Tuesday, 3rd December: A dry and fairly cool day, with some hazy sunshine and broken cloud in a light NE breeze force 2-3.
Climping Gap: A slow morning, which started with virtually nothing moving about on the sea, bar the local gulls, but which eventually produced a nice bit of variety. I met up with local birder Bola and we watched together for some while, the unexpected highlight being a Marsh Harrier flying west over the sea, before it eventually soared higher and drifted off still going west. There were a good number of gulls around, including c.40 Mediterranean Gulls, whilst along the beach there were a number of Turnstones and Oystercatchers and further along a flock of up to 45 Grey Plovers.
Bola and I then spent some while searching the marshy areas for Jack Snipe, finding none despite our best efforts and just a single Snipe as compensation! Other species located during the search included Stonechat (1), Skylark (at least 60), Reed Bunting (5), Yellowhammer (2) and Meadow Pipit (several).
We then went our separate ways and I decided to cover the Atherington - Bailiffscourt area, where I was pleased to locate a Little Owl, then two Firecrests, two Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff, two Greenfinch and a flock of a dozen Long-tailed Tits.
Firecrests at Bailiffscourt, Climping
Monday, 2nd December: Bright, fairly mild and mainly sunny early on, with a moderate breeze W 4-5, but becoming cooler with cloud increasing later.
Elmer Rocks: A pleasant enough morning but little happening on the birding front. There was little moving offshore other than gulls, the best being half a dozen Mediterranean Gulls going east and a few Turnstones and Oystercatchers back and forth on the rising tide, before other waders had arrived to roost. A look around the set-aside corner and fields behind the beach didn't produce too much either; the regular Kestrel was present, a couple of Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail were on the flooded area and a single Chiffchaff was in the copse by the rife.
Pied Wagtail in the flooded arable field behind the beach
Bilsham farm: There was an unusually large count of 240 Common Gulls on the reservoir today, but otherwise it was a familiar mix of the species recently reported, with a tally of 26 Canada Geese, eight Shoveler, seven Tufted Ducks, a single Wigeon, six Little Grebes and 120 Coots. Around the area were two Stonechats, three Song Thrushes, a Cetti's Warbler, a small flock of Long-tailed Tits and a Chiffchaff.
A scan of the distant fields of the Brooks revealed the herd of c.50 Mute Swans and a single Curlew.
Common Gulls (mostly) on Bilsham reservoir this morning; this is never a numerous species locally so 240 is a good total.
Stonechat at Bilsham farm fields
Sunday, 1st December: A grey, dreary and fairly miserable start to the winter, with frequent and increasingly heavy showers through the morning, driven on by a gusty SW wind force 5-6.
Ancton paddocks: A low-key effort from me this morning, making two separate sorties to the local area when the showers briefly eased, only to soon be calling on my tatty umbrella and twice getting fairly wet! There was nothing really of any merit to report, a Chiffchaff was the best and just common species were noted....a Pied Wagtail, a Green Woodpecker, a large noisy flock of Jackdaws and so on. One of those mornings when the rain went on far longer than was forecast.
Chiffchaff at Ancton paddocks - bird of the morning!
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