Breckland Birder

Breckland Birder
Red Deer in Breckland, Norfolk Photo by Paul Newport

Friday 11 October 2013

Some Thrush arrivals evident.

Following the very stormy conditions across Norfolk yesterday (10th October), todays weather continued very windy with a fresh to strong North-Easterly airflow along with angry skies and frequent, sometimes heavy showers.
Earlier in the week I predicted that the winds of today would bring a movement of Thrushes into the Breckland area and an early morning walk around Great Cressingham produced good numbers of Redwings and Song Thrushes in the roadside hedgerows. These Thrushes probably arrived during the night, following their passage from Northern Europe.  I didn't witness any significant overhead movements of Thrushes, perhaps migrants were forced to make landfall in coastal areas following a rough crossing from Europe in very poor conditions.
As the morning progressed, increasingly windy and wet weather was building from the north-east and the occasional look from the garden produced small numbers of Thrushes on the move.
An afternoon walk taking in Threxton and Little Cressingham continued to see very blustery conditions.  Any Thrushes present in the area were probably confined to woodlands to feed and seek shelter.   
The weather conditions appeared to keep most birds to cover and indeed, such habitats at North Bridge produced a mobile flock of Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tit, and Goldcrests.  Further along the route near Saham Hall, a Chiffchaff was heard in a roadside hedge and at Threxton Sewage plant, at least 2 Grey Wagtails were present.
Rough, wet conditions are predicted for Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th October, early mornings will be interesting for possible evidence of further migrant arrivals.      

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