Maggie

Not a species I get many chances to photograph - this Magpie perched up nicely towards of my vismig session. It was getting slow by then anyway...

Misty thrushes

Blackbird (above) and two Song Thrushes taken in this mornings foggy vismig session on the Pinnacle. I particularly like the Song Thrushes shot.

Vismig from the Pinnacle

This is the Metcheck jet stream chart for today. I guess the good movement of today was mainly due to the south-westerly winds pushing stuff lower in altitude so we could see it?

08:00-11:00
Low cloud and fog slowly cleared to reveal a patchy blue sky. Movement was west unless otherwise stated.

A good morning, unfortunately I was slow getting up as a cold has hit! 2305 individuals counted migrating (not including the GP's). Virtually all of the Fieldfares were passing over very high, which made picking them up very difficult, the count is of only 10 groups, with the largest being 90 birds. Wood Pigeons have also just started to move here, with virtually none seen moving before today from the Pinnacle. Lots of Chaffinches, with most just singles and pairs, with the odd larger flock. Starlings were also prominent today too, with the largest flock being 80.

Redwing - 998
Chaffinch - 407
Fieldfare - 222
Starling - 261
Wood Pigeon - 260
Redpoll - 3
Reed Bunting - 3
Brambling - 5
Snipe - 1 NE
Meadow Pipit - 24 S
Greenfinch - 26
Yellowhammer - 2 S
Grey Wagtail - 1 S
Siskin - 5 S
Goldfinch - 6 NE
Bullfinch - 5
Skylark - 24 S
Blackbird - 3
Pied Wagtail 3 S
Stock Dove - 1 S
Linnet - 12 S
Song Thrush - 7
Lapwing - 16
Dunnock - 2
Herring Gull - 3 S
Lbb Gull - 5 S

Also c.700 Golden Plovers which were milling around, flying up and down the valley and a Raven over north-west.

Vismig from the Pinnacle

07:35 - 08:35
Fog, with the viewpoint in the top quarter. Blue sky and high cloud above. Still.

Birds were obviously going over us but relatively few were seen because of the fog. A frustrating morning!

Chaffinch - 99 NW
Meadow Pipit - 7 S
Goldfinch - 1 NE
Redwing - 8 W
Greenfinch - 7 W
Fieldfare - 35 (inc one party of 33) NW
Collared Dove - 2 E
Cormorant - 2 S
Golden Plover - 1 N
Song Thrush - 4 W
Reed Bunting - 4 NE
Lapwing - 26 W
Siskin - 2 S
Yellowhammer - 4 NW
Dunnock - 3 E
Brambling - 1 W
Duck sp. - 1 N
Redpoll - 1 S
Skylark - 1 E
Swallow - 1 S

Vismig from the Pinnacle

7:00-08:30
Wind: light, north-east
Cloud: 8/8 with a period of roughly 5/8 in the middle of the watch.

Possibly the strongest passage of Chaffinches we've had so far watching from the Pinnacle. One of the highlights was the Merlin which shot after the first three Redwings of the morning right over the Ivel valley!

Chaffinch - 169 S/W
Redwing - 90 W
Fieldfare - 17 W
Greenfinch - 15 NE
Meadow Pipit - 8 S
Siskin - 6 S/W
Redpoll - 1 S
Linnet - 4 S
Goldfinch - 2 (1 N, 1 S)
Alba Wagtail - 4 (3 N, 1 S)
Yellowhammer - 2 S
Reed Bunting - 4 NE
Song Thrush - 2 W
Starling - 2 S
Golden Plover - 50 N
Skylark - 4 E
Blackbird - 2 W
Cormorant - 5 (2 N, 3 S)
Merlin - 1 W

More on The Pinnacle

Here is a Google Maps interactive image of The Pinnacle at Sandy, Bedfordshire. There is a bench just about under the pointer where we stand and watch 'vismig'.


View Larger Map

Vismig on The Pinnacle

Spent a very enjoyable lunchtime on the Pinnacle today. Everything was flying west, unless otherwise stated:
Redwing - 637
Chaffinch - 74
Brambling - 3
Song Thrush - 1
Siskin - 1 NE
Meadow Pipit - 7
House Martin - 17 S

Below is the Metcheck jet stream chart for today. No wonder we got a rush of Redwings today!

The Pinnacle, Sandy

Here are two views from The Pinnacle (also called locally the Sand Hills) from where I look for visible migration, or vismig for short. I started last autumn and did a few days here and there, with two exceptional ones. On 2nd November 2006 we had around 8000 birds fly over us in around two hours. This included over 5000 Fieldfares and 2500 Redwings! Outstanding counts for Bedfordshire. The next day we saw around 2500 birds, which was still a fantastic mornings birding.

This autumn (2007) we are doing the same again, but hopefully spending a few more mornings 'on the hill'.

Looking north-west


Looking south-west