Half-way point: over and out

We are now half-way through Meteorological Autumn and I am at the same point in my foolish Uberpatch challenge. Whereas the results for September were slightly underwhelming, so far October has been undeniably underwhelming - there have been a handful of surprises (see below) but by and large overhead vis-mig and grounded migrants have been hard to come by. We are now past the point when any notable pipit or hirundine movement can be expected and, as expected, neither have shown during October. Finches are still absent apart from a few modest Chaffinch mornings and the thrushes have yet to get going. I just hope that they will do so. Birding took place on 14 out of the 15 days and there now follows a list of the highlights.

October 2nd: Malden Rushett A warm, light southerly wind encouraged 133 Meadow Pipit to move south, a Yellow Wagtail to head in the opposite direction and a flock of 5 Mistle Thrush to head east (in what is a decent autumn for them.) The stubble held up to 50 Skylark and it was encouraging to find that good numbers of House Sparrows still haunt the farm outbuildings with 50+ present. October 4th: Colley Hill A modest SW passage of Chaffinch flew into a headwind with 79 dribbling through. Up to 75 Skylarks were on the Mogador stubble. October 6th: Colley Hill Low dense fog greeted me at lower elevation which left the hilltop clear (see image). A vis-mig watch low on quantity but ticking the quality box with two Hawfinch east and an immature Marsh Harrier arriving from the south. Back up came from a westerly movement of 7 Skylark, 21 Song Thrush, 10 Redwing, 6 Mistle Thrush and 37 Chaffinch. The Mogador stubble was playing host to 80 Skylark and 50 Meadow Pipit. 

October 8th: Colley Hill Light WNW winds encouraged a Hobby (s), 10 Meadow Pipit (w), 46 Redwing (w), nine Mistle Thrush (w) and 337 Chaffinch (w) but all were upstaged by a high-flying male Ring Ouzel that was tracked west along the scarp slope. October 9th: Banstead and Malden Rushett A short-lived rush of Redwing west with a combined total of 700, being joined by two Woodlark at the latter locality. October 10th: Leatherhead A most enjoyable day with the highlight being a calling Yellow-browed Warbler from deep inside riverside scrub and woodland close to the town centre. The day's list also included four Little Egret, the drake Pintail still on Fetcham Mill Pond (habitat shot top), three Goosander on the River Mole, two Water Rail, a Kingfisher and two Cetti's Warbler. October 11th: Denbies Hillside Bird of the day was an immature/female Black Redstart (below) that remained faithful to a small area at the base of the scarp slope.

Hours were spent looking up at empty skies, across empty fields and into empty vegetation. We really are living in a depleted area for birds here. There is no dressing it up, it is a downward trend that is worsening each year. I might see more Red Kites, Ravens and Parakeets than ever before but that is no compensation for the tens of species that are slumping.

In my last post I wrote about the passing of Pete Burness. I will be attending his memorial gathering on the shingle next Monday. I have decided to then stay on at Dungeness until the end of the month. The weather looks favourable for a bit of ornithological action and even if the weather Gods fail to deliver I will be more than happy just  wandering over the point and picking up a bit of movement. What about my UMA  project? On hold I'm afraid. Maybe it has run its course, with 45 consecutive days of local birding never anything other than a pleasure but also a way of reminding yourself that not all is well within our bird populations.