Wells - Norfolk

 

We headed down for our annual November visit, staying overnight on the 20th/21st, as per previous visits, staying in Wells itself.

Leaving home on the 20th at 6.00a.m for the planned Seal Trip, although cold, gave no insight in the weather that was to arrive in Norfolk.

In short, the Seal Trip was cancelled in the morning, strong winds, very cold and snow showers from mid-morning made it hard, but we still thoroughly enjoyed it as ever.

The 21st thankfully, although cold was a glorious day.

On the birding front, I had a look round as per usual around the Quay but also visited Wells Harbour while Chris shopped.

A nice walk out to the beach by the huts on an incoming tide gave up Gannet, 4 Red Throated Divers, 6 Common Scoters,60 odd Pinkies and Red Kite amongst others.

The following morning at dawn we both went to our usual spot outside Wells to await the arrival from roost of vast skeins of Pink Footed Geese, last year we had thousands.

In the semi darkness on arrival, 3 Woodcock were seen lifting off the fields heading to roost and as the light advanced, we started to see plenty of other birds but alas only a handful of Pinkies.

We presumed that they had not roosted out on the Salting’s as per usual, and possibly had used another roost, or were numbers greatly reduced?

Moving on to Holkham later in the morning gave decent numbers, so hopefully numbers not in yet, or just feeding/roosting elsewhere?

                                                               Lots of Snow Wednesday

                                                                      Dawn Thursday

As ever a very enjoyable couple of days, despite the weather on Wednesday, back again in January so already looking forward to it.

Fish and Chips again at Frenchies never dissapoints.  

Beckton Sewage Works

November 16th



Not a very nice morning, but to be expected at this time of year, very grey and overcast but nonetheless always enjoyable.

The Outfall is starting to come alive with winter waders - 14 Black Tailed Godwits, 3 Common Sandpipers and 93 Redshank shows winter is here with wader numbers building as the cold approaches.

A 1st winter Caspian Gull and 2 Rock Pipits were also seen, and eventually tracked down the male Kestrel with the ever-present Common Buzzards again seen.

Bird(s) of the day however will go to 2 Black Redstarts seen on the Sewage Works, both together, I usually pick them up annually, but they can be very elusive.
Schedule 1, they winter on the Sewage Works as it supplies good winter foraging.

My year list is stuck on 98 species, hoping I can get a couple of additions before the New Year to achieve the 'ton', my aim for every year.

The Week

More boxes



Quite a full week for myself and Paul, plenty to do with a good number of nest boxes placed, mainly of the smaller type but also including a Little Owl Box.

First up was 6 small boxes – 4-hole boxes and 2 open fronted boxes, the hole boxes easy enough to place on trees anywhere as they are more or less predator proof.

The open fronted boxes are a different matter, they needed to be tucked away from the attentions of Magpies and Crows, so these 2 were consequently placed well into cover.

I see this quite a lot in London, open fronted nest boxes placed on the side of buildings/trees, wide open to predators with no thought but to tick the boxes, sadly they have very little chance of acceptance and take up.

After these were fitted, we moved on to 2 Black Redstart boxes, the Woodcrete Brick boxes chosen were of a type that are predator proof with a small entrance slot. Specifically chosen, we placed these in areas where there had been Black Redstart activity in the Spring/Summer.

These as I see it, are the next best thing to a Schwegler Brick Box (£75.98) but quite a bit cheaper at £34.00.

                                                            Woodcrete to last longer

                                                       Battersea 2014 - Black Redstart nest site

A notoriously hard species to get into a nest box, hopefully these will do the trick, if BR’s are not keen on them, Pied/Grey Wagtail and Robin may well use them hopefully.

Last up was a Little Owl Box, a little bit of history behind this, as it’s a replacement nest box of one already in situ. Used successfully in 2023, Grey Squirrels nailed it this year early on, I turfed them out 3 times, they gave up, only for Honeybees to move in!
Naturally left the Bees to presumably hibernate in the old box, hence the new one!

                                                                      Little Owl Box

Fingers crossed on them all.

Battersea Power Station - October 24th

 

I had been waiting for a good day weatherwise and it finally arrived on the 24th with some good sunshine.
Cousin Jess was with me, all the way Australia, he last saw the derelict Power Station in 2000, when I first arrived. Needless to say, he was astounded at the transformation and absolutely loved it.

First up was the Peregrines and on checking the northern brickwork, the only one we could find roosting was the Falcon.
As the light grew the Tiercel was located in a regular hunting area, the usual Cranes at Vauxhall, obviously hunting, as he soon disappeared.
Eventually he came in with a Feral Pigeon from the west, landed and began to feed, not missing a trick being dominant over him, the Falcon then landed around 600mm from him.

We still have the same female as the head markings are the same and the BTO ring is clearly visible, she then started putting the pressure on by edging closer and calling loudly.
He flew and there then began a very noisy chase all over the Northern Park with the Falcon pursuing him relentlessly. Quite spectacular and quite a few people watching, eventually she nailed him from underneath and got talons into the prey and he gave up on it.

Quite a spectacular sight, just a pity I couldn't do it justice with the camera, some shots attached but not sharp, autofocus can't keep up, early morning light and Peregrines simply too fast!

She is holding on well despite the density of Peregrines in London and the outer counties, at around 14+, her days of producing an egg have now gone and the last successful breeding by her was 2021. Paired for life, she will eventually be replaced by a stronger Falcon, then breeding and noisy juveniles will again grace the Power Station.

Elsewhere whilst watching from the Coaling Jetty early a.m, Grey Wagtails were present in the Buddleia on the River Wall.
This has now become a winter roost for the species, no less than 12 Grey Wagtails left the bushes to forage elsewhere, I will keep an eye on this going forward, a fantastic number and a high count.

                                                          Grub after in the Power Station

Nothing out of the ordinary in other species, some overhead movement, however we still recorded 27 species on the day.

Goldfinches were a little thin on the ground, this could be due to the milder weather, we will see how many nests this year when the trees eventually drop their leaves, if I recall correctly, last year’s total was 12 nests around the Power Station.