After the big blow on Tues/Weds night, loads of passerines swept through the area yesterday on a broad front.
Best of all was two shorelarks with a snow bunting on Crosby beach _ probably checking out Anthony Gormley's statues _ an early taste of winter, wouldn't it be great if the birds stuck around on the Sefton coast for the winter?
Any shorelark warms up a December day, but local ones give me the warmest feeling of all...
Listening to Birdline North West (09068 700 249, but ask a grown-up first) this morning Martin Mere did well too, with Hawfinch and Crossbill calling overhead in the stream of migrants _ both new birds for the reserve, just a shame they were only fly-overs.
More winter thrushes and finches are coming through now, but contrarily Andy Jennings e-mailed from Wirral with news of what appeared to be overshooting Redwing and Fieldfare heading back north east.
On Wednesday at Parkgate Andy had female Stonechat, 15 Little Egrets, 30 Redwings and 50 Fieldfares (or "snotbirds" as our Finnish friends are want to call them, because the bird's hacking rattling call reminds them of....no, let's not go there at this time in the morning).
Andy explains that 20 of the Redwing and 30 of the Fieldfares were heading back to the north east, like a smaller version of the massive movement of redwings this time last year when tens of thousands of birds swept into Wales on a clear October night, only to double back north and move through the north west in record breaking numbers.
What will today bring _ are there any crossbills feeding in the pines at Freshfield's Squirrel Reserve car park at the end of Victoria Road I wonder????
Eyes to the skies everyone, eyes to the skies.
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