Kestrel

An early morning sea watch in relatively calm conditions proved tricky as the light conditions were bad resulting in mostly silhouetted birds against an orange sky as the sun rose. A light fog and haze also added to the difficulty. However after an hour or so the usual morning westerly movement of auks had occurred along with a few more Kittiwakes and Gannets than usual but to be honest it was not all that inspiring. Walking back to my car I noticed a small raptor flying low and going past my car out of view and I thought it had landed. Peering carefully and slowly around my car a Kestrel had landed next to a large puddle in the shingle and proceeded to wander in to the puddle to drink and bathe. Given the still conditions and the fact that I was now looking north with the sun behind me the opportunities for photography were superb and I couldn't believe my luck in getting almost perfect reflections of this lovely falcon.

Pallas's Warbler

There have been four Pallas's Warblers so far this autumn and probably five. However, for various reasons I have only managed to catch-up with the first one which was in Dengemarsh Gulley. Over the weekend I missed the chance of seeing two of these Asian gems in the hand. Today though I was in luck as Dave Walker the Observatory warden messaged that he'd found a ringed Pallas's Warbler in the Moat which was likely the bird ringed on Sunday (at least that is what he thought before checking the ring number) and managed to re-trap it. Back at the ringing hut it was confirmed as the same bird previously ringed and it had managed to add 0.1 grams of fat since then which given it only weighed 5 grams on Saturday is good going, especially given the awful weather conditions on Monday. Such an incredibly beautiful warbler with just about all the feather tract features you could wish for.

Many thanks to Dave for messaging and showing the bird.

Little Gulls were passing in low numbers during the morning seawatch, the early morning light was very gloomy.

Crossbills

Tuesday 4th November

Despite visiting the pines earlier in the day and not seeing that much a visitor located a flock of 28 Crossbills there later that day at the pines. The birds were feeding in the pines and occasionally coming down to the puddles along the track to drink.

I received a call from Martin whilst I was at home to inform me that a flock of 17 were still at the pines and showing very well. Leaving the decorating I was doing for another time I soon arrived at the pines and was watching these lovely and charismatic finches as they demolished various pine cones. The last time I had seen perched Crossbills in the area was at the pines back in 2020.

Many thanks to Martin for the call.

Friday 7th November

On Friday 7th a few Black Redstarts were recorded across the peninsula with at least 10 noted. Four of them graced the RSPB Visitor Centre car park area and buildings. 

After hearing on the radio that Martin had to leave the Fishing Boats and noting the numbers and variety of species that he had recorded I decided to continue the watch to provide some continuity. However, my watch only lasted 40 minutes as it turned out to be very poor. At least a close Red-throated Diver just off-shore performed for the camera.