Migrants and winter flocks

In France I saw crag martins which will be migrating further south soon, but were still there feeding under the cliffs over the River Allier. They are resident all year just over the border in Spain

Today I saw a large flock of meadow pipits. Do these gather for the winter to go around in a crowd like tits and finches? (Also saw a large flock of long tailed tits - got to be among my favourites!!)

Has anyone else seen interesting migrants or other birdie gatherings?

This is one of the places I saw crag martins

yep, I've seen and heard (at night) Redwings. There are 1000s of Brent Geese on Strangford Lough Co Down which I saw very close last Saturday. Large flocks of Tits - oh er missus - have been around recently including my front garden. Yes Pipits gather in the winter to feed mainly on stubble fields along with Sky Larks. Their stomachs are able to adapt in the winter to eat grain instead of insects.

I've had a flock of long tailed tits in my garden for ages,do they stay over winter?
We've had loads of geese flying over day and night recently, honking as they go,
Bird life in my garden seems to be a bit thinner on the grond this year for some reason,the usual sparrows,blue ,great, and coal tits,blackbirds,thrushes,pigeons and doves.Not seen any starlings lately, must have gone .

Yes, long tailed tits stay with us for the winter sue, which is great. They often team up with other tit spp in the wintertime, and other birds like gold crests.

Starlings too congregate to feed and roost, so they're just doing it somewhere else - not your garden

Long Tailed tits are very common in Bolton and on my allotment they are easily the commonest tit.

Many years ago I saw an incredible sight. In sheffield they were building the Stocksbridge bypass and to dig part of it they had dug up a farmers field. However, a small part of it had been left. In it had grown corn that had long since been cut but plenty of fallen corn remained. It was snowing heavily when we pulled up in the car. The sight from the car was something to behold!! Everywhere we looked where birds. Huge numbers of finches including Bramblings and linnets, Yellow hammers, tits, Treesparrows, thrushes including redwings. Even bigger birds such as Partridges and pheasants. All squahed in together. It was a sight I will never forget.

That must have been a sight psilo! Yes, that sort of experience stays for ever :)

It does Philomel, I also remember it because it was my 18th birthday :)) It was snowing heavily and it seemed like all the birds for miles around had gathered into this little 50 yard strip.

Memories like that are rare. My only wish was that I had had a decent camera with me at the time!! :S

Still, you'd have had to have a very good one for the detail in that scene, and probably would have lost a lot of enjoyment while you faffed around taking the shot. Better to have that one tucked away in the grey matter :)