This lovely area is one of our district's very best autumn birding spots, with visible migration of finches, wagtails, thrushes, pipits and larks often a morning feature. Scarcities in the fields and bushes here have included Lapland Bunting, Yellow-browed Warblers and Siberian Chiffchaffs in recent Octobers. Most of these migrants are weather-dependent (!) but whatever

Monday 25th October Waders on the move. Disappearing Redshank, an aging Curlew population producing too few chicks, colour-ringed Sanderling that connect Greenland to Namibia, disturbed Turnstones and a booming Black-tailed Godwit population. Where do our waders come from and why are we seeing so many changes to numbers in northwest England? Graham Appleton writes the