Soil Hill

 This morning finally saw the first Fieldfares of the autumn arrive on Soil Hill. Despite the low cloud, fog and generally gloomy conditions, a few flocks of thrushes still passed through Soil Hill, along with a few Woodpigeons and a variety of finches. 

• The highlight of the morning by far was two Hawfinch that flew southwest at 07:25. Sadly they were too quick for me to get any photos. A written description is provided below

At 07:25 I recognised a distinctive call, similar to Redwing but sharper and shorter. The source of the call was helpfully not far away, being two short-bodied finches with an undulating flight not too dissimilar from Starling. I got on the birds quickly through the bins, and saw the distinctive wing-bar confirming that the birds were Hawfinches. Sadly, they were already level with me and quickly moving away. I grabbed for the camera but was not quick enough, only able to watch them fly away from me heading southwest.

• In total I had 226 Redwing go southwest, with 45 northeast and 200 Fieldfare southwest with another 17 northeast. Birds were clearly disorientated by the fog, with other flocks heard within the cloud but not low enough to be counted. 

• There were also a few Woodpigeons moving, with 312 southwest and 96 northeast, but the problems were similar to the thrushes in that the conditions made it difficult to properly gauge ongoing movement. 

• A few finches were on the move, including 23 Chaffinch, a single Brambling and Lesser Redpoll, with nine south and seven north. 

• Finally a Merlin flew south

-Fieldfare

-Redwing

In total managed 45 species today, the full list here; https://ebird.org/checklist/S200772902

Trektellen count here; https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/767/20241030