28th - 30th November 2024

Saturday, 30th November: A mild but rather grey and dreary day, dry but murky at times, with a moderate breeze SW 3-4.

Elmer Rocks: This, the last day of meteorological autumn, certainly felt like the end of the season, with very little happening as we await the throes of winter. There was almost nothing moving offshore with the exception of the regular gull species, where around ten Mediterranean Gulls were about the best, and the fields and hedgerows seemed equally quiet.

Along the beach a dozen Oystercatchers and six Turnstones were present, whilst on the rock islands five Grey Plovers and 25 Ringed Plovers dropped in to roost with a Little Egret. Around the field margins behind the beach it was much quieter than of late, with the flooded area holding just four Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail, whilst a single Chiffchaff was calling near the rife.

(above) Oystercatchers on the beach, (below) Grey Plover on the rocks as a Ringed Plover arrives to roost and (bottom) Grey Wagtail on the flooded fields.

Friday, 29th November: A cool start though less chilly than yesterday, with plenty of sunshine through the day and becoming progressively milder despite a brisk SSE breeze force 5.

Barnham Brooks: There was nothing out of the ordinary on my circuit this morning, but having not visited for a little while I was surprised to see the amount of floodwater brought about by the recent rains. Flocks of c.30 Wigeon and 25 Teal were out on the floods, although often obscured by vegetation, whilst a Water Rail was calling from the reeds. Along the paths there were two Chiffchaffs in the hedgerows and the rife held a Cetti's Warbler and two Stonechats.  A Buzzard, a Kestrel and a flock of Long-tailed Tits were the best of the rest.

Bilsham farm: There was nothing unexpected here either today, the best being an increase of Shovelers to 45 and flocks of eight Wigeon and six Tufted Ducks. The flock of Canada Geese had reduced to 17, whilst a count of Coots produced a total of 114 and six Little Grebes were also still present.

Tufted Ducks at Bilsham reservoir.  Although normally seen in reasonable numbers locally, this common species seems to have been in short supply this autumn. 

Thursday, 28th November: A cold and frosty start, but bright and sunny throughout the day, with a fairly light N/NE breeze, veering SE by afternoon.

Elmer Rocks: A high tide, a fairly calm sea and a sunny morning drew me to the local beach again, but there wasn't much moving during my brief look at the sea, except a Diver sp going east way out and half a dozen Red-breasted Mergansers and two Great Crested Grebes back and forth offshore. A decent-sized flock of Grey Plovers flew in from the east and circled around before 20 dropped onto the rocks to roost, whilst the remaining 55 flew off east again. Other waders logged included 12 Oystercatchers, 30 Ringed Plovers and 12 Turnstones.

Grey Plover flock over the rock islands

I then went to look around the set-aside corner and the fields and woods behind the beach. A Grey Wagtail and five Pied Wagtails were in the flooded area of the arable field, but there was little else of interest until I got to a sheltered and very sunny corner of the woods. Here there was a sudden burst of life, with three Chiffchaffs. together with a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, Blue and Great Tits and a Goldcrest. As I watched for a couple of minutes, I suddenly got a flash of another bird that seemed much paler, but it kept disappearing into the tree cover. To cut a long story short, it turned out to be a Siberian Chiffchaff....(*to those of you not deeply into birding I will spare you here the full details required to prove it, but suffice to say it is a scarce far eastern sub-species of our Common Chiffchaff). 

Siberian Chiffchaff tristis at Elmer woods. (Amongst other things, note prominent dark eye, blackish bill and legs, generally pale underparts but with warm buff supercilium and ear covert patch, buffish tints to breast sides and flanks but no yellowish tones, no greenish/olive tones to head and mantle, etc. It also had a distinct call, a piping, almost mournful note). Surely sufficient features here for tristis.