Ogston Bird News December 2005-29 Days Covered-76 Species.
Little Grebe was seen fairly frequently with a maximum of seven on 4th, Great Crested Grebe was seen a little more regularly with a best count of twenty three again on 4th, Cormorant was recorded more regularly than last month with a maximum of thirty nine28th, Grey Heron had a maximum of six on 19th, the resident flock of Canada Geese peaked at one hundred and seventy one on 4th, and for some of the time had the lone Pink-footed Goose with them, which stayed until month end, a flock of some one hundred Pink-footed Geese were observed flying from south to east on 12th. Mallard and Teal appeared to be amongst the most numerously recorded wildfowl, with best counts of one hundred and twenty five and seventy respectively, Pochard were noted on a regular basis with twenty four on 31st, Ruddy Duck were seen on at least four occasions. There were numerous sightings of Goldeneye with seven birds seen on both 3rd and 4th, three Goosander ( 2males +1 fem ), were present on 10th with six present on 31st (4male+ 2female),a single Pintail visited on 3rd. A Little Egret which put in an appearance on 7th, was seen on at least six more dates, on 8th, 9th, 15th, 18th,22nd 24th and 31st, A Water Rail caused a great deal of excitement when first seen on 7th, it was subsequently seen on 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th,26th and again on 31st, whilst three Gadwall were present on 2nd (2males 1 female ), four on 4th, and singles on 25th and 26th. Wigeon had an early month high of forty five on 3rd, but were down to a single bird on 12th.
Raptor sightings were very scarce throughout the whole of the month, with Sparrowhawk seen on just four occasions on 12th, 19th, 24th and 27th, with single birds seen on each date, whilst Kestrel was noted on 3rd (single), 5th(two birds), and a single bird again on 12th.
Throughout the whole of the month things had been fairly quiet with not much to get excited about, then the Gull Roost gave us a candidate for bird of the month, when a 1st winter Glaucous Gull was found on 2nd
This was the first bird of this species of the second winter period, and only the third bird of this species this year, and was followed on 3rd by an adult Mediterranean Gull. There was an adult Yellow- legged Gull and a 1st winter Caspian Gull on 1st, and a possible adult Caspian Gull on same date, a 1st winter Yellow-legged and 1st winter Caspian were present on 3rd, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls together with two adult and two 1st winter Caspian Gulls on 4th, single 1st winter Caspian on 5th, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls and two 1st winter Caspian Gulls were in the roost on 7th. One adult Yellow-legged and one adult Caspian roosted on 10th. The 17th provided one adult Yellow-legged and three 1st winter Caspian Gulls. The roost on 29th had a CaspianGull, a Glaucous Gull, two Iceland Gulls (the first birds of the second winter period), and what must definitely be the bird of the month, and possibly the year, a Kumliens Iceland Gull, with possibly the same bird also reported on 30th.The bird, if accepted by the D.O.S. Rarities Committee, would be a very welcome addition to the year list, and a tremendous climax to 2005. An adult Iceland Gull and a 1st winter Glaucous Gull were present on 30th, and 1st and 2nd winter Iceland Gulls and 1st winter and adult Glaucous Gulls were in the roost on 31st.
Kingfisher seen on at least ten dates, with a maximum of two on 24th, with Little Owl seen on five days. Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen very regularly on the feeders near the members hide, as were most of the common species, including Great, Blue and Coal Tit, together with Nuthatch and Jay. A Green Woodpecker seen on 23rd was the only sighting of the month, but was a welcome addition to a very depleted list for the month. A mixed flock of Redwings and Fieldfares circa one hundred were noted on 12th, eight Goldcrest on 19th was a good record, Bullfinch became very easy to see during the month and a maximum of five on 3rd was quite good, and two sightings of Reed Bunting on 12th and 19th.
Just six sightings of Common Snipe with a maximum of nine seen on 28th, a Redshank was present on 13th Lapwing peaked at thirty five on 5th, the only other wader to be noted was a Dunlin on 27th. Four Siskin were recorded on 12th, and five Lesser Redpoll were observed close to the public hide on 4th. A single female Blackcap was seen near Carr Pond on the guided walk on the 3rd, a single flyover Crossbill was observed in the same area on the 4th, and later during the gull roost on the same evening, observers were treated to the sight of a single flyover Waxwing , calling as it made it’s way towards Brackenfield, but the bird was not located again. |
