A few decent birds today, with wildfowl heading the list.
A faint yip-yip-yipping, then distant views of a few sturdy medium-size geese culminated in good views of these five european white-fronts heading South. Perhaps these Baltic breeders were en route to the Severn estuary where the majority winter.
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| Euro White-fronted Geese: appearing to be 4 adults and a juv. |
My first two goldeneyes of the season were on Freeman's Pools. A scan of the estuary at high water revealed five shovelers, six gadwall and a pochard mingling with wigeons and teal near Gull Bank.
A nice female merlin was panicking the saltmarsh lapwings and starlings (around 2000 and 500 birds respectively). Merlins can be a regular sight here in winter.
A woodcock flew over the water from Heaton Marsh, dropping into cover near the cutting.
The hedges and bushes held a few each of goldcrest, song thrush and fieldfare, with around 50 (mainly 1st- winter male) blackbirds, including a dozen or so loudly mobbing an ivy roosting little owl by Stodday sewage works.
DH.
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