10th - 11th November

A lovely calm day on the 10th produced little in the way of new birds with a Little Auk in Nouster Bay, a single Chiffchaff still with small numbers of lingering Thrushes and Robins and 9 Whooper Swans and the Canada Goose the pick of the wildfowl.   The weather rapidly deteriorated through the night, culminating in a really rough patch in the wee small hours but had largely blown through by the morning to leave a good day with only a few showers to hide from; the rough weather produced a good November arrival of birds with an intriguing female-type Redstart at Ancum showing an obvious whitish wing patch the highlight - surely of eastern origin.   Other birds included three Yellowhammers, at least 54 Woodcock, a White Wagtail, 330+ Blackbirds, 55+ Fieldfares, 2 Woodpigeons and 4 Blackcaps.   Three Mealy and a Lesser Redpoll remain along with a Chiffchaff and a Black Redstart while at least two Merlins enjoyed themselves, being seen to catch several migrants including Snow Bunting and Blackbird.

 

 

Interesting Redstart

Some of the Woodcock were particularly approachable with one keen to improve our ringing totals by catching itself in a lobster creel!