More vis mig

Fresh north-easterlies, low cloud and light but freezing rain at Staines Moor this morning. Birds moving overhead: 2 Golden Plover high north at 9 am, 9 Common Snipe N in a single flock, 1 Barn Swallow S, 7 Wigeon (4NW, 3W), 3 Grey Wagtail (1W, 2E), 8 alba wagtail (inc. 3 over Stanwell Moor), c100 Fieldfare (mainly S, also some feeding on hawthorn berries), c60 Redwing (inc. 25 at Stanwell Moor), 11 Skylark (3N, 8E), 5 redpoll sp. S, 5 Meadow Pipit (1E, 4N) and c50 Wood Pigeon S.

Birds on the ground included 5 Stonechat (3m, 2f), 2 Common Snipe, 1 Goldcrest, 40+ Linnet and small numbers of Skylark and Meadow Pipit. 7 Mute Swan on the Colne is a high site count. c150 Wood Pigeon and 1+ Sparrowhawk were also noted, as well as 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Chiffchaff (H) and 1f Pheasant at Stanwell Moor.

Female Stonechat. Stonechats are pretty scarce passage migrants and
occasional winter visitors at the moor.

Male Stonechat. Six birds were reported yesterday.

It's a real shame that the weedy field in the south-western corner of Stanwell Moor has been cut. This was bringing in a lot of birds and would have been a good food source for the winter. I can't see why this field has been cut at this particular time? If businesses considered wildlife more, for example, by delaying cutting until the end of winter, they could make a big difference at little, if any, expense to the company. Things like this are so frustrating.