Watched a fascinating sight last night around 7pm, something I've never seen before.
Wifey and I had gone outside into the garden with a cup of tea in order to just sit and watch the Sun set over the hills to the west on a beautiful cloud free evening when we saw a small group of House Martins appear from the west over Exmoor, perhaps 20 or so, sweeping over several hundred feet up and heading and disappearing approximately East'ish.
But within less than a minute, another group appeared, then another, until it became an almost constant stream of hundreds of them, perhaps thousands all told, in small groups following each other, and this spectacle went on for a good 25 minutes as the Sun set until it became difficult to see them against the darkening sky.
Obviously they are doing their migration, though the Easterly direction was initially surprising.
Since our local ones went around a week ago doing their usual collecting on a wire before disappearing, I'm wondering if these had perhaps just come over from Ireland crossing over the western approaches to the UK in Devon, and are then working their way slightly east over the UK to a narrower part of the channel to then cross over into mainland Europe and head south to warmer climes in Africa for the winter.
