27th Nov 2016

It has been a very quiet week, even by Grimsbury standards. The highlights all came on Sunday with a Greylag Goose flying over circling a bit but choosing not to land and a 2CY Yellow-legged Gull in the morning. In the afternoon Mike did the gull roost but there were much fewer birds than before with one adult Yellow-legged Gull, three adult Herring Gulls and only one Common Gull. (Yes, they really were the highlights!)

Many thanks to Dave Fuller for the photos below taken today, we needed something to brighten this blog up!

All photos courtesy and copyright of Dave Fuller

20th Nov 2016

A fairly quiet week again. The number of Great Crested Grebes has risen to six and there was five Herring Gulls around on Monday. John had a Yellow-legged Gull at the reservoir in the week and again today and I had three at the Borrow Pit pool up the valley yesterday. There was also three Ravens up the valley yesterday. There has been no further sightings of the Otter this week, although I'm not sure if people have been looking for it, but there was fresh spraints yesterday from earlier in the week.

13th Nov 2016

John visited yesterday and saw the Willow Tit along the river, had a Herring Gull at the reservoir and a Skylark went over.

This morning john and I were out early looking for the Otter, but it didn't show today. Steve and Colin found two drake Gadwall on their walk up and were joined by a pair of Wigeon. We have had a nice few days of wildfowl records, by Grimsbury modern day standards anyway! Steve and Colin also had a 3CY Yellow-legged Gull at the Borrow Pit pool.

Mike and Colin were at the gull roost this evening and had fifteen Herring Gulls, a  Yellow legged Gull and about 1500 Black-headed Gulls, plus the usual Lesser Black-backs and a few Common.  The two Gadwall were still present too.

11th Nov 2016: Otter and Goosander

It has been quite a good week so far really and far more interesting than the last few. The biggest highlight was that an Otter was seen in the river twice this week. John saw one Tuesday morning go downstream from the wood and I saw one (I assume the same one) this morning in the same area by the railway bridge. There has been a lot of spraints again recently so there is obviously a lot of activity in the area at the moment but seeing the animal itself is a real treat.

On Monday John had a Red Kite over, three Snipe in the cattle field Tuesday, on Thursday afternoon and this morning I had a drake Goosander and John also had two Shelduck over this morning. When people have had a chance to look at the gull roost there has been little of note, with only Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen.

Courtesy and copyright of JFT

06th Nov 2016

Overall, a pretty quiet week again. John had a Lesser Redpoll over on Wednesday and a Marsh Tit, Willow Tit and Chiffchaff were still in the wood. John had a 2CY Yellow-legged Gull at the reservoir a couple of times in the week and I had one at the Borrow Pit pool on Saturday. John also had the hybrid at the reservoir briefly on Saturday.

Mike was out this evening at the reservoir and had a first winter Great Black-backed Gull, a very good bird for here. There was also thirteen Herring Gulls (a very good number for here), two Yellow-legged gulls and about ten Common Gulls.

Courtesy and copyright of Mike Pollard