31st December - A wet and windy end to the year.

With monsoon-style rainfall hammering down outside it's always a bit of time to reflect on the year just passing

Firstly, a limited update on December where it has been pretty slow birding wise, having a nasty bug in the middle couple of weeks curtailed much activity, and the weather has been pretty awful. A trip to Pulborough and Amberley on the 1st had plenty of wildfowl with good numbers of Pintail in particular, with probably over 300 birds between the 2 sites.  3 White-fronted Geese were on the wildbrooks at Amberley, 2 of the un-tickable White-tailed Eagles, Merlin and Peregrine, with good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing topped off an interesting morning.

A trip to Selsey and Pagham on 15th gave a pretty decent return with over 300 Red-throated Divers a highlight, including an incredible flock of nearly 30 birds together flying through, Velvet Scoter, Eider, Long-tailed Duck,  Slavonian Grebes, Red-necked Grebe and large numbers of the common waders in the harbour topped off a good winter birding session.

Around home there were lots of Redwing at the start of the month, that stripped all of the Holly berries and numbers have dramatically reduced and a large flock of 200+ mainly Siskin feeding in the alders has also slowly diminished, unusual for here was a female-type Blackcap that visited the calicarpus berries and old apples for a few days before Christmas, but generally very little activity around the garden feeders which I am hoping is a sign of plentiful hedgerow food and the lack of cold weather. The country-wide Waxwing invasion hadn't to date produced a decent flock less than an hour away, but a surprise on the 29th after Gary, Jenny and the boys had stayed with us overnight, we decided to go to Petworth and walk in the park. As we were getting a car park ticket in the town centre, distracted by a call, we found a group of 11 Waxwings, feeding on a Mistletoe ball, they didn't stay long but it was a superb surprise.

On reflection for 2023, it has been another odd year for me. The early part of the year dominated by some intense work until the end of May, limited my birding until the end of Spring. Since then my birding has been all in the UK and mostly in the second half of the year. Trips to Scilly, Spurn and Portland were enjoyable and added some good birds without any part really lucking into ideal wind conditions for migration and big lists of rare birds. Seabirds this year have been spectacular with great views of the thousands of shearwaters being particular highlights and I have seen several new birds in the UK, 5 of which have been 'world lifers' for me. Red-footed Booby, Aquatic Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Forster's Tern and Little Crake.

... and so to look forward to 2024 and undoubtedly it will be another different year, always hoping those that have found difficulty can find some solace in the year ahead.

Some Pulborough wildfowl

male Wigeon

Redwing

Redwing, demonstrating how it was ascribed it's name.

Blackcap - taken through a wet window

Blackcap

23rd-28th November- Schnitzel and snow

A family trip to Vienna had been in the diary since last year, primarily to see our nephew who had been invited to conduct the Vienna opera at the State Opera House, a big deal in his sphere of working, as he is still only 34 !.

We had a wonderful time in a cold and snowy Vienna, wandering the xmas markets and seeing some of the main palaces and museums, eating too much Shnitzel and drinking Gluevine (mulled wine !) and the opera was spectacular and well received by a full house of 2,500.

There was no time or opportunity for birds, but I did keep an eye out as we wandered the city streets and ended up with my Austria list on a measly 13 !. Black Redstarts and Great Tits seemed to occupy every courtyard that had any vegetation and in one of the city parks, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and a lone Fieldfare were added to the abundance of Hooded Crows.

St Stephen's cathedral in the day

and at night

The impressive Shonbrunn Palace, owned by the Hapsburg dynasty 

Typical of many city courtyards, including Black Redstart and Great Tit

Inside the Opera House

Daniel conducting

Perhaps the nearest I got to a decent bird !

Wednesday 15th November - Out for a Duck

Probably a phrase spoken often in relation to the England Cricket team, especially in recent weeks. I hadn't caught up with Gary Howard for a while and we agreed to fit in a day out before upcoming trips.

Apart from a few more northerly Waxwings there was little of a tempting nature with the exception of a drake Canvasback which had been seen since the weekend at Abberton Reservoir in Essex.

I duly picked Gary up and we drove the relatively short distance after the Dartford Crossing. a surprising amount of water was on some of the side roads, but we arrived at the Layer-de-la-Hay causeway shortly after 8am.

It was sunny but with a fairly strong and at times biting wind. It took no time at all to find the flock of Common Pochard that the duck in question had been seen with. There were 300+ at an estimate and they were constantly feeding. It was actually quite a spectacle as they were a tightly packed flock and fed in unison making the water look as if it was boiling. This made locating the Canvasback trickier than we thought as at any point in time at least half the flock were under water.

We had seen a few Goldeneye, and decent numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Tufted Duck before finally picking out the drake Canvasback with it's larger head profile and all dark and strong bill. Once it had been seen it then seemed easier to track.

There is always some debate about the wild credentials of North American duck species that end up on these shores when private wildfowl collections also hold these species, particularly when reports of the same duck species have been recently released in a neighbouring county. All we know about this individual is that it was cohorting with 300+ distinctly wild Common Pochard, flying freely and not looking like it would be coming to bread offerings in a hurry.

We briefly went to the Layer Breton causeway although not much in additional species were added other than Shoveler and a Grey Heron.

We worked our way around some road closures to the church viewpoint at the Northern end of the reservoir seeing Great Egret, a very large Coot flock of maybe 500+ birds, Peregrine, Red Kite, and several Goosander. Our plan was to go to Mersea island for high tide and view the saltmarsh and estuary but we were thwarted by a particularly high, high tide which had washed over the link road so instead we returned to the Abberton visitor centre and walked out to the hides. A large gull roost had formed, but only consisting off common species but we did see 2 Great Northern Divers and a Stonechat in front of the hide . We had no further view of the Canvasback and decided to head home as the light was quickly fading but a successful outing. 

Abberton from the main causeway... there is actually a flock of Pochard towards the buildings on the left.

Bright and sunny, but the wind was strong and biting.

It is a vast reservoir

Saturday 11th November - To a world of roundabouts

 A Little Crake had been found during the week at Linford Lakes Nature reserve which is at the northern end of Milton Keynes. We had a mini-plan to try for this on the way back from Spurn, but a combination of poor weather and permit-holder access only slightly conspired against us giving it a try.

So this morning I set off early, having to scrape a rare frost from the car, to arrive for first light access, as non-permit  holders would be allowed in at 7am.  Having exited the M1, about 30 roundabouts later, I found myself in the car park and after a short walk was one of the first to be let in.

Milton Keynes was a new purpose built town approved in the late 1960's. I think the first thing they did on the 9,000 hectare site was try and fit as many of the 120+ roundabouts as possible then build all the houses around it.

The nature reserve is a few lakes with surrounding tree/shrub habitat with a small reedbed area. The site looks to have a reasonable avian interest for an inland reserve. 

The Little Crake had been mostly seen from the 'Otter' hide which can accommodate 15-20 people, half sitting / half standing. When I arrived the hide was not quite full but no seats were left, and shortly afterwards a queue was forming outside the hide. rotation would only take place once the bird had been seen.

In previous days the Crake had appeared within the first 45 minutes after sunrise, not this morning. There really wasn't much happening at all. A few Mallard, Moorhen a single Gadwall and 2 Great Egrets were pretty much all that was seen, then surprisingly a Reed Warbler, which is quite late for a typically Summer migrant. 

The morning started to edge on and despite a squealing Water Rail giving a glimmer of hope that more was hidden in the reeds the more time moved on without any crake sighting the more restless comments in the hide with many saying that the clear night and change in water level may have encouraged the bird to depart. It reached 10am and some started to leave, so at least I got a seat !. I decided to give it until 11 and then see whether to leave or not. I kept on scanning with no reward, but it was approaching 11am,  suddenly my scope landed on a bird with it's head sticking out of the reeds, which didn't look like the juvenile Moorhen which had been around. It briefly came into view and there it was. I said I had the Little Crake and gave directions, a few people managed to see it before it dived in the back in the reeds again, giving a few more moments of panic to those who hadn't seen it,  but over the next 30 minutes it worked it's way along the edge of the reeds on what I would call the far bank, with scope views the best option but I think all had reasonable views.

After a long wait it was great to see this bird which was new for me and made it a worthwhile trip.

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

Little Crake

View from the hide, Crake was on the edge of the far reeds on the left

November 3rd - 7th - Trip to Spurn

Friday 3rd November

With the passing of Storm Ciaran yesterday and the prospect of blustery and sometimes wet conditions, it was uncertain what our prospects would be heading up to Spurn, but with the normal anticipation which accompanies a few days away birding, Paul Bowley and I left my place at 4am and headed North.

We set our first stop at Tophill Low nature reserve North of Hull, managed by Yorkshire Water. Neither of us had been to the reserve before but a long-staying Blue-winged Teal was the main target, even though it hadn't been reported for a couple of days.

A few Redwing and Fieldfare were flying along the entrance track and on arrival a Crossbill flew over, which was a good omen. There are 2 main reservoirs one labelled 'D' and the other 'O' which is how they were shaped, although both vast bodies of water.

We went to a hide overlooking the 'D' reservoir and started to scan, there was a large number of wildfowl, with Teal, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, several Goldeneye and a couple of Goosander. The large flock of Wigeon were at the far side of the reservoir, so a bit distant, but with the help of a local birder we saw the Blue-winged Teal fairly close accompanying a group of Shoveler. The featured bird was not much to look at with the rather plain female plumage and a few necessary distinguishing features.

We walked through a wooded area to the 'O' Reservoir adding Bullfinch, Song Thrush and other common species. The equally large 'O' reservoir held largely the same wildfowl species but we did add a Red-necked Grebe which showed sufficiently before making itself invisible by swimming directly into the sun. The increasing wind was starting to make our eyes water was we re-traced our route. On the way back to the car we saw our first skein of Pink-footed Geese, a Grey Wagtail and calling Cetti's Warbler from a hide,  a Marsh Tit and Siskin on the walk, the Marsh Tit was scrutinised closely but was clearly just a Marsh Tit as we were unsure whether we were in an area that still gets Willow Tit. An excellent start we decided to head to Stone Creek on the Humber estuary. Our first attempt to get back to the main road was blocked by a convoy of reversing articulated trucks so we re-routed, seeing a Tree Sparrow close to some unexpected feeders on a bend in the road.

We arrived in the Stone Creek area around 1pm. Neither of us had been to the area before but found that the birding zone was along one stretch of road where you could park on the verge. There was an area of probably 2+ miles of weedy fields which looked ideal for raptors. Stone Creek was located on Sunk Island and sounded more like a location for a horror flick, it did have a certain bleakness to it.

Out of the car we immediately saw a Great Grey Shrike which was hunting in a field using the weed tops as a perch and we quickly saw 2 ringtail Hen Harriers. A nudge from another birder and we moved a few hundred metres down the road and immediately the Rough-legged Buzzard reasonably close hovering over the fields. A really well marked individual that we were able to watch for an extended period doing all the things a Rough-legged Buzzard should with lots of hovering and glides more reminiscent of a Harrier than a Buzzard. A bird I hadn't seen for a few years so really pleasing to catch up with. We spent quite a while in that one spot. There were flocks of hundreds of thrushes with the majority being Fieldfare. We counted 3 ringtail Hen Harriers, Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Kestrel, Short-eared Owl a flock of Goldfinch and Linnet, a couple of Stonechats and an out-of-place flock of Long-tailed Tits.

We left just before 3pm to head to Kilnsea wetlands with a Weasel running across the road in front of us. We dumped our bags at the bird observatory then went to the wetlands. The water levels at Kilnsea were fairly high, so we walked up to the edge of Beacon Ponds seeing another ringtail Hen Harrier. Luckily, the male American Wigeon was in view at the back of the pools a bird that had been around for a while which we had hoped to catch up with. We went back to the hide as the light started to fade with a Barn Owl being our last bird of a great day.

Tophill Low 'O' Reservoir

Blue-winged Teal (female)

The Blue-winged Teal was with a Shoveler Flock

The first Pink-footed Goose flock of the trip

Grey Wagtail

Stone Creek habitat, perfect for raptors

Stone Creek, view over Sunk Island

Great Grey Shrike

Rough-legged Buzzard

Rough-legged Buzzard

Rough-legged Buzzard

Rough-legged Buzzard above a Harrier with Fieldfare in background

Rough-legged Buzzard

Hen Harrier

Short-Eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

Saturday 4th November

Our routine for the next 4 days was pretty similar and slightly blurs into one, including an evening meal in the Crown and Anchor.

  

Today was a Southerly wind and was therefore predicted good for vis-mig, until potentially some damp weather later on. We went to the watchpoint at the Warren which is also next to the sea-watching hide, so both the sea and land migration some into play and there is also a view over the Humber. Most of the bird movement is in a Southerly direction so where there is a S or SW wind the birds fly into the wind so it tends to be good numbers. We also watched for anything flying 'in/off' the sea, although would have seen more of this if the winds had been Easterly.

We arrived just as it was starting to get light, a flock of 9 small passerines took off from the field in front of us and went over our heads without calling, they were probably Twite but we didn't see them sufficiently well. From that point on the birds started to move.

Our sightings over the next few hours were plentiful and kept activity continuous.

Siskin 300+

Meadow Pipit 250+

Skylark 300+

Chaffinch 100+

Brambling c10

Goldfinch 50+

Linnet 50+

Lesser Redpoll c10

Greenfinch 5

Reed Bunting 10+

Yellowhammer 6

Starling 50+

Woodpigeon 1,000+

Swallow 1

On the sea and the Humber we had 9 Whooper Swans, 2 Merlin, 2 Sparrowhawk, Teal and a few Common Scoter.

Late morning we headed back to the Observatory for a late breakfast when a rain belt came through, we ventured out again, despite the rain continuing, trying our best to stay sheltered from the very fresh wind. 

In the berry-laden Church field there must have been 35+ Blackbirds with a few Redwing feasting on the abundant crop, we had another ringtail Hen Harrier fly through and a Blackcap and Chiffchaff were lingering migrants. We wandered through Beacon Lane where there were more Fieldfare and Redwing and as we reached the beach a passerine flew in and landed on the beach, it was a Twite, but it didn't linger, landed once more before disappearing inland. We walked along the beach to the side of Beacon Ponds. A Velvet Scoter flew past and a Snow Bunting was on the beach which was a good find by Paul. We had another brief view of the American Wigeon on the ponds, which ended up being its last day there, and there was a Little Owl sitting  in a hole on an an Owl nesting box, next to one of the buildings.

We ended the day back at the sea-watching adding a brief view of a Grey Phalarope, Common Scoter, Arctic Skua, Great Skua and Little Gull. Another good day, despite some damp weather.

View from the Vis-mig watchpoint looking North

and to the Humber

Looking south over the Humber

Sparrowhawk flying South

Merlin out over the Humber

Sunday 5th November

No fireworks today for us, just more birding. A repeat of yesterday but with the winds now NW, there were less passerines on the move.

We ended up spending more time today at the Vis-Mig watchpoint, including the magnificent sight of migrating Whooper Swans, a total of 85 Whooper Swans in small groups all moving south. Many Pink-footed Geese were seen, although mainly in the distance over the Humber, with a few smaller groups over the sea, where there were also small numbers of Teal flying South, the passerine migration had dropped significantly today and the sea was fairly quiet but we did see 2 Pomarine Skuas, 3 Great Skuas and 3 Arctic Skuas and another or the same ringtail Hen Harrier.  Late morning the wind picked up and was still from the NW so nothing was moving and we decided to move on.

We relocated to Canal Scrape, although the wind at this point was biting and we only added a Cetti's Warbler, and there were just Moorhen and Little Egrets on the scrape.  

We relocated to the Warren in the afternoon, some Starling flocks started to be seen coming in off the sea, 23 more Whooper Swans flew South as did 2 Great Northern Divers, 5 Red-throated Divers , 3 Swallow, 5 Twite and a male Hen Harrier which went over the Humber.

Looking towards the Easington Gas terminal at the end of Beacon Lane

Late afternoon towards the Humber

From the Vis-mig point over the North Sea

Whooper Swans migrating South

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swans

male Hen Harrier over the Humber

Monday 6th November

This morning the wind direction was WSW again, which increased the chances of more birds moving , there was bit of rain around 9am but it didn't last long , so we spent most of the day out with much of the time at the migration watchpoint.

The morning watch was very busy  with plenty of action. Numbers below were estimates with particular highlights being the large number of Siskins and Skylarks.

Pink Footed Geese c1,000+

Woodpigeon 1,000+

Skylark c400+

Siskins c400+

Goldfinch c300+

Chaffinch 200+

Linnet c150 +

Brambling c25+

Greenfinch 9

Twite 8

Tree Sparrow c50+

Starling 500+

Meadow Pipit c200+

Grey Wagtail 4

Yellowhammer 4

Reed Bunting 12

Corn Bunting 1

Bullfinch 1

Swallow 1

Sparrowhawk 4

Snipe 3

Redwing

Goldcrest

A few birds were also seen on the sea, which included.

Pomarine Skua 1

Red-throated Diver 9

Eider 2

Whooper Swan 44

Marsh Harrier 1

Goosander 6

Red-breasted Merganser 2

As it quietened down late morning approaching high tide we decided to go to the Wetlands.  There were only a few roosting waders, mainly Redshank and a group of Knot, a few Avocet, Lapwing and a couple of Black-tailed Godwit, but before we had spent much time scanning for other birds we heard that 7 Waxwings had been seen at Kew Villa, not knowing much detail we headed straight there, but it appears the birds dropped in only briefly then headed off. We looked around Church Field , Sykes field and Beacon Lane but no sign of the Waxwings and much less activity in the sheltered fields than previous days as most of the thrushes had dispersed , but we did see a/the ringtail Hen Harrier. There has been a bit of an influx of Waxwings, mostly in Scotland but a few down to Yorkshire and I had been hoping to catch up with at least one this trip but unfortunately this near miss ended up being the closest we came.

We headed back to the Warren for the end of the afternoon. On arriving, we then heard that a Swift sp had been seen but too briefly to clinch ID and also a possible  Pallid Harrier flying South over the sea.

We had a reasonable watch with an increase to the number of Pink-footed Geese moving with c430 seen

and a further 14 Whooper Swans.

We also saw a new thrushes trying to make it in from the sea. A group of 4 Blackbirds got close when a Merlin appeared and gave chase to one, we couldn't see what the result was. We were trying hard to find a Woodcock flying in/off the sea as a couple had been called out earlier that we failed to get onto and it was a sight Paul particularly wanted to see. We had another Merlin fly past us and 3 Redwing and 2 Fieldfare, but there was no great thrush influx and we we have to try tomorrow for the Woodcock.. A Great Egret was seen in the field in front of us before it continued South. We had a distant 'Commic' Tern and a Peregrine on the Humber to finish a very birdy day.

Redwing

Brent Goose

Sparrowhawk

Pomarine Skua

ringtail Hen Harrier

Pink-footed Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Great Egret

Great Egret

Tuesday 7th November

Our last day, with weather that was fine with a WSW and we would be concentrating on the Vis-Mig again, with a bit more determination to try and see an inbound Woodcock. Our first watch took us through to midday and we had good totals which thankfully included 3 Woodcocks that all arrived in/off between 11.30am and 12.

The list below included highlights of more Whooper Swans, a flock of 7 Snow Bunting, 3 Twite another / the Hen Harrier and 2 more late Swallows. A Goldcrest flew in off the sea as did 6 Long-tailed Tits.

Redpoll 18

Goldfinch 120

Brambling 13+ 

Woodpigeon 535 +

Stock Dove 55+

Linnet 47

Meadow Pipit 34

Pink-footed Goose 56

Starling 92

Swallow 2

Whooper Swan 58

Chaffinch 43

Skylark 116

Reed Bunting 3

Siskin 261

Yellowhammer 5

Snow Bunting 8

Goldeneye 2

Twite 3

Pintail 3

Fieldfare 3 + 2

Hen Harrier

Goosander 3

Eider 2

Woodcock 3

Velvet Scoter 1 

Grey Wagtail 1

Goldcrest 1

Long-tailed Tit 6

Red Kite 1

We called in at the Canal Scrape, where a Little Grebe was the only addition, then went to the Wetlands, where there was little on the pool although another 6 Whooper Swans could be seen going South. then we returned for a final hour or so to the Warren.

The change on the sea was 20 Red-throated Divers flying south. We had 4 Fieldfare in/off as well as 3 Snipe and 4 Lapwing. The last bird of the trip was a surprising late House Martin.

Spurn definitely delivered. We saw 126 species on the trip, with some great highlights with the number of raptors , migrating Swans and Geese and great passerine vis-mig. 

From the breach back towards the Warren

The Humber on a rising tide

Pink-footed Geese

Goosander

ringtail Hen Harrier

Hen Harrier

Hen Harrier

Hen Harrier

Hen Harrier

Waders over the Humber

Mainly Dunlin, Knot and Grey Plover