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

Pintail

Great Egret

Pintail, Wigeon and Gadwall

Stonechat

Goosander

Moorhen

Pheasant

Pheasant

Coot

Greylag Goose

Crow

Wheatear

Wheatear

Wheatear

Confiding Wheatear

Red Kite

Red Kite

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.

One less large Carp in the resevoir

Pochard

Pochard

Barnacle Geese

Shoveler

Eclipse drake Goosander (first drake of the autumn)

Goosander

Lapwing

Snipe

Shoveler

Goosander

Swan

Red Kite

Herring Gull

Crow

Scaup

Scaup

Distant record shot of my Turtle Dove find

Slender billed Nutcracker at Mundesley in Norfolk

I was walking the reservoir on Saturday morning when news broke that a Nutcracker had been refound in Mundesley Norfolk having first been seen on Thursday. I called the Jims, marched back to the car and picked them up on my way to the M25. It took 3 hours to get to Trunch road in Mundesley where we found a crowd of like minded fools standing in the rain watching the front garden where the bird had last been seen a couple of hours prior to our arrival. We stood in the rain for a few hours chatting and catching up with birding pals from far and wide but there was no sign of the target and eventually we gave in late afternoon and started the journey home only to see news that the bird had returned to the garden with us no more than five miles out. We turned around and headed back but of course the bird had now gone again and now we had to talk to the same guys as before but now they'd all seen the bird and we obviously hadn't. We stuck it out until it was almost dark still raining and now quite soaked we headed home very disappointed in how the twitch had turned out for us.

Dad had a lunch commitment for Sunday so quickly ruled himself out of a next day return and I was having some real nasty pain from my knee so wasn't if I could do the drive again. I told Jimmy to keep his phone on and if I woke thinking I could make the drive I'd pick him up. I tossed and turned all night both with the knee pain and the thought of missing this much wanted bird. At 3am I called Jim and picked him up at 4.30am having decided despite the pain in my knee I was still going to try for it again.

On arrival at around 7.45am we found an even bigger crowd than yesterday gathered at the house and parking was difficult meaning we had to walk about a mile to get back to the house which I could have done without on a dodgy knee. As we neared the house we noticed the crowd had disappeared so a quick check on birdguides "Nutcracker showing well on Water Lane" and off we go at pace another mile or so down the road to find about two hundred people gathered on a wooden bridge in the local park. With help we got straight on the bird and enjoyed it in view for the next two hours as it moved from the trees to the road to the houses and back looking for food which seemed to be mostly wasps.

What a day, what a twitch and what a bird!

I've wanted to see a Nutcracker since I was a young lad reading bird books thinking I'd never see some of these. Spoonbill had that romance for me and I still remember my first at Minsmere back in the 80's and this Nutcracker is very much a similar iconic bird for me.

The journey home was painful as my knee paid me back for a) all the driving of the last two days, b) the walking to the bird including a short run and c) all the standing around but no amount of pain would take away from the experience of seeing this fabulous bird.

Year list now 234 Life list now 458 and Norfolk list now 301.