Royston Wildlife Blog: UK Wildlife Sightings November 2023

I was back at RSPB Titchwell Marsh on the 3rd, looking for photos of birds in flight. A Velvet Scoter was seen on the sea, accompanying a large flock of Common Scoters and several dragonflies were still on the wing (mating pairs were seen!), on a generally quiet visit.

Black-tailed Godwit in Flight (and about to land), RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 3 November

Brent Geese in Flight, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 3 November

I was back on the Norfolk Coast the following week, looking for a juvenile Red-breasted Goose that had been reported at Warham Greens on the previous couple of days. I hadn't seen one of these increasingly rare geese in the UK for several years and was keen to connect with it. I spent 90 minutes with other bird watchers at the northern end of Garden Drove, looking for the bird but there was no sign, although a Pallid Harrier (presumed to be the same female bird that had wintered here in 2022-23) was spotted on the ground. I decided to explore further to the east and found the goose with Brent Geese on the saltmarsh, about half a mile away. It was very distant and kept disappearing from view: a poor 'record shot' is shown below. I passed on information about where to see the goose to the other bird watchers, but they didn't seem very interested, having just seem an immature White-tailed Eagle (one of the Isle of Wight releases)!

Poor 'Record Shot' of a distant juvenile Red-breasted Goose (Head down, 3rd from right), with Brent Geese between Warham Greens and Stiffkey, 7 November

The following week I chased after two rare American ducks. The first, a male Green-winged Teal, was quickly located at the south end of the dam at Grafham Water and showed well: I even managed some half-decent photos! I had hoped to get some 'side by side' photos of the bird with a male Eurasian Teal, but it didn't quite happen.

Male Green-winged Teal (note the vertical white stripe on its side), Grafham Water, 13 November

Male Green-winged Teal (right) with male Eurasian Teal, Grafham Water, 13 November. The Eurasian Teal has a horizontal white stripe (partially visible) along its side and no vertical white stripe.

A couple of days later I was on the road again, this time to Abberton Reservoir (Essex) to look for a male Canvasback. Just as the Green-winged Teal closely resembles our Eurasian Teal, so the male Canvasback closely resembles our male Common Pochard. However the Canvasback, which is a much less common vagrant to the UK (I have had one sighting in the past), was buried in amongst several hundred Pochards. When I arrived at Abberton I was told that it was in a distant flock of Pochards, roughly equidistant between the Layer de al Haye and Layer Breton causeways. I spent maybe 40 minutes scanning the flock, alongside many others, but if it was there it was too distant to identify. I gave up and decided to go to the Abberton Visitor Centre and have a wander around the reserve. The third hide that I went to, 'Gwen's Hide', was packed and, when I managed to squeeze in, I found out that the Canvasback was in amongst a flock of around 250 tightly packed Pochards that were in a line, diving to feed on what must have been some particularly juicy under water vegetation. Despite being told that the Canvasback was towards the right hand end of the flock, it was several minutes before I got a clear sight of the bird. After that I had four or five brief, clear sightings of the Canvasback as the flock moved around, often hidden from view behind bushes. I took quite a few photos, but was unable to get an identifiable image of my target bird. Eventually something spooked the ducks and the whole lot took off, together with other species, flew around, briefly landed and then took off again, flying towards the causeways. I took photos of the birds in flight and, after poring over them, found one with the probable Canvasback amongst the Pochards. Unfortunately, the tip of its bill is obscured by another bird, so I can't be certain. For the record, a male Canvasback is slightly bigger than a male Pochard and has a darker face with a straighter, all dark bill. The 'probable' in the image is roughly a third of the way in from the left and from the bottom of the image below - good luck in finding it!

Probable male Canvasback with (mainly) Common Pochards, 15 November

So far in November luck at finding rare birds had been with me, but it ran out completely on the 21st. Despite suffering from a rather unpleasant virus, I decided to travel to Winterton-on-Sea on the North Norfolk coast, with the aim of seeing a Pallid Swift that had been seen in flight and had been roosting in the church tower for the previous few days. Having established that it had left the roost in the morning and had later been seen in flight at around 9.00am, I set off with high hopes. Several other bird watchers were looking for the bird when I arrived at midday but, to cut a long story short, it was never seen again. Apart from a short coastal walk to see the pupping Grey Seals on the beach, I spent the rest of my time in the area of the church, hoping that the bird would reappear whilst steadily feeling worse as my health deteriorated further and the cold, northerly wind bit into me. That night I developed a temperature and a fever, which laid me low for 48 hours. This was definitely a 'twitch' that I won't forget in a hurry.

Waxwings have invaded the UK in good numbers this winter, and are steadily moving west. The first report of birds in Hertfordshire came from Berkhamsted, where eight were reported in the Tesco car park (a typical place for Waxwings to turn up!). However, I arrived too late in the day to see them on the 28th, and on subsequent dates sightings (almost always early in the morning) were reduced in numbers until the birds disappeared altogether. By the 29th I had, with the exception of a persistent cough, recovered from my illness and decided to visit Slimbridge WWT (near Bristol) on a rare, sunny day. My main targets were Bewick's Swans, but I was also looking forward to doing some photography of both wild and captive birds. Bewick's Swans have been arriving later and later at Slimbridge, and in smaller numbers, with just 14 individuals (including two families of four) seen on the day. Despite the low numbers the swans appeared quite aggressive to each other, something that I haven't noticed before. About 70 White-fronted Geese were seen, whilst near the Severn Estuary six Common Cranes and a large flock of Barnacle Geese were present. On the reserve itself I was surprised to see a Spotted Redshank with four Redshanks, giving me a chance to observe the differences between these two similar species. In the captive area, male Goldeneyes were already displaying.