Sunday November 17

A grey damp morning with no breeze, in other words a proper birders morning.

There is something about this sort of weather which seems to squeeze birds into existence, and with autumn migration probably not quite over we were quite optimistic for a change. Sure enough the plantation at Netherstead was alive with birds. Redwings poured out of the tree tops and below them the understory was full of tits and Goldfinches.

Eventually our diligence was rewarded with a decent bird. Blackcaps are rarely seen here after the middle of October, so the presence of a male in the bushes on the far side of the main road was a cause of minor celebration. Three Siskins tried to crash the party, but flew on after landing very briefly.

Blackcap

We then headed for the pool, and were distracted by a gathering of very noisy Magpies and Jackdaws in a distant hedge. Suspecting an owl, we headed that way but found only silence and an absence of any cause. We did see a couple of Stonechats though, and since we were there anyway decided to walk through the sedge in front of the pool. This produced 32 Snipe and six Jack Snipe, an improvement on the singleton of the latter I kicked up at the end of last month.

We reached the flash field which was pretty full of water, and also contained 123 Mallard, a female Wigeon, a pair of Shovelers, five Teal, and 19 Lapwings.

The walk back was also lively. Dave glimpsed an egret, and on further exploration we confirmed it was as expected a Little Egret.

Little Egret

Finally we turned up a flock of at least 14 Lesser Redpolls, and back at Netherstead 25 Meadow Pipits enjoyed the mud and gloop turned over by the horses. Our final tally was 62 species of birds without really trying for a big list.