Brian's birding blog: October at the George

Sunday, 1 November 2026

October at the George

I'm still going, still keeping up the visits to the local reservoir for my birding fix.

October saw me total 84 species missing just Shelduck seen just by Ian L on one occasion and Goldcrest seen by Eugene although non Ebirders also reported Redpoll, Med Gull and Goldeneye which I didn't see so I actually missed three species of the 87 known to have been recorded this October.

The best bird for October was undoubtedly the Turtle Dove I found on the morning of 29th which brought about some local interest and a rare twitch by several London birders looking to tick the Turtle Dove on their London lists. Also of note this month were Pintail, Goosander, Scaup, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Rock Pipit, Black Redstart, Wheatear and several Stonechats along with the autumn arrival of Redwingsm Siskin and a single Fieldfare. I also saw my third Rook of the year which is not an easy bird at the George but Turtle Dove aside the star bird was a Snipe that sat on the causeway on 18th. I've seen Snipe before over the George but couldn't find a date for my ebird records so this is technically a first for me in that respect and brings the site list to 153.

The biggest movement out in October was Tufted Duck that moved from a peak approaching 3000 birds in September to just 600 by the end of October. These birds spend the summer on the reservoir and undergo a full moult making them flightless for a while and making the reservoir a site of special scientific interest. Shoveler also use the site for a summer moult but in much smaller numbers where they peaked at around 250 birds but were down to around 50 by the month end.

The year list for the reservoir is 135 with Rock Pipit, Snipe and Turtle Dove all new additions this month.

Here's a few pictures of October's birds.

Pintail

Little Egret

Pintail

Great Egret

Pintail, Wigeon and Gadwall

Stonechat

Goosander

Moorhen

Pheasant

Coot

Greylag Goose

Crow

Wheatear

Confiding Wheatear

Red Kite

Tufted Duck

The Tufted Duck was ringed at Sainte Suzanne et Chamnes in France on 15th June 2021 (aged +2A)

It was reported several times over the next few years at the same location until I found it on the George during my visit on 14th October making the bird over 7 years old and recording it's first trip out of France. (Not saying it's never left France before just that this is the first time anybody has reported it back to the ringing programme in France) Apparently it's quite normal for Tufted Duck and Pochard to head north from France post breeding towards the end of June/July.