17th October

Quite a ripper of a day with the migration tap well and truly opening as birds streamed through into a brisk and - for the first time this autumn - really chilly headwind; not that any of this made for particularly easy birding, with a lot of overhead passage taking place at considerable height and a lot of the groundings being brief at best, with several of the day's more consequential reports still requiring scrutiny of photographs or sound recordings and remaining to be fully resolved. Rather few of the day's migrants actually dropped in in a traditional 'fall' manner, with most moving through very rapidly; conservative totals from the Bill included 10860 Wood Pigeons, 800 Jackdaws, 200 each of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, 190 Chaffinches, 180 Meadow Pipits and 100 alba wagtails, with 23 Redwings, 20 Siskins, 17 Bramblings, 10 Woodlarks, 5 Lapwings, 4 Golden Plovers and 2 Greylag Geese amongst the very varied list of tag-alongs, whilst odds and ends including 47 Redwings, 7 Fieldfares and singles of Cattle Egret and Corn Bunting popped up elsewhere. Amongst the grounded arrivals oddities included 5 Dartford Warblers, yet another Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Black Redstart and a late Reed Warbler at the Bill, another Black Redstart at Southwell and a Ring Ouzel at Thumb Lane. The offshore wind was no help for the seawatchers but singles of Pochard and Little Gull were of note off the Bill.

There was so much going on today and nowhere near enough time to stop and photograph it all © Joe Stockwell and Martin Cade: