Woodpigeons started moving at dawn and were still moving when I left at 1015. Counting them was quite overwhelming. My minimum of 17000 I'm pretty sure is some way short. One of the problems of counting from the clifftop is you miss birds moving further inland. All species seem to pass on a broad front over Orcombe, so my totals won't reflect the true scale of what passes over.
My best efforts - 615+ Chaffinches (with 130+ finch sp likely to be largely this species), 175+ Goldfinches, 10+ Siskins, 17000+ Woodpigeons, 1 Golden Plover, 2 Bramblings, 1 Reed Bunting, 4 Cirl Buntings (2 west, 2 grounded), 2 Short-eared Owls, 1 Redwing, c40 Meadow Pipits, c10 Pied Wagtails, 2 Snipe, 1+ Bullfinch, c50 Starlings, 2+ Stonechats, 6 Goldcrests, 8 Long-tailed Tits, 1 Coal Tit, 5 Blackbirds, 7 Chiffchaffs, 17 Stock Doves, c30+ Skylarks, c30/40+ Linnets and c30 Black-headed Gulls.
Woodpigeons - at times way too hard to count - big flocks suddenly appearing over the cliff-top and passing out over the sea. As I was trying to get my head around the above flock more birds came streaming over...
This Short-eared Owl spent the entire morning sitting on this post. Another flipped over the same hedge and disappeared. It's tempting to think this is two 'new' birds as there was no sign of either yesterday. It's probably a bit more prudent however to assume they're the same birds that I saw a couple days ago. Who knows?
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