With winter upon us I have been busy completing the first tranche of winter bird surveys at work. A visit to Warblington to the east of Portsmouth on 17th November produced a nice flock of four Cattle Egret feeding in coastal grassland with 17 Little Egret. The Cattle Egret consisted of two adult birds and two juveniles and I suspected that they were a family unit. My eBird list for the morning can be viewed here.
Cattle Egret - Warblington, Hampshire
Cattle Egret - Warblington, Hampshire
Cattle Egret - Warblington, Hampshire
Cattle Egret - Warblington, Hampshire
After a bird survey in Dorset on 18th November I popped to nearby Portland for a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling at Easton. The bird has been present since 3rd September when it was seen in the south of Portland but has since settled with the large Common Starling flock at Channel View Road, Easton. My eBird list for the site can be viewed here.
Rose-coloured Starling with Common Starling - Channel View Road, Easton, Portland
I then made a brief stop at Ferrybridge where a scan of the harbour produced two Great Northern Diver. At Ferrybridge the small flock of Dark-bellied Brent Goose held the long staying Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Black Brant. But most remarkable was the large flock of 1,600 Mediterranean Gull loafing on the mudflats as the tide fell, a large proportion of these birds were adult. My eBird list for the harbour and ferry bridge are here and here.
Pale-bellied Brent Goose - Ferrybridge, Weymouth, Dorset
Black Brant - Ferrybridge, Weymouth, Dorset
Dark-bellied and Pale-bellied Brent Goose - Ferrybridge, Weymouth, Dorset
Part of flock fo 1,600 Mediterranean Gull - Ferrybridge, Weymouth, Dorset
