The clear highlight of the day's patch birding was an energetic male
Firecrest feeding on the edge of the holm oaks on Ilex Avenue, a site first for me. Just over an hour of seawatching - joined for a while by Gareth J - produced 53
Dark-bellied Brent Geese, three
Common Scoters, 19
Red-breasted Mergansers, six
Great Crested Grebes, seven
Red-throated Divers, two
Razorbills and seven distant
auks. 13 adult
Mediterranean Gulls were in the fields and towards dusk in excess of 2,500
Common Gulls roosted on the sea.
Ringed Plovers,
Dunlin,
Grey Plovers,
Sanderlings,
Turnstones and
Oystercatchers were all present but not fully counted today. Other birds included two
Fieldfares, 11
Redwings, seven
Skylarks, a
Moorhen, a
Green Woodpecker, three
Great Spotted Woodpeckers (including two in a drumming contest, giving a slight spring-like feeling!) and 19
Greenfinches. A cursory look at the lower part of Ferring Rife produced just another
Green Woodpecker to add of any note.
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♂ Firecrest |
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Fieldfare |