November 20th. A light south-westerly wind and a bright start, even a hint of warmth! A morning sea-watch commenced with the early movement of 600 Common Scoter into the Wash. Also heading south were a Great Northern Diver, 13 Red-throated Diver, an Arctic Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern, a 'Commic' Tern, 4 Little Gull, a Goldeneye, 2 Red-breasted Merganser and 20 Eider. 7 Egyptian Geese arrived from the north and settled on Greenshanks Creek where a good number of waders were feeding including Knot, Dunlin and Redshank. Finches, Pipits and Skylarks were heading south in low numbers but included 12 Brambling, a Snow Bunting and a Twite. Elsewhere, Chiffchaff and Swallow were around Sykes Farm and 2 Water Pipit were around the Freshwater Marsh.
Goldcrest, 20th November 2023.
Photo - Tom Baker
Mute Swans, 20th November 2023.
Photo - Tom Baker
Brent Geese, 20th November 2023.
Photo - Tom Baker
Pied Wagtail, 20th November 2023.
Photo - Tom Baker
Pied Wagtail, 20th November 2023.
Photo - Tom Baker
November 19th. Few records received today and those received indicated little change, consistent with little change in weather conditions. The late Swallow continued hawking around Sykes Farm.
Cormorants, 19th November 2023.
Photo - Jason Virgin
November 18th. Mild conditions again but a wet morning, not ideal for birding. However, a few records from the sea included a Great Northern Diver , 50 Common Scoter and 2 male Goldeneye heading south. Clearer conditions in the evening resulted in a very productive Hen Harrier roost survey, with 3 ringtails arriving at the roost along with 5 Marsh Harriers, A Goosander flew into the Wash and a Swallow was hawking around Sykes farm
November 17th. A light south-westerly breeze, dry, bright and remaining mild. following the morning wader count on the high tide, a sea-watch was productive, commencing with a Great Northern Diver heading north, then another arriving from the south landed on the sea. A while later a party of 4 Great Northern Divers flew high south into the Wash together - an unprecedented sight for the Reserve. A Long-tailed Duck was offshore briefly and a Skua sp (probably Pomarine) was harassing a feeding flock of 15 Little Gulls, 2 Sandwich Terns and several Kittiwakes. Two Woodcock and several parties of Starling arrived over the sea. Inland, it was apparent that there had been a significant arrival of Blackbirds with over 420 counted over the west side alone. Vis mig involved small parties of Finches, pipits and Skylarks, a single Snow Bunting and 10 Whooper Swans. 7 Corn Bunting were seen over the Wash Viewpoint and a good day for raptors produced 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Marsh Harrier, Hen Harrier, Merlin, 2 Peregrine, 2 Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawk.
Fieldfare, 17th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Dunlin, 17th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Rock Pipits - rarely seen out in the open at 'Gib', 17th November 2023.
Photo - Nige Lound
November 16th. Moving south were a Black-throated Diver, 233 Common Scoter, a Skua sp and 12 Red-breasted Mergansers over the sea and more finches over the dunes. Birds around included 200 Dark-bellied Brent Goose, a Woodcock, a Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard, 10 Goldcrest, 50 Redwing, 10 Stonechat and 3 Cetti's Warblers.
2 Cetti's Warblers, 16th November 2023.
Photo - Stuart Ainsworth
Dunlin, 16th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
November 15th. Visible migration included more finches south, together with 2 Lapland Bunting; and 38 Pink-footed Goose north. Around were a Woodcock, 3 Sparrowhawk, a Marsh Harrier, a Buzzard, a Fieldfare and 2 Goldcrest.
Brent Goose, 15th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
November 14th. Fairly mild conditions with a light south-westerly wind. Visible migration involved parties of finches heading south including Brambling and Siskin. There was a good variety of birds offshore: 2 Great Northern Divers on the sea, a Black-throated Diver south, 3 Goldeneye, 2 Goosander, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, 12 Little Gulls, 3 Great Crested Grebes, a few Eider and Auks and various flocks of Common Scoter. Two Marsh Harriers headed south over the sea together. 3 Swallow remained, feeding over the Plantation.
Redshank, 14th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
Black-headed Gull, 14th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
November 13th. Around 1700 Pink-footed Geese left the roost at dawn and there followed a fairly quiet day. 10 Pintail flew south offshore, 500 Knot were feeding along the beach with other waders and gulls and flocks of Starlings were arriving off the sea. Other birds around included Swallow, Hen Harrier, Merlin and Woodcock.
Little Egret, 13th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
Mute Swan, 13th November 2023.
Photo - Rikki Clark
November 12th. A frosty start after a clear night with a cool south-easterly breeze. A small number of Redwing, Fieldfare and Blackbird were arriving soon after dawn and a probable Little Bunting circled the West Dunes calling several times but did not land. Vis mig was much quieter than of late but finch flocks ere passing through intermittently during the day. A Snow Bunting flew south and a Ring-necked Parakeet briefly joined a large flock of Woodpigeons. A Firecrest near Aylmer was probably the same bird as seen there recently. Offshore, there was some wildfowl movement involving Wigeon and Brent Geese, but also 12 Red-breasted Merganser and a Goldeneye along with 22 Little Gulls and a Sandwich Tern.
Sunrise, 12th November 2023.
Photo - Rob Watson
Wigeon, 12th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Grey Heron, 12th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Redshank, 12th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Buzzard, 12th November 2023.
Photo - Rob Watson
November 11th. Around 1800 Pink-footed Geese were seen - with many coming out of roost from the Wash and flocks heading out south-east to Norfolk. Also over the sea 107 Whooper Swans headed south in 7 herds and 17 Little Gulls moved south. It was busy again for vis mig down East Dunes, with Brambling, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Siskin and Skylark in the greatest numbers and some large flocks of Woodpigeon, Variety was provide by 5 Crossbill, 12 House Sparrow, 2 Sparrowhawk, and single Yellowhammer, Twite and Bullfinch all moving south, A Treecreeper remained around the Plantation and 2 Whooper Swans were on Tennyson's Sands with 250 Brent Geese.
A very late Speckled Wood butterfly was still on the wing.
Whooper Swans, 11th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
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Whooper Swans, 11th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Marsh Harrier, 11th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Black-tailed Godwit, 11th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
Stonechat, 11th November 2023.
Photo - Paul Neale
