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Eden Estuary News (2 Viewers)

I assume the barnacle geese are still around. I haven't seen them since Friday but the many of the geese have been tucked around the corner on recent mornings. Goose numbers have increased significantly in the past week or so, especially pinkfeet.
A relatively quiet weekend, but we were out for quite a bit of it. On Saturday's very high tide a single pale-bellied brent goose was off the saltmarsh, whilst a rock pipit was sat on a log surrounded by water. The high tides also induced dabchicks to feed off the saltmarsh. Wigeon and teal numbers are building nicely. On Friday Sue saw 2 drake long-tailed ducks.
A kingfisher was on the far shore yesterday afternoon.

Rob
 
Not much to report. I was away at a meeting for the second half of last week and leading an SOC outing on Sunday.
Wednesday 9th produced a female long-tailed duck and an impressive count of 10 greenshanks. Pinkfoot numbers continue to increase, with around 500 now roosting. There has also been an influx of teal - 192 yesterday morning.

Rob
 
I had a bit of a shock as I drove up to the house last night - a badger ran across the drive from beside the house and off into the dark! First garden record. Nearest sett is probably over a mile away.

Rob
 
No repeat performance, but single foxes on both Friday and Saturday.
The past few days have been good for grey plover and bar-tailed godwit coming upstream with the large dunling flock. Not exceptional numbers but e.g. 24 grey plovers and 6 barwits on Friday.
As is often the case cold weather brings some changes. Saturday included a tufted duck, 3 fieldfares west and a large movement of pinkfeet SW late afternoon (3300+). Teal numbers yesterday reached an unprecedented 405. A few years ago it was very unusual to see 100 in the inner estuary. By contrast wigeon numbers have declined over the same period. A slavonian grebe was well upstream yesterday afternoon.
Rock pipits have been conspicuous on the saltmarsh along with a large flock of linnets. I still hope for twite ...

Merry Christmas

Rob
 
Well here we are. We should have gone down to Sue's mum's for Christmas yesterday but 4 inches of snow put paid to that.
Some excellent hard weather birding with at least 230 skylarks SW, 16 tufted ducks and a drake pochard (mega!) all clearly displaced. A fieldfare came down to apples on the lawn. 8 knot and 11 bar-tailed godwits were wanderers from the outer estuary. Other highlights included both slavonian and little grebes and a mistle thrush. Real bonus was finding a single twite among 100 or so linnets on the saltmarsh. A long awaited first record (127 for the year, equaling our best ever, 159 total).
3 dabchicks this morning but only a single tufty and 15 skylarks so far. I fumbled 2 medium-sized birds flying SW which were probably woodcock. Can't win 'em all.

Merry Christmas once more(!)

Rob
 
The weather has kept us here for the entire festive season, so here is a summary.
Up to 3 dabchick have been visible down by the Motray mouth (of course several more up by the bridge) along with the occasional slavonian grebe further downstream. Parties of whooper swans have been regular, the largest being 13 on 29th. A single drake shoveler was present yesterday and today. Tufted ducks have been seen daily with the largest number of 25 on 29th (when the temperature dipped to -9 and there were ice floes in the river). A few long-tailed ducks have been around, with a pair on Boxing Day. 5 goosander (3 drakes) were seen on Christmas Day, with a further 5 (4 drakes) yesterday and today.
The local buzzards have been hunting birds - one caught a redshank this afternoon. Kestrels have also been conspicuous (the attached was in the garden on Christmas Day - it too looks as if it had been eating a bird).
Single snipe have been seen on a few occasions and this afternoon I happened to turn round in time to see a woodcock fly behind the house (128 for the year - a new record). An unseasonal spotted redshank was around yesterday.
All 5 regular thrushes have been seen, including the attached fieldfare in the garden. The snow-covered saltmarsh has been ideal for finding rock pipits. 5 tree sparrows appeared on 29th with a single yesterday. The linnet flock on the saltmarsh decreased in number after the twite sighting but it was larger again today - and I managed to find twite once again.
Photographs courtesy of my new 7D.

Happy New Year all

Rob
 

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Rob,

I am not really into LBJs. Do you think the wee jobbie in the middle photo above could be a twite? Or is it something else?

D300
 
Amazing start to 2010

An astonishing day's winter birding - our highest winter species total ever - 65!
Notable records as follows:
Dabchick (2), slavonian grebe (1), the shoveler - though it wasn't around over the afternoon high tide, a pair of gadwall (our first ever mid-winter record), 8 tufted duck, 6 goosander (4 drakes), snipe, and the spotted redshank among non-passerines.
Passerines included at least 2 rock pipits, all 5 regular thrushes, a remarkable 10 tree sparrows, a female brambling on the feeders (not seen at all in 2009!) and at least 2 twite with the linnets on the saltmarsh.

Rob
 
It was always going to be hard to follow that, but the following 3 days each had over 50 species seen. New species on 2nd were skylark and a single knot, whilst the 3rd added wren, 7 whooper swans and collared dove. Yesterday's solitary addition was 3 long-tailed ducks (1 drake) taking us to 71 spp. for the year.
Highlights have been a close slavonian grebe on 3rd/4th, the shoveler on 2nd, the gadwall pair on 3rd with just the drake yesterday and still several tufted duck and goosander. The 3rd produced a fine array of outer estuary waders including 43 grey plovers, 37 bar-tailed godwits and an improbable 145 knot. The feeders were much quieter on 2nd but there were 2 tree sparrows on 3rd with single yesterday and a male brambling on 3rd with at least 5 birds yesterday (2 males).

Rob
 
Not much to report for the second half of the week - I was back at work and Sue had a stomach bug.
It was a weekend of two halves, with about 3 inches of snow on Saturday and some fine hard weather birding. This included an exceptional 41 whooper swans - magical to hear them calling in the snowy wastes, 20 tufted ducks, a drake pochard (72) and a drake goosander. There were 3 twite among the linnets on the saltmarsh and at least 3 bramblings coming to the feeders.
Yesterday was much warmer (5C!) albeit with a raw easterly wind. There were at least 20 whoopers early morning, and a pair of goosanders. Getting up to scope a flying snipe (failed!) found me the year's first peregrine (73) and after lunch a greenshank was on the opposite shore (74). At least 2 bramblings were still around.
This morning I was finally able to get the second car up the drive!

Rob
 
Last week was rather quiet. Sue added great spotted woodpecker to the yearlist on Monday (75), I saw 2 bramblings on Wednesday and there were large numbers of pinkfeet on Friday morning, but that was about it.
Saturday produced a number of good birds with the first brent goose of the year (hrota), which was also around yesterday, 4 pairs of pintail (77 for the year), drake shoveler, 2 drake tufties, a pair of goosander, the spotted redshank and 110 knot among the highlights. 18 great black-backs was an unusually high count.
In addition to the brent goose, I saw a female peregrine and a large flock of bathing geese (mainly pinks) yesterday. There were 3 male and a female brambling at the feeders both days. Whilst talking to a birding friend in the garden at dusk yesterday she saw a woodcock fly behind me (ho hum!).

Rob
 
A rather uninspiring weekend, not helped by dreich weather. I had distant views of the spotted redshank feeding frenetically on Saturday afternoon. Teal numbers remain high (349 y'day) and there seem to be more wigeon about. Brambings continue to visit the feeders, with 4 males and a female yesterday. Too gloomy for photos but here's one from a couple of weeks ago.
Goose numbers are astounding - there could have been as many as 7000 pinkies in the roost on Friday morning. I stll haven't found anything interesting among them.

Rob
 

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Rather quiet of late, though dabbling duck numbers have been impressive on the recent very high tides. 266 wigeon on Saturday was a distinct improvement on the meagre showing so far this winter, whilst 417 teal was a new record. The high tides also pushed a number of snipe into view, with at least 4 yesterday. Sue had a drake long-tailed duck on Friday, and there were 2 on Saturday. A scan downstream yesterday afternoon produced 5 greenshanks and 4 common scoters - our first of the year (78).
Bramblings continue to visit the feeders.

Rob
 
A quiet week with little out of the ordinary.
Sue saw the first meadow pipit of the year last Monday (79) and had a good count of 6 snipe over the (very) high tide. Goose numbers are still very high - over the weekend most came in to the roost before dark, which is rather unusual.
Bramblings continue to visit the feeders, with 4 males and a female again on Saturday.

Rob
 
Keep Going

edenwatcher said:
A quiet week with little out of the ordinary.
Sue saw the first meadow pipit of the year last Monday (79) and had a good count of 6 snipe over the (very) high tide. Goose numbers are still very high - over the weekend most came in to the roost before dark, which is rather unusual.
Bramblings continue to visit the feeders, with 4 males and a female again on Saturday.

Rob
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I am enjoying this thread and the updates.
 
Glad you like it.
This week's update is all about rewards for effort, of which more anon.
Bramblings are still visiting the feeders and yellowhammers have started to appear, with occasional visits from 2 males.
On Saturday there was a slavonian grebe off the Coble shore and I saw 3 long-tailed ducks (1 drake), with a pair yesterday. Around noon on Saturday a fulmar made a prospecting sortie inland (80). There have been good numbers of grey plovers around (46 on Saturday), with 4 diustant greenshanks also on Saturday. Goldeneye have started to get frisky and there some large gatherings of shelduck (76 this morning).
The reward for hard work comes for ealry morning scanning of the goose flock. Yesterday morning I finally picked up 2 Greenland whitefronts before the flock departed (81) and this morning there was a single Barnacle goose (82).

Rob
 
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