Monday 27 October 2008

Goodbye Autumn . . .
Today had a distinct northerly 'chill' in the air with a temperature 'feel' factor of -2 & more strong winds! It is official - winter is here! There were very few birds about but good numbers of Greylag Geese still  in the south & notable numbers of Thrushes. In the afternoon a walk to south light & back produced 8 Teal, 2 Grey Phalarope, 1 Knot, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Merlin, 1 Pied Wagtail, 25+ Lapwing, 5+ Golden Plover, plenty of Greylag Geese - 1 with orange neck ring  (BCS). In the Havens a Chaffinch remains along with 2 Long-tailed Duck &  a reduced flock of Snow Bunting. I photographed a Common Snipe in the New Plantation & several Redwing, still in abundance. A Glaucous Gull was seen eating kitchen scraps near the Obs first thing this morning. Monday nights dazzling session was not very productive with 3 Greylag Geese being caught from a flock of over 40 - and 2 of these 3 were already ringed!