An autumnal feel to the morning with mist and fog, mostly in low lying areas, some light rain and very calm to begin with. Low thick cloud moved in.
This was a productive morning for finding grounded migrants and for evidence of overhead bird movements, the highlights which were:
One Woodlark directly overhead NW then North
8+ Song Thrushes (recent arrivals) in Blackthorn and Hawthorn
Several Blackbirds (possible migrants) with Song Thrushes
I arrived at Houghton some 15 minutes prior to sunrise, the long drive up the track to St Mary's saw a number of Thrushes in the half-light flying up from a field into trees. Having arrived the first birds noted was Nuthatch, Robin, and Wren.
I walked to a break in a hedge where I had commanding views to the north and north-east where I hoped to witness visible migration. At this time the cloud was high with one or two breaks, however, after some time of watching a covering of thick, low cloud moved in, the sky was positively leaden, it looked promising. Although I could not see any Thrush movement, excitement came with an approaching and calling Woodlark which passed directly overhead in a NW heading, I watched the bird through binoculars when it turned north before being lost to view. I have seen Woodlarks away from their typical breeding habitats in autumn and winter when they move to farmland/st theubble to feed.
Other movements seen included single and double figure counts of Skylarks flying in variable directions and Black-headed Gulls south. Within the hedgerow where I was standing a single Blackcap was present and alarm calling.
The highlight of my visit was back at the church where I weas intent on watching the rich fruit bearing boundary hedgerow along the western boundary at the site of the former Houghton village. I detected movement in a patch of Blackthorn and checking through binoculars and scope I could see lots of Thrush movement, birds were flying between cover and rarely settling. Eventually, I could see these were all Song Thrushes (8+) and several Blackbirds too. I had some good views occasionally of the Song Thrushes, these birds were very alert and gregarious with one view through binoculars involving four birds. Food included Hawthorn and Sloes. British Song Thrushes are solitary birds, the Song Thrushes gregarious behaviour seen here clearly shows these were continental migrants from Northern Europe. The question is "Did these birds arrive a little earlier when the thick and low cloud arrived"?
Also noted at this location was a number of mobile Long-tailed Tits and Blue Tits.
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