A day off in the week coincided with bright sunny weather in stark contrast to yesterday. I began at Netherstead Farm and soon started seeing decent birds. Three Common Gulls flew north, and then I located a Chiffchaff in the small copse by the farm. For a change I headed to the south end of the patch. There was a rather small number of finches here, but they included seven Bramblings.
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| Brambling |
It is starting to look like its going to be a good winter for this species. I understand that the beechmast crop has failed in Scandinavia, so this may produce better numbers. Looking beyond the finches I noticed several parties of large Gulls moving north. These totalled 32 Herring Gulls and 13 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Presumably coming here in the week increases the chances of seeing large Gulls commuting between roost sites and tips which are not open for much of the weekend.
My luck was to change when I reached the pool. I could see Mike Lane photographing the two Mute Swans, and we met to compare notes. It turned out he had seen a Swallow ten minutes earlier. I scanned around as it had evidently been flying about for several minutes, but there was no further sign. A November Swallow is a rare thing in the Midlands. I went to check the flash; eight Common Snipe and 132 Greylag Geese, before returning to the pool where Mike joined me in an attempt to find Matt's party of Jack Snipe.
Not a sausage.
The walk back to the car failed to add much of note, although I noticed that the local Ravens seemed more obvious and vocal than of late. They will be breeding by February, so maybe this is already on their minds.
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