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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kb57" data-source="post: 3647109" data-attributes="member: 133932">I saw a spring migrant pied flycatcher in Hyde Park last year, and was informed this is a far from unusual occurrence.  Just out of interest, I measured distances on Google Earth from my flycatcher site to the Dartford crossing (30km), nearest point on south coast (Brighton, 76km) and nearest headland sticking out into North Sea (Foulness, 79km).Migration most likely happens on a broader front than records suggest, as it is certainly true that birders tend to concentrate on the coast, leading to the aforementioned confirmation bias.  Clearly there are exceptions, and the large concentrations of goldcrests, redwings and blackbirds you get in autumn in places like Holy Island appear to be there because they needed to urgently land and feed after a long sea crossing. The point made previously about suitability of surrounding habitat is a good one too though - urban parks will clearly concentrate migrants  - Central Park NY is a good example too (although with the advantage of being truly coastal).  There's not a lot of woodland in North Northumberland, so the nearest decent woodland to the coast could prove interesting?  I remember in my youth hearing about the ambitiously named 'World Bird Research Station' in Glanton (near Powburn, Northumberland) - not sure if they ever aimed to ring migrants there, it might have been more about breeding ducks, but they were 20km from the coast - did they contribute any records to the County bird list?</blockquote>

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