Lutley Wedge 28/08/12 (12°c) Sunny, clear skies clouding over later. Wind (SW) F1

1 Hobby 

6 Swift

16 House Martin

3 Swallow

2 Whitethroat

1 Blackcap

1 Chiffchaff

Hobby over urban airspace...Lutley Wedge 28/8/12

Lutley Wedge 27/08/12 (13°c) Grey overcast and breezy (light rain later am) Wind (SSE➝S) F2/3

"Tripits on the move in a big way!"

A change of wind direction to the SSE and heavily overcast skies this morning. Vis mig kicked in with (9) Tree Pipits flying over in 3 hours between 6.40am-9.40am (a new record day count at Lutley), also 2 Yellow Wagtail flew through SW.

9 Tree Pipit  (6➝S/SW) (1➝ESE) (2 in, then 1➝S and 1➝ESE)

2 flava Wagtail ➝SW

39 Swallow (9➝S/SW) (26➝W)

43 House Martin (27➝S/SE)

30 Swift (6➝SW) (20➝WSW)

"Incoming"

"Dropping out..."

Tree Pipit Lutley Wedge 27/8/12

The sweet sound of vis mig! Tree Pipit sonograms and sound recordings Lutley Wedge 27/8/12.....

 Tree Pipit Lutley Wedge 27/8/12 (flight call) by Lutley Birder 

 Tree Pipit Lutley Wedge 27/8/12 (flight call) by Lutley Birder 

Lutley Wedge 26/08/12 (11°c/19°c) Bright, broken high cloud. clouding over later a.m. Wind W F1/2

"The 'dead' centre"

Vis mig again deathly quiet, though very much the case of the 'one that got away' this morning as a very high and distant wader flew over WNW at 0725am, but just too high and far away to i.d!!  The first Redpoll of the autumn flew through along with 5 Cormorant. 

1 wader sp ➝WNW

1 Lesser Redpoll ➝WSW

5 Swift

26+ Swallow

11 House Martin

1 Chiffchaff

5 Cormorant ➝E

Lesser Redpoll 26/8/12

Lutley Wedge 24/08/12 (13°c/18°c) Grey, overcast with patchy low cloud and early mist. Wind (S) F1

Another quiet day with virtually no visible migration first thing, other than (1) Crossbill that flew over heading south at 10.10am. 

1 Crossbill ➝S

21 Swift

87 House Martin

c60 Swallow

6 Chiffchaff

2 Willow Warbler

1 Whitethroat

Lutley Wedge 23/08/12 (12°c/19°c) Bright, broken high cloud. Wind (SW) F2/3

"Where are the Wheatears!?"

Still very slow migration wise for late August, with only a single Tree Pipit over this morning.  

1 Tree Pipit (flew over at 10.40am)

20+ Swift

c28 House Martin (10➝S)

10 Swallow

1 Lesser Whitethroat

3 Whitethroat

2 Blackcap

1 Willow Warbler

3+ Chiffchaff

2 Raven➝WNW

1 Red Admiral

Swifts 23/8/12

(note the bulging throat pouch on the Swift in the lower photos, indicating that some Swifts are probably still feeding late broods, due to the cold and wet weather during the spring/summer) 

Lutley Wedge 21/08/12 (14°c/20°c) Cloudy, overcast (some early patchy low cloud) . (S/SW) breeze F1

A Crossbill flew south over Wassell Grove Pools at 10.33am, followed by a Tree Pipit  south at 10.45am. Another Tree Pipit dropped out into the horse paddock near Foxcote House farm briefly at 09.45am. There was an influx of c70 Swifts late morning, with most moving off to the S/SW.

1 Crossbill ➝S

2 Tree Pipit (1➝S) (1 in)

c70 Swift

c57 Swallow 

c70 House Martin 

5 Chiffchaff

1 Whitethroat

1 Blackcap

25 Lapwing➝SW

1 Herring Gull➝E

2 Raven➝W

100 Linnet

Tree Pipit 21/8/12

Swift and 'tail-less' House Martin 21/8/12 (Bizarrely two House Martins in the flock today had no tail feathers!)

Lutley Wedge 19/08/12 (16°c-24°c) Warm, cloudy. Wind calm/var (NE) F1

"A patch first and some quality vis mig!"

(9) Ringed Plover flew over heading high to the west at 10.28am (the first record at Lutley Wedge). A ♀ Crossbill flew south at 07.28am also (1) Spotted Flycatcher, (1) Tree Pipit and a Yellow Wagtail over. 

9 Ringed Plover ➝W

1 Crossbill ➝S

1 Spotted Flycatcher ➝W

1 Tree Pipit

1 flava Wagtail

4 Willow Warbler

5 Chiffchaff

2 Whitethroat

2 Blackcap

c54 Swallow

c50 House Martin

c7 Swift

50 Linnets

1 Red Admiral➝SW

♀ Crossbill 19/8/12

Spotted Flycatcher 19/8/12

My first ever vis mig Spot Fly had me scratching my head to begin with, as i picked it up coming in high from the east. Looking overall dark and long winged, but totally silent which quickly eliminated Tree Pipit, it had an unmistakeable undulating flight action and jizz similar to Wheatear. In the record photos you can just make out the pale edged secondaries forming a lighter panel on the folded wing, dark beady eye and overall greyish plumage tones and the indistinct pale-ish wing bar/line on the upperwing. A very instructive bird!

Willow Warbler 19/8/12

What is it with passage Willow Warblers and powerlines!?

Lutley Wedge 08/08/12

1 Willow Warbler
5 Chiffchaff
10 Whitethroat
4 Blackcap
23 Swallow
6+ House Martin
8+ Swift
(all sightings...SLC)

Lutley Wedge 03/08/12 (13°c) Patchy cloud, breezy (S) F2

The first Yellow Wagtail of the autumn flew over heading West at 08.40am, and a Lesser Whitethroat was typically skulking in the hedgerow at Foxcote Pond.

1 flava Wagtail ➝W

1 Lesser Whitethroat

4 Whitethroat

c130 Swift

17 Swallow

5 House Martin

1 Blackcap

2 Chiffchaff

3 Raven ➝E

Lesser Whitethroat 3/8/12