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Signs of migration on the east coast

Ricky and I were keen to get in on the early October action so headed to to Caister Saturday morning, hopeful of some vis-mig and perhaps something rare too.
We began at Caister golf course after a quick look for the Rose-coloured Starling (I caught up with this bird last weekend, and since Ricky already has it on his list we decided against a thorough search). 100+ Meadow Pipits were moving through, many coming to rest on the course. This bode well. Overhead, we had 7 Redwing and a single Fieldfare. 3 Stonechat were showing well, perhaps local migrants or looking at the habitat, residents.
We extended our search to the northern side of the town, scanning the beach for any early Snow Buntings. No sign of these delightful winter visitors, but we did pick up 2 striking Wheatear. Probing the shoreline was a single Knot.Walking the heathland north, one berry bush was home to 6 Blackcap (5 females interestingly) and a single Whitethroat. 4 Brent Geese flew south for the winter, navigating around the wind farms. Red-throated Divers were in evidence on the sea.
Onto Hemsby, and bar a Goldcrest, Redwing and 2 Chiffchaff the migrant action was minimal in the scrub. Ricky picked up a distant skein of Pink-feet, must have been at least 100 in there.
Winterton was pretty quiet, although we did see 2 Small Copper and a number of dark, hairy caterpillars. Ricky has some photos which I am hoping he will stick on his blog so someone can ID them.
At this point Ricky headed home and I decided to go home via Waxham. Again, very quiet here and only a smattering of common birds were seen. 2 birders seen all day- is it really October?!

Comments

  1. Adam Pointer6 October 2013 at 10:59

    Hi Jim, if the the caterpillars where black with an orange line along the top I saw loads at Winterton on Tuesday and i think they are Fox Moth Caterpillars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jim7 October 2013 at 11:54

    Spot on Adam, thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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