Passage and arrivals

A day of quite volatile weather with a moderate to fresh North-Easterly bringing frequent and at times heavy showers.  Some impressive cloud formations with distant showers and heavy rain seen.
A low of 4 degrees Celsius and high of 10 degrees Celsius, however, the temperature was clearly much lower in the wind.

With the weather and wind direction being favourable for watching passage Thrushes I decided to visit Houghton for a spell of visible migration.  The majority passage was that of Fieldfare with lesser numbers of Redwings, whilst present was a few already arrived Blackbirds feeding upon Hawthorn berries.

1 Lapwing high west
Fieldfare - largest flock 200+
Redwing - 10's and 20's+
Starling - a number of west bound flocks
1 Brambling over calling
Goldcrests

Overnight, and sometimes heavy overnight rain, cleared to give a day of frequent showers with some impressive cloud formations, and it was against the backdrop of this cloud that I witnessed visible migration by many mostly double figure counts of Fieldfare, although the largest flock was of 200+ birds arriving from the north and alighting in tall trees, thus offering great but distant views of these beauties along with a few Redwing as well.

One of the many Fieldfare which arrived early morning 28/10/18

Having relocated to mixed woodland and hedgerow habitat, it appeared that the largest flock of Fieldfares seen earlier were present and feeding upon Hawthorn berries, their harsh "shack shack" calls were heard.  At times brighter conditions offered great views of these stunning Thrushes.
Nearby I located several Blackbirds, with one watched feeding voraciously upon Hawthorn berries, these were probably overnight/early morning arrivals.

One of a number of Blackbirds seen.  This probable migrant was feeding voraciously upon Hawthorn berries.

Also of interest was a number of Starling flocks flying west, an overhead Brambling seen and heard, and a single Lapwing (high) being driven along on the NE wind.