For those of you in the dark on this one you can not beat a good bit of viz migging in the autumn! But what is it I hear you ask?
Short for Visible Migration, it accounts for those days when birds are on the move in the right conditions and can be seen in daylight often in unexpected numbers.
You will all have read about the movement of Jays this autumn with RSPB and other birding organisations sending out press releases about the influx of this beautiful bird into the country in search of our own very poor crop of acorns. Not every bird will be a foreigner and our local birds are also banding together in raucous gangs in the search for food.
Jays (Basil Thornton)
However, on a calm autumn morning like today with fairly high cloud and a light easterly wind I was expecting things to be on the move and between 0745 and 0845 I was not disappointed in s short walk along the river wall.
Much of what I saw or heard was flying purposefully over or even (in the case of the pigeons) flying round and round in circles as they tried to orientate themselves. Finches, pipits, larks and thrushes were all on the move and the counts were quite good for just an hour while the 13 Chiffchaff and 6 Goldcrest were all in the riverside bushes. Who knows what we shall find tomorrow on the Wednesday Walk?
Howard Vaughan, Information Officer