SPURN - 24th - 28th November

 A few days at Spurn, during which I enjoyed every single, possible kind of weather ranging from flat calm and sunny to the blazing force 8-9 northerly wind of Storm Arwen on the 27th.   

Birding highlights included a fine adult male Hen Harrier at Skeffling on the 24th (I also saw it at Welwick on the 25th) along with a Merlin, 7 Buzzards, 6 Kestrels, 440+ Golden Plover and 345 Brent Geese including the distinctive, pale brown leucistic bird which has been returning the last couple of winters, 11 Whooper Swans south and 2 Snow Buntings on a walk down to the point on the 25th, a smart juvenile Glaucous Gull on Kilnsea Wetlands at lunchtime on the 26th along with a Mediterranean Gull and a few birds on Beacon Ponds / Kilnsea Wetlands on the 28th comprising 2 Short-eared Owls, 2 Goldeneye, 26 Little Grebes, a Merlin, 270+ Wigeon, 110+ Teal and 10+ Pintail.

Hen Harrier at Welwick

Grey Plover

Dunlin

Grey Plover and Knot

Sparrowhawk

Common Gull

Wigeon

23rd November

 Had a couple of sessions wandering around Fliey Country Park and out on the Brigg; a few hours in the morning produced 3 Snow Buntings on the top of Carr Naze (including a smart adult male) whist offshore and on the rocks birds included a single Long-tailed Duck (a year tick!), a single Puffin on the sea just off the sheltered south side along with plenty of Guillemots and Razorbills, a Great-northern Diver south with a few Red-throated Divers dotted about, 4+ Purple Sandpipers and a few Kittiwakes, Shags and Fulmars whilst a pair of Peregrines unsuccessfully chased a Feral Pigeon over the sea.   

Another look at lunchtime produced the unexpected highlight of a Storm Petrel which lingered off the Brigg between 13:10 and 13:25; also seen in the afternoon were another 2 Great-northern Divers (one north and one in the bay) and a few more Purple Sandpipers.

Snow Buntings

Great-northern Diver

Stonechat in the bright dawn sunshine

Locally colour-ringed Turnstone

20th November

 A nice walk in the morning down my stretch of the River Teme at Leintwardine for the first time in ages produced all the usual suspects although the highlight was a Great White Egret which flew high upstream along with 3 Kingfishers, 2 Dippers, a Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egrets, 3 Grey Wagtails and 30+ Siskins.   

The rest of the day was quiet with good views of the long-staying Red-throated Diver at Brockhall Gravel Pit (always scarce inland) with two drake Pintail and 193 Wigeon the only other birds of note here and 10 Mandarin at Bodenham.

Green Sandpiper

Heron

Dippers

Red Kite

Buzzard

19th November

 After a couple of false starts I made it up to Whixall Moss by mid-morning where the Grey Phalarope which had been on the floods since last weekend showed well on the new pool which has recently been created – a Shropshire tick!   

Other birds on the floods included 5 Shelduck, c20 Shoveler, 12 Pintail, c56 Teal, a Water Rail and a Kingfisher before the actual Moss was quiet as usual but the highlights were a big 2cy female Peregrine and a 1cy female Merlin – both of which showed well perched.

Grey Phalarope

Peregrine

Merlin

Reed Bunting

18th November

 A busy couple of hours at Venus Pool from first light produced the highlight of a big female Goshawk which flew east at 08:00; there were some good totals which illustrated how different things use the site with 272 Greylag Geese, 364 Canada Geese and 11 Mute Swans all leaving before first light after roosting, 2 Herons and 4 Little Egrets (my highest count here) also roosting, although they stayed and 53 Cormorants (also my highest count here) and 60 Black-headed Gulls which flew in from the west to bathe an hour after dawn.   

Other bits included 9 Shoveler, 11 Gadwall, 8 Wigeon, 3 Water Rails squealing, a Sparrowhawk, a Red Kite, a big flock of 26 Magpies and a Grey Wagtail while the arable fields held 120+ Chaffinches, c10 Bramblings, 8 Greenfinches and only small numbers of Yellowhammers, Reed Buntings, Linnets and Redpolls.   

The only other notable thing was an excellent flock of 120 Linnets in the set-aside crop just down the lane on the south side of Wyke – by far the biggest flock I’ve seen round Wyke / Benthall.

LANDGUARD - 15th November

 A promising looking morning, heavily overcast with a feather-light NE breeze but despite a handful of Thrushes at dawn and a new Black Redstart in the nets there was little fresh in to get excited about; on the land birds comprised a Blackcap, the aforementioned Black Redstart, 9 Snow Buntings still, 40+ Blackbirds, a Brambling, 2 Fieldfares, 2 Purple Sandpipers and 2 Turnstone on the jetty, 2 Redpolls, 3 Rock Pipits and 2 Woodcock.   

A few bits offshore included a Goosander south, a Great-northern Diver on the sea, 91 Brent Geese, 21 Common Scoter, 6 Dunlin, 8 Eider, 10 Gannets, a Guillemot, 11 Lapwings, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 9 Red-throated Divers, 50 Shelduck south, 6 Teal and 44 Wigeon.

Black Redstart

Woodcock

LANDGUARD - 13th November

 A pleasant enough day, staying more or less dry with a moderate NW breeze; offshore this morning birds of note comprised a Pale-bellied Brent Goose with 17 Dark-bellies, 25 Dunlin, 4 Gadwall, 2 Goldeneye, a Heron, a Kittiwake, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 16 Red-throated Divers, 3 Teal and 117 Wigeon.   

More land based sightings included a Blackcap, a Brambling, 8 Chaffinches, a Fieldfare, 20 Goldfinches, a Peregrine, 2 Purple Sandpipers, 4 Redpoll, 21 Redwings, 15 Siskins, 2 Skylarks, the 10 Snow Buntings still, 2 Stock Doves, a Woodcock and a Swallow south.

Grey Plover (at Melton)