GEDSER - 5th September

Pretty breezy through the day but the wind had swung round to the NE (the first time in ages that there was no west in the wind) which did the trick and produced a much better ringing total of 99 new birds with the obvious highlight being a corking adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher; the rest of the catch was very autumnal including the first 4 Goldcrests of the autumn in amongst 41 Robins, 9 Tree Pipits, 10 Redstarts etc.

                Birds over the garden through the morning included Crossbills, Siskins, Chaffinches, Grey Wagtail and many Tree Pipits and Swallows (a small percentage of what passed through out on the point).

                I went out to the point in the afternoon (1420-1700) where my totals included the highlights of a juvenile Caspian Gull which flew low over the tip and 23 Cranes in two flocks; other birds of note were good numbers of ducks with 81 Pintail, 195 Wigeon, 70 Teal, 112 Common Scoter, 2 Shoveler and a Velvet Scoter along with a Black-throated Diver, 22 Oystercatchers, a Knot, 20 Turnstone and 45 Common Terns while raptors were scarce with just 3 Sparrowhawks, a Hobby and a Merlin.   There was also a steady passage of southbound Swallows and Yellow Wagtails with only a flock of 11 Siskins being any different.

 

Red-breasted Flycatcher - stunning bird!

The first of the thousands of Goldcrests that appear here every September and October

Cranes getting closer

Juvenile Caspian Gull