My Blog - Jeff Clarke

Mistle Rush

{yoogallery src=[/images/stories/blog/mistlemigrant]}
In the past couple of weeks I've taken several opportunities to enjoy a few hours 'vis migging' at my favourite local migration hotspot of Hale Head, not very far from Liverpool Airport. As usual the migrant totals are being dominated by Wood Pigeons and currently the winter thrushes are piling through. A feature of this autumn has been the steady passage of the forgotten throstle in the shape of the garrulous Mistle Thrush. Each year small numbers pass through Hale Head, but this year there seemed to be a significantly more than usual. You can often be mislead by 'gut feelings' so I did a little research and low and behold at least 40% of UK migration watch sites on Trektellen have record numbers of Mistle Thrushes on passage this autumn. so it isn't just a local phenomena and I wasn't imagining it.

Trektellen is a site worth investigating if you are interested in the movement of regular migrants as opposed to rarity chasing.

I'll keep checking for those weather windows and hoping we get plenty more to enjoy this autumn. Just for the record, there is a marked increase in Coal Tit passage, and Lesser Redpolls are also being seen in higher than average numbers as well.