30th November

There were 2 Common Sandpipers wintering on the River Severn at Leighton in the glorious sunshine during the morning along with a pair of Mandarin and 30 Goosanders.   A look at Venus Pool in the afternoon then produced good views of the long staying drake Green-winged Teal (a Venus Pool and Shropshire tick!) together with good numbers of wildfowl crowded round the small area of unfrozen water including 365 Teal (a record count for me here), 52 Shoveler, 40 Wigeon, 50 Mallard, 3 Shelduck and a single drake Pintail.

Record shots of the Green-winged Teal; it never came very close

Pintail

Shelduck

Another Windermere ringed Canada Goose was also present

GEDSER - Final year's ringing totals

This is going to be one long list; below is the final year's ringing totals for the spring and autumn campaigns (I wasn't there for the spring!).    An awesome total of 19,296 birds were caught during the year (March - November), here we go....

Sparrowhawk                     44
Buzzard                              1
Kestrel                                10
Grey Partridge                    2
Golden Plover                   2
Woodcock                          1
Woodpigeon                       1
Cuckoo                               1
Tawny Owl                         1
Long-eared Owl                  1
Wryneck                              7
Great-spotted Woodp.         3
Sand Martin                         2
Swallow                               37
House Martin                      7
Tree Pipit                            106
Meadow Pipit                      1
Yellow Wagtail                   24
White Wagtail                     56
Wren                                   796
Dunnock                             625
Robin                                 3,631
Thrush Nightingale             24
Black Redstart                    15
Redstart                               248
Whinchat                             1
Wheatear                             1
Ring Ouzel                          3
Blackbird                             289
Fieldfare                               5
Song Thrush                        181
Redwing                               34
Mistle Thrush                       4
Grasshopper Warbler           6
River Warbler                    1
Sedge Warbler                     13
Marsh Warbler                     230
Reed Warbler                       90
Icterine Warbler                   247
Barred Warbler                     2
Lesser Whitethroat               683
Whitethroat                          469
Garden Warbler                    340
Blackcap                               461
Pallas's Warbler                  2
Yellow-browed Warbler     6
Wood Warbler                      8
Chiffchaff                             1,369
Willow Warbler                    573
Goldcrest                             5,672
Firecrest                                58
Spotted Flycatcher                43
Red-breasted Flycatcher       11
Pied Flycatcher                     126
Long-tailed Tit                      68
Coal Tit                                 20
Blue Tit                                 436
Great Tit                                229
Nuthatch                                3
Treecreeper                            27
Short-toed Treecreeper          2
Red-backed Shrike                26
Great Grey Shrike                 3
Jay                                         1
Starling                                  69
House Sparrow                      28
Tree Sparrow                         167
Chaffinch                               285
Brambling                              52
Serin                                       1
Greenfinch                              99
Goldfinch                                60
Siskin                                      242
Linnet                                      125
Common Redpoll                    316
Lesser Redpoll                        278
Arctic Redpoll                        2
Common Rosefinch                 14
Bullfinch                                  10
Northern Bullfinch                   95
Hawfinch                                  9
Yellowhammer                        34
Reed Bunting                           21
Corn Bunting                           1


                      

Travelling back from GEDSER - 27th November

Just before catching the ferry back to Harwich I had a couple of hours to walk along the big breakwater at Hook of Holland where there were good numbers of very confiding Purple Sandpipers and Turnstones.

Purple Sandpipers

and some of the ridiculously tame Herons in the park at Amsterdam

Travelling back from GEDSER - 25th and 26th November

Next up was a couple of days in Amsterdam where a couple of morning strolls through Vondalpark in the city centre produced many many noisy Ring-necked Parakeets, quite a few really (surprisingly so) tame and confiding Herons and a couple of (presumably) locally colour ringed Coots.

Munching through the parks trees first thing

Then carrying on after the sun came up

and some more Parakeets

Travelling back from GEDSER - 21st to 24th November

The second stop on the journey back consisted of a couple of nights in Hamburg; the parks running north - south through the middle of the city were quite productive really as I managed 40 species in two morning visits.   The highlights were good numbers of Short-toed Treecreepers and a flock of 4 Hawfinches along with other birds including Kingfisher, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Grey Wagtail, Blackcap and Brambling along with a good haul of colour ringed Black-headed Gulls (more of which later).    Many tame and confiding Red Squirrels (of varying reddish hues) were also a highlight.

The next stop was one night in Bremen but this was much quieter for birding with the only things of note being a Polish ringed Black-headed Gull and 600+ White-fronted Geese heading SW very high over the city during a couple of hours in the morning of the 24th.

Short-toed Treecreeper

Smart 'black' Red Squirrel; don't think I've seen one this colour before!

A slightly darker than usual one

and a 'normal' coloured Red Squirrel

Buzzard in the city centre