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Passage


It’s a mild and surprisingly humid morning, with insufficient chill in the air to force birds to seek warmth from the sun and show themselves openly. But there are plenty of them in the hedgerows beside the river.

 This morning at least six Blackcaps skulk among the sloes and blackberries in two bushes alone. They occasionally sally forth for insects from the top of bushes or fly between them as they move steadily south, but mostly they are evident only from their grumbling calls.

 Over the past two weeks they have taken over from Whitethroats as the commonest migrants in the riverside hedgerows, although some of the latter are still around. So too are a few Lesser Whitethroats, the cap of one this morning an improbable powder-blue when caught by the sun. The plumage of the Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers is far less striking, only the calls differentiating those birds not observed closely.

 Meanwhile Reed Warblers continue to flit actively in the hedges and riverside vegetation, some local breeders maybe hanging on among the migrants. But Sedge Warbler numbers, which surged a week or so ago, have slumped as the migratory kaleidoscope changes yet again.

 It is hard to say how long most of the birds stay for. They are certainly feeding here, but whether for minutes or weeks is not clear even for the more showy species. Are the four Whinchats and single Redstart perched on the same fence and bushes as on the previous day the same birds, or different ones attracted by the good feeding there? It is probable they are, but not certain. The Goldfinches haunting the same thistle-rich field by a bend in the river have certainly been there for a while, but their numbers constantly change.

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