Saturday 2 December 2017

Goring, 2nd December 2017

The sea was surprisingly busy this morning with birds feeding and moving offshore. Perhaps the least expected sighting was of a distant Avocet heading west, although I was amazed to get both Red-necked Grebe and Black-throated Diver again. Both are perhaps quite likely to be the same birds first seen on 15th November, lingering in the area; the grebe headed west and the diver was feeding distantly offshore before heading east later in the morning. A Great Northern Diver bulldozed its way west and at least 97 Red-throated Divers went through during the morning, a handful of which pitched down.

Also offshore was a drake Velvet Scoter among 49 Common Scoters, 60 Red-breasted Mergansers, 27 Dark-bellied Brent Geese, 90 Great Crested Grebes, 49 Wigeon, 17 Teal, 37 Shelducks, 17 Kittiwakes, 21 Razorbills, eight Guillemots, a Gannet, 40 Great Black-backed Gulls and three Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

On the wader roll call were 78 Sanderlings, 255 Dunlin, 38 Grey Plovers, 34 Ringed Plovers, 46 Oystercatchers, a Redshank and 88 Turnstones. Four adult Mediterranean Gulls were in the area. Passerines included a Chiffchaff, a Redwing, the male Stonechat, a Meadow Pipit, three Skylarks, two Song Thrushes, four Goldcrests, 14 Pied Wagtails, nine Chaffinches and eight Greenfinches.