Friday 3 December 2010

Friday 3rd December

The Winter festivities continue. I had just arrived at Shustoke with my wife in the early afternoon when I received a text to say there were two Knot at Shustoke. Not that Joy was fussed in the slightest that she hadn’t seen the bird from Wednesday, but was looking forward (in a female way) to seeing them.

As we got to the north-west corner I picked up two waders on the shoreline, but they didn’t appear big enough to be Knot and on closer inspection turned out to be Dunlin. I am not for an instant dismissing the Knot they could well have been there and flown off. Bobby D had 6 Curlew that I didn’t see and I had a Redshank that he didn’t. Suffice to say that with these weather conditions birds are coming and going all the time.

Wildfowl numbers are still high though most of the lake is now ice-covered. The Wigeon have increased to over 80 birds now and I noted 7 Gadwall and the male Goldeneye. There was a Kingfisher on the river but still few passerines.

In the garden Tree Sparrows have reached five birds, which was last years peak.

Yesterday, male Pintail (130) (per Steve Haynes)

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