink-footed Goose 36
Canada Goose 3

Ringing:
Only 3 birds caught and one of those was a retrap!
Chiffchaff 1
Long-tailed Tit 1
Treecreeper 1 retrap 

Shaun located a Yellow-browed warbler in the NE corner of the reserve, it was still there with Goldcrests in the afternoon (Alan Physick)

Also from Shaun

Small tit flock next to Half Moon Bay cafe car park with:

3 (normal) Chiffchaffs

2 Goldcrest 

1 Blackcap

Also, about 80 grounded Redwing and 3O Fieldfare. 

South shore (MD)

I was checking the saltmarsh to Red Nab as the thrushes where piling over. It's an overwhelming task to count them, you look at one flock, then realise there is another above them, then another above those! I was glad that Pete was on station, as it took pressure off me to concentrate on what else was going on.

This clip of mainly Redwing is just a small part of a flock that stretched over 50m. Not really anything to see, but it just shows the magnitude of the counting task!

The thrushes all headed south. But some of the other passerines were coming in off the sea/beach then heading east. These would not be seen from the reserve.

Meadow Pipit 58 - most 1 - 5 at a time, largest flock 15

Skylark 7 (3 grounded)

Twite 15 in one flock. 

Twite - once regular here, but there were no records last year

They landed on the foreshore rocks and began preening, suggesting a reasonably long flight (4 in this clip). I left them to it, so don't know which direction they flew off to,

Jack Snipe 1 flushed from the saltmarsh edge.

Rock Pipit 3

Shelduck 61

Later at low water, 13:40, I checked the lighthouse area. It was overcast and cool and the east wind fresh, even so there were 5 Red Admirals seen coming in off the sea in less than 10 minutes.

A check on the way back located

Stonechat 1 male on the foreshore, although it moved through quickly and flew across the saltmarsh.

Male Stonechat 

All in all, a bit of a breathtaking day!