heading back

Spent quite a few hours this week logging birds flying through the Waterstone oil siteon the north shore of the Haven, and there have been lots of Redwings and Fieldfares on the move. The biggest numbers were on Thursday when 450 Redwings and 80 Fieldfares past through but surprisingly (to me) they were all heading east into the weather. 30 or 40 Skylarks were all heading the same way. Had a good look for the Gyr but the only Raptors around were Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk.

A few weeks ago I posted sad news of the demise of a flock of Long-tailed Tits that had been visiting the garden on a daily basis, but a couple of weeks ago there were 11 back at one of the feeders one afternoon at least seven of which were ringed implying they were the same individuals that had died of cold! I was delighted to be proven wrong.