Saturday 4 October 2014

Saturday 4th October

Three hours sea-watching in the rain from the seawall produced a w.p. Black-necked Grebe briefly offshore, three Great Northern Diver, a drake Eider with a few Common Scoter, three Red-breasted Merganser, a Mediterranean Gull, 259 Gannet and 26 Sandwich Tern flew south and just two Razorbill and a Kittiwake.  No fall in the bushes, which held a Wheatear, three Goldcrest, eight Chiffchaff, ten Blackcap and 26 Goldfinch.  A Grey Wagtail foraged along the Main Pond margins. Only four Swallow, single-figures of Meadow Pipit and Skylark, 18 Pied Wagtail and a Jackdaw passed overhead, but wildfowl were on the move - small flocks arrived all day, but the largest movements were sadly the sight of hundreds of wildfowl fleeing the mass of kite-surfers within the estuary, flushed to the relatively quieter waters of the reserve where 17 Pintail, 495 Teal, 850 Wigeon and 98 Brent Goose took refuge.  At high tide, counts included 17 Little Egret, c1750 Oystercatcher, 71 Ringed Plover, 418 Curlew, 7+ Black-tailed Godwit, c12 Bar-tailed Godwit,  3 Knot, 22 Sanderling, 280 Dunlin, 396 Redshank and 1 Greenshank.

Ringed Plover sporting a yellow flag and red colour-ring is thought to be Norwegian, details to follow!

Wildlife news: two Harbour Porpoise loitered offshore.  A Clouded Yellow, a Wall, Red Admirals and a few other butterflies ventured out when the sun appeared later on.

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