We had an interesting insight into what happens at night, post a cold weather event. The answer is…absolutely nothing! 

We had our sound recording gear set up the night after the snow hit and although species such as Redwing, Fieldfare, Skylark, Golden Plover and Lapwing were present in abundance in surrounding areas during the day, during the night just 2 Redwing, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Coot were logged all night. It sounds obvious but it seems birds reacting to cold/extreme weather only do so immediately before or during the weather event its self regardless if its day or night. And although these species normally migrate at night, they seem to stay put during the nights directly following the cold/extreme weather event to retain and conserve valuable energy levels. If there’s no need to move during the night any more…why would they? This was highlighted the night the snow hit when Portland logged 24 flocks of Golden Plover moving over the bill in the darkness along with plenty of thrush too. We’ll continue to put out our gear when we can over the following days to see if there is a ‘return’ night migration of species that escaped the cold weather but were now ambling their way back to original wintering sites. Or, will they make their way back to these sites during the day when foraging? 

At Nutcrack Lane 8 Cattle Egret returned and the fields were littered with Fieldfare, Redwing and Lapwing. A drake Goosander flew up the Wareham Channel and a single Golden Plover flew over Swineham. On Swineham GP there were 6 Pochard and a pair of Egyptian Geese. Off Middle Beach there were 2 Goldeneye and 2 Black-necked Grebe.