Sun 2 Oct – Calm conditions favour strong hirundine passage

After a week of often windy, wet and/or foggy days, a change in the weather on Sunday (just as most LFS members had returned home!) to sunny skies and virtually calm conditions brought a rush of hirundines heading south. Alan & Sandra Rowland saw at least 200 in the space of 15-20 minutes between Tibbetts and Gannets' Combe, then 242 in a timed 15-minute count at North End. Clearly there were likely to have been several thousand passing through during the day. Alan & Sandra picked out a few House Martins among the Swallows but they were greatly outnumbered, by an estimated ratio of 50:1. Also migrating south were good numbers of Red Admirals, whilst a Lapwing was seen and heard coming in to the North End. A Sparrowhawk skimmed the top of the bracken as it flew from one of the main track marker stones near Pondsbury.