Monday, November 21, 2022

Surely this is The End!

 Yesterday I met John at first light at Seaton Point to see if any migrants had been grounding in the overnight rain. The wind was a light SSE. It was dull first thing but it brightened into a nice day by mid morning.

Seaton Point from Foxton beach.

A few Thrushes were coming in with a scatter of Redwing and Fieldfare but there were more Blackbirds and Robins. In fact every bush and bracken clump or seaweed pile had Robins.

A Woodcock was flushed from the edge of the golfcourse. In this spot, 9 Redpolls and 30 Siskins flew W.

Along at the point the sea was dead today with very few signs of movement so we decided to check the shore for the two Snow Buntings I had seen on Friday. We soon located one bird feeding along the strand line but there was no sign of its colleague? As is the way with Snow Buntings, this loner fed unconcerned as dogs and their owners walked past yards away so we took the good opportunity to get some photos. While we were watching, the shore waders became anxious and began calling. This disturbed the bunting and it flew off southwards.

 




After some tea back at the car, the sun was shining so we checked the coast path south to Foxton Golf Club.

A couple of small settling ponds here looked good for a migrant or two but the best we could manage was a nice Kingfisher giving a close fly by before perching briefly on top of beach side brambles.

Then down to the Golf Club proper. It was here when we were checking a nice looking gully a loud call close overhead jolted us back into concentration - Waxwing! I thought it might be sat in the trees but it was just flying low overhead, and continued straight south. Waxwings are scarce but regular on our patch recorded in 8 years out of 14 but this was my first local bird since 2019. Hoping there are more to come!

A shot from a previous year but this is what it was like if I could have deployed the camera quicker! 


3 comments:

derek said...

There's a few waxwings hitting the NE and hopefully more to come. Please chase them west across the Irish Sea!!

Stewart said...

That might be one stretch of water too far Derek, but good luck. Some easterlies later in the week might push them your way..

derek said...

Got a waxwing today. Photos on RSPB window on wildlife Facebook page. 😎