A very stormy night with heavy rain and very strong westerlies. At dawn it was dry, however, the westerly airflow continued to be strong. 11 degrees Celsius at dawn.
I went out prior to sunrise and it was evident that the wind had taken its toll with lots of tree debris on the roads, beyond my patch, weather reports indicated many large trees were felled during the night in the stormy conditions.
Now is the time that thoughts turn to Thrush passage, however, the recent mild weather coupled with the SW airflow would prevent this, with maybe just the odd pioneer bird making landfall.
My early morning walk through vast open country at Bodney was probably not the best place to be searching for migrants, although I did see a single Meadow Pipit rise up calling from a field, perhaps a recently arrived bird from the north.
Crows featured as the most abundant species, the harsh call of one bird raising suspicions of a nearby Goshawk, not this time however. With raptors in mind I checked an area of the Wissey valley I consider a possible roost for raptors, again, nothing seen.
A few Lesser Black-backed Gulls were seen in a large field and an adult was seen heading SW.
We have now been stuck with SW and W winds for some time now, however, by Monday the winds turn NW, then, by Friday 28th the wind direction at the current time is forecast as N, I will be with my good friend Jez Wood for a birding trip to Burnham Overy Dunes, by which time hopefully we will witness both Thrush and Finch passage.
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