TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER
Up and out at dawn in the hope of connecting with Chaz Jackson's Bar-Wit of last night (I had missed every one in April and May). As it was, it had departed overnight.......
It was a beautiful day, unbelievable for mid November, with SE winds bringing a ridge of high pressure accompanied by both clear blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine; temperatures reached a balmy 16 degrees C.....
WILSTONE RESERVOIR
I made two visits today - one from 0715-0815 and another from 1445-1700 hours. These were my observations.........
Great Crested Grebe (11)
Little Grebe (a first-winter under the bridge on the canal at Drayton Beauchamp)
Atlantic Great Cormorant (adult ringed 'CAU' roosting on bund - see Dave Bilcock's image above)
Cormorants, presumably Sinensis (22 on bund)
Mute Swan (37 present, including 1 first-winter)
Whooper Swan (usual two adults)
*BEWICK'S SWAN (the family party of 4 still present and this afternoon favouring the cut-off pool in the NW corner)
*EURASIAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (flew in from the east mid-afternoon and joined the 65 Greylag Geese on the bund; it was a full adult with strong underpart blotching, an extensive white forehead blaze, deep orange legs and a pale pink bill)
Greylag Geese (flock of 65)
*DARK-BELLIED BRENT GOOSE (the juvenile that first arrived on Sunday was still present in exactly the same place in the grass field adjacent to Rushy Meadow, best viewed from the Dry Canal)
Gadwall (3)
Northern Shoveler (127)
Eurasian Wigeon (282)
Common Teal (151)
NORTHERN PINTAIL (just 1 drake again)
Northern Pochard (106)
Tufted Duck (38)
Common Goldeneye (4 female-types still present)
*PEREGRINE (at first light, a male made several stoops at the wader flock before being chased off by the resident sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull)
Red-legged Partridge (Roy had a covey of 14 in fields by the Dry Canal)
Coot (614 on Wilstone)
European Golden Plover (same flock - 411 click-counted still)
Lapwing (389)
DUNLIN (4 this morning and 5 this evening on the bund)
Black-headed Gull (post-roost flock of 311)
Common Gull (single adult with the Black-heads)
Pied Wagtail (12)
Meadow Pipit (26)
MARSWORTH RESERVOIR
A Green Woodpecker was yaffling from the Black Poplars whilst 74 CORN BUNTINGS roosted
COLLEGE LAKE BBOWT
Very quiet and no sign of any Bewick's Swans - the main marsh held 10 Mute Swans, 105 Wigeon and 14 Gadwall
CHESS VALLEY, CHESHAM (BUCKS)
Two LITTLE EGRETS present this morning, in trees just east of Bois Mill
Up and out at dawn in the hope of connecting with Chaz Jackson's Bar-Wit of last night (I had missed every one in April and May). As it was, it had departed overnight.......
It was a beautiful day, unbelievable for mid November, with SE winds bringing a ridge of high pressure accompanied by both clear blue skies and wall-to-wall sunshine; temperatures reached a balmy 16 degrees C.....
WILSTONE RESERVOIR
I made two visits today - one from 0715-0815 and another from 1445-1700 hours. These were my observations.........
Great Crested Grebe (11)
Little Grebe (a first-winter under the bridge on the canal at Drayton Beauchamp)
Atlantic Great Cormorant (adult ringed 'CAU' roosting on bund - see Dave Bilcock's image above)
Cormorants, presumably Sinensis (22 on bund)
Mute Swan (37 present, including 1 first-winter)
Whooper Swan (usual two adults)
*BEWICK'S SWAN (the family party of 4 still present and this afternoon favouring the cut-off pool in the NW corner)
*EURASIAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (flew in from the east mid-afternoon and joined the 65 Greylag Geese on the bund; it was a full adult with strong underpart blotching, an extensive white forehead blaze, deep orange legs and a pale pink bill)
Greylag Geese (flock of 65)
*DARK-BELLIED BRENT GOOSE (the juvenile that first arrived on Sunday was still present in exactly the same place in the grass field adjacent to Rushy Meadow, best viewed from the Dry Canal)
Gadwall (3)
Northern Shoveler (127)
Eurasian Wigeon (282)
Common Teal (151)
NORTHERN PINTAIL (just 1 drake again)
Northern Pochard (106)
Tufted Duck (38)
Common Goldeneye (4 female-types still present)
*PEREGRINE (at first light, a male made several stoops at the wader flock before being chased off by the resident sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull)
Red-legged Partridge (Roy had a covey of 14 in fields by the Dry Canal)
Coot (614 on Wilstone)
European Golden Plover (same flock - 411 click-counted still)
Lapwing (389)
DUNLIN (4 this morning and 5 this evening on the bund)
Black-headed Gull (post-roost flock of 311)
Common Gull (single adult with the Black-heads)
Pied Wagtail (12)
Meadow Pipit (26)
MARSWORTH RESERVOIR
A Green Woodpecker was yaffling from the Black Poplars whilst 74 CORN BUNTINGS roosted
COLLEGE LAKE BBOWT
Very quiet and no sign of any Bewick's Swans - the main marsh held 10 Mute Swans, 105 Wigeon and 14 Gadwall
CHESS VALLEY, CHESHAM (BUCKS)
Two LITTLE EGRETS present this morning, in trees just east of Bois Mill
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