1st December

Just a few birds caught around the bird table this morning.

Goldfinch

Great-spotted Woodpecker

and Coal Tit - the top one was caught today in Shropshire while the bottom one was from Norway this autumn, the blue-grey back of the continental form is very different to the greeny-grey back of the British birds which also have much buffier, warmer coloured underparts

27th-28th November, Spurn

Spent a couple of days up at Spurn and as is the norm with my wintery visits there the weather was pretty horrible with strong, cold winds and frequent heavy showers limiting what I could and wanted to do; I opened a couple of sheltered nets where I caught a few Blackbirds, a couple of Lesser Redpolls (with a tape) and a smart male Brambling while amongst the few birds seen were a Short-eared Owl, a Woodcock, a single Pale-bellied Brent Goose with the Dark-bellies on Kilnsea Wetlands where there was also single Black-tailed Godwit and Shoveler.

Short-eared Owl not wanting to fly in the windy conditions

Brambling

Pale-bellied Brent Goose in amongst the Dark-bellies

Redshank

River Severn

Walked along the River Severn from Cressage Bridge to Ironbridge where the definite highlight was awesome close views of a big dog Otter eating a fish on the bank somewhere opposite Leighton Hall but apart from that it was extremely quiet birdwise with a Chiffchaff in the Tit flock and just a single Goosander being the only things vaguely noteworthy.

Great views but he was always facing away and obscured by branches so the pictures aren't as good as they could have been (but I suppose that's why he stayed there for so long and didn't really notice me, if it had been a clear view he would have been off and away!)

Robin

Treecreeper

Comparisons

Back home in Shropshire now and today I caught a few bits round the bird table, some of which are very different to the same species that we caught in Norway.

The top two Treecreepers were caught today here in Shropshire and are very different to the pale, frosty familiaris Treecreepers we caught in Norway - bottom picture

And there's no comparison with the Long-tailed Tits!

17-19th November

Grey, windy and rainy on my last morning, a little look over Vågsvollvåien produced 2 distant Rough-legged Buzzards over the town and an increase to 293 Mallards on the floods before I spent a few hours at Spangereid trying unsuccessfully to relocate a Blyth’s Pipit from two days ago – it was found again but not until I was in Kristiansand waiting for the ferry across to Denmark (a Dusky Warbler was also found there at the same time but I won’t mention anything else about missing them!).

                The 18^th was spent driving south, eventually reaching The Netherlands in the afternoon; a day’s birding on the 19^th in some woods and along the coast at Oostvaardersdijk (just east of Amsterdam) was hard work in the very windy, showery, grey conditions but highlights included a couple of Great White Egrets and good but brief views of a calling Short-toed Treecreeper along with huge numbers of ducks including a few Smew, Goosander and Pintail in amongst hundreds of Tufted Duck, Pochard, Gadwall and Shoveler, a Slavonian Grebe with good numbers of Great-crested Grebes and an adult female Marsh Harrier out over the sea.

 

Great White Egret

Short-toed Treecreeper

 

16th November

My final full day here at Lista!   Due to various other jobs and the howling NW wind with extended spells of very heavy rain I only really got out and about from mid-afternoon but there were still a few birds around with the highlights being a lost looking Greenland White-fronted Goose in the stubble fields at Vågsvollmarka, 2 Woodlarks in Vatnemarka and the Great Grey Shrike still around Vågsvoll.

                Other birds included 2 1^st winter White-tailed Eagles, a female Scaup on Vågsvollvåien, a Woodcock in Lebeltet, a Sparrowhawk, the Chiffchaff still around the lighthouse, a Dunlin, 5 Lapwings and a good count of 283 Mallard on the flooded Vågsvollvåien.   A little look in the harbours also produced 3 Slavonian Grebes, 3 Little Grebes and a Little Auk.  

 

Greenland White-fronted Goose

Cheeky!

 

15th November

After yesterday which was a complete write-off with gale force winds and nasty showers throughout it was a much nicer day with bright sunshine and much lighter NW winds; 4 Whooper Swans flew over at dawn before a look at the sea produced single Black-throated Diver and Red-necked Grebe with very small numbers of the usual Ducks and Auks while a White-tailed Eagle was doing something very far out to sea, two Peregrines were fighting over the lighthouse and another was struggling with a decent sized kill, also very far out at sea.

                The area was pretty quiet in the afternoon despite the now pretty nice conditions with a Great Grey Shrike and a Short-eared Owl on Gunnarsmyra the only birds of note with decent flocks of Meadow Pipits, Rock Pipits, Fieldfares and Common Gulls scattered around.

 

Just a Mallard!