November 2010

It took me all of November to get up to date with a week of birding in October! Luckily (depending on your outlook) I have done very little birding since then, so catching up is a tad easier.

By the time we got back to Seaford (31 Oct) visible migration was all but over. A few Meadow Pipits moved over in the first week of November, and overnight Redwings moved over in very good numbers, up until mid-month. November 7th was particularly good. I took a sample count of 23 in 10 minutes, which works out to approximately 120/150 per hour. I'm assumig they would have been moving from approximately 20:00 to 05:00, about first light at this time. This would have meant that approximately 1080-1350 Redwings moved over during that night!

I also saw Siskins in Seaford on 16 and 18 November. I have never seen then actually in town before now, only flying over, so this was unusual. I haven't seen any since though, so I don't think they are wintering.

On 20 Nov, in a mixed flock of Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit and Blue Tit, I saw a Chiffchaff of eastern origin, either abientus or tristis, but most likely the former. It was browner above and without any yellowish tone on it's underside, looking strikingly similar to the bird here (scroll down to 15 Nov). two Ravens also flew over today, and I saw my first wintering Redwings in Seaford.

After that, I saw very few birds until the snow arrived. On 28 November, a flock of 25 Lapwing and 30 Skylarks flew high over my house, all heading SW. I'll sign off with some photos from the garden taken recently...