Of local Ouzels

Ring Ouzels are one of those birds that can make a patchworker's day - they are unusual enough, and good-looking enough, to warrant giving you a feeling of satisfied pleasure - especially if the bird before you is a male. Here in northern Surrey I am lucky enough to be able call this thrush an almost annual passage migrant. If I don't see one locally during a calendar year it will be more because of my lack of effort rather than the birds not having been there. Within the uberpatch they are most likely to be found on scrubby downland, farmland or within horse paddocks, but they can pop up anywhere. The most unlikely location was a suburban back garden in Cheam one April afternoon. The map below illustrates where, across the uberpatch, I have recorded them, broken down into spring and autumn passage birds. I have not plotted every sighting, as both Beddington and Canons Farm have hosted multiple encounters, but the spring/autumn breakdown is reflected.

My local extreme dates are, for spring passage, 29 March 2017 (Priest Hill, Ewell) – 1 May 2017 (Canons Farm, Banstead); and for autumn 13 October 2012 (Canons Farm, Banstead) -7 November 1976 (Beddington SF). The highest count was of a flock of eight on 21 October 2019 at Box Hill.

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