Patch Birding

Tuesday 5th January 2021

A bitterly cold day made even colder by a brisk north-easterly wind. There seemed to be few passerines around, I saw very few tits, pipits or finches.

In contrast the Peregrines were very active. I saw one or both of them in four different places including displaying and calling over the S Hide, dashing towards B Water, jostling with the Marsh Harriers over the DL’O scrape and even coming in off the sea. From MM’s the pair of wintering Sandwich Terns commuted back and forth but there were no grebes or divers here.

Dad joined me at the sailing club where there was no sign of the Pale-bellied Brent. We could see a distant female Eider on the sea diving with wings half open and a Great Northern Diver was fishing in the mouth of the river. Seven Avocet were roosting way up the river on the far bank.

There’d been a notable arrival of thrushes with at least 50 Song Thrushes and similar numbers of Redwing. Fieldfares were in double figures along with a handful of Mistle Thrushes. A Green Woodpecker near the JV hide was only the second I’ve seen at NO.

Kestrel, Reed Bunting & Wigeon photos by Ian Williamson

After lunch we headed to P Shore to check the geese flock at the top of P Lane. The 1,000 strong flock of Dark-bellied Brent Geese contained the four Russian White-fronts and as on my previous visits they were very distant but we managed some record shots. After a much longer look and with the light fading I managed to relocate the Pale-bellied Brent Goose towards the back of the flock.

Friday 1st January 2021

As on my first visit every month I made a concerted effort to record every species I saw with my previous best day totals being 74 in both November and December. I met up with Ian after lunch.

Highlights were the four Russian White-fronted Geese (three adults and a first winter) again at the top of P Lane and 35 Mediterranean Gulls together in the adjacent field.

A Great Northern Diver flying east and 20 Great Crested Grebes grouped together with a single drake Pochard from MM’s. 15 Avocets and a Spoonbill on the scrape. Firecrest, Treecreeper and Marsh Tit all at the Reedy Ditch. 149 Grey Plover in the high tide roost on the shingle ridge opposite the cottages. A Water Rail briefly on the edge of the footpath near DL’O hide and all five thrushes including high counts of Song Thrushes.

Pintail and Rock Pipit

I finished with a healthy 81. Ian beat me by 1 with his list including Barn Owl, Woodcock and Goshawk.

Tuesday 29th December 2020

The morning tide was mid-level and rising and so I decided to head to the Sailing Club first, it was also drizzling and so that would offer me some shelter. It was just after sunrise and with the low cloud and drizzle the visibility was very poor. Soon the rain strengthened and with wind coming from the east I didn’t have much protection. I decided to retreat to the car with the engine on to keep warm as the freezing rain lashed down on the windscreen.

After 30 minutes I ventured back out and while scanning the Brent Geese found a paler individual. I had to wait 10 minutes for it reveal itself properly from the long grasses. I was then delighted to see it was an adult Pale-bellied Brent Goose with gleaming white sides. Two populations of Pale-bellied Brent Geese reach Britain, those that breed on Spitsbergen winter in Northumberland and the Greenland birds winter mainly in Ireland. Our familiar Dark-bellied birds breed in Siberia and winter in southern England largely between the Humber and Exe estuaries.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose

The 14 Avocets and 14 Spoonbill were roosting again from DL’O with the Spoonbills surprisingly active. A Dartford Warbler was churring close by and a distant calling Spotted Redshank was the first I’ve recorded for six weeks.

A brief seawatch produce a fairly close Great Northern Diver but nothing moving and no sign of the Slavonian Grebes. A distant gull with a gleaming white head and dark mantle had me wondering about Yellow-legged Gull but the structure and wing tip pattern weren’t right and I think the dark mantle may have been an artifact of the back lighting.

Brent Geese and Canada Goose photos by Ian Williamson

I decided to head over to P Shore. At the top of P Lane I pulled over to scan a distant flock of geese and after a few minutes I found myself subconsciously repeating a call I could hear ‘jip jip jip’. It suddenly dawned on me that they were Crossbills and luckily I found them pretty quickly, two males and a female. A good record for the site and a patch tick.

A busy flock of 30 Mediterranean Gull were bathing at P Shore. A Grey Wagtail and a Raven called as they flew over and four Collared Doves were the first I’ve seen in December. I was hoping for a Barn Owl but no luck today.

Saturday 26th December 2020

It was forecast to be stormy but dry and so I decided to spend a few hours watching the sea from the lee of a weathered hawthorn bush near MM’s house. I was hoping for Gannet and Kittiwake but they are rare here and I don’t think it was stormy enough although it was certainly wetter than forecast.

I watched an immature male Eider dealing with a crab and then soon afterwards a Great Northern Diver much closer and also wrestling with a crab. The Slavonian Grebe had become a pair with both birds close together viewable distantly to the east along with half a dozen Great Crested Grebes. A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers flew west and a Mediterranean Gull followed soon afterwards.

I finished the afternoon by heading to P Shore looking for the Russian White-fronts. I found more than 1,000 Brents in a grassy field near the foreshore but there were no White-fronts amongst them. The scrape at the eastern end looked good for waders although I’m not sure if it will have dried out by the spring.

Presumably what was the same pair of Red-breasted Mergansers had now settled on the sea but took off before another squall hit. I headed back to the car, it was good to see P Shore for the first time.