A very windy, very
overcast and slightly damp classic autumn day; we attempted some ringing first
thing with just four nets opened and it proved to be pretty productive with 115
new birds caught in just a couple of hours before the weather forced us to
close including a brute of a female Northern
Bullfinch, 52 Robins and 57 Goldcrests.
I then went out birding between the garden and town
where it was an incredible few hours; there were literally Goldcrests
everywhere, hopping around on the grass around your feet only moving when you
were about to tread on them, flying in over the sea, on the beaches, in every
bush and tree and along every fenceline – there must have been thousands and
thousands in the relatively small area that I walked, absolutely
fantastic! There were also hundreds of
Robins dotted around plus a few Chiffchaffs (several pale, eastern-type birds
were seen) and loads of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds with Mistle Thrushes,
Fieldfares and Redwings whizzing around but very little else at all, I tried in
vain to find something in-amongst the masses but failed miserably!
There were also huge Brambling, Chaffinch and Siskin
flocks passing low overhead to the east into the wind with 300+ feeding on the
ground on the outskirts of town; the other feature was big flocks of
White-fronted Geese heading south throughout the day (4,000 were counted from the point) while 5,000+ Barnacle Geese were again in the fields and the Slavonian
Grebe was still just offshore.
I then re-opened my four nets in the afternoon and
during the next four hours until dusk I managed 178 new birds (walking
constantly between the nets) including 128 Robins and a Fieldfare but most of
the Goldcrests had left the garden by that time – fortunately! An awesome day!
Goldcrests Goldcrests Goldcrests
Chiffchaff
Slavonian Grebe
This juvenile White-fronted Goose was on the pond
Bramblings
Northern Bullfinch
