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
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