October birdwatching round up

Nosterfield NR October 2022 Bird Review

‘One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between Man and Nature shall not be broken’.  Leo Tolstoy

The month supplied the usual regulars to be expected for the time of year, regular highlights including Barn Owl, flocks of Pink-footed Geese and sporadic sightings of Whooper Swans on, or over the area

Whooper Swans  Photo: Mike Smithson

The month was ushered in by a Spotted Redshank on the Reserve on 1st.  This is the first of a once-regular species for a few years and a very welcome addition to the year list for the area. A late Hobby and a Grey Plover from the previous month were still present on Flasks.

The following day was busy with a lot moving, including, bizarrely, the best Swallow movement of the year, with 82 south.  More impressive were 246 Skylark, 146 Goldfinch, 38 Redpoll, and five Grey Wagtails.  The previous day’s Spotted Redshank lingered and both Jack Snipe and Curlew Sandpiper added to the impressive 57 species day list.

The next day saw a Great White Egret moving south, as well as 21 Blackbirds on the move.

The next few days were quieter, with a showy Jack Snipe the chief attraction.

The action perked up again on 8th, with a female-type Scaup on Langwith Lake and now two Grey Plover on Flasks Lake.  The momentum carried on into the next day with a female Red-breasted Merganser also on Flasks Lake and single Cetti’s Warblers at Ladybridge and the Reedbed, respectively. The latter species being seen on and off throughout the month. 

Grey plovers Photo: Gareth Jones

On 10th an adult Yellow-legged Gull was on the mud at Flasks Lake and Bittern was seen in the Reedbed.

Another relatively fallow period followed, with scattered items of note, including, for us, a rather late Blackcap on 15th and similarly tardy Avocet on 19th.

Rain and south-easterly winds are a recipe for misted-up, unusable optics, but they are also a recipe for interesting birding at Nosterfield.  In this regard, 20th did not disappoint, with a marked upturn in duck, including six Common Scoter on Flasks Lake and some wader movement, with a flock of 32 Dunlin moving north-east.  Best of all, however, was a Rock Pipit, another species not recorded in the area for a few years.  

Four of the Common Scoter on Flasks Lake on 20th                          Jack Snipe Photo: Tim Jones

Similar weather the next day continued to produce the goods, including one of the star birds of the year, a Grey Phalarope, on the Reserve.  A tern seen and photographed as it shot through was most likely an Arctic on date, but the evidence of a very obvious messy, dark trailing edge to the primaries indicated that it was a Common Tern.  It is interesting to note that although only 20 Redwing were counted overhead, at nearby Ripon Parks, an estimated 13800 Redwings flew south-west, so we may have missed a few in the phalarope excitement.

Presumed Common Tern Grey Phalarope

Photo: Joe Fryer Photo: Tim Jones

It therefore was not a surprise to have a few Redwing on 22nd, when an excellent visible migration session included 2211 Redwing, 1125 Fieldfare, two Great White Egrets and two Ravens moving south.

Redwing and Great White Egret heading south over Yorwaste Mountain

Notable as the month slowly drew to a close, were a first calendar-year Little Gull briefly on the silt ponds on 25th, 635 Golden Plover on 27th, Great White Egret on 28th, with two south on 29th.

Andrew Hanby, on behalf of the Nosterfield Naturalists,

8th December 2022