25th November

Very slow birding today with just a handful of new migrants logged. Six Redwings, 3 Bramblings, a Golden Plover and the lightest trickle of Chaffinches passed over at the Bill, where lingerers included 2 Black Redstarts, a Blackcap and the Siberian Chiffchaff; another Black Redstart was at Southwell.

Sadly, the beautiful cloudless sky wasn't filled with much migrant action and we suspect it'll only be tail-end Charlies like this Golden Plover from here on in:


The downside of a cloudless sky at this time of year is that morning seawatching at the Bill is trashed by the low sun: this Herring Gull-sized white-winged gull that passed by soon after dawn could only be viewed straight into the sun which made the ID very problematic - it looks as though there's something odd going on in the middle of this bird's primaries and we have a feeling it's most likely one of the  leucistic Herring Gulls that seem to pop up from time to time off this coast in winter © Martin Cade:


It seems to have become customary in recent winters to find a few dead Kestrels at the Bill - on investigation they pretty well always turn out to be emaciated youngsters that presumably don't have the experience to survive on the slim pickings usually available at this time of year; with a super abundance of voles in evidence just lately it's looking like it mightn't be such a struggle this winter © Roy Norris: