They're Back (For Me Anyway)

I stepped outside the back door this morning and straight away I could hear the thin 'tseep' calls of Redwings and they were loud so they must have been low. Even though the sky was starting to lighten I couldn't see them and all I could do was count the calls/minute which at this time were 8 per minute.

When I got to my office at Myerscough College I decided to have a walk round to see if I could see or hear them going over here but there was nothing at all. Interestingly, Phil who lives 5 km northeast of me had over 250 head northeast over his house from 07:30 onwards, indicating that perhaps the passage was very local. I suspect birds were re-orientating themselves as dawn broke.

Interestingly on 12th October 1985 I was birding at Holme in northwest Norfolk and the weather was virtually identical to today with clear skies and no wind, and I had 75 Redwings there. The sea was also quite good with a Little Tern and 4 Arctic Skuas moving through. However, the best bird of the morning was a juvenile Red-backed Shrike perched in some sea buckthorn in the dunes. Later in the morning I was at Titchwell watching Water Rail and 17 Bearded Tits.