Local Wildlife Sightings November 2021

 With the exception of a couple of cool days early in the month, the weather in the first half of November was ridiculously mild. With the prevailing winds continuing to come from the west or south, very limited numbers of winter visitors from Europe appeared in my area. Redwings, in particular, were notable by their absence although I did hear one or two passing overhead in the dark. My bird feeders were restocked and there was plenty of interest shown in them despite the weather, with 13 common species (blue tit, great tit, coal tit, long-tailed tit, house sparrow, robin, wren, chaffinch, goldfinch, woodpigeon, blackbird, jackdaw and magpie) seen around the feeders in half an hour on the morning of the 8th, when a red admiral butterfly was also seen fluttering around at the unearthly (for me) hour of 8.45am. On one occasion I put out an apple on the lawn, hoping to attract thrushes. Within a couple of hours it had been consumed - by a carrion crow! A tawny owl continued to hoot occasionally through the night, from the direction of Royston hospital.

With little of interest around it was left to the many gulls flying over, feeding or generally hanging about in nearby arable fields to keep me on my toes. Numbers of wintering common and black-headed gulls slowly increased through the month, whilst numbers of lesser black-backed gulls (mainly on passage) slowly decreased. The first image below shows a typical group of these three species on the ground on the 12th at Hatchpen Farm, whilst the second shows what I believe (from the primary feather markings on the wing) to be my second local yellow-legged gull sighting of the autumn, seen on the same afternoon. Will I be able to add to my list of gull species seen locally (currently standing at six) this winter? Well, I need something to keep me going through a very quiet year........

Gulls at Hatchpen Farm (Reed), 12 November

Yellow-legged Gull (?) in Flight, Hatchpen Farm, 12 November

My interest in invertebrates finally lapsed completely, with only red admiral sightings to report by the middle of the month. The last individual was seen on the 18th. Colder weather produced the first signs of winter from the 20th, with gales and frosts later in the month.

Red Admiral (Last Butterfly of the Year?), Royston, 18 November

I went on a long walk round the villages on the 16th, which produced a flock of at least 50 fieldfares near Reed End, some scattered redwings and a little grebe at Mardleybury Lake, which has now been named (there is a sign there) 'Phillups Lake'. I'll try to call it by this name in future. A marsh tit was heard on the Wisbridge Estate (Reed) and at least nine corn buntings were seen at Hatchpen. A flock of 61 golden plovers was wheeling around over the Therfield end of the Icknield Way. On my way back I came across a couple who were looking at a large, mixed flock of linnets and chaffinches at Greys Farm. They told me that they had seen a couple of bramblings nearby. I couldn't find any at the time, but returned on following days and was surprised to see at least 15 bramblings on a visit on the 19th, as well as smaller numbers of this species on other occasions. Linnet flocks of up to 200 were regularly seen, as were chaffinch flocks of 50 or more. This has been a good autumn for the arrival of bramblings from Europe and I have never seen such a large number locally. Given the paucity of chaffinches seen during the summer in the Royston area, I imagine that most or all of those seen in the Greys Farm area were also continental visitors.

'Record Shot' of a Brambling, Therfield, 22 November

Linnet, Therfield, 22 November

Following a report of hawfinches at Scales Park (Anstey) I paid a visit on the 23rd. I wasn't able to locate any hawfinches in this very large area of woodland, although I did see a small flock of siskins and recorded at least three marsh tits. I could still find no sign of interesting raptors (merlin, hen harrier, short-eared owl) in my local area to the end of the month, although all three species were occasionally being seen in the area between Wallington and Baldock. However, my local tawny owl continued to hoot to the month's end.

Brown Hare Fleeing a Shoot, Greys Farm, 29 November

 

 

UK Wildlife Sightings November 2021

 On the 2nd I once again visited North Norfolk, firstly heading for West Runton where I saw my first UK short-toed lark, and then driving up to Wells, from where I walked along the beach to see a group of four shorelarks that had made their winter home in a cordoned off area of the beach, just to the east of Holkham Gap. Walking along North Norfolk beaches, particularly on a rare sunny day, is definitely one of my favourite activities. The larks proved to be difficult to photograph, but several wading birds in Wells harbour gave great views, including the curlew shown below.

Curlew, Wells Harbour, 2 November

'Record Shot' of Short-toed Lark, West Runton, 2 November

On the 5th I ventured to the other end of Hertfordshire, lured by reports of a great (white) egret giving very close views from the hide at Wilstone Reservoir. I joined a number of photographers with huge lenses in the hide, to watch the egret fishing for perch in what was obviously a very productive area, a few feet from the hide. Unfortunately for the egret it had a rival in the form of a grey heron, which kept harassing it and chasing it away. I've seen great egrets all over the world, but never been as close to one as I was here. My photographs didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but I've attached a couple below anyway. Also seen at Wilstone were a second great egret, a kingfisher and a flyover siskin.

Great Egret in Flight, Wilstone Reservoir, 5 November

Great Egret with Perch catch, Wilstone Reservoir, 5 November

The following week saw my third attempt of the autumn (on the 10th) to see an American wigeon, this time at a lake called 'The Pillinge', at Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) and is a classic example of how not to go about trying to find a rare bird. I set off rather later than planned on a dull afternoon, but still arrived in good time to see the bird before it got dark. However, I didn't bother calling in at the nearby Visitor Centre but went straight out looking for the bird, only to discover that it was in an enclosed reserve, only accessible from the Visitor Centre. By the time I got to the lake dusk was approaching, and I went round anti-clockwise only to find that the flock of wigeon with which it was (presumably) associating were viewable from the very last hide - if I had gone round clockwise (or asked which hide to go to) I would have saved more time. As it was, it was too dark to make out my target bird (if, indeed it was viewable from the hide) in the gathering gloom. My misery was completed when I tried a different route and got stuck in a traffic jam on the way back, taking twice as long to get home as I did to get there!

Fortunately, luck was on my side the following day when I visited Abberton Reservoir to look for Slavonian grebes. Not only did I see the (four) grebes but an un-ringed white stork had just flown in and was showing well from the next hide along. This was presumably the bird that had been regularly seen nearby at Stanway and which I had intended to look for later in the day. Also seen at Abberton were a long-tailed duck and a female scaup, which I was able to photograph near to a female tufted duck with white markings near the base of the bill (which these birds often have, leading to confusion with female scaup). My image (below) clearly shows the differences in body size, shape and markings between these two species.

Female Scaup (on the left) with Female Tufted Duck, Abberton Reservoir, 11 November

White Stork, Abberton Reservoir, 11 November

 I made two further trips to Norfolk in November. On the 17th I visited Lynford Arboretum, where increasing numbers of hawfinches were being seen in 'The Paddocks'. I set off early, but still arrived too late (08.20) to see the dawn gathering, which had numbered 22 and was later to rise to 35. Nevertheless, I hung around all morning and was rewarded with sightings of up to seven individuals. I also set up a rather crude and improvised feeding station on one of the parapets of a bridge where I have often spent time photographing the smaller birds of the area, which have become quite tame. This is, in my limited experience, the best place to see and photograph marsh tits in the UK. Sure enough, there were plenty of takers for my offerings, although the birds in my better photographs annoyingly all had seeds in their bills, making it obvious that these were 'set up' shots. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself.

Marsh Tit, Lynford Arboretum, 17 November

It was a bright, sunny day, so I went on to RSPB Titchwell for the afternoon to photograph waders, both on the freshmarsh and on the gorgeous beach. I waited to watch the harriers coming in to roost, getting the briefest of glimpses of a 'ringtail' hen harrier as it roosted to the west of the main path (the marsh harriers roost on the other side of the path).

Bar-tailed Godwits and Knot on the beach, RSPB Titchwell, 17 November

Three Brent Geese in Flight, RSPB Titchwell, 17 November

I was back on the Norfolk coast on the 25th. This autumn has seen a 'wreck' of hundreds, possibly thousands, of seabirds, mainly auks, along the east coasts of England and Scotland, with many birds dying - often of starvation - although the exact cause of  these deaths has yet to be established. Divers also appear to have been affected, with a number of unhealthy specimens seen in sheltered bays and harbours. I was initially drawn to Wells harbour, where there had been a report of a black-throated diver the day before. I didn't see this bird, although I did see a very tame, probably sick, moulting red-throated diver in the harbour, which allowed a close approach (image below). Although I'm confident of my assignment, it did have a small black patch (viewable on the image) on its throat as well as unusually dark plumage for this species (a black-throated diver was again reported as being in the harbour, a couple of hours after I had left). A rather moribund-looking guillemot was nearby. I walked along the coast as far as Holkham Gap, managing to get some rather better pictures of the shorelarks there than I had on my previous visit. Strong northerly winds on the 25th and the following days brought more interesting birds to Wells Harbour, including a Brunnich's guillemot (a 'first' for Norfolk, although the bird later died) the following day and two little auks on the 27th.

Red-throated Diver, Wells Harbour, 25 November

Shorelark, Holkham Gap, 25 November

I moved on to Titchwell again in the afternoon, where I had good views of two 'ringtail' hen harriers coming in to roost.

Redshank, RSPB Titchwell, 25 November