Bodney 12 September 2024

This morning I visited the sewage treatments works which serves the army camp at Bodney.  A definite feel of autumn this morning with a cold start at 4 degrees Celsius, however, the bright conditions soon warmed things up.  The wind today is a moderate NW.  Conditions seems much more favourable for migrants than yesterday when the wind was a strong W.

This small site with its rough grassland, Hawthorns, and Elder, has always attracted migrants in late summer and autumn, where the fruits provides energy for passing migrants and the rough grassland holds invertebrate species for food.

This visit was to see good numbers of migrants sharing the same habitat as a good food source.  Within the area of rough grassland is a large Elder which I always pay good attention to at this time of year, here, and in the immediate surrounding area throughout my visit I recorded 4 Blackcap (3 males and a female), 3+ Whitethroat, 13+ Chiffchaffs, 4 Robins, 1 Stonechat (male), Blue Tit, Great Tit, Marsh Tit, Robin, 2 Dunnock (both preening), 2 Greenfinch, 1 Yellowhammer (female), 4+ Pied Wagtail, and many Goldfinches (the most abundant species here).

Blackcap (from my archives)

Whilst checking some conifers a small Chat very briefly perched in one of the trees before flying out of sight, I was confident it would return, and it did, this time I got the scope on it, a beautiful Whinchat, again it remained all too briefly but I was able to see the striking and bold supercillium, before the bird flew off strongly east.

Common species were well represented with 4+ Robins, Wren, and 50+ Goldfinches feeding from tall weeds stems.  A single Kestrel was seen off by a couple of corvids and a Nuthatch was heard.

Warbler species are now plundering bushes for their soft fruits, these high energy foods are an important food source for these migrants as they build energy for their journey south to Africa.  This morning I witnessed both Blackcap and Whitethroat eating elderberries, I also saw a male Blackcap eating a red berry from a Bryony climber.

I have a week off beginning 16th September and checking the conditions for the week the wind is coming from the N/E and E, these conditions will undoubtedly be favourable for bird migration which may include early winter Thrush and Finch movements.