Sunday 15 September- Brean Down

It was a pity that only three of us turned up to join leader Andrew Slade from Burnham who was kind enough to lead this Club trip, but perhaps the rising south-westerly winds were discouraging. There were plenty of signs of migration that morning, if nothing particularly unexpected. Swallows, with a handful of martins, passed south constantly in small groups, well over 100 in total, and several species of warbler had joined the tit flocks in more sheltered areas. We started well with a Peregrine overflying the car park and we saw it again later, jousting with a couple of Ravens. With the tide low and turning, we counted 122 Shelducks on Weston beach, and Andy picked out a couple of Wigeon amongst several dozen Teal. He also found a lone Black-tailed Godwit with a handful of Curlews; that was it for the waders. The pickings were very sparse as we wandered down the sheltered side of the promontory, but towards the end we found some mixed flocks with several Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and a couple of Willow Warblers. One group also seemed to include a young Spotted Flycatcher which was a pleasant surprise. In total we had around 30 species during an enjoyable walk, and the rain held off until we were back in the car park.