mr.sim
Honourable founding member of the "day late" gang
Looking back at my notebook the start of September 2009 was strong westerlies. Then we must have had some decent winds, as combined totals from a couple of seawatches produced 20+ Black Terns, 49 Great Skuas, c.30 Arctic Skuas, Balearic Shearwater etc. within the first two weeks. Winds obviously weren't favourable for passerine migrants, with only the odd Pied Flycatcher and Honey Buzzard being notable. The Ortolan Bunting at Cley was on 4th September though, anyone know what the weather was like for this? I remember there were numerous low pressure systems coming in off the atlantic, making favourable winds for Norfolk very scarce indeed.
Come October 2009, the winds still weren't great, but I noted that there were some South-Easterlies on 9th, which seemed to do the trick. I had quite a few Redwings miles inland here the very next day, and a trip to the local patch, Denver Sluice, revealed quite a lot of overhead passage, including Grey Wagtails, over 100 Redwings and a ringtail Hen Harrier.
By the end of the next week, so mid October, there were North-Easterly winds with a high pressure over Scandanavia. Notable birds included Paddyfield Warbler at Snettisham Coastal Park, and I saw Short-Toed Lark at West Runton, Yellow-Browed Warbler, Little Auk, Great-Northern Diver and 3 Pomarine Skuas at Holme all on 17th.
So it just goes to show that even if September is pretty poor, October can make up for it! Maybe this year the same will be true B
Come October 2009, the winds still weren't great, but I noted that there were some South-Easterlies on 9th, which seemed to do the trick. I had quite a few Redwings miles inland here the very next day, and a trip to the local patch, Denver Sluice, revealed quite a lot of overhead passage, including Grey Wagtails, over 100 Redwings and a ringtail Hen Harrier.
By the end of the next week, so mid October, there were North-Easterly winds with a high pressure over Scandanavia. Notable birds included Paddyfield Warbler at Snettisham Coastal Park, and I saw Short-Toed Lark at West Runton, Yellow-Browed Warbler, Little Auk, Great-Northern Diver and 3 Pomarine Skuas at Holme all on 17th.
So it just goes to show that even if September is pretty poor, October can make up for it! Maybe this year the same will be true B