Can you help me with information on birds' springtime migration patterns to and from the UK?

You are asking for a lot of information here. A brief (and very general) summary follows;

Winter visitors (including wild swans, geese and ducks, some raptors, many waders, some gulls and thrushes like Fieldfare and Redwing) typically come from Scandinavia and further east across the northern regions of what used to be the USSR. A few species - eg. Great Northern Divers and some geese and swans come to Britain from Iceland and Greenland. Many resident species also increase in number during the winter when their populations are swelled by immigration from the same areas (including very common species like Blackbird, Chaffinch and Woodpigeon).

Quite a few of these species will have spent the winter in flocks, and they will often leave Britain in these, or smaller flocks when they head off across the north sea or the northern atlantic - depending on their final destination. Others will migrate singularly or only loosely associate with their own, or other, species.

Summer migrants, which winter else where but come here to breed (including Manx Shearwater, terns, most warblers, flycatchers, and many other often insectivorous birds) mainly spend the winter somewhere in Africa, although a few only go as far as southern Europe.

Again some will migrate in flocks (particularly terns) and may be in impressive numbers. More often than not the birds arriving in spring will be in small groups at best. The males will often be the first to arrive, desperate to find a good breeding territory for the best chance to win a mate.

Most birds leaving Europe will head to either end of the Mediterranean to avoid longer sea crossings than necessary.

Autumn gatherings tend to be larger because there are a lot of young birds around, and autumn migration is less hurried because the need to find a breeding territory/ partner is not there. At both times of year poor weather can cause birds to congregate or be temporarily grounded at (most often) coastal sites because they do not wish to risk crossing open sea etc. in bad conditions.

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Here is an article on migration

http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol7/iss1/art7/ma...

This site may also help

http://wild-birds.suite101.com/article.cfm/bird_mi...