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October 2006 Bird Report
October is an ambiguous month with wintering
species arriving in numbers, but ducks beginning to show breeding plumage
and courting behaviour. Two Great Crested Grebes were performing the
“weed dance” on 5th and a brood of young Mallard were seen on Grove
Lake on 21st. Up to 51 Barnacle Geese have been present, all that
remains of the feral flock, along with 4 Snow Geese. There are a
couple of odd geese; one appears to be a Barnacle x Snow, and the
other a Barnacle x Ross’ Goose.
I only count the ducks if I am bored – the
maximum counts I have are 173 Wigeon on the 25th, 38 Teal, 22
Shoveler and 18 Pochard. The mild weather seems to be
delaying the arrival of Goldeneye and Goosander.
Buzzard,
Sparrowhawk and Kestrel are resident. On the 8th, I came
across a Sparrowhawk with a struggling thrush on Lower Sandhurst Rd
at 06:42 in the morning – it was still quite dark. Shows how early they can
hunt if hungry. The local pair of Red-legged Partridges was seen on
the 29th and Water Rails have been heard from Colebrook Hide.
The habitat of the open diggings is proving
attractive to waders with this month’s highlight being 5 juvenile Little
Stints that were found by Kevin Carter on the 1st. They were present
for a couple of hours before flying off as a heavy shower arrived. A
Common Sandpiper was present on 14th and 15th. Green
Sandpipers were present all month with high counts of 8 on the 14th and
5 on the 29th. A Dunlin showed up on the 25th.
Sometime around the middle of the month the
local Gull roost moved to Colebrook Lake North. More than 700 Gulls arrive
a dusk and leave before dawn. These are nearly all adult Lesser
Black-backed Gulls, but there are also Common Gulls and a
few Yellow-legged Gulls with them. A smaller number of Gulls
congregate on the open diggings in the afternoons. On the 14th there was a
1st winter Great Black-backed Gull and on the 16th a
Yellow-legged Gull. Black-headed Gulls are ever present in
variable numbers.
100 House Martins were reported on the
8th and I saw a Swallow on the 16th – the same day that I saw my
first Redwings of the winter.
At least 4 Stonechats have arrived for
the winter and Chiffchaffs are still present, sometimes singing,
often moving with the flocks of Long-tailed Tits. Siskins
have been seen from the middle of the month, and the Linnet flock on
the new workings is up to 50+.
On the 31st I saw my first Mink in this
area – not a good sign for breeding birds.
Bruce
Archer
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