The never-ending summer

Without wanting to sound like I'm repeating myself, another fairly quiet 10 days has come to a close. It's become another westerly autumn – never ideal for the South-East patch-birder. Another theme of this autumn is how nice the weather has been; birding under warm, blue skies in shorts and t-shirt has been the norm for much of this October. That said, a few easterlies made it through in the last few days and vis-mig has finally kicked off as a result.

Peregrine in sunny conditions, typical of the last 10 days.

Wednesday 12th

Only the second Thursley Common Marsh Tit of the year, calling at Top Corner, was the highlight of a quiet walk this morning. Two Ravens were knocking about, a couple of Redwing flocks passed over and an impressive 500 or so Canada and Greylag Geese were in the Pudmore roost.

Reed Bunting and Canada Geese.

Another glorious day meant I was having lunch on the porch when, to my disbelief, a Great Crested Grebe flew over! A totally madcap sight to behold, there was no mistaking what it was and it goes down as my most unlikely garden record to date – and one of my craziest in the Eashing area as well.

Thursday 13th

No birding.

Friday 14th

A morning walk along the Wey was quiet, with a female Teal and six Stonechats at the Lammas Lands and a Firecrest in Milton Wood the best I could manage. A few small groups of Siskin were back at usual winter haunts along various stretches of the river too.

Male Stonechat.

Saturday 15th

No birding.

Sunday 16th

Milford and Witley Commons were very quiet this morning, with a flyover Lesser Redpoll the most notable observation. Singles of Dartford Warbler, Reed Bunting and Kestrel were also seen.

Monday 17th

It was warm and sunny when I took a late afternoon walk to Eashing Farm – not at all feeling like the second half of October. I was already leaving satisfied with a bumper flock of 46 Collared Doves, but was treated further thanks to awesome views of a male Peregrine as it unsuccessfully tried to take out one of the doves.

Peregrine and (29 of the 46) Collared Doves.

Only my 10th record in south-west Surrey this year, I wonder if the bird is the same as an individual I had three sightings of in the Eashing area during the first winter period? 

Tuesday 18th

No birding.

Wednesday 19th

Finally some proper easterlies and, with a big overnight departure of thrushes in the Low Countries, I was optimistic when I got to Thursley at first light. The following four hours were decent indeed – certainly in the context of the last few weeks – but were not vintage. The headline act was a south-westerly Redwing passage that totalled 1,060, with some large flocks involved. Among one smaller group was my first Ring Ouzel of the year, which bombed south over Shrike Hill.

Redwing.

Other vis-mig highlights included 42 Fieldfares (my first of the autumn), a handful of Song Thrushes, 100 or more Chaffinches, 15 Siskins, 10 Lesser Redpolls, six Skylarks, 25 Starlings, 400 Woodpigeons and a Brambling. Some 37 Cormorants moved east too, including flocks of 16 and 11 – potentially a new Thursley high count.

Cormorants.

It was quiet on the deck, though six Teal and two each of Snipe and Water Rail were at Pudmore.

Two Bramblings were at Eashing Fields at lunchtime, rather unusually giving their yeck call.

Thursday 20th

A drizzly, murky morning smacked of water bodies so I did a local circuit. Six Pochard – two adult drakes, three females and a first-winter drake – were quite the surprise at Tuesley, where the two dodgy female Goldeneye were also about. A veritable wildfowl-fest for these parts ...

Five Pochard were at Enton too, presumably part of the flock back in the area for the winter. Duck numbers were otherwise low, however. I thought Frensham might deliver the big prize afterwards, but it was disappointingly quiet.

Pochard.

The rain had eased off by the time I was heading back, so I took the opportunity to do a vis-mig at Eashing Fields. It wasn't too bad, either, with 450 Redwings and 11 Fieldfares counted in less than an hour. Most were heading south-east, though there were birds moving in all directions. 

The highlight however was a surprise Hawfinch bounding low south, calling with frequency. I didn't think I'd see this species at all in my 1km this year, so to have two records in the space of a couple of weeks is fantastic (and shows how vis-mig can yield results anywhere).

It was sunny and warm again by late afternoon, when a walk around the Lammas Lands produced two Snipe, three Stonechats and a flyover Lesser Redpoll at Overgone Meadow.

Friday 21st

A slightly later start this morning, but a brilliant hour and a half of vis-mig from Eashing Fields produced a remarkable three 1km ticks – and a south-west Surrey year tick! The cloudy, breezy conditions with occasional squally showers meant thrush passage was detectable, and I tallied 1,450 Redwings by the end of the session. Fieldfare totalled 33, with a few smaller groups of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes also moving.

Redwings and Fieldfares.

At 09:20 I heard a Woodlark, and eventually picked the bird up as it headed low east. I managed a crappy recording. Peter had one at the 'A3 Fields' in 1999 and David K had a spate of records at Peper Harow in the early 2000s – as far as I can tell this is the first Eashing area Woodlark since.

Not long after, three Mute Swans flew north-west – another new species for my Eashing area list! This had become a classic watch, with other bits on the move including a single southbound Swallow, a light easterly passage of Goldfinches and two Bramblings south-west.

Mute Swans.

With particularly dark clouds rolling in from the south I was ready to head back. However, a quick scan to the north revealed a small skein of geese – and upon getting my bins on them it was clear they were Brent Geese. The group were tight and moving quickly, seemingly tracking the Wey west-south-west. 

Brent Geese.

What a mega sighting – wild geese on migration all the way from Russia, and I'd been lucky enough to see a tiny leg of their journey only a couple of hundred metres from my front door. This will surely be my best 1 km record of the year.

Patch birding and vis-mig are wonderful in their own rights but make a truly magical combination. I've been lucky to enjoy both in rejuvenated fashion since moving this year.

Stonechat.