Weatherwatch: vagrants wing their way into Britain as season changes

Late autumn heralds the arrival of rare migrants – birds from the Americas borne in by the westerlies and birds from Siberia deflected on to long-haul flights

Stephen Moss
@stephenmoss_tv
Tuesday 10 October 2017 16.30 EDT

For Britain’s twitchers, those hard-core birders whose sole aim is to track down and see rare birds that have wandered to our shores, October is the highlight of the annual calendar. Towards the end of the autumn migration season, when most common birds have already departed and only the last few stragglers from farther north are passing through, a new group of birds begins to appear.

These birds are the vagrants, those rare and irregular species that make up more than half the birds on the official British List.

The reason we have so many rare birds is down to three factors: history, geography and weather. Historically, the British have always gone in search of rare birds, pioneering studies at far-flung locations, such as Fair Isle, over a century ago, so that rare visitors were identified and recorded. Geographically we are at a crossroads, on the edge of the vast Eurasian landmass, uniquely placed to attract avian wanderers from both east and west.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/10/weatherwatch-vagrants-wing-their-way-into-britain-as-season-changes