Autumn on the West Wales coast..

With the large number of Firecrest being reported in the UK this autumn it wasn't a total surprise to catch one today on the Teifi Marsh.

Not quite the 7 ringed on Skokholm or 100 in Cornwall this autumn!

Rather more of a surprise was a Brambling caught in the garden, only the 17th in regular ringing there since 2008. All of those were in spring 2013.

Since ringing this bird earlier in the week there have been big movements of Finches. With over 10,000 mixed Finches logged on Bardsey yesterday more Brambling are likely to turn up in the county than in recent autumns.
Also in the garden many more Coal Tits, Goldcrests and Goldfinches than usual for Late October/November.

A target species on the reserve and fields at home at this time of year is Redwing.

Many are being reported flying over at night at the moment. See Stephen Culley's post on the We Bird North Wales blog for a nice description of night migration.
This interesting blog about Icelandic Redwing by Martin Garner is worth a read. We shall be looking out for birds with features of the race coburni discussed in it.