October brings the fieldfares. The first flocks of these handsome northern thrushes are arriving along the east coast from Scandinavia. At home, they feasted on rowan berries, which are running out. They land here after 15 or 20 hours of continuous flight. If they are lucky, they find the scrubby sea-buckthorn growing along the sand dunes, and they gobble its orange berries.
More and more will pour in through October and November, and will spread west until they are in most of the British Isles. At their peak, there will be almost three-quarters of a million fieldfares here. Occasionally, one