UMA26 September report

September has positively flown by. My 'Uberpatch Meteorological Autumn' project (a rather pompous construct to spur me on to cover the local patches throughout September - November) is a third of the way complete. I can say that it has, so far, not totally lived up to expectations. Looking back over the last four weeks has certainly had its moments but these have been heavily outweighed by periods of disappointment. It was always likely to be this way, no dry inland birding patches are going to compete with what the coast - or local sewage farms or reservoirs - will be able to serve up, but the purpose of my efforts are to highlight what is possible across areas that are largely shunned and neglected by the avid birder. There were times when I berated myself for yet again treading this 'path less taken' but then something - invariably something quite modest - delighted me and I was once again fully engaged. I can truthfully say that I have got out of bed each morning with a steely determination and child-like excitement. So far the commitment has not been diminished.

Effort. I was out birding every day of September. This can be broken down into 10 full days; 15 half-days; and 5 days where the effort was down to 1-2 hours.

Sites (number of days). Banstead: 30. Denbies/Ranmore: 7. Box Hill (bottom image): 5. Epsom/Walton Downs: 4. Buckland/Colley Hill: 3. Canons Farm: 3. Ewell: 2.   Mickleham: 2. Walton/Banstead Heath: 1. Norbury/Leatherhead: 1. Headley Heath: 1.

Weather. Predominantly light SW to W winds, dry with little rain (apart from 12th which was very wet), mild but usually warm and being very warm - even hot - on a few days. A 'T-shirt and shorts' set-up throughout the period.

Visible migration. On the whole disappointing. It seems as if we've had it as regards the chance of a decent pipit day (so far my best being a modest 65 south at Epsom Downs on 20th and 84 south at Denbies on 21st). The much anticipated push of hirundines was short and sweet, with the 15th being the best day (4,700 Swallow, 610 House Martin and 40 Sand Martin south at Denbies), but honourable mention must go to two days of south-westerly House Martin action (950 on 18th at Canons Farm and 2,440 on 19th at Little Woodcote). There were cameo appearances from Jays (18 high and west on 21st at Denbies, which are part of an ongoing national movement - watch this space for hopefully further counts).

Passage migrants. A mixed bag. First the lows - just single Tree Pipit and Common Redstart. A paltry three Garden Warblers. Only four Lesser Whitethroats and Spotted Flycatchers. A maximum of five Whinchats (top), and Yellow Wagtails with six Willow Warblers and Wheatears. In some autumns Whinchat and Wheatear totals will be ten times those figures. What saved the month were the very high numbers of Chiffchaffs (peaks of 80 on 15th at Denbies; 50 on 22nd between Reigate Hill and Dawcombe; 120 on 25th at Denbies); Stonechats - every scrubby slope or weedy field seemed to hold some, peak counts being of 44 on 25th at Denbies and 23 on 26th on Epsom Downs; Robins, whose counts were the highest that I've made locally in the 50+ years that I've recorded here - 190 on 22nd between Reigate Hill and Dawcome, with 100 of these around Colley Hill alone; 100+ on 23rd at Box Hill; and a staggering 245 on 25th at Denbies. Whether or not these counts are the result of a good breeding season, an influx of continental birds on their way to wintering grounds, or both, I doubt that I'll know for sure. It was quite something.

Resident species. Worrying. It was not unusual to be walking along hedgerows, scanning a woodland edge or surveying weedy fields and see and hear virtually nothing. Birds could appear in pockets, keep me amused for ten minutes then move on plunging me back into a lonely existence. Low numbers of pigeons, larks, pipits, thrushes, tits, finches and buntings were par for the course. And when I say low, I generally mean very low. Scanning the horizon or the sky above would normally reveal wheeling flocks of Jackdaws with an almost constant presence of Common Buzzards and Red Kites. Ravens are becoming as much a part of the avian furniture as anything else can claim to be, even the skies above my Banstead garden being home to their cronking and tumbling. A count of 28 on 15th at the western end of Denbies was the highest that I have made in the county, with an intriguing group of 17 on 30th at Colley Hill moving westwards. But to record only one Bullfinch, two Song Thrushes (up to 22nd), make do with tiny flocks of Linnets and Goldfinches (where once were hundreds) and wonder where on earth most of my House Sparrows have gone was dispiriting.

Scarcities. If I'm being honest I expected to have a few more of these. My expectations were not artificially elevated, they were set at a realistic level, but those 'cherries on the cake' were in short supply - this won't take long! An adult male Honey Buzzard was picked up moving westwards along the scarp slope of the downs from Denbies Vineyard on the morning of the 3rd; plus two Merlins were recorded, with a tiny male dive-bombing a Hobby at Canons Farm on 5th and a very low female that hurried across Epsom Downs heading south-east on the morning of 20th. That was it... no simple pleasures like a Grasshopper Warbler or Pied Flycatcher, and certainly no 'in my wildest dreams' moments such as a Wryneck or Red-backed Shrike - although a couple of species mentioned in the next paragraph could lay claim to appearing here! Maybe October will be kinder.

Surprises and cameos. A totally unexpected duckfest on 29th at Leatherhead/Fetcham might not butter many coastal birders parsnips but for the water-depleted part of the uberpatch it was akin to stumbling across Slimbridge, with 6 Teal, 12 Gadwall and a drake Pintail (the latter patch gold) on Fetcham Pond and a group of four Goosander on the Mole at Common Meadow (they bred nearby this year). A singing Cetti's Warbler at Common Meadow (also on 29th) was a site first for me. A single female Goshawk was obliging at Juniper Top on 13th. Maybe the biggest surprise of the month was the Nightingale that was seen twice along the scant hedgerows that bordered a track on Cowslip Farm, between Mickleham and Westhumble on 29th, which may well be the latest county record.

Species total: 95. Still missing and highly achievable during September were: Common Gull (!), Little Owl, Swift (maybe now a bit late to rectify this omission) and Treecreeper (lack of wood time). Not unexpectedly, apart from a single Common Snipe, no waders.

Other wildlife: it was a month blessed with Clouded Yellow butterflies (below). I literally saw them every day (actually, come to think about it, the day of constant rain was a blank, but that kind of ruins the narrative). My highest count was of 30 in the Buckland area on 1st and on two occasions recorded the helice form at Denbies. It was also not unusual to kick up the migrant moth The Vestal, and to do so regularly inland is rare indeed. On the negative side the long hot and dry summer has played havoc with our autumn flowering species. The chalk downland was largely devoid of flower and much of what did bloom looked stunted. Box and Mistletoe looked stressed.