Monday 22 October 2012

Falling out of the Mist

The mist and a weather front bringing drizzle forced a large number of Scandinavian migrants to land on Spurn this morning.  Before I arrived there had already been reports of over 1,400 Bramblings, and thousands of Redwings, Fieldfare, Blackbirds, plus hundreds of Song Thrushes, dozens of Ring Ouzels, and at least 1 Hawfinch.  

I stayed behind a mound of marram grass for over an hour to try & get pictures of the 200+ Bramblings near Post 20.  The mist made it very difficult, but it was possible to get something in the end.  At one stage dozens of Bramblings were feeding alongside a single Turnstone, whilst other Turnstones were sharing their beach with Redwings!

Early indications from @Spurnbirdobs on twitter are:
Conservative totals are:
Fieldfare 10,000+
Redwing 21,000+
Song Thrush 900+
Robin 700+
Ring Ouzel 57
Hawfinch 1

Although these figures haven't been stated yet I suspect there were will have been well in excess of 10,000 Blackbirds & 2000 Bramblings.

Bramblings
 Ditto
 Ditto in flight
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Redwing & Turnstone

1 comment:

Mike Randall Bird Photography said...

Wow, such great nos., thanks for sharing this Michael. Reports of all these birds including a small no. of Ring Ouzels and a Haw Finch on the Scarborough Coast today.