UFOs

Sunday 24th October 2010

LGRE has suggested 'a premature end to Autumn ?' and perhaps a few stalwarts visiting the Scilly Isles this week might agree with him if the NW winds persist.
Ok, maybe not the headline birds to go shooting off to the East coast for and maybe wader passage is petering out and local reservoirs are quiet BUT there's still plenty of bird movement and plenty to see. I woke this morning to see a strange shape pass by the window. No it wasn't a flash back of JA in his under garments on some dawn mission in the Shetland Isles. This shape moved with everchanging grace across the skyline. It was a flock of birds, well over a hundred or so but far too distant to identify. They held a distinctive broad cresent shape, similar to flocks of waders over the shoreline. My guess would be Golden plover, I dont think Starlings would hold such a well defined shape for so long.

Did I say 'plenty to see' ? - I did a local walk around Merevale/Grendon area. It was a beautiful day and, according to the pager the cloudless skies should have been full of birds. Waxwings dripping from every bush, Rough legged Buzzards drifting by. Yeah, yeah, I didn't even see any Redwings or Fieldfares in the bushes, and the stubble fields were empty; except for the large number of game birds wandering from one feeder to the next. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.