With a cool, brisk northwesterly and clear skies replacing the quiet and heavily overcast conditions of the last couple of days a veritable torrent of visible passage got going over a broad front as soon as dawn broke today. Many hundreds of Meadow Pipits were logged over each watchpoint at the Bill, with c2000 looking like a fair estimate for the number of departures there; approaching the same sort of number were grounded around the fields later in the morning. Pied Wagtails and Siskins were the other conspicuous movers, with 430 and 360 respectively through over the Bill; nothing else approached these sort of totals but 155 Linnets and 23 Skylarks were worth a mention. Sadly, Meadow Pipits aside, this volume of passage wasn't on offer on the ground where the bushes were relatively quiet and the scatter of 40 Wheatears represented the highest 'on the deck' tally at the Bill; odds and ends worth a mention included a Cattle Egret at Wakeham and 2 Grasshopper Warblers and Firecrest at the Bill.
After my misidentification of a Cattle Egret in flight, I at least managed to confirm it wasn't a Great White Egret when I videoed the Cattle Egret it in the Lower Horse paddock. The greyish legs threw me when it was in flight, a juvenile maybe!! pic.twitter.com/74Iwhaw1pw
— Port and Wey (@PortandWey) October 3, 2023
