Golden Wonder 2nd November 2012

On Thursday the first of November, late and in dwindling light, Gnome found another American Golden Plover on the floods of Port Meadow. He posted some mouth watering, thigh rubbing video on The Oxon Bird Log that same night. It was however too late for anyone else to get to Port Meadow before night fell. The local birding jungle drums were beating that evening and Badger called to advise the planned trip to College Lake tomorrow was off and he would see me at Port Meadow at first light.

I beat him to it and parking in Aristotle Lane (well this is North Oxford don't you know) was scanning the floods of Port Meadow at 6.30 am. No sign of any Golden Plovers whatsoever. Plenty of ducks such as Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler plus the cacophony of the now wide awake gull roost. 

Oxonbirds finest started to assemble and most of the familiar faces were eagerly anticipating viewing a mega rarity for Oxfordshire. Still nothing. A Kingfisher sped across the flood and I found two redhead Goosander and nine Dunlin on the flood. The roosting gulls rapidly departed for their choice of landfill, ploughed field or suburban lake. Four Golden Plovers were now on the opposite bank. A female Sparrowhawk flew across the flood and the ducks and waders scattered. Earlier we had counted thirty plus Common Snipe in the flooded grass to our right but over seventy now took off in alarm, whizzing around in a tight flock before coming back to land in the rough grass or out on the flood. Later the Sparrowhawk made another sortie but was seen off rapidly by a couple of Carrion Crows. Golden Plover calls filled the airspace overhead. We looked skywards and a large flock of around four hundred Golden Plovers were spread across the heavens and wheeling around seemingly aimlessly.

We waited for them to settle but they never did apart from one brief episode at the far end of the flood. Constantly they wheeled, called and flew around but with no sign of danger why did they stay up there, but that is what they did. The sun rose and still they stooged around at great height. People's patience and or deadlines for work ran out and they departed. I was getting chilled to the bone by the biting and strong northwest wind, blowing directly across the flood into my face. It was too much. In the end Badger, Pete and myself gave it up at 9.30am with the darned plovers still floating around the sky. We planned to go to College Lake in Buckinghamshire and return later when hopefully the Golden Plovers would grow tired of their aerial odyssey and settle on terra firma. We drove to Badger's at nearby Kidlington.

Just after we arrived The Wickster called and in timeless birding fashion announced the American Golden Plover was now on the ground and showing well! We cancelled any ideas of College Lake, got back in the cars and made the short return drive back to Port Meadow as quickly as possible. I arrived to find the plovers were again airborne but The Wickster assured me they would come back down. He had seen the bird in question well but as soon as he found it kept losing it in the tightly packed throng when they were on the ground or when they all, for no apparent reason, took to the air. Eventually the flock descended and settled on the edge of the flood opposite Burgess Field. 

We looked through the flock. Some Golden Plovers looked quite grey but not grey enough. Then a birder cried he had got it and some hasty directions put us all onto a very white and grey bird which everyone at the time thought must be the AGP. It looked the business, so much different from it's fellows but remember we were looking at distance, almost into the strong wind and views were only brief before all the plovers took to the air and then descended again and had to be re-found. It was picked up fairly quickly each time the flock was on the ground as it was so distinctive. It's face looked very white and upper-part plumage very grey with no sign of any gold tones. Someone then said they thought they saw another one! Indeed there was another grey and white bird, not so extreme as the first. Looking at this bird, it looked a much better candidate, being smaller, slimmer and more attenuated, due to the slightly longer tibia and the wing point projecting beyond the tail. This was the real AGP, the other was an imposter, an aberrant European Golden Plover showing overall white and grey plumage. 

Once seen against the EGP's the AGP looked almost elegant due to its slimmer build and slightly smaller size. We watched it at distance but then decided to try and get closer by taking the track alongside Burgess Field and then secreting ourselves in some sycamores on a bank adjacent to the flood. The flock at the time was on one of it's periodic flybys but eventually settled as did we, after fighting off low growing sycamore branches. This was a whole lot better as we were closer and more sheltered from the wind. The flock landed and almost immediately we picked out the AGP. This time it was possible to readily discern the long wing point, the grey plumage, the broad white supercilium, the slimmer profile and overall smaller size. It's behaviour was subtly different also, as it would feed, which the EGP's seemed reluctant to do, dipping its bill to the ground in true plover fashion whereas all the EGP's just stood around relatively inactive. It also betrayed it's presence by taking little runs and aggressively driving off any EGP it considered too close for comfort. It was quite easy to pick it up this way. On one occasion it took to the wing briefly and I could see the dusky grey axillaries and underwing coverts which clinched the identification. 

American Golden Plover extreme right.

Even at this extreme range one can see the slimmer, smaller profile

American Golden Plover - right hand bird c Badger

American Golden Plover on right.

Note the smaller size and slimmer build, grey white plumage and broad white supercilium

with wing point extending beyond the tail

Amerian Golden Plover c Badger

We watched it until around 2pm by which time the bright sunlight made it virtually impossible from our position to pick out any features to identify it. We left it with it's commoner cousins and made our way back to the car and home.

Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat and another new species for my Oxfordshire list.

A Load of Bullocks 30th October 2012

A beautiful autumn day dawned sunny and calm. After a week of work hell I badly needed to reunite body and soul, so planned an all day visit to the RSPB's Otmoor Reserve, just wandering around with my bins and camera and allowing the wide open spaces and mid week solitude of the reserve to recharge my energy levels, both spiritually and physically. Or so I hoped. 

However, on arriving at the car park around 8.30am my heart sank as I noted the number of cars present and even one person assembling a howitzer sized camera lens onto a tripod. How naive of me and pretty dumb as with the recent reports of Bearded Tits, Hen Harriers and Bramblings on the reserve it was obviously bound to attract people's attention. I did not even make it to the cattle pens at the end of the entrance track before I was told to stand back as a herd of bullocks were apparently about to be driven down the bridleway to the cattle pens to be inoculated against TB. 

"There be two bullocks which are a bit frisky and might trample you"  I was advised by the cowman. 

This was frustrating as I could just see the finch flock on the other side of the bridleway, including a fine male Brambling, feeding on the seeded ground. 

"Stand back - please!" I was commanded. 

'But they are miles away yet'. I replied. 

"They can move very fast" I was told. 

Defeated I stood back and the bullocks and their bovine friends came apace down the bridleway, driven onwards by an all terrain vehicle. The finch flock duly took alarm and headed for the bushes. A small brown finch settled at the top of a hawthorn bush. It was a Lesser Redpoll. I took it's picture before it too fled as the herd of cows arrived in a cloud of steam, bellowing in frustration and accompanied by shouts from those herding them, who were also possibly bellowing in frustration. 

There was obviously no chance of any finch flock coming back while this lot were milling around so that took care of any further sightings of Bramblings that I had in mind. Other birders were standing about watching the proceedings but I figured if I went along the bridleway and then up the track to the first screen I had a good chance of seeing the Bearded Tits which I had heard in that area on Sunday. 

More importantly for me I would be on my own in hopefully, peace and quiet. The bridleway, however, took on the mantle of a busy road as various four wheel drive vehicles drove up and down it, rather too fast for comfort, presumably having something to do with the bovine inoculation operation back at the cattle pens. My nerves after last week's work excesses were really frayed. I just did not need this and it was such a beautiful day with the sun casting a warm golden light on the fading reeds, autumnal trees and contrasting with the hazed blue of the horizon. 

I desperately wanted to tune body and soul into this but was instead being assailed by loud shouts and vehicles going up and down the bridleway. I was getting the distinct feeling that regaining any equilibrium by visiting Otmoor today was a really bad idea, as so far there had hardly been any respite from human and vehicular activity. I did see the funny side of things by the time I got to the gate and my enthusiasm to carry on was greatly increased when the distinctive pinging calls of Bearded Tits rang out and five of these little charmers arose from a reed bed and ascended higher and higher into the sky until I lost sight of them.This made me feel a whole lot better but they had completely disappeared so re-finding them was going to be problematical. 

C'est la vie! as they say down Cowley way. 

So disoriented was I by all the noise and disturbance that I found myself seeking sanctuary at the first screen. Normally I try to shun hides or screens unless absolutely necessary as this usually means enduring a load of inane chatter, restricted movement and endless banging about. However there was only one other birder there and he appeared fairly uncommunicative in a friendly kind of way so all was well and for an hour we stood in silence looking at nothing much in particular. I felt mind and body healing but it did not last. Howitzer man arrived with friends and for the next thirty minutes without even looking at a bird he regaled his friends about pixels, memory cards, flicker, streaming and other photo techno babble. All I want is peace and QUIET!! In the end it was all too much and silently inviting him to 'kiss my pixel' I left and headed for the second screen hoping to possibly see a Hen Harrier floating over the vast expanse of reeds. 

There was no sign of any Hen Harrier but halfway to the second screen what did I hear? Yes, the distinctive pinging tones of  Bearded Tits somewhere in the adjacent reeds. Up the bank I went and although I could still hear them they were, as usual, invisible. I stood quietly, on my own, but there was now only silence accompanied by the gentle swaying and sighing of the reeds. Half an hour passed and  there were the calls again, slightly to my left now. I moved in their direction and very briefly caught sight of the back end of a Bearded Tit at the top of a reed stem before it dropped down into cover. 

I stood there for over an hour, waiting. A Raven, cronking loudly and with throat hackles distended flew over me towards Big Otmoor. Ten minutes later it came back heading for the Pill. Then back it came again and repeated this four times. What on earth it was doing I really did not know. Finally the Raven ceased it's commuting and again there was nothing. Another twenty minutes passed and  suddenly there came music to my ears as I tuned in to multiple pinging calls from the reeds and five Bearded Tits arose and flew low above the reed heads, quickly dropping down again just to my right. I followed them and there in the sun was a glorious male sidling up a reed stem, partially obscured at first but then ascending higher and into full view. I took as many pictures as possible in the hope one would come out. He really was a beauty with his black 'fu manchu' moustaches, lilac grey head and breast contrasting appealingly with the orange of his body. 

The Bearded Tits were in the reeds here

All too soon it was over as he dropped into the reeds and then the five of them flew again, deeper into the reed bed and that was the last I saw of them. Naturally I now felt a whole lot better about life and was still in splendid isolation as most people seemed to have stopped at the first screen. A short visit to the second screen was, as per usual, unremarkable with just Teal, Shoveler, Wigeon and Gadwall swimming around or loafing by the reeds. Occasionally they were spooked by a low flying Red Kite and would set off en masse for Ashgrave. I retraced my route back past the first screen finding some late Common Darters and a Red Admiral making  the best of the weak sun and then on to the bridleway.

Goldcrests moved through the hedgerows, small dark shadows darting amongst the twigs their high pitched contact calls barely audible. I stopped to look over Ashgrave. There was a huge flock of around eight hundred Lapwing in the distance resting on the grassy slope by a hidden pool of water. A Mute Swan came winging its way towards Greenaways, so beautiful in flight but at the same time appearing impossibly cumbersome.

The plan now was to try and see the Bramblings at the cattle pens as surely the disturbance would now be all over. When I got there the cattle were still in the pens and no one was about. All was quiet and there was a glorious male Brambling feeding with Chaffinches and Goldfinches on the ground. 

Male and female Bramblings

Then another male and a female flew down and joined it. They are such pretty birds, the subtleties and the patterns of their plumage making the Chaffinches look almost plain in comparison. I watched them for a few minutes before an all too distinctive sound came distantly from the bridleway. Oh oh! A four wheel drive, then another and finally an all terrain vehicle! The cows looked shifty as if suspecting they were in for yet more stress and the vehicles drew up by the cattle pens. The finches departed for the bushes once again and 'Operation Bullock' went into reverse with all the cows now being driven back the way they had come on the bridleway, again with as much noise as possible.

Peace eventually returned but the finches did not. I had a look at the feeders nearby hoping a Brambling might have gone there but instead found an attractively chocolate coloured female Pheasant below them and a Great Spotted Woodpecker attacking the peanuts. Two male Greenfinches arrived at the feeders. Is it my impression that they do seem very scarce these days? I finally called it a day, planning to come back for the starling roost later in the afternoon and duly headed for Farmoor to go and see the female Scaup and renew my acquaintance with the Slavonian Grebes

As I traversed the deserted reservoir's causeway, the concrete wastes of Farmoor One were bathed in sunshine on a Tuesday afternoon virtually devoid of human life. A male Goldeneye flew in as I walked along and proceeded to vigorously wash and preen, almost inverting itself in the water, his bright orange legs flashing in the sun, but there was little else to see from the Causeway.

There is, I am coming to believe, some unwritten law at Farmoor that all the good birds are always at the far end of the Causeway and so it was today. In fact they were even further, being in the far northwest corner of the reservoir. The female Scaup, showing to good effect her huge white blaze at the base of her bill was preening contentedly at the back of the Tufted Duck flock and a little further on there was a Slavonian Grebe being harrassed by a Coot as it fished. After admiring the scaup and grebe I walked onwards and found the second Slavonian Grebe also feeding avidly on small fish. A dark shape whizzed behind me; a male Sparrowhawk and following his progress I saw him flush five Lesser Redpolls from some birch trees. The total count of Goldeneye was ten by the time I got back to my starting point.

Now it was time to go back to Otmoor for the Starling roost and to meet up with Badger. Tonight it turned out that the Starlings had decided to move a lot closer than on Sunday, to roost in the reeds halfway towards the second screen. It is a matter of conjecture but which bird or birds in the first flock to arrive or what circumstance decides where they roost each night? The first small flock of Starlings arrived at 1557 and then progressively through the evening the flocks just got larger and larger, many in their thousands and then gradually tailed off to just a few late stragglers

A Starling flock coming in to roost

The Starling roost was in the reeds to the left of the track

Starlings coming in to roost

We were joined by the RSPB staff and friends and various of us would exclaim as one huge flock after another arrived at the roost. They were also roosting fairly close to our watchpoint. So close in fact that you could see the topmost birds perched on the reeds. There were none of the spectacular hologram manouevres that we saw on Sunday but just lots and lots of Starlings. The roosting birds went straight into the reeds but were flushed on several occasions by a Hen Harrier and two Sparrowhawks looking for a last meal before sunset. When this happened the sky was obscured by a black whirling mass as the entire assembly of Starlings took to the air from the reeds and the noise of rushing wings and voices was incredible. 

Aforesaid black whirling mass of Starlings spooked by a raptor.

The browner birds are where the sun is reflecting off their wings

The late evening sunlight bathed the whole reed bed in a gentle orange light. and reflected off the birds wings as they swirled about  In the end the collective opinion of those present arrived at an estimate of 50,000 birds coming in to the roost.

To cap it all a huge, pink, Halloween  moon arose. Almost unreal in it's size and colour it added an ethereal aspect to the magical hour we had experienced. You half expected to see ET or a witch on a broomstick silhouetted against it. Some Fieldfares or 'chuckle thrushes' as Andy appropriately called them, shot into the reed bed in the fast fading light and a tight flock of Snipe, almost in the dark, arrived to feed in the flashes amongst the reeds. Badger and myself were the last to leave, almost reluctant, listening to the Starlings raucous, conversational chatter in the reeds which slowly declined to a quiet murmur, and then silence as the birds went to sleep and all became still in the darkness.

Farmotmoor Interlude 28 October 2102

A gloomy Sunday so let's go and cheer ourselves up with an afternoon visit to Farmoor and then Otmoor. That should do the trick and indeed it did. There were two Slavonian Grebes on Farmoor 1 close into the Causeway. I think they came in close as there were numerous small fish in the shallower water. The grebes easily caught them and ate a prodigious quantity. I was there for an hour and they hardly stopped diving for fish. I only managed to identify one of the fish they brought to the surface and that was a Three Spined Stickleback which the grebe had great difficulty swallowing. The defence mechanism of the stickleback is to raise its spines. This makes it extremely difficult if not painful to swallow and the grebe spent an awful lot of time dropping it back in the water and then retrieving it until, presumably exhausted, the fish gave up the unequal struggle. The grebes were also heard to call on several occasions which I can only liken to the sound of drawing a wet finger across glass. They used this as a contact call when they became separated by the unwelcome attentions of a Great Crested Grebe which had taken umbrage at their presence. The larger grebe regularly harassed either one of them causing the grebe in question to take a short skittering flight to escape its attention.

Little else was evident along the Causeway apart from a Rock Pipit but a Common Sandpiper feeding along the edge of the marina was a surprise. I had rendezvoused with Badger on the Causeway and after viewing the grebes we decided on a visit to Otmoor to see the Starling roost which was rumoured to be building up nicely and, even better was attracting the attentions of two Hen Harriers. Arriving at the main bridleway we checked the Chaffinch flock feeding on the seed put down for them at the metal gate and cattle pens. The twenty strong flock seemed to consist of mainly male Chaffinches but then a female Brambling flew down. The views were only brief as the birds were very flighty and were forever flying back into the bushes as there was a lot of disturbance from people walking along the adjacent bridleway. I looked through my bins at the bushes and found the female Brambling perched with a  male Chaffinch. I checked out the other silhouettes in the bush and found another Brambling, this one was a male. Finally a smaller finch perched on the top of the bush was a Lesser Redpoll.  Fieldfares and Redwings flew, calling overhead. Not bad for a start. 

I do hope it is going to be a good year for Bramblings as last year was so poor. They are one of my favourite finches. We strode off down the bridleway and turned right through the gate guarding the track to the first screen. A line of Long tailed Tits flew along the hedgerow then halfway down the track, on our right, from the reeds came the distinctive pinging of Bearded Tits. We surveyed the area of reeds and we could hear them but they were impossible to see. It started to rain and the sky became leaden and dark. We waited and waited, they called regularly and then silence. Nothing. In the end we gave it up and went to check the starling roost. Despite the rain we were not disappointed. 

Flocks of starlings came from all directions forming a fantastic, ever changing hologram as they joined up into one mass, manouevering above the reeds. Off to my right a large, long winged, brown raptor appeared over the distant hedgeline. A flash of a white rump identified it as a  ringtail Hen Harrier. The starlings continued their fantastic shape shifting in the darkening sky before descending into the reeds and then rising again as something, possibly the harrier, spooked them. Up and down the flock went with others constantly joining and then off to the left a dark, long tailed raptor flew below and then into the flock of starlings. Another or was it the same ringtail Hen Harrier? The rain carried on and we decided to call it a day.We estimated the starling flock to be in excess of twenty thousand birds and there were still birds coming in as we left. It really is a magnificent sight and one of nature's truly 'must see' spectacles. 

As we left a large flock of Fieldfares lived up to their name and in a straggling line of close to a hundred birds headed across the open spaces of Big Otmoor. Back along the bridleway and a lone Swallow flicked rapidly up and down the hedgerow trees catching the last of the insects in the oncoming gloom.

Webbed Feet in West Sussex 27 October 2012

Dark bellied Brent Geese flying in to feed on the fields at West Wittering

The entrance to Chichester Harbour and western end of East Head

For twenty five years now I have done a WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count in Chichester Harbour. These co-ordinated counts take place once a month from September to March at high tide and I am lucky enough to have one of the more desirable sectors, namely West Wittering and East Head. This area consists of  fields and foreshore owned by the West Wittering Estate and is open to the public, at a price, and is much used by dog walkers, the general public and in the summer is a nightmare of wall to wall parked cars and people enjoying the beach. In the winter apart from sunny days it is comparatively quiet. This is where the Dark bellied Brent Geese come to feed on the grass at high tide. 

Dark bellied Brent Geese

West Wittering Estate claims to be a conservation Company but is basically as far as I can see a money making operation, charging high prices for entry and littering the whole place with notices telling you what you cannot do. On the seaward end of this is East Head, owned by the National Trust, consisting of a promontory of  dunes in danger of erosion by both the sea and the number of people walking over it and surrounded by a sandy beach  .This area is especially beloved by dog walkers and is the site of a high tide roost of waders although constantly disturbed by the dogs and their often inconsiderate owners. 

East Head dunes, sand and site of the high tide wader roost

The final section is Snowhill Marsh which is a fenced off reserve and is the main roost site for waders and ducks at high tide and provides seclusion from disturbance for all manner of wetland birds. Avocets have attempted to breed here on at least two occasions. I started doing the counts when I lived in Sussex and somehow carried on after moving to Oxfordshire, some seventeen years ago. I usually meet up with a friend of mine John Reaney, a self employed bird artist and we do the count together. 

John Reaney and myself heading round East Head

This will probably be my last season as it is time to hand it over although I will be sad to leave what has become an annual pilgrimage to a beautiful area of Sussex. In fact I did resign a few years ago but had such withdrawal symptoms that I asked to be re-instated and my wish was granted. Apparently no-one had been daft enough to take it on. The main purpose of these counts is to count all wetland birds in co-ordination with all other counters in Chichester Harbour and nationwide to monitor wetland bird populations and to do it at high tide when the birds roost and do not move around. 

Including the birds I regularly count I have seen 138 species of bird here over the years. I have also seen very many changes, some bad and some good. Shelduck which used to be frequent are now rarely seen. Slavonian Grebe and Common Goldeneye have similarly disappeared as have the large numbers of  Dunlin (formerly thousands, now 300 if you are lucky), Golden Plover, (formerly over a thousand, now around 100) as well as a marked decline in Lapwing and Sanderling

Lapwing now declining in numbers

Golden Plover now declining in numbers

Conversely Teal and Greenshank have increased with the latter often overwintering and the Dark bellied Brent Goose flock has maintained its numbers at well over a thousand. Mediterranean Gulls although still not regular are increasingly being seen. Inevitably every so often a really rare or uncommon species turns up to brighten the day. An adult Red breasted Goose was found on a day of unbelievably strong gale force winds. In fact the wind was so strong off the sea that I was blown over and there were hardly any geese on the fields but of those that were present the Red Breasted Goose was one of them and fed unconcernedly on the grassy fields with it's goosey pals. This was undoubtedly the rarest and best find in all the years I have been doing the counts and suitable reward for all the dull and bad weather days when little was around. Every year I used to say to John 

'Wouldn't it be great if a Red breasted Goose turned up in the Brent flock'. 

"Dream on" he would reply. 

Then one day it happened and John was not there! 

At last. A Red breasted Goose at West Wittering

On another even fouler day weather wise I found a Bean Goose in with the Brent Goose flock and Barnacle Geese occasionally turn up in the flock as well. Ruddy Shelduck, Velvet Scoter, Little Auk, Red necked Grebe, Red throated Diver, Hen Harrier, Short eared Owl, Osprey, Grey Phalarope and Twite have all been seen over the years. A flock of Little Stint used to winter on East Head reaching a maximum of fifteen but there are none now. Snow Buntings, often very tame, can be found in the dunes at East Head on occasions but not every year.

Snow Bunting on East Head

My sector has a large wintering flock of Dark bellied Brent Geese which allow progressively close approach as the months wear on and they get used to human presence, although dogs will put them up immediately. Today there were over fifteen hundred geese on the fields but they appear to  have had an appalling breeding season and only fourteen juveniles were present in the entire flock. It's not unusual for Brent Geese to have bad breeding years. I think on average it is only one in five years they manage to raise a lot of young. Apparently it depends on the Lemming population in Siberia. If there are a lot of Lemmings then predators such as Pomarine Skuas, Arctic Foxes and Snowy Owls concentrate on the Lemmings. If the Lemmings have a bad year then the Brent Goose goslings provide a suitable alternative! There was however the bonus of an adult Black Brant in amongst them today. Always nice to see and often now there is one present in the flock but not quite so early in the year as this one. 

Adult Black Brant with Dark bellied Brent Geese

A family party of Dark bellied Brent Geese. Two adults with three young.

Judging by the almost complete failure of any of the flock to raise young

they did exceptionally well to raise three young.

Just to the left of the young Brent is a hybrid Black Brant x Dark bellied Brent Goose.

You can just see the white flanks and dark back

Scoping through the flock we also came across one, possibly two hybrid Black Brant  x Dark bellied Brent. The day was marked by a biting and very strong northerly wind. There was no hiding place and the wind whipped across the sea making our eyes water and scopes shake. Counting birds here should be a joy but the place is also inundated with dog walkers who like to walk their dogs by the seashore and can make life a nuisance. They may love their precious pooches but a muddy dog jumping up at one or sticking its nose in your groin can get tedious. 

It's no use their owner saying  "He's quite friendly, he won't hurt you". 

I also never understand why their owners feel unconcerned and un-embarrassed about their obvious lack of control over their dog and the assumption that having been assaulted by their dog you will not be at all put out. I am not scared of dogs or their owners but just do not care for those, both owner and dog, that appear to be out of control.

Anyway, enough of that and back to the birding. Four Swallows and two House Martins sought shelter from the wind to feed in the lee of the dunes but they looked tired and the swallows eventually landed on the sand to rest. Not a good sign. They better hurry or it will be too late. A steady passage of Starlings, Skylarks and Chaffinches headed north into the wind, low across the sea and small flocks of Woodpigeons did the same. Out on the saltings of East Head, Skylarks and Linnets fed whilst Grey Plover, Dunlin and a couple of Knot came into the high tide roost. We spent some time scoping the flock of Brent Geese as from experience it is only after going through the flock several times that you can be sure there is 'nothing good' in there. 

Today, all round, was not one of the better days as apart from the geese there were relatively few birds to count. Snowhill Marsh which usually holds big numbers of roosting waders, ducks and often wintering Spotted Redshank and Jack Snipe is currently being badly disrupted by sea defence work and today the numbers of waders and ducks was as a consequence well down on normal. The totals for the marsh were as follows: Common Teal 174; Wigeon 8; Black tailed Godwit 15; Curlew 19; Common Greenshank 1; Common Redshank 35; Lapwing 4; Little Egret 4; Grey Heron 1; Cormorant 1 and a couple of ChiffChaffs in the hedgerow behind the marsh..

I wonder what next month will turn up? Probably nothing exceptional but that is the charm of birding. You just never know and if you are not there you never will

Back to the garden 23 October 2012

It's not all twitching and chasing rarities. No sir. Our resident Nuthatch, presuming there is only one, continues to charm us as it visits the garden feeders on a daily basis. I took the following pictures when it hung upside down and immobile on a feeder after being alarmed by something passing overhead. The first two images show it obviously watching something. Presumably as it did not fly off it did not feel too threatened but it was static on the feeder for a good ten minutes before recommencing feeding. It definitely prefers the head down approach when feeding and similarly when it leaves the feeders it is always when it is facing the ground. They really are smart looking birds and it is a real pleasure to have them visiting our garden after far too long an absence