November 2023; More Catching-up.

A quick recap of last November's birding trips. I did manage to write up the best couple of twitches at the time so this will be quite a short effort from me for a change. Hurrah, I hear you say.

Sunday 5th November; A Second Bite at a Purple Cherry

On Tuesday the preceding week we had driven down to the edge of the Cotswold Water Park to see a real showy juvenile Purple Heron. We waited for three hours along with plenty of other hopeful birders and toggers during which time the real showy bird morphed into a real non-showy one. It wasn't seen all day.

Of course the following day the Heron returned and showed right in front of the small hide at Whelford Pools for all comers. It did the same on the next three days. On Sunday morning we left home early so that we arrived before it was light hoping that we'd beat most other interested people to the small carpark and hence get a spot in the hide. Our early expedition was partly successful. At least ten folk had already arrived, including our good mate Mark (The Early Birder), so parking was problematic but we did manage to grab the last two seats in the hide, albeit at the "wrong end" where views were partially impeded by overhanging tree branches.

Through text messaging with Mark, necessary so that we didn't disturb the peace within the hide, we learned that the Purple Heron had already been seen even though it was only just beginning to get light as we sat down. Less than five minutes into our stint there was murmur amongst the birders at the opposite end of the hide and some cameras began whirring. The Purple Heron was striding out but we couldn't yet see it because it was hidden in reeds. A short period of anxiety followed until the bird finally emerged into view for us a few minutes later.

Purple Heron

Purple Herons are usually shy and retiring birds, mainly elusive and most often only seen in flight. This juvenile had clearly not read its own entry in the guidebook since there it was strutting its stuff just metres out from the hide. Just a shame that it was such a dreary and grey typical November morning which prevented its burgeoning shimmering hues of glossy purple feathers to really shine. It was still a beautiful bird to see and watch though so no complaints from me.

A few rays of sunshine were emerging through the heavy cloak of overall greyness but the trees were blocking them out. As the morning brightened up more and more, one or two shafts of light penetrated the canopy. When the Purple Heron hunted in the shallow water in one particular spot, the light illuminated it perfectly.

There was a good chance I thought, that this bird was the same one that we'd seen at Lower Quinton, thirty miles away, eight weeks before (see here). Maybe somebody would like to compare the photos of each bird to see if they're the same. Big chance they're not though.

Wednesday 8th November; Craking in my Boots!

A lifer in the form of a Little Crake at Milton Keynes. Blogged up here.

Little Crake

Year List addition;

309) Little Crake (#421)

Saturday 11th November; A Real Teal

Back to the humdrum after the excitement of a few days before. Ducks are never the most exciting of subjects but we still needed a Green-winged Teal for the year list so made the effort to get over to Grafham Water near St Neots to see one that had been present for a few weeks. Grafham is England's largest reservoir and was the scene for the massive twitch for the Cape Gull in August 2022. On such a huge expanse of water it was extremely welcoming to find the Teal right at the foot of the dam and therefore as close it could possibly be to observe.

Green-winged Teal

Seen with a few of its European cohorts, it was good to compare the two species, the main difference being that the Green-winged Teal (a bit of a misnomer that, since both have green speculums) has a vertical white mark on the sides of the breast as opposed to the European's white flank stripes.

Green-winged Teal (left), European Teal (right)

We didn't stay long, there wasn't much else of note except for a Redshank and a Common Sandpiper. We spent more time chatting to the "Two K's" on our way to seeing the Teal.

Common Sandpiper

Year List addition;

310) Green-winged Teal

Friday 17th November; A Swift Way to Feeling Slightly Better than Rough as Gravel!

I was suffering a nasty bout of man-flu. But that wasn't going to stop me securing another long-awaited lifer for my list, was it? No chance!

Pallid Swift

Blogged up here, with bonus Waxwings to boot.

Waxwing

Year List addition;

311) Pallid Swift (#422)

Saturday 25th November; Another Duck, Another Lifer

Feeling much better after the previous weekend when at times I felt so bad that I'd have been happy to never have to swallow anything ever again, the pain was so acute, we headed to Abberton Reservoir in Essex to connect with a very rare Canvasback, another North American duck species. Most observers, and the people that have the ultimate say-so, were happy with the credentials that the bird had to be considered genuinely "wild".

It was a cold but bright day which made for perfect viewing conditions. Again the "Two K's" had beaten us to it, which was useful because they were able to point out where the drake Canvasback was. It wasn't that easy to pick it out amongst hundreds of similar looking Pochards but after a bit of practise, it became easier. The main difference was the all black bill compared with the drake Pochards two-toned blue-black one. The Canvasback's supposedly lighter coloured body was less easy to discern in the harsh sunlight.

Canvasback

I never expected to see three new birds for my life list during November!

Year List addition;

312) Canvasback (#423)