A patch first (and second)

Sunday November 3rd began brightly, both in terms of the weather and the birds. Dave and I were birding the track past Netherstead Farm when we noticed that some Redpolls had landed in the top of a tree near the farm. As this was the first opportunity to really look at them this autumn I got the scope out and was immediately struck by the second bird I looked at. Its pale grey head made it stand out from the rest. Dave had a look and agreed with me that it looked good for a Mealy Redpoll, a patch first.

The Redpolls took off several times and landed in other trees, but each time it was quite easy to pick out the paler bird. We were taking turns to look through my scope, and on one occasion Dave got a quick look at its mantle, which also looked pale and frosty. We had no opportunity to see its rump, and they were always too distant to try for a photo, so I'm afraid it will have to be illustrated with a drawing.

Mealy Redpoll

The bird was accompanied by several pink chested males and given that Mealies vary in appearance according to age and sex I cannot rule out the possibility that some of them may have been the same species, but none were as striking as the one illustrated. Eventually they all flew off south, nine birds in all, but I suspect that they will remain in the area.

Pleased with our start we continued our usual circuit. A Brambling was heard, and also Siskin and more Redpolls. The pool contained 235 Mallard and a few Geese, while the flashes produced 13 Wigeon and a female Gadwall plus a few Teal and a couple of Lapwings.

The return journey contained further surprises. A Grey Partridge, a late Brimstone and several Hornets still on the wing. Then I picked up a high flying Swan. By the time I got the scope up it had disappeared behind Bannams Wood and even though it eventually reappeared it was miles away and we could do nothing with it.

Scanning in that direction I got onto a Buzzard and another probable Buzzard flying towards us. I heard Dave comment on a large raptor so I stayed on it. Dave seemed to be get increasingly interested but I couldn't see what he was going on about as it was increasingly obvious that it was just a Buzzard. Then I looked at him and realised he was looking in a different direction. The bird he was on was a large Accipiter. He had seen it emerge from Bannam's Wood and couldn't understand my lack of interest. By the time I got onto the right bird it was more distant, but still looked large and the tail shape appeared slightly rounded. It eventually disappeared into Clouse Wood. Dave was certain it was close to Buzzard size and we decided it had to be a Goshawk, the second record for the patch. Our previous one, which we had had better views of, had been in November 2011.

Another feature of the day was a steady passage of south bound Woodpigeons, usually in flocks of over a hundred strong. We were a bit lax in recording them and so my eventual tally of 530, though a site record, is certainly an under-estimate. Two Golden Plovers also flew south, and we flushed four Partridges which we suspected were additional Grey Partridges.

A pretty lively visit.