Tag Archives: autumn bird migration

A skulking Sedge warbler

07 Monday Sep 2026

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The first of September, which shall forever more be known by me as ‘The Day of the 10 Spotted flycatchers‘, also produced another lovely bird sighting, this one completely unexpected and almost missed. I was buzzing from just having seen the first two Spot flies of the day when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement in the trees edging a local brook. I was tempted to ignore it but some instinct told me to look more closely, so I stood still, watching and waiting for leaves to move, a shape to appear.

I was on the point of giving up and moving on, when it happened again, only this time I caught a glimpse of something brown and a bit stripey. Be patient, I told myself. In the space of perhaps 15 minutes, as the bird moved along the tree line, I caught several more tantalizing glimpses, before it finally emerged a little further. And then I knew it, a Sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), a bird that breeds in Britain but spends our winter in sub-Saharan Africa. It took another 10 minutes before this handsome warbler emerged far enough for a reasonable photo and then flew further along the field. I wished it well on its long journey (yes, I do often talk to the wildlife I see), and carried on, smiling even more broadly than before.

Spotted flycatchers in the garden

02 Wednesday Sep 2026

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It happened in August 2025, and again in May this year so, whenever I’ve been home lately, I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the garden. And last Sunday, 30 August, it happened again, not one but two hungry Spotted flycatchers feeding very actively along the woodland edge. They were entrancing to watch.

I took these photos from my living room and bedroom windows as there’s no real cover in the garden and I didn’t want to disturb their fly-catching – they needed the food for their migration journey more than I needed closer photos. And, after grabbing a few images, I put the camera down and just enjoyed their aerial prowess until the growing dusk made viewing difficult and the birds disappeared to roost a while in the vegetation, before they flew onwards during the dark of the night.

A very pale buzzard

31 Monday Aug 2026

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After my visit to Lavernock Nature Reserve last Wednesday, I walked the coastal path that runs along the cliff tops to the seaside town of Penarth. I was mostly looking down and around at eye level but noisy gulls and corvids encouraged me to look skywards, where five buzzards were gliding northwards along the coast. There followed a brief heart-thumping couple of minutes when I spotted this very pale buzzard among them, until I realised it was just a very pale Common buzzard. In case, that last sentence doesn’t make much sense to you, let me explain; this is the time of year when Honey buzzards, rare birds of prey that I’ve not yet seen, are migrating, so it’s always worth taking a thorough look at pale buzzards, just in case.

Juvenile Black tern

27 Thursday Aug 2026

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It was first spotted on Monday morning, 24 August, and, fortunately, remained for at least a couple of days (I haven’t heard whether the bird is still there today), long enough for me to catch the train to north Cardiff’s Llanishen Reservoir Tuesday morning for a look.

The bird? A stunning little juvenile Black tern (Chlidonias niger), a bird that only rarely breeds in the UK and so is mostly seen during Spring and Autumn passage. In the 11 years I’ve lived here, we’ve been lucky to have these terns stop off in the Cardiff area at least twice before, at Lamby Lake in September 2022, and at this same reservoir in late September 2024.

Black terns are small; the RSPB website gives their length as 22 – 24cm and their wingspan as 64 – 68cm. I’ve included a couple of photos so you can see this bird’s size relative to the Carrion crow that harassed it as it was feeding over the water, and to a Black-headed gull, as the tern sat preening on the muddy edge of the reservoir (the mud exposed due to a lack of water, caused by this summer’s drought).

My camera was not good enough to capture clear, close photos of the Black tern in flight – a mesmerising sight! – as the camera has neither the zoom range nor the sophisticated focussing software of more expensive models. Fortunately, this Black tern was alternating its time between 15 minutes flying, plucking miniscule invertebrates from the surface of the water, and 10 minutes sitting on the mud right in front of the visitor centre, so I was able to get good views of the bird preening, and took a little video clip, which I’ve loaded on YouTube. Enjoy!

Chiffchaff vs caterpillar

01 Saturday Aug 2026

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It seems mad to be writing this during the continuing heat of this hottest of summers but, for our feathered friends, autumn migration has begun.

You may have noticed fewer Swifts screaming through our skies, Swallows amassing on high wires, and, though many now remain to over-winter, fewer Chiffchaffs chiffchaffing from the trees where they were born and raised.

This particular Chiffchaff was one of several in the local coastal fields, feeding up before setting off on the next leg of its flight south.

It was searching this way and that, trying to find nutritious snacks, only to find its next snack was dangling, quite well hidden, above its head. The caterpillar didn’t give up easily but, after some strong tugs, the Chiffchaff won the day.

The return of the Woodpigeons

20 Thursday Nov 2025

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This time is 7.35am Monday morning, and the sun has just risen above the Mendip Hills, on the north Somerset coast.

And the Woodpigeons have begun moving northwards again, along the south Wales coast, reversing the journey they made a week or so ago. Their flocks – at least, the ones I can see – are smaller, in the tens and hundreds, not the massive flocks of several thousand birds I saw moving south.

Did they get to Land’s End and think ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me?’ Do the young birds tag along for the British section of the flight as a learning exercise? Are Woodpigeons like sheep that just mindlessly follow a leader? Do they get caught up in the fun, the exhilaration, the sense of adventure but then realise their limitations when they meet the challenge of a sea crossing? Do they somehow realise the grass, and the berries, are not greener on the other side?

Just as with their migration south, so with the move of smaller numbers back north, no one knows why they do it; why some carry on with their migration while others return back the way they came, and whether they return to where their journey originated or whether they stop off to overwinter somewhere different along the way. Woodpigeons are much more mysterious than you might think!

Five in one day

20 Wednesday Aug 2025

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We may still be complaining about – or enjoying, if you like the hot temperatures – this summer’s heatwaves but, for our local birds, autumn migration is already well underway. I haven’t seen a Swift for a couple of weeks, most of the Sand martins have already left, and a lot of the local House martin nests are empty now too.

The birds that nest further north of my locale have also begun to head south; last Monday, 11 August, I saw my first Redstart of the season and my first Spotted flycatcher. And, amazingly, my new garden held a Spotted flycatcher the following day; I had the joy of watching it from my flat window for at least a couple of hours as it was flitting out and back from the trees and shrubs.

My best day of watching the migration in action so far this season was last Friday, the 15th, when I saw not one, not two, but a terrific total of five Spotted flycatchers during my walk around the paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. This is a magical time of year for those of us who love birds, as you neither know which species, nor how many birds, you might see, so there’s always a sense of expectation and excitement every time you go for a walk. I hope all of you get to experience these magical migration moments as well.

A rare visitor to Cardiff Bay

17 Thursday Nov 2022

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Monday’s walk around part of Cardiff Bay was special. When I reached the eastern side of the Barrage, I noticed an unusual bird with a flock of the 20-plus Canada geese that were cruising close to shore. I wasn’t sure what it was but a quick photo post to the local WhatsApp group produced three rapid responses: ‘It’s a Brent goose, Annie!’

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I probably should have known that but I’ve only seen these geese a few times before and then only at a distance. It’s a rare occurrence for one to drop in to the Bay. There are four races of Brent goose (Branta bernicla) (if you’re interested, there’s a good article, with photos, on the Bird Guides website); this bird was one of the dark-bellied sub species that breed in the Russian Arctic. Good numbers of these birds over-winter on the Exe estuary in southern England, so it’s possible that this bird was heading in that direction.

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Perhaps it got a little lost en route, though I suspect it was simply hungry. It repeatedly came out of the water and up on to the grass to feed – I say repeatedly because dog owners often let their mutts run loose in that area and the Brent, and the Canada geese that followed its lead, kept getting chased, causing them to fly back to the safety of the water. The geese persevered though and, from reports I heard from other birders who came to see this local rarity, I know that it was still in the area in the late afternoon. Our Brent visitor disappeared overnight, hopefully with its energy restored for the flight south to find its kin.

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Migrating Reed warbler

11 Saturday Sep 2021

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As is often the case with this little brown bird, I heard it before I saw it, not the song but the short nasal ‘churring’ call these warblers make to keep in touch with each other deep within the reed beds.

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Luckily for me, as this particularly Reed warbler foraged its way along the brook, I could follow its movement by the bending and shaking of reed stems, and when it occasionally ventured out to the edge of the reeds, I was able to grab some images.

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Small though it is – around 13cm in length, the Reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) migrates from Britain to over-winter in sub-Saharan Africa, so this little bird has quite the journey ahead of it.

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280/366 Yellow-browed warbler

06 Tuesday Oct 2020

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Yesterday was brilliant! Not only did I manage a walk without getting wet, but I also saw my first-ever Yellow-browed warbler.

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I didn’t discover the bird – local birder extraordinaire Graham did that and put the word out on Twitter. The bird had been seen about half way along the coastal path between Penarth and Lavernock, so I kept a keen eye out as I walked in case the warbler had wandered further along the path. The hedgerows were alive with birds but it wasn’t until I got close to the original location that two other local birders alerted me to the bird’s presence.

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The Yellow-browed warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) is a ‘scarce autumn passage migrant’ (Eastern Glamorgan Bird Report no.57) in south Wales. Most years there are just a handful of sightings, though that can vary dramatically – in 2016, there were 26 sightings reported, which earned the adjective ‘extraordinary’ from the bird report writer (Eastern Glamorgan Bird Report no.55).

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This is a small warbler, smaller than a Chiffchaff, and a very active feeder, so it can be tricky to spot in dense foliage, but I knew to look for its ‘yellow brow’, the thick stripe above its eye, and the two stripes on its wings, the top one quite short, the lower longer. It also has a distinctive call that is crisper than that of a Chiffchaff or Willow warbler, and similar to a Coal tit.

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I watched the bird – or perhaps I should say I stared at the bushes where the bird was – for about 45 minutes. Its intermittent calling helped find this little leaf flitter when it vanished for short periods, though I found it easiest to just watch for movement. It mostly seemed content to stay within a small area, a temporary feeding territory my bird guide calls it, and it was certainly defending that territory, aggressively chasing away a Chiffchaff that flew in. Eventually, I could see rain clouds on the horizon and judged it prudent to head homewards, but what a fabulous encounter I had enjoyed with my first Yellow-browed warbler!