Swifts

A dull oppressive day with overcast skies no wind and 14º.

A couple of hours around Lollingdon hill this afternoon on a very dull day. A few small flocks of Swift feeding over the hill and around 16:00 I noticed a few Swift at a higher altitude. On looking through binoculars I could see quite a few more higher, most could not be seen with the naked eye, in fact I counted 250+ all swirling around and gradually drifting west. Roughly and hour later we were on the north side of the hill and I noticed some more Swift passing over, around 100+ and this time 50+ House Martin were feeding alongside them. This flock eventually drifted off to the north east.

Well over 300 Swift seen today, is this still migration going on or weather related movement................or both?

Other species noted were: 6 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap, 6 Common Whitethroat, 9 Corn Bunting, 5 Yellowhammer, 14 Linnet, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Buzzard, 3 Red Kite and a few corvid species.