November is whizzing by and the days are getting disappointingly short so not much chance to walk the patch after work meaning I am mostly getting to bird at the weekends.
That being said I did manage to get out on the 12th November,as I was on call the night before.This turned out to be areal bonus as when I walked though Kirkins and down Furnace Lane I noticed there were lots of Blackbirds around in the hedgerow and as I watched them feeding on Hawthorn berries they were joined briefly by a Ring Ouzel(107) a fantastic bird to have on my patch. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me as there were heavy showers during my walk so contented myself with watching it tucking in before flying off to the east.
The next day the only thing of note as I peered down the lake in the gloom was a pair of Teal.
The walk on Sunday 16th was a very pleasant one plenty of birds about. Kirkins held a flock of 24 Skylarks, 8 Pied Wagtails and 4 Meadow Pipits.As I looked though them a flock of 25 Herring Gulls passed overhead.Winter thrushes were still in low numbers but I also saw Song and Mistle Thrush and Blackbird.
Down at the lake there was a good mixed flock which contained 22 Long-tailed Tits,2 Coal Tits,Nuthatch,Treecreeper,Goldcrest,Blue Tit,Great Tit and 2 Chiffchaffs. It's good to get Chiffchaffs in November and it made wonder if they might hang around as I have never had a December record.
On the water it remains very quiet but I was treated to two Kingfishers and three Water Rails were calling from different parts of the reed beds. Two Great crested Grebes were on the water plus another Little Grebe and a real rarity here in the shape of a Coot!!
Today I managed an hour walk before work after being called out in the night. I was gobsmacked to find another Black Redstart on the fenceline in Kirkins. This is unprecedented on the patch and with the two the other week has doubled my tally of this species on my patch since I started watching.It also made me wonder how much is missed as I am the only person watching the patch seriously.
There were about 50 Fieldfares and 15 Redwings seen and a flock of 30 Siskins of note at the lake.