Migration in Action!

Went out for a walk yesterday - the worst weather of the week!   However, the recent change in weather patterns brought several delights including huge flocks of migrating Chaffinch - all males either adult or first winter birds.

There was one particularly large flock just outside Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve - feeding in a field where horses were kept.   There were obviously rich pickings as over 100 individuals were flying from the ground to trees nearby every time they were disturbed by the horses, only to return to the ground as soon as they felt safe again.

Grey Wagtail

The male Chaffinches often migrate through or to the south-east of England from Scandinavia - the females prefer to move further west and are often found in similarly large flocks in the south-west of England and Ireland.

With large numbers migrating south into the UK, our population can double during the winter.   The males tend to migrate nearer to their breeding areas, believed to be so that they will arrive on territory in top condition (rather than tired from a longer journey).   The females have longer to migrate back to territory in the spring arriving once the male has secured the position - hence their longer migration.

See more information courtesy of the BTO here

At Bough Beech I also saw my first Redwing and Fieldfare of the winter - with around 50 Redwing (thanks to Sally for spotting them fly in) and one pair of Fieldfare (Malcolm's find).   Despite there being many birds busily feeding on the berries nearby, not one photograph was possible!   There was a grainy shot of a lovely Grey Wagtail though.

Fourteen Snipe dropped in and spooked Lapwing and Greylag - presumably they mistook them for a bird of prey.

Cormorant, Greylag, Lapwing & Teal

Another delight was a surprising number of Goldcrest - they have been reported widely in the last week or so, and for once we actually caught up with them in pairs on several occasions.   As usual at this time of year, there were Long-tailed Tit everywhere - contact calls echoed around us all day. Brilliant!

To round off the day, we had great sightings of two Kingfisher on several occasions - they appeared to be patrolling the edge of a lake.   Still no photos though!